Many employers in the region around Washington, D.C. have no immediate plans to call most of their employees back to offices due to concerns about the coronavirus, and some expect that worksites won’t be full again even by next summer, according to a new survey.
The Greater Washington Partnership released the results of the poll on Monday. It was conducted between Aug. 10 and 28 and includes responses from about 430 employers in various industries across the metro areas that cover D.C., Baltimore, and Richmond, Virginia. The survey offers clues about the pace at which workers could return to offices after months of working from home.
Of the employers surveyed, 18% said none of their employees were likely to return to traditional worksites after Labor Day. Another 43% said the share coming back would be between 10% and 30%. Only about one-quarter said 70% or more of their workers would be onsite.
About one-third of surveyed employers are still unsure of what their worksite plans will be for summer of 2021. But the employers surveyed who are planning that far ahead said, on average, that only about 72% of workers would be back in their offices by next summer.
Many employers voiced concerns about risks workers could face commuting on mass transit while the highly contagious respiratory illness the virus causes remains a public health threat.
Employers also expressed an interest in testing workers for the virus, but about half said they would not do so if each test costs over $50.
The question of when large numbers of people will return to offices and other traditional worksites is an important one for city economies. Office workers and others who commute into cities like Washington, D.C. ..
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