CBD Workers Now Demand a Unique Experience in their Office Building and Workplace Flexibility

Workers in CBD office buildings demand a hybrid approach to work

The data is in!  It’s a resounding "yes" to changes in CBD office building occupancy rates, as the move from Mon-Fri 9-5pm changes in favour of a more hybrid work from home arrangement, post-COVID.

As an office worker myself, I can relate to and empathise with the workers in the CBD.

I’ve spent a few thousand dollars on my remote setup and have tracked the time gained from mobile meetings vs office meetings, seeing a 20-30% increase in productivity while working from home. Working remotely has definitely changed the way we think about work and our work life balance.

With that said, I believe most people miss the office and the camaraderie it brings. There’s nothing quite like working closely with our peers for some quick validation, inspiration, team chats and face to face problem solving. Our offices provide the means to achieve this, so what’s the right  home/office mix, coming out of lockdown?

At propella.ai, we’ve analysed pre-covid and during covid occupancy levels, and generated some interesting insights into how we believe the CBD office of late 2021 and beyond will look.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (TWT) remains the preferred “in-office” work week

We gathered office occupancy data from over 40 of the major CBD buildings across Melbourne, and used our propella.ai tool to generate key insights into how workers are moving around the CBD on a daily basis.

As the data shows, office occupancy levels are low as one would expect during and directly following a pandemic.  Weathered lockdown Melbournians have become accustomed to staying away from the office and working remotely since March 2020.

Melbourne city workers were consistently in the CBD more often on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (TWT herein), which has been a trend in the Melbourne CBD for some time (see Figure 1). So despite the low office occupancy levels overall post-COVID, the TWT trend remains. The data also shows that office building occupancy levels decreased most from Pre-COVID levels on Mondays (see Figure 1).

Since the start of October 2021, we have been keeping a close eye on how this TWT pattern is unfolding along with key data points for city workers returning to their offices to gain insights on what the new “normal” will look like in a post-pandemic world. Stay posted for future articles on this as trends emerge.  

As the rest of the world wakes up post pandemic, we are starting to see similar trends overseas with one American study showing that when it comes to working remotely “87% (of workers) would like to be able to do so at least once a week” with “Over 55% of workers would like to work remotely for a minimum of 3 days per week once the pandemic is under control”. [citing article - 10 Surprising Return to Work Statistics - Uncertainty and Resistance - Ergonomic Trends][A1] 

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