There\u2019s a new normal in the post-pandemic world, especially when it comes to the workplace.<\/p>\n
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the suburban footprint of Manhattan office workers has increased by 45,000 employees, with more than one-third of those employees living in \u201cnew suburbs\u201d beyond traditional areas like New York\u2019s Suffolk County, according to a recent report from JLL<\/a><\/b>.<\/p>\n SEE ALSO: Lisa Cook\u2019s Firing From the Federal Reserve Would Ripple Into Real Estate<\/a><\/p>\n Workers\u2019 shift from the city to suburbs means two things: They\u2019re looking to work in office buildings near major transit hubs, and they\u2019re probably vying to get out of the office earlier than usual.<\/p>\n In other words, location and timing flexibility are \u201cemerging as competitive advantages\u201d in New York City\u2019s office market, with office buildings near transit hubs such as Grand Central Terminal<\/b> and Pennsylvania Station<\/b> continuing to \u201coutperform in both return-to-office compliance and leasing velocity,\u201d JLL wrote in its report.<\/p>\n Some of those buildings include Vornado Realty Trust<\/a><\/b>\u2019s Penn 1 <\/b>office tower adjacent to Penn Station, Marx Realty<\/a><\/b>\u2019s 35-story office building at 10 Grand Central<\/b> next to Grand Central Terminal, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey<\/a> <\/b>and the Durst Organization<\/a><\/b>\u2019s 1 World Trade Center<\/b> skyscraper near the World Trade Center <\/b>station.<\/p>\n \u201cCommute friction has become an economic variable, not just a lifestyle issue,\u201d Kevin Kelly<\/b>, a vice chairman at JLL and the report\u2019s author, said in a statement. \u201cEmployers must determine who their talent profile is and then consider that where and how you work is now directly tied to productivity and talent recruitment, and is therefore influencing broader real estate demand.\u201d<\/p>\n And, while return-to-office mandates may be bringing employees back to the office, that doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re staying any later than they need to.<\/p>\n On average, employees are leaving the office 13 minutes earlier in 2025 than they did in 2019, and some are leaving as much as an hour earlier, according to JLL\u2019s report, which studied five large financial services companies to examine today\u2019s workforce patterns.<\/p>\n In addition, given daycare and school pickup times, the peak arrival time for a Manhattan office worker to return to a suburb such as Summit, N.J., moved from 6 p.m. in 2019 to 4 p.m. in 2025, the report found.<\/p>\n \u201cFully remote models have proven unsustainable for cohesion and training, but rigid mandates ignore structural changes families have already made,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cThe firms that will win are those that design work strategies around balancing productivity with the realities of modern family life.\u201d<\/p>\n These changes are not just happening in New York City. JLL analyzed cell phone data in several other cities as well, and found that office workers in San Francisco are leaving work a whopping 26 minutes earlier this year than in 2019, while employees in Chicago are jetting off 22 minutes earlier.<\/p>\n In attempting to anticipate how return-to-office and lifestyle trends will affect in-office employment in the coming years, one thing\u2019s for sure: Landlords with office buildings near major transit hubs will likely come out on top.<\/p>\n