Morning Poll: When Do You Want to Return to the Office?

Across the region, office buildings have remained largely sparsely populated since the start of the pandemic, with most employees working from home.

It might stay that way for awhile.

“It could be next summer before the bulk of the Washington region’s workers return to their offices after months spent teleworking because of the novel coronavirus, according to a new survey,” the Washington Post reported yesterday. That has big implications for traffic, for commercial real estate, and for the business that serves workers in central business districts.

While some have returned to the office in the six months since the start of the pandemic, a study led by the Greater Washington Partnership found that many employers are still not sure when they’ll bring workers back. The study, according to the Post, says that a third of employees are expected to resume commuting to the office this fall, 40% this spring, and 72% by next summer.

Those figures, of course, are largely a function of the desire of employers to bring workers back into offices. In this morning’s poll, we wanted to ask those that work in offices: when do you want to come back?