The pandemic has moved out for the most part and the world we’re living in today brings a volatile labor market with a very hot geopolitical climate. Just a couple of years ago, in the midst of the pandemic, people were resigning everywhere for new opportunities while remote work took off. Business leaders, HR Departments and School Administrators were forced to find a way to continue operations in a way that was probably never laid out, even in the best of continuity plans. However, we did it. We made it work. Children in Kindergarten were having Zoom meetings with their classmates, Judges were handing down sentences from the comfort of their recliners as opposed to the courtrooms and the stock market was breaking new record highs on the daily. What a strange trip it has been.
Why is it, that after 3 years of remote work being the norm, are companies now hiring on a hybrid schedule. What difference does it really make if someone is working in a half empty corporate office 3 days out of the week compared to 5 days at home?
As a Talent Advisor (internal recruiter) the job requisitions continued to pile up with critical openings needing to be filled yesterday. It was okay though, because when we work remotely, the labor pool is no longer confined by the geographic boundaries.
The RTO or Return to Office policies were beginning to be put back into place and the stock market, well let’s say it hasn’t been too happy about the return to work either. I’ve heard perspectives from many groups of people. Those that thrive in an office place blame on those that prefer to work remotely and have said, “people are lazy and just don’t want to work.” Well yes, I can agree that some people would prefer not to work. Can you blame them? But I’m talking about the bigger picture. These return to the office mandates are causing quite a headache for many CEO’s and hiring managers. I’ve heard complaints such as, “it’s like taking a pay cut because of the cost associated with transportation” and “I now have to add in more personal time commuting that I was spending being productive at my computer.” I can say for me personally, it was an opportunity to sell an extra vehicle because it wasn’t being used.
Now we have the new hybrid work schedule, which was a way of compromising, I suppose. Whatever we want to call it, the days of remote work are here to stay, but only in certain jobs and industries. As a recruiter looking to fill openings, the talent pool has again been condensed by those pesky geo boundaries we call cities and states. Layoffs are happening more often and in multiple industries. Regardless of what the DOL calls a very strong labor market, I believe the worst has yet to come.
“People who live in the suburbs or in rural areas who were enjoying the opportunities that came with working for large, major companies are experiencing sling shot effects after being told their positions were to be eliminated.”
Why is it that we are just now calculating carbon emissions and believing in the science, then why would we want to put those emissions back into the environment, reverting back to the dreaded rush hour traffic when it has been proven that productivity levels are higher when working from home?
I believe that we are going from the great resignation to another great recession and ceasing to hire remote workers is going to be a major reason behind it. Think about it. Now we have to pay for a car note, with auto prices at record highs, gas prices higher, car insurance, parking costs, toll costs, not to mention putting our lives at risk driving in major cities. By mandating time worked in the office each week, the employee really is having to spend more money out of their paycheck.
If the employee is now in between jobs, they are likely to be underpaid by the jobs available to them locally. It just seems like we went forward two steps and backwards one. If an employer requires one to be in an office 3 days a week, that means they can only hire the people that live within a small radius of the office building. The savings that took place by not having to rent office space will soon come back to bite the bottom line. We are in the midsts of a major housing crisis as well. What if we turned those empty office buildings into residential dwellings that the middle class could afford?
There are so many possibilities, yet it’s back to the normal daily grind for most of us and it leaves the competitive edge with the companies who are hiring our US workforce remotely. Wash, rinse, repeat. Gotta love the rat race that is and shall be forever called corporate America.
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