The home workspace in the basement, on the dining room table or in the bedroom corner won’t be converted back to its former use anytime soon.
Business groups in New Jersey and New York expect their employees will split their work weeks between home and the corporate workplace as more employers reopen as the coronavirus pandemic eases. And a Rutgers University expert said it’s unlikely that “knowledge based” office workers are going back to the old model of commuting five days to a work place.
The most recent forecast, released Monday by the Partnership for New York, predicts that 62% of workers will return to their Manhattan workplaces by September. A majority of employers polled will offer hybrid work schedules, with employees splitting work between the office and home.
In a New Jersey Focus survey of 711 employers, 45% of those who responded said their workforce is still working remotely, while 55% reported their entire staff has returned to the workplace. The survey was done in April and results released last month.
That poll said 65% of New Jersey employers will either allow remote-work options after the pandemic, or are currently considering it. Of the businesses Focus surveyed, 24% described themselves as in construction or manufacturing, and 9% as retail.
“We’ve experienced, as a result of COVID, the acceleration of a trend thats been unfolding for last 20 years,” said Professor Bill Castellano of the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations. “I think it surprised the skeptics that it worked.”
One reason is technology made it possible, not just Zoom and other video meeting based apps, but also cloud computing, Castellano said.
“Employees were just as productive if not more productive working from home,” he said. “I think this is a trend that will definitely continue.”
A majority of Manhattan employers, 71%, said they plan to adopt a rotating or “hybrid” office schedule with 65% of those employers saying they expect employees to be in the office three days per week.
A Rutgers-Eagleton poll released on June 3 found 64% of 548 residents surveyed were “very comfortable” working in-person at their place of employment and 24% who said they were “somewhat comfortable” about returning to the workplace. That survey was conducted between May 21-29.
The Partnership for New York survey said 12% of Manhattan office employees have returned to the workplace as of late May and employers expect that 29% of employees will return by the end of July. Most of these responses involve businesses with offices.
Larger Manhattan employers brought employees back to the office at a slower pace, the Partnership found. While 24% of employers with fewer than 500 employees brought workers back to the office, only 8% of companies with over 5,000 employees have told their workers to return, the partnership survey said.
While the percentage of people working hybrid may not continue at the same percent of the work force as it has, what’s likely to emerge are hybrid work weeks where employees work three days in the office and two at home and reverse that schedule the following week, Castellano said.
NJ Transit officials reported a second month of ridership increases, even on hard hit commuter bus and rail lines to New York. Transit ridership across the nation, however, had been slower to recover as pandemic restrictions were eased. Automotive traffic is only 10% lower than pre-pandemic levels.
How hybrid work will affect commuter rail and bus schedules is still being learned. While there currently is still a morning and evening rush period, it starts later in the morning and begins earlier in the evening, said Kevin Corbett, NJ Transit CEO.
Time that had been spent commuting is being used more productively, Castellano said.
“The research says reducing commuting time is something everyone thinks is a great benefit,” he said. “All that time can be used in a more productive way, with more flexibility managing family responsibilities or using that time to do work.”
Transit systems have stepped up sanitizing equipment and stations to boost rider confidence. But concerns still remain among employees about commuting through large hubs such as Penn Station New York, the Partnership survey said.
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Larry Higgs may be reached at lhiggs@njadvancemedia.com.