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Telecommuting.
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The hybrid model – working some days in person and others remotely – has become the norm in the New York offices, where a clear Most companies already take it for granted that this formula is here to stay.
In the mecca of the capitalist world, going to the office is no longer a requirement, nor a lot less. What started as a temporary fix for the pandemic, it has become the most common model for hundreds of thousands of workers.
According to a survey released this month by the Partnership for New York City, which represents 330 companies employing more than a million employees, only 8% of office workers in Manhattan currently go to their post five days a week.
While, at the other extreme, 28% always work remotely, according to the data from this survey, collected among 160 large companies in the city.
On average, more than 60% of these employees have a hybrid model, in which they come to the office some days. 11% work in person four days a week, 17% three, 21% two, and 14% just one day.
CONVICTION ;NO NEED
Some companies have adopted the hybrid model out of conviction and others have done so out of necessity, at a time of great labor demand in the United States and in which a good number of employees are willing to change companies. What if they were forced to return to the office full time.
“We were told that in two months we had to go back and I immediately looked for help. another job & rdquo ;, explains to Efe a computer engineer from New York who prefers not to give his name.
After years working for one of the largest telecommunications companies in the country, this 38-year-old American barely took It took a few weeks to find a new job, better paid and totally remote.
In New York, the case of the big banks, which stood out last year, has become emblematic. or past as one of the most critical sectors with teleworking and that, despite many attempts, still fail to bring most of its hundreds of thousands of employees back to the office.
“It’s going to be hard for companies to argue that the only way to get things done in the post-pandemic world is 100% in the office, because we’ve been showing for almost two years that a lot can be done.” outside”, explains to Efe José María Barrero, a professor at the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM) who has participated in research on teleworking in the United States since the start of the pandemic.
Today, many companies try to lure employees back by offering incentives such as social activities, free or discounted food, transportation subsidies, or childcare support.
< p dir=”ltr”>THE FUTURE
Reluctantly or not, New York companies now accept that hybrid work is the future.
According to the survey cited above, almost 80 percent of employers indicate they will maintain this model after the pandemic, compared to 6 percent who used it before covid-19.
Only one in ten companies surveyed plans to require daily presence in their offices once the health crisis is over, while a similar percentage will leave it alone. in the hands of each department.
THE CONSEQUENCES
This reality terrifies the New York authorities, who have been warning for months of the devastating effect it can have on the city.
“You can’t be in your pajamas all day” , Mayor Eric Adams said last March in one of his many events with the business community, in which he has tirelessly promoted a return to office.
In addition to the damage to the thousands of businesses that depend on the activity generated by the offices, local and state representatives fear fiscal ruin for New York due to the possibility that the many employees who reside in neighboring states stop paying taxes if they don’t physically work in the city and that telecommuting sinks the value of commercial buildings, which bring in a lot of money in the form of property taxes.
From the beginning After the pandemic, many experts have expressed their fear that teleworking will drive companies away from cities, but for now it is something that has not materialized in the Big Apple, thanks in part to the generalization of this hi-tech model. That requires continuing to have some physical presence.
In fact, nearly 40% of businesses surveyed in New York expect to increase their workforce in the city in the next five years. years and percentage Almost as many employers planning to add square footage to their offices are planning to reduce it.