Zoom Backgrounds Hide Unusual Work From Home Set Ups Of NYers

NEW YORK CITY – Never has a Zoom background been more important.

The tropical scene behind a coworkers head during meetings might not just be wishful thing – a new study suggests it's actually covering the unkempt bed that's replaced an office desk for most New Yorkers forced to work from tiny apartments.

The last year of working from home has meant dwellers of a city not known for its living space have scrambled to find any suitable space to set up their computer. As hundreds of thousands live in studios or with roommates, a separate home office is a dream banished to the suburbs.

Instead, most set up their computers on their beds, according to a survey from Manhattan Mini Storage. Of 1,512 New Yorkers questioned, only 34 percent had a space they called a home office.

One in four respondents work sitting on their beds. Another 30 percent set up their computers on kitchen surfaces or coffee tables. And 3 percent have actually based their workspace in their closets.

The storage company's survey found the people living in Manhattan had 60 percent less paces than those living across the Hudson in New Jersey. And, with more time at home making the walls close in even more than normal, many – 39 percent of respondents – reported turning ovens and bathtubs into extra storage space.

The survey questioned adults in December 2020.