CAREER

NJ employers: What do we have to do to get you back in the office?

Michael L. Diamond
Asbury Park Press

HOLMDEL - When it is finished, CentralReach's office will have all the amenities you would expect from a high-tech company: moveable furniture, whiteboards, televisions, a kitchen, all to bring out the best in its workforce.

The big question: Will the office have people?

"We're not going to require you to come into the office," Chris Sullens, the company's chief executive officer, said during a recent tour. "But we're going to try to make the office inviting enough … that I want people to be, like, 'Hey, I get to go into the office.'"

Shore-area employers and their workers are emerging from the pandemic — at a time with relatively low numbers of COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths and millions of New Jerseyans returning to life without masks — with a new set-up, dividing their work days between home and the office in search of the best of both worlds.

Chris Sullens, CEO of CentralReach, is interviewed in the still-under-construction office space of the company on the second floor at Bell Works in Holmdel Thursday, June 9, 2022. This technology company is creating the space as employers are slowly returning to the office despite some reluctance from their employees.

Life in the post-pandemic office:Bell Works stars in Apple TV+ 'Severance' as real workers there seek elusive balance

It comes as employers try to iron out the hits and misses from the grand work-from-anywhere experiment. During the past two years, they saw workers who happily gave up their daily commutes and were more productive. But they struggled to maintain a culture that ensures everyone is rowing in the same direction.

The outcome? "I think we'll probably come back to some kind of normal work arrangement, but I think that normal work arrangement will offer significantly more flexibility than what we were previously experiencing prepandemic," said Bill Castellano, a professor at the Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations.

"And that's good," he said.

Job opportunities:Netflix officially bids to turn Fort Monmouth Mega Parcel into production studio

'Build that trust'

CentralReach develops software that helps organizations serving people with autism. It has about 375 employees with offices in Old Bridge and Fort Lauderdale, Florida. And it is growing about 40% a year.

As the company outgrew its Old Bridge office, Sullens decided last year to lease about 25,000 square feet with an option for another 16,000 square feet at Bell Works, the office and retail development that once was Bell Labs, enough room for upward of 100 employees to have their own desks.

How it's growing:Autism-focused Bell Works tech company CentralReach expands with Pathfinder Health deal

Exterior of  Bell Works in Holmdel Thursday, June 9, 2022.

The move isn't risk-free. CentralReach encouraged employees to work remotely, going so far as to create a "Zoom-free" zone between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. to use the time however they like.

But Sullens said the investment in the physical office will pay off. The company benefits when workers get together, bounce ideas off each other and build trust, he said.

"I think it's just very hard to build that trust and build that connection in a pure remote setting," he said.

The pandemic put that management theory to the test.

Need a better home office chair? NJ discount furniture seller launched into COVID boom

As COVID-19 raced through New Jersey, office workers retreated to their homes, where they set up their computers, logged into their company's network and communicated with clients, managers and co-workers through Zoom, Skype or FaceTime.

They saved stress and aggravation on their daily commutes, and they set aside the trappings of office life that could get so absurd that Hollywood made a long-running sitcom out of it.

They could wear comfortable clothes. They could avoid time-sucking meetings and distractions. They could walk their dogs or take a 20-minute nap, and no one would be wiser.

But as productivity rose, Rutgers' Castellano said, so did burnout. Workers' offices were their homes, and their homes were their offices. Their children were always around. There was no quitting time; they answered texts and emails at all hours.

Given their choice, 60% of workers with jobs that could be done from home said they wanted to work from home all or most of the time when the coronavirus threat was over, according to a Pew Research Center poll in February. 

That was up from 54% who said the same in 2020.

NJ jobs:In-person job fairs make a comeback. Can they fix the labor shortage?

German Luna, Perth Amboy, cuts plasterboard at CentralReach's office space on the second floor at Bell Works in Holmdel Thursday, June 9, 2022. This technology company is creating the space as employers are slowly returning to the office despite some reluctance from their employees.

'I get to live where I want to live'

Some Shore-area employers are happy to accommodate. Take Cg Tax, Audit & Advisory, a consulting firm with offices in Tinton Falls and Toms River.

It provided employees with the technology they needed, including multiple computer screens, printers and scanners, said Michael Lewis, a shareholder for the company's health care services group.

In Toms River, the company moved into a smaller office, Lewis said.

Some employees left New Jersey altogether. Danielle Badgzinski, the company's marketing manager, moved from Toms River to Naples, Florida, in January. She now works from home full-time, complete with computer screens and a microphone for her podcast.

What will COVID look like this summer?:Here's what the latest models show

She said she misses the personal interaction she had with her co-workers. But Badgzinski doesn't miss the New Jersey winters or sitting in traffic on the Garden State Parkway on Friday afternoons in the summer.

Taken together, Badgzinski said she's happier.

"I get to live where I want to live, I get to to have a job that I truly enjoy, and still stay connected with the people I work with," said Badgzinski, 38.

Her experience isn't unique. The Pew poll found 64% of workers said working from home improved their work-life balance. But 60% said they felt less connected to co-workers.

Growing at the Jersey Shore:How OceanFirst Bank will use $42M Toms River headquarters to become more powerful

Chris Sullens, CEO of CentralReach, is interviewed in the still-under-construction office space of the company on the second floor at Bell Works in Holmdel Thursday, June 9, 2022. This technology company is creating the space as employers are slowly returning to the office despite some reluctance from their employees.

Lacking connections

It leaves executives in a bind. They are fighting over employees in a tight labor market by offering them flexibility. And they are trying to build a strong culture in a task that's easier in person.

The shift to working from home has left new employees at risk of trying to survive without the direction they need, Castellano said. They don't have a chance to stop by their boss's desk to catch-up or ask questions of older workers.

"If you're not physically witnessing, interacting in that kind of environment, you're not going to understand the proper etiquette," he said. "Every company has these unique behaviors and decision-making protocols. And that's a key component of how successful an individual may be working in a company."

Autism at work:CentralReach, Irish company team up to help train workers

With CentralReach workers still largely at home, Sullens created a "Culture Day," where employees are encouraged to come to the office once a month.

And he pressed ahead with plans to expand its physical office, making sure the space will have enough room for workers to have their own desks if they want, just as it was before the pandemic.

Will workers return? 

"Remote work is important," Sullens said. "But this will be a draw for them as well."

Michael L. Diamond is a business reporter who has been writing about the New Jersey economy and health care industry for more than 20 years. He can be reached at mdiamond@gannettnj.com.