Seattle, King County workers will soon report to downtown offices more often

(The Center Square) – Seattle executive branch employees will soon have to report to work in-person three days a week as the downtown area slowly continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell announced that executive employees will return to office more often starting Nov. 4. The city has approximately 14,000 total employees and about 13,300 of them work for executive branch departments and offices.

Joining the city executive branch is King County, which is also implementing a return to worksites at least three days a week starting in the fall.

The first round of King County employees to return to worksites more often will be executive branch department directors in November.

Each department director will work to develop a plan by January 2025 for an increased on-site schedule and strategy for county hybrid workers.

According to a news release from Harrell’s office, more than three-quarters of King County employees work on-site daily.

Seattle first required employees to return to their offices at least two days per week in 2022.

“As one of the first regional employers to bring employees back to the office, we’ve been encouraged by the embrace of this policy and what we’ve seen as a result: improved collaboration, a strengthened ability to foster conversations and explore new ideas, enhanced community and relationship building, and a real commitment to mentorship and employee growth,” Harrell said in the news release.

Sound Transit Interim CEO Goran Sparrman also signaled his support for employees of his agency to return to officers as a way to “provide the mobility backbone that supports downtown Seattle reaching its full potential.”

“We will soon be shifting our own agency culture to prioritize in-person work, leaning into and returning to the best of in-person work, where people collaborate, innovate, and build communities together,” Sparrman said.

More employees returning to their offices in Seattle’s downtown core would boost the area’s recovery statistics. According to the Downtown Seattle Association’s Downtown Revitalization Dashboard , the downtown core averaged approximately 93,000 daily workers, which is the highest daily average since March 2020 when the COVID -19 pandemic caused many employees to work from home.

However, despite the positive trends in the rate of officers returning to their downtown offices, the 93,000 workers represent 58% of the daily worker foot traffic seen in June 2019.