Skip to main content

For 1st Time Since Covid, More Than Half Of Top US Companies Junk WFH

For the first time since the pandemic upended work life five years ago, more than half the companies in the Fortune 100 have their employees fully back in the office, according to a report from real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. 

Hybrid schedules, which two years ago were offered by 78% of the 100 largest US companies by revenue, are now available at just 41% of them, while the share of Fortune 100 firms requiring full-time office attendance has jumped to 54% from 5%.

The shift to an in-office majority is helping to reshape the commercial real estate market. Office attendance in April and May was up 1.3% versus the same period last year, and the most desirable buildings are commanding record prices. JLL notes that "trophy buildings across Miami, New York City, San Francisco and other markets captured all-time high rents," with new construction asking $92.38 per square foot, the highest on record. 

At the same time, with vacancies hovering above 22%, developers are pulling older buildings off the market. According to JLL, national office inventory declined by 700,000 square feet last quarter, as demolitions and conversions, mainly to residential, industrial or mixed-use developments, outpaced new construction. 

The return of employees helps justify costly office leases in premium buildings. Among the 10 largest Fortune 100 companies, seven now require at least four days a week in-person, with the other three demanding full-time attendance, JLL found. According to the report, the average in-office requirement of the Fortune 100 rose to 3.8 days per week in the second quarter of 2025 from 2.6 days in the second quarter of 2023. 

Amazon.com Inc. started prepping corporate staff in 2024 to return fully to in-person work by January. JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced on Jan. 10 that it was ending its hybrid-work option, too. More recently, Starbucks Corp. announced it will require corporate employees to work in the office four days a week starting Sept. 29, and remote managers were told they must relocate to Seattle or Toronto within a year. Workers who opt to leave will be given a one-time cash exit offer, based on documents seen by Bloomberg News.

The office mandates haven't been without their ups and downs for big employers, several of which had to regroup after running out of space for all of their returning workers. The trend is clear, though. After years of uncertainty, companies are tightening expectations and reasserting control over where work happens, and the era of hybrid work being the dominant option has come to a close. Executives are calling people back - and this time, they mean it.



from NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/sSm5rkB
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

PM Modi To Reschedule 3-Nation Europe Visit As Tensions With Pakistan Soar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has put his three-nation Europe visit on hold as tensions between India and Pakistan have surged in the wake of the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam in which 26 civilians were killed by Pak-linked terrorists in a religiously-motivated terror attack. India responded on Wednesday with precision missile strikes on terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. PM Modi, who is closely-monitoring the situation, has reportedly asked for his visit to Croatia, Norway, and the Netherlands, which was due next week, to be rescheduled. As per his original schedule Prime Minister Modi was to commence his official visit to the three nations on May 13. He was also going to participate in the India-Nordic Summit in Oslo on May 15 and 16. All three countries have been informed about the change in PM Modi's schedule. They have also been appraised about the current situation between India and Pakistan. Last month too, on the day of the Pahalga...
Post a Comment
Read more

After Nitish Kumar's 'Praise', BJP Says Doors Closed For Him

The opposition BJP in Bihar on Thursday said that its doors were "closed" for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who dumped the saffron party a year ago, stripping it of power in the state. State BJP President Samrat Choudhary made the averment to this effect in reply to queries from journalists about the Janata Dal United leader's address to the convocation ceremony of Mahatma Gandhi Central University at Motihari. Speaking in the presence of President Droupadi Murmu and Governor Rajendra Arlekar, Mr Kumar had freely spoken of the tussle he had with the then Congress government at the Centre for getting a university approved for Motihari, where Mahatma Gandhi had launched the Champaran Satyagraha. Without mentioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi by name, Mr Kumar acknowledged that the project saw the light of the day only after a change of guard "in 2014" as the UPA government "initially refused and after much persuasion agreed in principle but did not move for...
Post a Comment
Read more

Delhi Air On Brink Of Turning "Severe", Most Polluted In India

Delhi's air quality was on the brink of the 'severe' category on Sunday with an overall AQI reading of 382 - the worst recorded in the country for the day. Fifteen monitoring stations of the city recorded air quality levels in the 'severe' zone, having AQI readings over 400, data showed. The city also recorded its lowest nighttime temperature so far, as thick smog and haze shrouded it in a dense cover during the morning and evening hours. The minimum temperature recorded on Sunday was 16.5 degrees Celsius, 1.2 degrees above normal, according to the weather department. The national capital's 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI), recorded at 4 pm every day, stood at 382, worsening from 316 the previous day. The locations where air pollution levels reached the 'severe' zone are Anand Vihar, Ashok Vihar, Bawana, Dwarka, Jahangirpuri, Mundka, NSIT Dwarka, Najafgarh, Nehru Nagar, Okhla Phase 2, Patparganj, Punjabi Bagh, Rohini, Wazirpur and Vivek Vihar...
Post a Comment
Read more