Introduction
In the article “Big Cities Can’t Get Workers Back to the Office,” Lauren Weber, Peter Grant, and Liz Hoffman report on the failure of employers to attract employees back to the office. Following the coronavirus pandemic, employees started working remotely; however, transitioning back to the office is becoming a challenge for businesses. Various reasons explain the trend of hesitating to return to the office, including deteriorating quality of life and reduced safety. Exasperation is increasing among community, city, and business leaders in the U.S. as offices are unoccupied with workers refusing to spend less time on business premises. The authors argue that the challenge has increased in the U.S.’s biggest cities. Office attendance in the U.S. has averaged forty-four percent, as cities like New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Chicago have reduced office attendance (Weber et al., 2022). The article explores employees’ reluctance to return to the offices after getting used to working from home.
Causes of Employee Reluctance
The article starts by exploring the reasons leading to the trend where employees refuse to return to the office. The time spent traveling to and from workplaces is a constraint that restricts current workers from returning to the office. States like Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco have long commute times for workers. In addition, they are experiencing lower rates of the number of persons returning to offices. With gas retailing at $5 a gallon, transportation costs have increased, forcing employees to walk or use bicycles to get to work (Weber et al., 2022). In addition, concerns about safety and crime, including public transportation, have increased the urban staff’s unease.
Major crimes, including assault, robbery, and murder, increased significantly in various U.S. cities. For instance, the number of homicides in San Francisco increased to 56 in 2021 as assaults and robberies fell, while violent crimes in Los Angeles increased by about four percent in 2021 compared to 2019 (Weber et al., 2022). In addition, employees are still worried about contracting the coronavirus if they interact with coworkers. Ultimately, employees do not need workplace attendance since most working tools and people are accessible from home.
Article’s Implication for Businesses
The article has implications for businesses and economies around the world. The article’s authors imply that business leaders and politicians are concerned because office workers drive local economies and boost firms. The real estate industry has experienced a decline in sales, with the available space increasing by more than 35 million square feet since 2020 (Weber et al., 2022). Manhattan retail rents have plunged for eighteen consecutive quarters, a trend that started pre-pandemic (Weber et al., 2022). Therefore, some industries are not doing well while others are unaffected.
The article argues that most people prefer working from home or mixing in-person and remote work. Approximately sixty-eight percent of employees would find another job if their managers insisted they work full-time (Weber et al., 2022). Flexibility has become an essential part of human resource management. Thus, companies may have to rethink employees’ working schedules to attract them to the office. In addition, many firms remain reluctant to take a hard stance regarding workplace attendance since they fear losing employees, especially with the increasing attrition rates. The rise of remote work allows employees to balance their work and personal lives (Weber et al., 2022). However, the competition for talent across international and local markets has made remote work desirable and presents a challenge for firms to retain and hire top talent.
Most companies have started to close offices and reinvent their working environment. For instance, one of the companies to move away from the workplace is Yelp Inc. The review platform is closing offices in Washington D.C., Chicago, and New York. The office premises had less than two percent average utilization in a week (Weber et al., 2022). New York-based Nearwater Capital has instructed workers to satisfy workplace attendance five days a week. The line between remote working and vacation is completely blurred. Thus, most people combine visiting friends and family with working remotely (Weber et al., 2022). According to the company, most people do not ask for a work-from-home day but instead inform employers when they need to work remotely.
On the other hand, companies have developed hybrid strategies for employees. American Express Co. is an example of a firm that embraced hybrid work styles. The company started a program that enables workers to select remote work or a combined working model from home and office. The company allows some employees in the office every working day; however, approximately forty percent of the U.S. workforce chooses to work remotely. Paramount Global has also embraced a hybrid working strategy where half of the company’s employees work in the office full-time. JP Morgan Chase & Co., a global investment company, has embraced a hybrid schedule for select jobs that can be done remotely by a small number of people (Weber et al., 2022). However, the company requires staff to work from the office at least five days weekly.
The article explores the strides New York executives are making to improve the business environment in the city. After experiencing coronavirus setbacks and crime, the city works with business leaders to enable speedy workplace attendance. Multiple New York executives have advocated for strict measures on crime. Some groups work to enable remote working and flexibility, leading some companies to renegotiate with labor unions that seek to protect the safety of employees. Most people are not safe in the city; therefore, their workplace attendance may be affected if the streets are unsafe. For instance, Celestie Rodrigues encountered a man who flashed her in the subway (Weber et al., 2022). She stopped taking the subway and usually biked to get around.
Companies are doing more to address worker concerns regarding subway safety and high gas price. Some firms offer to pay for transportation allowances or car services. For example, Deloitte, which provides professional services, is offering to reimburse employees $1,000 for tolls and parking costs (Weber et al., 2022). Furthermore, approximately twenty-five percent of firms provide snacks and free lunches to employees to entice them back to the office, with five percent subsidizing commuting costs (Weber et al., 2022). Overall, employers are struggling to devise ways of enticing workers back to the office.
Multiple small businesses struggle to survive while many workers are home and not working. Small firms do not have the financial power to compete for employees with other companies. The restaurant industry experienced a decline in revenue because people reduced their consumption. For example, the Blue Park Kitchen, a restaurant focused on offering lunch to customers in the Financial District in Manhattan, has seen its sales reduce by thirty percent compared to pre-pandemic levels. However, the programs initiated by employers to attract employees back to the office have offered a reprieve to the cash-strapped business. Catering orders from different firms that provide free lunches to staff have made the company stay afloat (Weber et al., 2022). According to the Blue Park Kitchen owner, New York is economically challenging since the fixed costs of businesses are astronomical, and they need about 80 to 90 percent of pre-pandemic sales to make profits.
The research shows that businesses are moving to upgrade office space to provide workers with more light, collaboration-focused workspaces, and filtered air. For example, the Carlyle Group moved to One Vanderbilt Tower, which has attracted employees back to the office due to its abundant space. In addition, Cadre has a plan to move into fresh office spaces designed with a post-pandemic perspective (Weber et al., 2022). Cadre chose the most convenient place for employees to commute by mapping workers’ residences.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is essential to explore the article’s purpose and how it explains the challenge of employees not returning to the office in recent months. The article starts by exploring the economic factors that influence the reluctance of employees to work from offices. The time spent while traveling restricts workers’ ability to fulfill workplace attendance conveniently. Concerns over safety and criminal acts make New York City unsafe for subway transportation. The article’s main points have various implications for employers, employees, and local businesses worldwide. Companies struggle to make employees work from the office; thus, various companies have opted to combine hybrid work models. In addition, current employees are interested in working with companies that embrace hybrid working models. Working remotely for companies may not satisfy all organizational needs since some jobs need to be performed in the office. When workers returned to the office, they helped other industries. For example, small restaurants have experienced a significant sales boost, as in Blue Park Kitchen’s case. Remote working affects local businesses by exposing them to the global competition for talent.
Work Cited
Weber, L., Grant, P., & Hoffman, L. (2022). Big cities can’t get workers back to the office. Wall Street Journal.