Are there signs of people leaving Boston for cheaper parts of the state yet? (Somerville: for sale, homes)

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by Lampert

Do you see this staying in, say, 2022?

Maybe in very few select positions, but long-term, I see my company going back to normal or at least to a hybrid model that accepts WFH for positions where it was not usually available in 2019. A good chunk of the work-force is too hands on and needs to be in office. We've always been a company that hosts customers and vendors in for meetings and tours and sales loves to wine and dine.


I personally enjoy my hybrid work lifestyle now, and would like to see it continue, but I have no desire for 100% remote work.

[BostonBornMassMade]

My mothers employer, the American Cancer Society, is going 80% remote permanently, nationwide. They made that decision over a month ago.

It’s becoming the new normal for many many millions of people.

[Shrewsburried]

Originally Posted by sawyer2

Agreed

Furthermore, we have friends who are home with young kids and say that they are just as productive now .... either delusional, or more likely they were not very productive in the office pre-COVID

Really depends on the org.

My site's productivity, excluding employees with significant child care burden, has actually remained quite productive ... and we have the data to prove it.

However, our site is devoted to consultant services and was already setup from remote working and flex schedules prior to Covid-19 ... any disruption to our day-to-day (e.g., pay cuts, licensing issues) has come from stresses in the larger parent Co. (or childcare, as already noted). We also maintain very tight time accountability for client billing, so while one could try to slack, it will only last for a week or two before budgets suffer, phases remain incomplete, and PMs will avoid that resource in the following week's allocation meeting ... the smart ones leave, the ignorant ones end up "terminated".

Now, what has been a 'problem' for us is that our clients are no where near as prepared for WFH status. It's very clear their teams aren't communicating, aren't adapting, and aren't nearly as productive. Best case scenario, we bill more as a result ... worst case, programs get shelved. The latter is, unfortunately, becoming more common as Co's pull back on R&D budgets.

My conclusion: there will be plenty of bad data which supports a premature return to the office. Firms which have the infrastructure and, perhaps equally important, the culture which supports WFH are chugging along okay ... assuming the work is there to be processed.

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by yesmaybe

And there is. Collaboration, Communication is far worse WFH. It'd be tough to argue that employees can't go into the office when they were doing so before the pandemic started.

Edit: I think I mentioned it here, I interviewed for a position last year where the opening was due to the previous employee quitting because the company revoked WFH privileges and he lived pretty far.

That's up to the individual employers and not a gross generalization.

Hard to argue? No cure and no herd immunity. Unless board of health gives an OK, the suppliers and customers then it won't work. The legal liability is too high. Who takes the hit for the first covid death on returning to work? Will insurance cover workplace deaths and as icknesd under current plans?

[Zephyr2]

Read up on some of the studies that have come out in recent years showing that WFH often increases productivity. That's not to say it is right for every business and every employee, but the facts speak for themselves.

Instead, the robust, nearly two-year study showed an astounding productivity boost among the telecommuters equivalent to a full day's work.

https://www.inc.com/scott-mautz/a-2-...from-home.html

[Lampert]

Originally Posted by Zephyr2

Read up on some of the studies that have come out in recent years showing that WFH often increases productivity. That's not to say it is right for every business and every employee, but the facts speak for themselves.



https://www.inc.com/scott-mautz/a-2-...from-home.html

They used a travel agency. A company where you spend your entire time talking to clients and have no real reason to interact with your colleagues.
If you work in a creative job chatting with your colleagues is often invaluable and most certainly not replace by zoom.

Also in that same study over 50% of the people in the WFH group said they didn't want to exclusively WFH anymore. It's an interesting point. Inn a strong WFH environment I wonder how long it would talk for corporations to try to pass the concept that it's ok to write work emails at 10pm when you work from home. Trying to blur as much as possible the line between work and home.

[Bridge781]

I honestly think there are enough people who want to return to the office where many places will agree to allow the people to who want to work from home still to do that as long as they’re productive. I think it could be a problem if everyone want to continue to work from home. But based on people’s responses here it’s obvious some want to go back.

[Taffee72]

I know someone who has lived in Central Mass her entire life and hates winter and is a conservative who is sick of all of the old housing stock. She's lived here her whole life because her family is here, and she has a good job with just an associate's degree. She has been with the same company for over 20 years.

She saw WFH as an opportunity to "follow her dream" while still being able to keep her job.

She asked the bosses and they are allowing a six month trial to WFH from the Southern state where she is buying a brand new build near a beach. She would never have been able to afford that house here in Mass.

I thought she should rent and try it out first, but she is going full speed ahead. She told me she has been fine WFH since March in the Worcester area, so cannot see why she would not do the same quality of work in her new location. We'll see what happens.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by Lampert

They used a travel agency. A company where you spend your entire time talking to clients and have no real reason to interact with your colleagues.
If you work in a creative job chatting with your colleagues is often invaluable and most certainly not replace by zoom.

Also in that same study over 50% of the people in the WFH group said they didn't want to exclusively WFH anymore. It's an interesting point. Inn a strong WFH environment I wonder how long it would talk for corporations to try to pass the concept that it's ok to write work emails at 10pm when you work from home. Trying to blur as much as possible the line between work and home.

This has been a major sticking point for me. I've always had to be a little flexible with coming in early/staying late due to the nature of my work (I can't always neatly step away at 5pm on the dot), but this pandemic has taken it to a different level. I've received calls as late as 10pm on Saturday and I'm getting emails from people as early as 5 am and as late as midnight (largely from parents catching up after kids have gone to bed). If you're always home, it seems like there's something of an expectation that you're going to be available at off hours. It's a lot easier said than done to push back on that too. It's the biggest issue I've had so far with worlds mixing like this. I realize this is all highly dependent on the field, but full WFH in my job puts some strain on the work/life balance.

[yesmaybe]

Originally Posted by mdovell

Hard to argue? No cure and no herd immunity. Unless board of health gives an OK, the suppliers and customers then it won't work. The legal liability is too high. Who takes the hit for the first covid death on returning to work? Will insurance cover workplace deaths and as icknesd under current plans?

You can already bring people back into the office, and there are plenty of companies here doing so. Now the occupancy limit right now might not be high enough to have everyone in 100% like it used to be. But that will change.

You could do something like start with forcing employees in a couple days a week. Maybe groups go in alternate days. Force them to wear a mask whenever they get up from their cube. Now it may get a bit hairy for companies with the OOFP, they will just have to get creative.