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It's been pointed out by some Negative Nancy's that downtown office space is pretty much doomed because people prefer remote work. While many do prefer working remote, and right now, skilled workers have some leverage, it may not remain that way. Some businesses have taken to and like remote work. I know the job I left, they had certain departments that they needed in the office more often than not due to the nature of the business, ease of communication and having to work together are urgent projects and such, but the F&A department that I was a part of they learned that we could easily work from home and they could still easily monitor our progress. It also allowed them to give up some office space to save money. Though their more corporate settings in Chicago, STL and NYC were pushing to get most everyone back in the office when I left. I think they were up to three days a week in those Finance departments. Personally, there were pros and cons to working from home. Saved a lot of gas. Got to play with my dogs while I worked and had easy access to food and snacks which also saved money. However, as someone who also deals with social anxiety, it made that part of my life much worse. Having the daily interactions of going to work played a much bigger part to helping in that field than I'd realized and it became really difficult to leave the house, and when I did, I'd resorted to ordering my groceries for pick up and the same with most of my food that I wasn't preparing at home. My social interaction went way down outside of the couple days a month I might see friends. I left that job and am back in the office every day. I will admit, that I was comfortable at my last job but in order to get me away and to get me in the office everyday I got about a 20% increase in pay and all my other benefits pretty much stayed the same. I'm a month in and learning how to process so much stimuli is still a struggle at times, I'm also in a much better place with my anxiety and much of that is thanks to therapy. But this was all supposed to be a small setup for the article I wanted to link and I got a little carried away.
WBJ - Want to lure remote workers back? Here's the best incentive to offer
Flexibility does go a long way. America has long been looked at as a bit odd by some of our friends around the globe with the amount of hours we put in and the lack of vacation time we are given compared to many other nations. Numerous studies have shown that offering more PTO is a net positive for most businesses as it keeps employees fresher and less down about work. Same has actually been said about four day work weeks or even decreased hours. I've personally worked jobs where I could get my tasks done in 30-35 hours each week, and that was still pushing out millions of dollars in invoicing. Sometimes you help others and there were many times where we simply didn't have enough to do, but were still required to work our 40. Granted, as an hourly employee, it's hard to give up that extra money regardless. I'm currently in a salaried position where it simply comes down to getting your workload done. If that's less than 40, so be it.
I also think many remote workers would be open to going into the office a couple days a week as needed. Even with my last job, there were times I missed being in the office because it was easier to communicate and track people down when you had questions or whatever. I'm also not going to lie in that being able to dress comfortably was also a perk of remote work. I once had a job for a company that the only time we had any real dress code is if a client or prospective client were visiting the office. Their theory was that it's better to have employees that are comfortable and do their job well than making them dress a certain way when 90% of the time we were never interacting with clients outside of phone calls and emails. And some of the clients we'd had for a longer period knew about our lack of dress code and when they visited the only rules were generally don't wear flip flops. I may be in the minority, but if you have a job that doesn't meet face to face with anyone outside of your company, I don't see a true purpose in having strict dress codes. Some people enjoy it and that's fine, but I think more and more people find it to be more of a burden.
Also of note, I believe one of the articles I read last week had downtown Wichita office space at something like 82% which isn't bad. Will that change as leases come to an end? Though with a few more tech companies looking to move into Wichita they've been pretty much exclusively looking for downtown office space if memory serves. It will be interesting to follow, but some jobs really are better off in person and some jobs work just as well remotely. There will come a time though when I think the employees might have a little less sway, but I could be wrong.
Though another survey by ADP showed 52% of workers would rather take a pay cut than move back into the office even in a hybrid setting. I think many of those people are eventually going to change their minds. Especially with inflation continuing to be a *****.
WBJ - Want to lure remote workers back? Here's the best incentive to offer
About 29% of employees currently working remotely said no incentive would get them back to working in a physical office, according to a survey of 3,000 workers by Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc. The remaining 71% said they would be open to returning to work but want specific incentives.
The most effective? Money. About 62% of remote workers who would be open to returning agreed more money would make them more willing to return to the office. How much? The average amount of money identified by surveyed workers was $11,700.
For those companies that don't want to dish out even more extra money at a time when pay is rising rapidly, there are some other popular incentives that could be effective, according to the survey.
About 49% of workers said a four-day workweek would encourage them to return to the office, while 44% agreed more paid time off would help.
Many companies are rolling out food-based incentives, such as free snacks, to entice workers back. The survey found only 25% of workers said free snacks and coffee would lure them back. Other amenities, such as private offices (24%), break rooms with video games or game tables (14%) and merchandise (11%) didn't move the needle.
The most effective? Money. About 62% of remote workers who would be open to returning agreed more money would make them more willing to return to the office. How much? The average amount of money identified by surveyed workers was $11,700.
For those companies that don't want to dish out even more extra money at a time when pay is rising rapidly, there are some other popular incentives that could be effective, according to the survey.
About 49% of workers said a four-day workweek would encourage them to return to the office, while 44% agreed more paid time off would help.
Many companies are rolling out food-based incentives, such as free snacks, to entice workers back. The survey found only 25% of workers said free snacks and coffee would lure them back. Other amenities, such as private offices (24%), break rooms with video games or game tables (14%) and merchandise (11%) didn't move the needle.
I also think many remote workers would be open to going into the office a couple days a week as needed. Even with my last job, there were times I missed being in the office because it was easier to communicate and track people down when you had questions or whatever. I'm also not going to lie in that being able to dress comfortably was also a perk of remote work. I once had a job for a company that the only time we had any real dress code is if a client or prospective client were visiting the office. Their theory was that it's better to have employees that are comfortable and do their job well than making them dress a certain way when 90% of the time we were never interacting with clients outside of phone calls and emails. And some of the clients we'd had for a longer period knew about our lack of dress code and when they visited the only rules were generally don't wear flip flops. I may be in the minority, but if you have a job that doesn't meet face to face with anyone outside of your company, I don't see a true purpose in having strict dress codes. Some people enjoy it and that's fine, but I think more and more people find it to be more of a burden.
Also of note, I believe one of the articles I read last week had downtown Wichita office space at something like 82% which isn't bad. Will that change as leases come to an end? Though with a few more tech companies looking to move into Wichita they've been pretty much exclusively looking for downtown office space if memory serves. It will be interesting to follow, but some jobs really are better off in person and some jobs work just as well remotely. There will come a time though when I think the employees might have a little less sway, but I could be wrong.
Though another survey by ADP showed 52% of workers would rather take a pay cut than move back into the office even in a hybrid setting. I think many of those people are eventually going to change their minds. Especially with inflation continuing to be a *****.
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