Following up on yesterday’s post, from the Daily Mail. Apparently, workers in New York City and San Francisco are among those who are most reluctant about returning to the office. Cities in Texas are the least reluctant.
The Daily Mail reports:
Dallas has the highest number of staff back in person with 49 percent swiping their cards to gain office entry in the second week of June, followed by Austin (48.7%) and Houston (47.7%).
The national average is 31.5% and New York, LA, San Fran and Philadelphia are all beneath it.
Only 21% of staff in New York City have gone back, despite all of the COVID restrictions lifting this week. San Francisco has seen just 18% of staff return.
Now, bosses are facing a power struggle with staff who say they no longer want to come in because they've gotten so used to working from home.
Or, another explanation:
Mark Ein, Chairman of Kastle Systems, told DailyMail.com on Wednesday that it may be down to people in Texas being able to drive to work versus taking the subway. Equally, it could be people in cities like New York and California - both Democrat states - have been led by the more restrictive lockdowns there.
Whatever the reason, now that all lockdown restrictions are being lifted in New York City, we shall see whether offices start filling up. At the least, we now know why some CEOs are starting to threaten those who do not want to return.
I work for a global company, so I'm interacting with people outside MY office all the time. They may be in their office, or not. I'm moving away from the city containing "my" office to become a permanent work-from-home person.
ReplyDeleteTuesday, I went in to the office for the last time to clear off my desk (coffee cup, tea cup, and a fork were everything). It had been so long that I needed to ask the security desk what floor we were on. They scanned my badge and I hadn't been to the office since March 2019, not 2020, 2019.
No doubt there are places that are more productive with everyone in the office. In fact, my company would be one of them, if we were not already spread out around the globe. Once you have to coordinate Moscow, London, Singapore, Tokyo, Chicago, and Denver, someone outside an office becomes a fairly trivial concern.
It was COVID that allowed "beyond commute" distances, though. I considered moving out of state last year and the answer was "no". After a year of everyone being remote, that changed to a "yes" and I'm leaving not just Denver, but Colorado.
I could work from home, and recognize it has its advantages, but I lack space for a semi-private work area. I'm also less than 4 years from retirement if things stay relatively stable which makes a poor work area very unattractive and remodeling to get a better one impractical.
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