DETROIT (AP) – It’s a question that occupies the minds of millions of employees who have worked from home last year: will they still be allowed to work remotely (at least for a few days) once the pandemic has faded?
On Wednesday, one of the American corporate titans, Ford Motor Co., gave its own answer: it told about 30,000 of its employees around the world who have worked from home that they can continue to do so indefinitely, with schedules flexible approved by its managers. Their schedules will become a “hybrid” of the work office: they will travel to work primarily for group meetings and projects best suited for face-to-face interaction.
Ford’s announcement sent one of the clearest signals so far that the pandemic has accelerated a cultural shift in Americans ’working lives by erasing any stigma surrounding remote work and encouraging the adoption of technology that allows it. More extensive evidence of the post-pandemic workplace suggests that what has long been called telework will remain much more common than it was a year ago.
A report this week of the employment website, in fact, says job postings that mention “remote work” have doubled since the pandemic began. These job offers continue to increase even as vaccinations accelerate and the pace of new confirmed cases of COVID slows.
“If job offers are a guide, employers are increasingly open to remote work, even when some employees return to the workplace,” said Jed Kolko, chief economist at E Indeed.
The percentage of E indeed job postings that mention “remote work” or “work from home” reached 7% last month, up from 3% a year ago. But in some industries, the gains were much more dramatic, including those that have traditionally not welcomed remote work.
In legal services, for example, remote job postings for jobs, including legal assistants and legal assistants, went from less than 5% in the second half of 2019 to 16% in the second half of 2020 , according to data from Indeed. In banking and finance, for jobs such as actuaries and loan subscribers, remote job records increased from 4% to almost 16%. For mental health therapists, they went from 1% to almost 7%.
These changes could, in turn, trigger changes in where people live and affect the economic health of metropolitan areas. Some highly skilled workers could migrate from high-cost coastal cities, where they had grouped during the decade. after the Great Recession, in more affordable cities or towns. The offices of the center could be reduced and exist mainly for collaboration. Tax revenues in large cities could fall as fewer workers sponsor the downtown bars, restaurants and cafes.
“The pandemic has broken the cultural and social norms of our way of working,” said Timothy Golden, a management professor at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. “Distance work has been much more accepted.”
Ford is just the latest company to allow more work from home after the pandemic. Salesforce, Facebook, Google and other technology companies have said they will continue to work from home indefinitely. Target Corp. will come out of the four cities Office locations in Minneapolis as it moves to a hybrid model for 3,500 employees. It will maintain other center offices.
Flexible remote work is almost an equal opportunity. It is disproportionately concentrated among more educated and well-paid workers. The jobs of the lowest paid employees usually require on-site work or face-to-face contact with the public.
More than a third of Asian employees and a quarter of whites worked from home due to the pandemic in January, according to an analysis of government data from the Conference Board, a business research group. Only 19% of black workers and 14% of Hispanics were able to do so.
Kiersten Robinson, chief of staff and employee experience officer, said over the past year that employees and supervisors believe more work can be done remotely, that they can still connect with each other, and that they have the means. to do their job. Thus, when its hybrid programming begins in July or shortly thereafter, Ford will give teams a choice when it comes to the office.
Robinson said a flexible schedule will also help Ford compete for talent.
“I think we see a real shift in expectations among candidates,” he said.
Employees who are pleased with the new policy include Kelly Keller, Ford’s chemical and materials compliance manager. Keller, who has been working on a hybrid program since the pandemic broke out a year ago, would not want to return to commuting to work every day. He now usually works three days from home and then travels the next three business days, one hour per trip, to a lab in Dearborn, Michigan.
Sometimes, when she’s home, she takes her daughter to elementary school and starts working a little late before she finishes later.
“I definitely enjoy the flexibility,” Keller said. “I will be grateful for the opportunity to continue the hybrid deal, for sure.”
Of the workers he oversees, seven travel to the lab every day; four work from home. Home workers, Keller said, have been more productive than they were before the coronavirus arrived because they often work for the time they would have been moving.
“For most,” he said, “I think longer days pass.”
A study conducted last month by Alexander Bick, an economist at Arizona State University, and two colleagues found almost 13% of workers surveyed plan to work from home full-time after the pandemic, almost double the 7.6% they did in February 2020. An additional 25% expect to do so at least one day in the pandemic. week, compared to 17% before the pandemic.
Company executives overwhelmingly report that remote work has been successful during the pandemic, according to an investigation by consulting firm PwC. About 55% said they plan to allow continued remote work, according to a survey of 133 executives from most large companies. Only 17% said they wanted employees to return to the office as soon as possible. An additional 26% said they preferred only limited remote work, but acknowledged it has become popular among employees.
Ford and other companies have been redesigning their offices or considering doing so, to reflect fewer offices and personal offices and more conference rooms and other spaces so that workers, who could be on site for only part of the week, collect laborin.
A more flexible attitude toward jobs could be a severe blow to larger U.S. cities. Many Americans are already taking advantage of remote work to leave New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and the San Francisco Bay Area in favor of Phoenix; Tampa, Florida; Austin, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; and other less expensive areas, real estate data is shown.
A revealing detail: Although the number of homes for sale has fallen nationwide over the past year, the supply of homes for sale in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles has increased, according to real estate broker Redfin. And the drop in available households has been much lower than the national average in other major coastal cities, such as Seattle, Boston and Washington.
Many cities can also absorb financial success even if remote workers do not move. An academic study estimates that workers’ spending on the center’s businesses will decrease from 5% to 10% after the pandemic.
Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin, said the pandemic has accelerated a trend ahead of the virus: more Americans have been looking for cheaper homes in lesser-known cities and suburbs.
Fairweather herself left Seattle last summer after wildfires in Oregon turned the city’s sky into smoke and darkness. Originally, she, her husband, and two young children planned to stay only a month in a small Wisconsin town near her family. Soon, however, they decided to make it permanent and Fairweather has been able to work remotely.
“We liked the pace of life, we liked being close to family,” he said. “It’s so affordable here.”
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Rugaber reported from Washington. AP Business writer Alexandra Olson contributed to this report from New York.