6/5/23 – – It looks like offices across the country are suffering from a bad case of long-COVID. Remote and hybrid work arrangements, made essential during the pandemic, remain popular with employees, while employers are calling workers back to their desks.
Evidence of this “there’s no place like home” mentality can be found in yet-to-recover office occupancy rates. A May 16 Wall Street Journal article headlined “The Return to the Office Has Stalled” reported that office buildings in major cities remain half empty, creating a crisis for landlords and threatening the vitality of downtowns and corporate cultures.
When the Journal asked workers why they are willing to defy their bosses’ orders, here’s what they found:
“Yet workers say high costs, caregiving duties, long commutes and days still scheduled full of Zooms are keeping them at home at least part of the time, along with a lingering sense that they’re able to do their jobs competently from anywhere. More than a dozen workers interviewed by The Wall Street Journal say they can’t envision returning to a five-day office routine, even if they’re missing career development or winding up on the company layoff list.”
Missing out on so much of the activity and revenue that flow from daytime office workers, cities and suburban employment centers are facing a multipronged crisis:
“Frustration is growing in cities that are suffering from declining real-estate values, setting the stage for lower property-tax revenues and pressuring bars, restaurants and other small businesses that rely on five-day-a-week office workers. In New York, each employee working at home rather than going into the office costs city businesses about $4,600 in sales annually . . .”
Employers and municipalities are scrambling to find ways to lure back workers, who in a full-employment environment have significant leverage. Free parking, onsite daycare and flex hours are a good start, but may not be enough.
Like most crises, this one has been simmering for a while. A June 2022 survey by ADP Research Institute of 32,000 workers in 17 countries found that two thirds (64%) would look for a different job if required to return to the office full time. Half (52%) would be willing to take a pay cut (up to 11%) to maintain a remote or hybrid arrangement.
Way back in 1977, country-western singer Johnny Paycheck recorded “Take This Job and Shove It,” which could be adopted as the anthem for today’s office worker. You may remember the chorus:
You better not try to stand in my way
‘Cause I’m a-walkin’ out the door.
Take this job and shove it
I ain’t workin’ here no more.
And two years ago (June 2021), as we were just coming out of the pandemic, I penned and posted a lighthearted ode that remains surprisingly relevant. Here it is again, in celebration of all those domiciled disrupters determined to earn a living from home:
Farewell to the Office
It’s where we went from nine to five
We’d take the train or maybe drive.
We gave no thought to time away
From home and hearth throughout the day.
And then things changed, there came a virus
That flipped the script on what divides us.
Our meetings went online on Zoom
The kitchen was our conference room.
And soon what seemed so new and strange
Became the norm and welcomed change.
We didn’t miss a skirt or tie
Knowing sweats would get us by.
It was proclaimed a stunning feat
When profits didn’t skip a beat.
Had our commutes been all in vain?
Could business thrive without the pain?
And then we got the troubling news
Our fate would not be ours to choose.
When vaccines changed the status quo
Our new world faced a mortal blow.
Our bosses longed for face-to-face
Behind a desk would be our place.
But “not so fast” was our reply
Staying the course is worth a try.
It worked so far and what the heck
It’s from our homes we’ll earn a check.
So chuck the coffee cups, my friend
And mark us down as “won’t attend.”
Please use our cubes for storage space
From what we’ve learned, we know our place.
Crisis Quotient Blog 