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Occupancy in London-based offices has been 10% this week and is “steadily increasing”, shows data from a workplace technology firm.
Data from Freespace, which has more than 120,000 workplace sensors deployed in corporate offices, suggests that office occupancy is getting back to pre-Omicron levels.
The data has shown:
- The average occupancy in November across London was 27%.
- The average occupancy in December across London was 21%
- The average occupancy w/e January 16th across London was 17%
- The average occupancy w/e January 23rd across London was 22%
In London, as of last week, the offices returning to work are now back above December levels. In November, the number of London offices returning to work was 82%. This dropped to 53% in December. A further drop to 24% was seen on January 9th, but as of 23rd January, this figure has increased back up to 61%.
Raj Krishnamurthy, Freespace CEO, said: “Our data provides the evidence to show that workers are keen to get back to the office. It’s yet another chapter in the ‘back to work’ story, but with the ‘learn to live with Covid’ plan published, there is a sense that this is it now.
"Our data shows that occupancy levels are creeping back up where they were pre-Omicron. We can’t forget that London occupancy levels were above the global average in November. With the City’s levels already rapidly increasing since the work-from-home directive was lifted, this is positive news, particularly for the hospitality businesses in the capital that rely on this footfall.
“The UK workforce is treating the office as a place to meet and collaborate, and our data also shows that the workplace is being used for those precise tasks, leaving the more concentrated activities to be done at home.”
