The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the way companies operate, and employees live and work. While remote working has been practiced in the past when necessary or for specific positions, the pandemic seemingly overnight shifted “office” work to “home office” work. With this came all the challenges of trying to perform professionally while helping to educate children (who were now attending school remotely), working alongside a spouse (in many cases also working from home), and continuing to manage a household that had become the only place the entire family could safely coexist.
With “shelter in place” and “safer at home” orders in place throughout the country and, in many cases, throughout the world, companies that needed new talent either had to recruit and onboard new employees at every level remotely or postpone taking on new hires. As we hit the midpoint of 2021 and COVID-19 vaccines become more plentiful, many companies are once again evaluating getting back to “business as usual”.
But what does that mean post-COVID? Does it make sense for companies to switch gears back to having the majority of employees return to working exclusively from the office, and incur the significant costs associated with leasing and running office space?
What about employees that moved to areas with smaller populations or lower costs of living or better climates because they didn’t have to worry about commuting to the office daily?
And for those companies looking to recruit, would top talent be interested in moving, or would the convenience of working from home lure them to decline offers?
Bobbi Maniglia, VP of Corporate Sales and Mobility Services for northAmerican® Van Lines, provides answers to all of those questions in the research study here.
