Data showing office occupancy across 10 major states trending down this month could be a positive sign — namely that employers are slowly becoming more accommodating of remote work, according to Remote Worker CEO Joseph Boll.

Remote Worker is designed to help hiring managers and businesses connect with job-seeking professionals for remote work positions. The organization maintains that remote work is a permanent fixture of the modern workforce. Further, it has cautioned employers that they are doing themselves a disservice by rejecting remote work, which most American workers consider highly desirable.

Boll says new data from Kastle could be an indication that employers are wising up to the labour market realities.

“This tracker shows that office occupancy is actually trending down this month,” says Boll. “It’s too early to say for sure, but it could be the case that more companies are slowly becoming more accepting of remote work. This is especially as the Great Resignation shows no signs of slowing down and the opportunity for remote work continues to rank high on the list of what prospective and current employees most want.”

Studies, like those undertaken by HireRight, show scores of American workers would even be willing to accept pay cuts for the opportunity to work remotely. Although there has been somewhat of a tug-of-war between employers and employees when it comes to returning to physical offices, Boll says Kastle’s latest data is promising.

According to Kastle’s 10-City Back to Work Barometer, occupancy was at 43.2 percent for the week of August 10 and 43.6 percent for the week of August 3. The data was calculated based on the average "weekday building access activity among business partners” in New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Austin, San Jose, San Francisco, Dallas, Philadelphia, Houston and Los Angeles. Of those cities, only San Francisco and Austin did not experience decreases in occupancy levels last week.

Kastle suggests the drop in occupancy levels could be due to “late summer vacations before many cities’ schools go back next week”. The company is optimistic that occupancy levels will pick back up later in the fall.

However, Boll maintained, “It is in US employers’ best interest to warm up to remote work. It’s here to stay and the sooner they embrace it, the better they can avoid high turnover and disgruntled staff.”

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About Remote Worker (US)
Remote Worker is designed to help hiring managers and businesses connect with job-seeking professionals for remote work positions. We are affiliated with Remote Worker (UK), ClickJobs.io and Caribbean Employment Services Inc. For more information, visit https://www.remoteworker.jobs or contact [email protected].