As Bay Area policymakers and transit agencies respond to shifting commute and work patterns, this research serves as a vital tool for decision making. Understanding employer policies and commuter behavior will be essential for tailoring transit services to meet demand, ensuring the transit system’s long-term financial sustainability, and fostering economic recovery in urban centers. The findings will also contribute to discussions about public transportation funding, service optimization, and the broader role of transit in supporting regional economic growth and accessibility.
Bay Area Return to Office
Executive Summary
Launched in response to the Bay Area’s shifting commute and work patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Return to Office survey has served as a key tool for understanding how regional employers are bringing workers back to the workplace. Administered across 27 waves between April 2021 and February 2025 by the Bay Area Council in partnership with EMC Research and funded by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the Return to Office survey has informed public policymakers and transit agencies on current and future travel demand, and helped employers adopt peer best practices on hybrid work policies work models that combine both in-person and remote work.
Survey Overview
• Across all 27 survey waves, an average of 171 employers participated, with the most recent and final round (February 2025) receiving 236 employer responses.
• Professional (23%) and Government (12%) were the most represented sectors across all survey responses from all waves. The “Professional” category includes industries like tech, finance, and law, and many of the 13% who selected “Other” also fell into this group.
• The survey includes companies from all nine Bay Area counties, with San Francisco County (54%) the most represented across all responses, followed by Alameda County (32%) and Santa Clara County (22%).
• On average, 46% of surveyed employers operate from a single Bay Area-based office, 32% have two to four locations, and 14% have five or more.
• Survey participation was evenly distributed across company sizes, with the largest share coming from mid-sized companies. Employers with 101 to 1,000 employees made up 28% of respondents, followed by those with 25 to 100 employees (25%), fewer than 25 employees (24%), and more than 1,000 employees (22%).
Workplace Patterns and Trends
• In October 2021, employers reported that 32% of their employees never worked from the office – a figure that fluctuated in response to office reopening trends and public health developments, such as the Omicron variant surge. By February 2025, that figure stood at 11%, 21 percentage points lower than the first time the question was asked.
• The share of employees on a hybrid schedule (working from one to four days in the office) rose from 44% in October 2021 to 63% by February 2025 – with most hybrid workers coming in three to four days per week.
• As of February 2025, an estimated 25% of employees come into the office five days a week. When asked about plans six months from now (August 2025), employers predict that 27% will work in the office full-time, and another 62% of employees will work on a hybrid schedule.
• As of February 2025, employees are coming into the office an average of 3 days per week, compared to 2.3 days in late 2021.
• Office attendance has increased across all weekdays. Since we began tracking employer expectations by day of the week in July 2022, midweek attendance (Tuesday through Thursday) has risen by 18 percentage points, while Monday and Friday attendance has increased by 7 percentage points.
• The first time the survey was administered in April 2021, no respondents reported having implemented their long-term policies. At its highest point, in the March 2024 survey, 89% of respondents reported that they had implemented their long-term in-person attendance policies. In the February 2025 wave, that number fell to 84%.
Impact on Public Transit
• From September 2023 to February 2025, employers said that on average 42% of their employees take public transit at least some of the time to get to work.
• When employers were asked to rank the factors that they believe contributed to their employers not coming into the workplace more often, the most common responses were: the amount of time it takes to commute to the workplace, preference for working from home, and the cost of commuting to the workplace.
• When asked for recommendations to transit agencies, respondents most often cited: safety and security improvements, cleanliness, scheduling and frequency refinements, connectivity and integration upgrades, and cost.
Looking Ahead
• In the latest survey wave, the majority of employers say their employees are working in-person three to five days per week, with core in-person days on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Bay Area employers believe that more of their employees will come into the workplace four to five days per week in the next six months (by August 2025), while the number of employees working zero to two days per week from the workplace will fall.
• As of February 2025, 16% of respondents said they still had not yet implemented their long-term office attendance policy, and 22% of respondents plan to change their office attendance policy in the next six months either by requiring attendance, increasing required in-office days, or making another policy change like mandatory in-person meetings or events, stricter enforcement mechanisms, or department-specific requirements.
• Large employers are more likely to be planning an attendance policy change when compared to smaller employers.
• As of February 2025, the vast majority of employers view their office attendance policies as effective: 44% of employers describe their policy as somewhat effective, and 49% as very effective in achieving their desired outcome. Those employers that require office attendance rather than request it are more likely to describe their policy as very effective.