Are you ready? Here are some new words and expressions you should learn something about as work begins to shift from remote facilities to hybrid or to physical locations.
Well Building Standards Data Driven Capacity Planning
Micro-mobility Workspace Flexibility
QR Codes Office Hot Desks
Collaboration Equity Neighborhoods
And these are just a few of the changes you might have to deal with. Christopher Mims writing for the Wall Street Journal attempts to help us all understand our new frontiers. You can read his full article here. Before you begin scrambling consider these issues and numbers:
There are 48% of available jobs unfilled.
40% of workers would rather quit than return to work in a physical facility
27% of participants in one survey said they want to continue working on a remote basis.
38% want to return to work in their physical facility
29% want their ongoing work to be a mix of both or of the "hybrid" model
In the US, courts have recently ruled that company management CAN mandate vaccinations, except when proven religious or medical requirements exempt them. Personal preference does not count or matter.
As we look at this transition, we also need to understand that it is possible that the worst is not over yet. The new Delta Variant is apparently more easily communicable and cause more severe disease. The scientists are saying that if you have your complete set of vaccinations and have passed the two week waiting period, you should be okay or perhaps asymptomatic at the very least. Right now, the United Kingdom has extended certain quarantine rules because of this variant affecting the country in a big time way. In the USA, 12% of all Covid cases are from the Delta variant.
In a recent UK study reported on CBS News here in the USA , it was found that the Pfizer vaccine was effective about 89% of the time with both required injections, yet only 29% effective if you only have had one of the injections. I am not here to tell you what to do about the whole vaccination issue. That is an individual decision, but I will provide you with facts that might effect that decision you are about to make. Another piece of information relative to vaccines here in Arizona, is that 16,910 cases of Covid were recently reported. Of those, 16,139 were with unvaccinated people. A full 95% of these cases were with people who have not yet been vaccinated. Whether this is for religious reasons, politics reasons, or personal reasons, it is the reality of this pandemic. Unfortunately!
Inside Edition (IE) is a TV news program in the United States. Yesterday, they reported that the highest "quit level" in the history of the USA had just been reported. Over 4 million people have quit their jobs, says IE. The cause is that they do not want to return to a physical facility to work. IE says they are told that the reason for bosses requiring people to return to the office is that they think that bosses think their workers are slacking off working from home. There is no evidence to support the slacking off assertion. I did a previous post recently on this exact topic. Data suggests productivity is up not down for workers working form home. Most businesses are slating September for a return to work. Be prepared. Some businesses are contemplating a full blown return of all virtual workers back to the office. While others like Jamie Dimon, CEO of the huge JP-Morgan Chase bank is predicting more of a hybrid model. He believes 4 out of 10 workers at his financial services organization will continue to work from home.
Al this can mean many different things. Some businesses are going to redesign their facilities anticipating less people being at any one time at the physical facility. They are reducing their square footage of rental, leased or owned properties, thereby reducing their costs and improving their profitability. Others are going to do the opposite. Reporting by the Wall Street Journals' Peter Grant shows right now that less than 30% of leased office space is currently being used in 10 major cities in the USA. You may ask, how do we know this? Great question. There are security firms which actually track access card swipes in big office towers. The same is probably true elsewhere is other major cities around the world.
Why are workers reluctant to return to the office? Covid, of course, primarily because of the low level of vaccinations. Some do not want to give up the flexibility of working from home; or not spending excessive costs for their lunchtime meals, or not having to pay for parking or transportations costs. One benefit of their virtual working from home is that traffic in and out of the city has dropped dramatically, meaning less traffic jams and a quicker commute. Here in Phoenix, our ozone has dropped in a huge way because of fewer cars on the highways. It was and is good for the environment.
If question, ask and I will try to answer.
No matter where you are working from, have a good weekend.
Bob June 19, 2021
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