Flex Report Q3 2023

About the Flex Q3 Report

Here we go again!

It's almost Labor Day in the United States. This will be the fourth Labor Day since the beginning of COVID-19. Regular as clockwork, it also will be the fourth annual debate on whether return to office will accelerate after the holiday.

Read through the archives of stories on return to office, and you'll find lots of articles in 2020, 2021, and 2022 stating that employees will largely be back in office after Labor Day. This year is no exception, with JLL claiming that one million additional employees will be required back in office after the holiday.

Yet looking back over the last few years, the Labor Day return to office has largely looked like...more of the same. In 2022, office usage reached 50% post-Labor Day and is still roughly there, according to Kastle.

In 2023, are we in for a change or more of the same? The labor market continues to be strong, with unemployment at a historically low 3.5%. Will companies desiring more office time succeed in luring employees back more frequently, or will a tight labor market that prizes flexibility dampen return to office plans?

In this report, we look at trends in office requirements year to date to better predict what might happen after Labor Day. We track the changes across industries, regions, company sizes, and even the year a company was founded to see how flexibility is evolving across the United States. With that data, not only can we make some predictions about the rest of 2023, but even what percentage of companies might require Full Time In Office over the long run.