A year and a half before the epidemic, more than 100,000 people flooded the Central Business District in Charlotte, NC, flooding offices and resthouses, bars and sports venues, including the recently built skyscrapers. After the coronavirus sent staff to their homes, most of the city center quickly became quiet and gloomy.
It was difficult and difficult for employees to return to their offices. Last fall, the Fifth Third Bank began bringing back workers, but soon of course reversed. Lanningtree, which is heading to the city from the suburbs, is waiting for the end of the school year. Wells Fargo has repeatedly delayed returning to Fees, recently telling its employees that they will continue to work remotely at least through May 1 and Duke Energy will bring back some employees in June, and most of its 6,000 people at its headquarters in September, When children should be able to go back to school.
Corporate executives across the country are wrestling with how to open office fees as the epidemic begins to take hold. Businesses – and many employees – are somehow eager to get back to a normal working life, go back to the fees, have lunch at their favorite restaurant, or stop for a drink after work. But the world has changed, and many managers and workers alike acknowledge that there are advantages to working remotely.
While cases of coronavirus are declining and vaccinations are on the rise, many companies do not have the commitment to time and strategy to bring employees back. The most important variable, many officials said, was how long it would take most employees to get vaccinated. President Biden said Tuesday that the United States will vaccinate enough for all adults by the end of May.
Another big consideration revolves around the children of workers. Companies say they can’t make definite decisions until they know when local schools will reopen for individual education.
So the big question is: does it make sense for people to get back to the way things were before the epidemic when they became accustomed to the rhythm of remote work?
“Everyone’s level of comfort varies with the return,” said Chuck McCash, a senior vice president of the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, an organization that helps businesses in the region. “For some companies, it depends on the type of work you are doing and the type of work you can do at home. But the concern about constant remote work is, how do entry-level workers fit into the office culture? ”
According to security firm Castell Systems, which receives data from over 100 buildings in the United States, about a quarter of employees across the country are going to office fees these days.
Many companies, paying rent for vacant office fees, are eager to increase that number. His executives believe that working together improves collaboration, supports the development of younger employees and nurtures the heart and soul of any company – its culture.
That’s why some managers, such as Mark Rose, chief executive of Avison Young, a Chicago-based commercial property consulting and property management firm with office fees around the world, are asking employees to return to office fees in April.
“If you don’t come back you won’t be fired or fired, but it is expected that, subject to local laws, and subject to your personal issues, you will start coming back your way,” Mr. . Rose said about her 5,000 employees. “That would be quite an expectation.”
The mass return in office fees will, of course, be a boon for commercial real estate companies like Avison Young. Homeowners, whose income is risky, will breathe a sigh of relief as they move out of the corporation or reduce the space they rent. Many tenants have more space than they need. In Manhattan, the amount of enough office fee space to rent increased by about 0 percent last year and is currently 5 percent of all available space, up from 500 a year. No. is the largest since the post-financial crisis period, according to Seville.
Moreover, a return to office fees will help revitalize city centers that have been haunted towns for months. Rest Restaurants could start renting rents and bars again and returning passengers could find much-needed revenue for a struggling transportation system.
During an epidemic, most office attendance is determined. That number crashed in March and April last year as the epidemic caught up and began to grow slowly in late spring, according to Castell. Another increase in infection after Thanksgiving reduced business but seems to be growing.
There are big regional differences. In Texas’s largest cities, more than a third of workers have returned, while the New York, San Francisco and Chicago areas are below 20 percent.
Some of these regional differences can be explained by how people come to work.
“Where people are traveling by public transport, we know that people are more sensitive to covid because of their presence,” said Tresdale Neely of Harvard Business School. Professor who studies remote work.
Some companies that have started trying to bring workers back in for 10,000 fees – like Vivont, a provo, Utah-based home security business with more than 10,000 employees across the country – say they are doing so on a voluntary basis.
Vivint is allowing 40 percent of its 4,000 employees to return to Utah, although only 20 percent have chosen to do so on a regular basis. The company needs some call center workers who are “struggling to deliver their calls” and needs additional coaching to get there.
To accommodate the social distance, Vivint has restricted the entrance of each building to a single entrance, where employees have taken its temperature. The signs remind employees to wear masks at all times, and the company has limited capacity in the conference room.
Vivint also has a non-on-site clinic offering 15-minute rapid virus tests to employees and their families. “It’s very important for our ability to give our employees peace of mind,” said Star Fowle, senior vice president of human resources.
When Utah allows it to do so, the company hopes to use the clinic to deliver coronavirus vaccine to its workers.
Some businesses, such as Seattle-based law firm Davis Wright Tremine, have said that employees who want to return to the fee must be vaccinated. But others like Duke Energy have said they are trying to encourage vaccination, not necessarily.
As an incentive for employees to get vaccinated, Duke Energy is providing “health reward points” to vaccinated employees, similar to what employees receive annually for getting physical or not using tobacco, Duke spokesman Neil Nissan said. The issue could reduce employees ’monthly health insurance costs, he added.
The company said the epidemic would largely have a lasting effect on how it operates.
“We will have a hybrid working model Dell,” Mr Nissan said. “Some days, an employee will be in office fees and other days, they will work remotely. It relieves employees and prevents everyone from being there at the same time. ”
More than 55 percent of those surveyed by consulting firm PWC late last year said they would prefer to work remotely at least three days a week after the epidemic subsides. But their bosses seem to have some different choices – 68 percent of employers said they believe employees need to be in office fees at least three days a week to maintain a corporate culture.
SanForce, a San Francisco-based software company, recently received some praise when it said most of its employees would be able to pay office fees one to three days a week – once described as “flex” the company’s approach to epidemics is no longer a public health risk. The company will no longer say whether it needs less office fee space now.
But other companies eventually want all or almost all employees back for most of the week – and are telling workers that their careers could be in jeopardy if they don’t come back.
Rapid 7, a Boston-based cybersecurity company, expects workers to return at least three days a week when it decides it’s safe to do so.
“We truly believe that our personal workplaces foster our culture and our core values,” said Christina Lussoni, the company’s chief executive officer.
Employees who choose not to return to the fees may face professional reactions, he said.
“We are not saying that we will deliberately stabilize your career,” Ms. Lussoni added. “But, when you’re all back together you’re a weird person, it can be challenging for you.”
However, this discussion is somewhat theoretical. Rapid 7 has not yet set a date for a return to office fees, and Ms. Luconi said she will wait until the vaccine is widely available. The company tends to allow only vaccinated employees to return to the back fee.
