Many NYC employers continue hybrid work schedule, survey says

NEW YORK - New Yorkers don't have to ditch the pajama pants just yet.  Nearly 80% of New York City employers expect a hybrid work schedule for the foreseeable future, according to a new survey.

"On an average day, we have about a third of the office employees coming in," said Kathryn Wylde, the president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, the city's business leadership organization that polled over 160 major employers. "But it's still much less than we need to fuel our central business district and return to post-pandemic normal."

Furthermore, the survey found roughly 28% are working remotely full-time. That's up from 1% before the pandemic.

"We had a very large population of office workers driving our economy from their Manhattan offices, our subways, and mass transit and mass transit, commuter rail all depended on that population," Wylde said. "So we have to rethink what's happening in the city as we see less participation in office work and more remote work.

Just 8% of those who work in Manhattan are in the office full-time.

"There used to be about a million people coming into Manhattan every day, into the office every day," Wylde said. "Today, those folks that are coming five days a week, it's down to about 80,000."

The Partnership for New York City also surveyed over 9,000 office workers in March. 

"The overwhelming response about their concern about returning to the office were public safety issues — homelessness and mentally ill people. There was a lot of nervousness," Wylde said. "I think the efforts that the mayor has made in cleaning up homeless encampments and the work the mayor and governor have done in taking real action on the subways — dealing with the homeless problem and in the subways — I think has made a big difference. We're headed in the right direction. But this is still an issue."

Some New Yorkers told FOX 5 NY that they just wanted the option for a little more flexibility, citing the need for a greater work-life balance, no commute has translated to saving both time and money.

Meanwhile, Wylde says the city is hoping to have 50% of the workers back in the office by Labor Day. 

"Our survey also showed that 57% of the employers say they're going to expand their jobs or at least keep the same number of office jobs in the city in the future," Wylde said. "So that's all positive."