Survey says: Omicron delays Manhattan employers' back-to-office plans

Three-quarters of Manhattan office employers delayed return-to-office plans because of the coronavirus' omicron surge, according to a business group’s survey.

Return-to-office plans that were supposed to take effect, say, in December, are being pushed to March or April.

During the surge, 22% of all offices closed to all but essential employees, according to the findings of the survey, taken of New York City's largest employers by the Partnership for New York City, the business group.

And while about 61% of employers expect average daily attendance to top 50% by the end of March, 22% were unable to estimate when office attendance would surpass that figure, with some basing when to bring more employees back on a decline in coronavirus infections, the survey found.

"Remote work and hybrid schedules are here to stay for Manhattan office workers," the group said, findings with profound implications in the short and long term for Manhattan, as well as the outer boroughs and Long Island — commuting, planning, spending, said Kathy Wylde, the group's president and chief executive.

The group has done five surveys since May 2020, and with every survey, "employers are less optimistic about employees returning to the office five days a week, ever," she said.

Where are employers hearing the greatest resistance from workers? Suburbanites from places like Long Island, she noted.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, about 315,000 Long Islanders commuted to city jobs, according to the city’s planning department: 225,100 from Nassau County and 89,300 from Suffolk. The bulk went to jobs in Manhattan.

And about 22% of employed Long Islanders worked in the city, according to the state Labor Department.

Chris Coluccio, chief executive of Ronkonkoma-based Techworks Consulting Inc., said the surge in omicron-variant cases of the virus delayed return-to-office plans for most of his New York City clients.

But less so for those on Long Island, where he said his clients have largely kept to return-to-office plans, whether in-person full time, or a hybrid, allowing for some work from home.

"Our clients in Long Island, Long Island being the kind of bubble that it is, we’ve seen one of two things: Either they’re deciding to move out of the Island and they’re just moving their offices completely, if they’re going their route, or they’re returning to work almost fully, maybe in some cases even ignoring what’s going on in the outside world."

He added that with some clients, "they’re dealing with it much more like a flu."

That’s in contrast with his clients in the city, where he’s seen a more reluctant and cautious approach, either postponing the planned return due to omicron, or deciding to go all-remote for good.

"With dealing with Manhattan, the city," he said, "I think the plans are still there to move back into these locations, but they just slow-rolled those a little bit, or, for necessity, things happened, that a population of their businesses either were sick or were afraid to come back to the office."

Regardless of when offices welcome, or force, employees to return in person, "habits of old have been broken," said Mitchell Moss, a New York University professor of urban policy and planning.

"Workers based on Long Island have had almost two years to adapt to remote work. The culture of the office is no longer going to be defined by five-day-a-week schedules," he said, whether bankers, lawyers, coders or other professions. "Even bankers can now do mergers and acquisitions from their homes in Bridgehampton."

As for Techworks, which handles companies’ IT operations that outsource the service, nearly every one of Coluccio’s 32 employees are back in person in Ronkonkoma.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.