Where are all the office workers?

Submitted by expressdefrost t3_yn0stj in Newark

Probably a stupid question but here goes. I recently moved to downtown Newark. There are a lot of large office buildings (Panasonic building and others nearby) and I would expect to see a lot of office workers walking around the area during lunch, happy hours, etc. But it seems like I never see them. What’s going on? Are the office buildings empty? Do the people who work there just drive in to work and drive out and never set foot on the sidewalk? Given the density of office space in the area, I’m very confused by the lack of foot traffic.

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LateNightNewYork t1_iv6htpm wrote

Many are still working remotely.

The Panasonic building never produced foot traffic. It was deliberately set back from the street and gated off to separate it from the city.

It’s an embarrassing very recent example of fear based architecture.

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effort268 t1_iv6f52p wrote

Many offices are still empty doing remote, some are hybrid. Many ppl are also driving in more than usual

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aabysin t1_iv7xhyv wrote

To all of the people citing work from home, I would say it wasn’t a whole lot different in 2019. There was barely anyone walking around then either.

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Ironboundian t1_iv83iud wrote

Correct. I don’t notice a foot traffic difference. Most of the downtown workers always had cafeterias in the buildings and drive in and out and never walk around for lunch.

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patriot7461 t1_iv6ja4p wrote

I drive into Newark for work Tue thru Thur. Many of my co-workers come in one or two days. My 3-day requirement seems extreme compared to others

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Marv95 t1_iv80np8 wrote

Prior to remote work being a thing, this was an issue. You saw a good amount outside when the weather was nice, specifically east of Broad and maybe further up Broad by the newer Prudential tower, but for the most part they were in the Gateway, Penn Station or they drove in and out.

Many buildings downtown don't produce foot traffic due to the set up.

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effort268 t1_iv92gkl wrote

This is why residential towers are good. Its bring real life to a city

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thebruns t1_ivd8vub wrote

Not when they come with a massive garage.

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effort268 t1_ivdiddj wrote

Agreed, must be minimize if not completely eliminated

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relampagos_shawty t1_iv6sg4y wrote

My bestie who works downtown has been remote since the pandemic and starting two months ago has to come in 3 days a month lol

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Jimmy_kong253 t1_iv7hoeg wrote

IDK about downtown but I will say the area around Newark Penn station parking wise Monday through Friday is as busy as pre COVID. Makes me miss 2020/2021 when I could show up half an hour before my start time and get a parking spot. Now I'm back to playing parking wars

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VaMoInNj t1_iv7c9gd wrote

I talked to someone that works for Prudential the other week. He said they just have to come in once a week. So I'd imagine Monday and Friday the office is damn near empty, and Tue-Thu that have about a third of their normal staff.

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Juicey_J_Hammerman t1_iv7cp7t wrote

My company’s HQ is in downtown Newark and everyone in my division has been fully remote since the pandemic started, Save an occasional seminar or all hands meeting, and for 1-2 “community days” a month where they encourage people to attend in person and schedule team meetings for.

It’s a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy as well since companies have scaled back their in-person amenities as well since the pandemic started. Our company removed the water coolers and emptied out all supplies and appliances (printers, coffee machines, refrigerators, microwaves, tables/chairs, etc) from our break rooms on each floor, and the onsite IT and facilities teams are a skeleton crew at best with limited hours. Our company cafeteria is also being converted to additional meeting space/facilities.

All of this makes sense since there isn’t nearly enough people onsite to justify a normal coverage presence, but it also makes coming back to the office more frequently a harder sell to people as a result.

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ryanov t1_iv8ivlq wrote

I live downtown, and work at Rutgers in University Heights, and I don’t go to my office because it’s a pandemic, and I know my employer doesn’t care about me. But that puts me downtown more than usual. But it’s a pandemic so I’m not socializing, and getting takeout doesn’t put you on the street for long.

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[deleted] t1_iv8w4a5 wrote

[deleted]

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ryanov t1_iv8wc3v wrote

Most people are convinced that this doesn’t matter anymore.

PSA?

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[deleted] t1_iv8xnyd wrote

[deleted]

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ryanov t1_iv8zq0c wrote

Yes, I know that. I am the president of a union. It’s not true that everybody who doesn’t have a reporting line is in a union. There are people all over the place who are not for some reason, and we are working on that, as that was less true at UMDNJ.

I didn’t catch that you were asking about a union name. We don’t have one called PSA though.

The power of a union is in its members. A surprisingly small percentage of people seem to think this is a big deal anymore. There are somewhat more people who don’t want to go to the office because they just don’t want to and have shown that they don’t need to. Then there are others that are psyched “to see everyone’s face again.”

It’s hard to build a movement around safety when there don’t seem to be that many people that think there’s an actual safety problem.

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[deleted] t1_iv90j5f wrote

[deleted]

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ryanov t1_iv91rg2 wrote

No one manager or above is in a union at Rutgers. UMDNJ (and now the former UMDNJ parts of Rutgers and UH) had supervisors in CWA. Rutgers has sort of the middle in an AFT union called “Union of Rutgers Administrators.” Some AFSCME too. Professionals and Nurses on the legacy-UMDNJ side of Rutgers (and increasingly the legacy Rutgers side too) are in my union (HPAE) and the non-clerical and housekeeping, etc., jobs are Teamsters. We also have OPEIU. There are also two different AAUP unions for the two legacy schools, and one for adjunct faculty.

You at NJIT?

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Some-Mid t1_ivb2z7n wrote

Downtown has also been a lot dirtier lately. I went to Starbucks and the trash was overflowing and I haven’t seen it like that in a while

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thebruns t1_ivc9gh5 wrote

Did you miss the whole covid thing

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expressdefrost OP t1_ivcbj5s wrote

Other cities are not like this…

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thebruns t1_ivcnj7d wrote

Yes they are. Visit DC or SF. It's like 10% of what it used to be

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Aggravating_Rise_179 t1_ivgqjud wrote

I mean yes they are. Manhattan is having the same issues. I go to the Financial District often for work and once in a while go to Midtown... both places are pretty empty compared to what they were back in the pandemic.

Hell, I was just in Midtown for a random social event last month and when I left at 2 in the morning, the streets were extremely empty... this is a part of the region that is and was the most 24 hours area of the city (when I say city here, I include urban Jersey as well).

Newark had a much more active downtown office scene back before the pandemic. You saw them out and about during lunch alot, especially near Halsey. Now the only area of downtown that is pretty much at pre-pandemic foot traffic is the university areas.

Will it come back, maybe... I do not know if companies will go fully remote, but I can see many companies pushing for more in person work as we start to see the pandemic come to an end...maybe not full 5 days a week, but more around 3 to 4 days in the office and one or two days from home.

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