Watercoolers have reportedly emerged as a key way for firms to trace office occupancy levels throughout the ongoing return-to-office push.
Data on the quantity of water poured from Web-linked models sold by Bevi has moved in tandem with office attendance levels reported at business across the country, Bloomberg reported last week, citing data from the Boston-based company.
Some hedge funds and investors have expressed interest in examining the watercooler data to glean some insights about office occupancy rates, Bevi CEO Sean Grundy told Bloomberg.
“The quantity of water people drink seems to be indicator of how much time they’re spending within the office,” Grundy said. “For us, it’s positive that it’s been trending up.”
The common volume of water distributed by Bevi machines in 2021 was 28.1% of its pre-pandemic level in 2019, the outlet reported. That very same 12 months, office occupancy rates across 10 major US cities hit 30%, in line with data compiled by Kastle Systems.
CEOs are pushing for more in-person collaboration. Getty Images/Mint Images RF
Watercooler usage jumped to 43.8% in 2022, near the 41.6% occupancy rate reported by Kastle. Up to now this 12 months, the typical monthly water distributed has topped 50.5%, barely higher than a forty five.6% return-to-office rate.
Bevi has provided watercoolers to greater than 5,000 US businesses, in line with the report.
The Post has reached out to Bevi for further comment.
A growing variety of US firms are upping their office attendance requirements.Getty Images
A growing variety of CEOs are aiming for more talks across the office watercooler while pushing employees to spend more time on site.
Amazon and Disney are amongst the businesses which have recently stepped up their office attendance requirements.
Disney CEO Bob Iger cited the “tremendous value in being along with the people you’re employed with” while ordering corporate staffers back not less than 4 days per week starting this month.
Some employees have pushed back on efforts to trace attendance through badge swipes or other methods of enforcement.
US office occupancy rates are still hovering below international levels.Getty Images
At Amazon, staffers recently called on CEO Andy Jassy to “immediately cancel” his returttn-to-office plan.
Across the US, office occupancy rates are hovering between 40% and 60% of their pre-pandemic level – figures that fall far wanting return-to-office numbers in Europe and Asia, in line with a Wall Street Journal report.
