#employers #employees #WorkFromHome #WorkRemotely #workplaces
An office building in downtown Atlanta is going into foreclosure.
Companies want their employees who’ve been working remotely to come back to their workplaces, but many employees don’t want to.
Working from home has many advantages. Given the high gasoline prices today, cars parked or garaged at home are not using gasoline.
Since the pandemic forced a lot of child-care operations out of business, parents can work AND care for children from home. That’s money in their pockets.
Many workers have set up nice, comfortable workspaces in their home offices. They may not want to go back to the dingy, cold cubicles in their company’s workplace.
It’s clear why the companies want people back to their workplaces. They are paying for space that isn’t occupied. They want an easier way to observe what their workers are doing, how they are doing it etc. They don’t want workers distracted by home life.
The employers also want to rebuild team cohesiveness. That’s tough to do on Zoom, or some other remote communication.
But the workers have every reason to like working from home. If for no other reason, it gives THEM more control over their lives. It’s not that they, in most cases, want to be lazy, not do what they are supposed to and still get paid because no one is watching.
Let’s face it. Going to work is expensive. Commuting, day care, lunch in the cafeteria all costs money.
Any worker who is able to work remotely and save those costs will want to keep doing it.
Sure, they may miss the interaction with coworkers. They may miss happy hour at the end of the week. They may miss the retirement parties and other office gatherings, though they certainly can come into work on those days.
Bottom line is workers want options. Companies may lose good people if they take those options away entirely.
In this labor market, companies need to be very careful. Good workers are in demand, whether they work from home or not.
They will go where they will be treated best.
Of course, some workers don’t have the option to work from home. They have to make things, repair things, serve things and greet customers, which they can’t do from home.
But companies that force the issue of coming back to the workplace may discover that workers will rebel.
If they want the workers to come back, they will need to lure them back with some sort of incentive, be it money or something at the workplace that will make their cozy home offices less attractive.
It’s not necessarily an easy choice for employers or employees whether to go back to the office.
But options are always good to have, especially for workers.
Peter