Offices left empty as New Yorkers work from home

New York’s Wall Street – heart of the financial and corporate world – once a vibrant, seething mass of humanity now resembles a ghost town.

A shadow of its former self, the Big Apple is not the only global city ravaged by the pandemic, which has driven workers away from their desks and water coolers into the safe confines of their homes.

Luc Kamperman from Veldhoen+ is the only member of their 8-strong New York team to make a return to the city, albeit one day in five. Despite enjoying office life, Kamperman foresees significant shifts in office culture with troubling knock-on effects locally.

Luc Kamperman: "But I do think that we will see a different type of vibe and that people are only coming in two or three days a week and not five days a week. So it will have a massive impact on everything that's built around these offices and having all, you know, all these people going to shops and cafes, etc."

Despite the likes of Google and Facebook acquiring more office space as the Covid crisis deepened, many companies are rethinking office functions, realising how convenient home working is.

With offices needing to provide more than phone lines and wifi, expert guidance emphasises the benefits won from creating working environments which nurture real life companionship, inspiration and peer support.

But will even this vision entice people back?

An authority on workforce dynamics, Bhushan Sethi is co-author of a study into teleworking.

Bhushan Sethi: "Number of companies have been surveying their people on their comfort with coming back to the office. The, the main population who are looking to return back are people who either live in the city, where they can walk or cycle to work, or younger people. There are some younger people that have never been in a physical workplace and they're really craving that, or they live in a shared apartment." View Less