Kastle Systems’ Nationwide Back to Work Barometer Tracks Pace of Return to Office Buildings Post-COVID
As states and cities begin phased re-openings, American companies and employees are starting to return to the office. Kastle Systems, the country’s largest managed security services provider to commercial businesses, has released anonymized aggregated building access data from Kastle-secured properties in 10 major cities to better understand office occupancy patterns following COVID-19.
The data tell the story of the nation quickly sheltering in place in March and April and now slowly venturing back to the workplace. The earliest notable decline in occupancy was in the first week of March in San Francisco. Other cities saw similar patterns. By the first week in April, Washington, D.C. buildings, for example, were only 14% full – well below the baseline of 96% in March.
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Occupancy rates started to tick up in Austin, Houston, Los Angeles and Miami in late May and cities like Chicago and Philadelphia have picked up more recently. The Kastle Back to Work Barometer indicates that Western and Southwestern cities like Dallas, Houston and Los Angeles, are leading the nation in terms of returning to the office.
“The question on everyone’s minds right now is when will it be okay to go back to the office,” Kastle CEO Haniel Lynn said. “We’re keeping a close eye on trends in occupancy data as part of our KastleSafeSpaces framework, which is designed to help office buildings safely reopen. As the uptick in occupancy continues, Kastle stands ready to help the safe transition happen.”
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