Snapshots

RTO mandates have impacted more than half a million office workers in May

May 17, 2023

As large corporations have continued to roll out return-to-office mandates over the past six months, nearly 600,000 employees are subject to stricter office attendance mandates that have gone into effect in the first two weeks of May.

RTO has maintained steady momentum through Q2: Lyft, WWE, Dell, Farmers Insurance, and others have issued recent announcements establishing hybrid attendance policies for employees that had previously been remote-first.

While not all companies are concretely changing office attendance policies, pressures to return are still mounting across industries: during the company’s second round of layoffs, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg remarked that employees were encouraged to interact more in person; the CEO of News Corp, the parent company of Fox News, also made comments encouraging greater attendance without issuing a mandate; and federal government agencies will imminently be required to arrange new office attendance strategies that limit telework arrangements.

As remote work continues to come under increased pressure, some companies that have been aggressively trimming office portfolios may face pressures from crowding.

Top markets have removed 5% of office stock since 2020, though redevelopment intensity varies geographically

Net effective office rents have increased since the pandemic in most major CBDs

Sun Belt markets are exceeding 98% of pre-pandemic office leasing volume over the past six months