DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Half of Americans would take a pay cut to work remotely — and many are willing to give up vacation days, survey finds
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-13 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Noah Sheidlower | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Many workers are willing to take pay cuts, increase working hours, or give up benefits for remote work. AdvertisementIt turns out that remote work is still valuable — at least for prospective employees. And they're willing to pay for that ability: Half of workers surveyed said they would take a pay cut for the policy. AdvertisementA majority of workers also reported being willing to move elsewhere for work if given the chance to work remotely. AdvertisementJay, an elder millennial, previously told Business Insider that he took a $35,000 pay cut so he wouldn't have to live near his office.

Persons: —, they'd, Millennials, that's, Nick Bloom, Jay, Insider's Aki Ito Organizations: Service, Stanford, WFH Research, Workers, Harvard Locations: Washington

☆ Remote Employees Are More Likely to Get Laid Off; WFH Is Risky
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Emily Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Executives at the online furniture retailer Wayfair told its staff in January that remote workers were likelier to be hit in its latest round of job cuts. Add in long-term trends, like the decline in loyalty between employers and employees , and it's no wonder remote workers feel anxious about cuts. “It’s not too surprising,” Peter Cappelli, a management professor at the Wharton School who has never been a big fan of remote work, said. “That is something remote workers should be thinking about as they’re engaging with supervisors,” she said. Remote workers aren’t doomed to the unemployment line, but they may want to try a little extra to get noticed.

Persons: Wayfair, ”, Dell, Goldman Sachs, “ It’s, ” Peter Cappelli, “, Nick Bloom, ” Bloom, Emily Dickens, ” Prithwiraj Choudhury, ” Joseph Fuller, pang, Emily Stewart Organizations: IBM, Reuters, Google, Wharton School, Stanford, Society for Human Resource Management, Harvard Business School, Employers, Workers, “ Workers, Staff, Business

☆ Return-to-office mandates aren't making companies more valuable and productive, study finds
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-30 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | Noah Sheidlower | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

That's according to a new paper that looks at how RTO mandates impact productivity and performance. If RTO mandates are hard to enforce, they probably don't make sense for that workplace. RTO mandates were more common for firms with "male and powerful CEOs." The authors found no significant impact of RTO mandates on stock returns or firm profitability. RTO mandates have divided many offices nationwide, including at leading tech and financial companies.

Persons: —, Nick Bloom, RTO, Bloom, Danielle Organizations: Service, Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh, Amazon, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Stanford, The Conference Board Locations: Glassdoor

☆ Bank of America sends letters threatening 'disciplinary action' to employees who aren't coming into the office
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-24 | by ( Lakshmi Varanasi | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Bank of America is issuing warning letters to workers who aren't coming into the office. The bank has been sending letters to correct workplace attendance since late 2023. In its latest effort to herd its employees back to the office, Bank of America has been sending out warning letters it's calling "letters of education" to those who haven't been turning for work. AdvertisementSince October 2022, Bank of America has been requiring the majority of its employees to come into the office at least three days a week. In April of last year, JPMorgan's CEO Jamie Dimon mandated the firm's top executives to come into the office five days a week.

Persons: —, haven't, Jamie Dimon, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley's, James Gorman, Nick Bloom Organizations: of America, Wall, Service, Bank of America, Financial Times, Business, Workers, BI, Stanford

☆ The end of workplace loyalty
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Aki Ito | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

Do that, and you generate the kind of trust and loyalty that leads to high productivity and low turnover. A world in which the psychological contract is profoundly broken. In the three decades following World War II, as Rick Wartzman documents in his book " The End of Loyalty ," a booming economy made American companies rich. Today, disillusioned workers might assume that the norm of workplace loyalty was nothing but a capitalistic ruse, a way for companies to exploit their employees. But the new loyalty would recognize that employees have to uphold their end of the bargain.

Persons: I've, Gen Xers, Gen Zers, they'll, Rick Wartzman, Wartzman, Denise Rousseau, Rousseau, who's, Mark, —, it's, I'm, he's, quitters, Nick Bloom, Stanford University who's, Anthony Klotz, Klotz, they're, It's, Aki Ito Organizations: Companies, Kodak, GE, Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford University, University College London, Employers, Business

☆ What to expect at work in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-02 | by ( Jeanne Sahadi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Another recent survey by consulting firm Mercer found that employers expect to promote just under 10% of their employees this year. Expect, too, to see a wider variety of employers offer more financial wellness benefits in 2024. “After three years of turmoil it finally looks like [work from home] has stabilized and 2024 will look a lot like 2023. Employees who can work a hybrid schedule are generally working from home roughly 30% of the week (or about 1.5 days), Bloom noted. For example, someone with a busy work schedule may opt to take them via text or chat on their phone on a Sunday morning, he said.

Persons: WTW, Mercer, ” Mercer, Rich Fuerstenberg, Emily Rose McRae, ” McRae, McRae, ”, Nick Bloom, Bloom, Anthony Reynolds, Reynolds Organizations: New, New York CNN, Gartner Inc, …, Stanford University, Employees Locations: New York

☆ I'm a Gen Zer who found my 9-to-5 soul crushing until work-from-home changed my life
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-05 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

I'm a Gen Zer who worked at my 9-to-5 before the pandemic, and found the schedule soul-crushing. The shift to remote work suddenly meant I had time to cook, exercise, and socialize. AdvertisementThere's been a whole lot of buzz recently about Gen Zers discovering the bleak realities of a 9-to-5 schedule. I graduated college in 2019, and went almost immediately into a 9-to-5 schedule. Like other Gen Zers, I enjoy getting face time with my coworkers, and, honestly, the free food.

Persons: Zer, —, There's, Zers, Herman Melville's, Scrivener, We've, Nick Bloom, Bloom, I'd, They're, It's, that's Organizations: Service, Business, University of West, Federal Reserve Bank of New, of Labor Statistics, Stanford University, Insider Locations: York City, University of West England, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, New York City, York

☆ Return to office is 'dead,' Stanford economist says. Here’s why
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

"Return to the office is dead," Nick Bloom, an economics professor at Stanford University and expert on the work-from-home revolution, wrote this week. The share of paid work-from-home days has been "totally flat" this year, hovering around 28%, said Bloom in an interview with CNBC. "We are three and a half years in, and we're totally stuck," Bloom said of remote work. Why remote work has had staying powerThe initial surge of remote work was spurred by Covid-19 lockdowns and stay-at-home orders. While remote work is the labor market's new normal, there's significant variety from company to company, Pollak said.

Persons: Nick Bloom, Bloom, hasn't, Julia Pollak, Pollak, it's Organizations: Stanford University, Survey, CNBC, Census, Research, Finance, Employers Locations: U.S

☆ Millennials are the reason you can still work remotely
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-26 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Millennials are powering the continued remote work boom, and are more likely to be remote. While Gen Zers and boomers want to go in, millennials are opting to work from home. Going into the office is a desire that cuts across generational lines, unifying groups that aren't often in alignment: Gen Zers, Gen Xers, and boomers. That data paints a clearer picture of how remote work has created new segments of workers. Of course, remote work has been life-changing for some .

Persons: Gen Zers, —, Nick Bloom, Zers, Gen Xers, Bloom, José María Barrero, Steven J, Davis, Stanford, Charles Bond Organizations: Service, Stanford, People, Workers Locations: Southern California, Plenty

☆ 3 unique ways employees and companies are making 4-day workweeks happen
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-09 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

The four-day workweek is picking up steam as test pilots report promising results. It's led some entrepreneurs and businesses to give the four-day week a chance. Some people are using remote work as a different way to reduce their weekly hours. By November, she and her three remote employees had transitioned to a "quasi- four-day workweek ," she said. More companies may give the four-day week a chance as pilot programs across the globe report promising results and the competition to attract talent persists.

Persons: It's, —, Elly Hurst, Hurst, hasn't, Mark Takano, Robert Burns, workweek, Burns, Jamie Dimon, Drew Angerer, he's, Nick Bloom, Azman Nabi, I've, Nabi, Elly Hurst Elly Hurst Organizations: Service, Democratic, Getty, JPMorgan, Stanford Locations: Maryland, Rochester , New York, India, San Diego

☆ The boss is back in charge
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-17 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

After a brief transition of power to workers, it feels like bosses are back in charge. Between the rise of AI, return-to-office mandates, and layoffs — employee anxiety is high. Between the rise of job-threatening AI, strict return-to-office mandates, and sweeping layoffs, it feels like bosses are clawing back what little remains of employees' power . The economic trend began in early 2021 in the wake of the pandemic and saw millions of workers quit their jobs . AdvertisementAdvertisementThe charge is largely being led by Big Tech and banks, with varying degrees of severity and pushback.

Persons: didn't, Peter Cappelli, Cappelli, Erin Kelly, Stanford, Nick Bloom, they're, Raj Choudhury, OpenAI's ChatGPT Organizations: Service, Companies, Wharton Business School, MIT Sloan, Big Tech, Amazon, Web Services, Harvard Business School, Octopus Energy Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ Michael Bloomberg implies remote employees are playing golf instead of working: 'It is funny, but it's tragic'
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-14 | by ( Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Michael Bloomberg is an outspoken critic of remote work. He thinks employees are slacking off and hitting the golf course during the workday, he told CBS. A March study by Stanford University researchers found that remote work "powered a huge boom in golfing," with visits to golf courses surging on weekdays and mid-afternoons compared to pre-pandemic times. AdvertisementAdvertisementIn August, he wrote an opinion piece for The Washington Post, arguing that remote work for federal employees had "gone on too long." Just days after Bloomberg's article was published, Biden reportedly ramped up efforts to get federal employees back to the office.

Persons: Michael Bloomberg, slacking, I've, Nick Bloom, Alex Finan, CBS's Mo Rocca, Jacob Frey, Biden, Goldman Sachs, Abbie Shipp Organizations: CBS, New, New York City, Service, Stanford University, Bloomberg, Minneapolis, Employees, Washington, Meta, Neeley School of Business, Texas Christian University Locations: New York, Wall, Silicon

☆ Businesses are pressuring Target to force its employees to return to the office — and it's more evidence that companies can't win in the remote work wars
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Alex Bitter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Target is sticking to a flexible hybrid work schedule for employees at its Minneapolis headquarters. Corporate employees at Target aren't subject to a company-wide return to office mandate, the Minneapolis/St. AdvertisementAdvertisementBut many businesses in Minneapolis, Target's hometown, aren't thrilled by the policy, the Journal reported. Target has taken a much more relaxed stance toward bringing employees back to the office than other major companies. That approach to work likely contrasts with most of their employees, who have families and lives outside of their jobs.

Persons: Goldman Sachs, Melissa Kremer, Target's, aren't, We've, David Fhima, Meta, Nick Bloom, Bloom Organizations: Paul Business, Meta, Service, Amazon, Target, Human, Stanford Locations: Minneapolis, St, Amazon, Wall, Silicon

☆ Return-to-office orders look like a way for elite, work-obsessed CEOs to grab power back from employees
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | Sarah Jackson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Bosses who allowed fully remote work during the pandemic want workers back in the office, pronto. Experts say RTO orders come from elite, often male CEOs who prioritize work over work-life balance. AdvertisementAdvertisement"For most employees, life is partly work, but partly things outside work," Stanford economist Nick Bloom said. "These elite CEOs probably work 100-plus hours a week and they're much more work-focused." The mandates symbolize the sharp disconnect right now between the way CEOs and employees think about work.

Persons: Bosses, Goldman Sachs, Goldman, Mark Zuckerberg's, they'll, Grace Lordan, —, Lordan, Elon Musk, Tesla, Stanford, Nick Bloom, Bloom, Hasan Chowdhury, Sarah Jackson Organizations: Service, Meta, London School of Economics Locations: Wall, Silicon, hchowdhury, sjackson

☆ People would rather work anywhere but the office — including their gyms
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-16 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

It shows how remote workers, or hybrid workers, crave a third space that isn't work or home. As the Wall Street Journal reports, gyms are the latest venture to break into offering coworking space. Its website touts that the gym's members lounge "offers communal work tables and social lounge spaces available from open until close for all club members," where members can "catch up on some work" or "just relax after your workout." As research on remote workers' time use shows, more are using their breaks to work out or participate in other leisure activities. That could explain why a gym-based coworking space is so appealing: You get the ability to socialize, work out, and still get your work done.

Persons: crave, Chelsea, Chelsea Piers, Nick Bloom, Bloom Organizations: Service, Wall Street Journal, Chelsea, Stanford Locations: Wall, Silicon, Brooklyn

☆ The remote work revolution is crashing into a cold reality: Research is finding workers are less productive at home
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-11 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Recent research found that fully remote workers were less productive than office workers. A recent analysis of multiple studies by the Stanford economist Nick Bloom, a leading remote-work expert, found that fully remote workers were 10% to 20% less productive than their in-office counterparts. But the research has found, on average, those working in the office at least some of the time are more productive . Even Zoom, which is synonymous with remote work, recently called some employees back to the office for at least two days a week. Bloom recently estimated 60% of Americans worked fully in person, 30% worked in person between one and four days per week, and 10% worked fully remotely.

Persons: Nick Bloom, Mark Zuckerberg, Marc Benioff, Jeff Moriarty, Moriarty, he's, Kate Ecke, Ecke, telehealth, it's, Raj Choudhury, Stanford's Bloom, Bloom Organizations: Service, National Bureau of Economic Research, Stanford, Bureau of Labor Statistics —, Meta, Harvard Business School Locations: Wall, Silicon, India, Chicago, New Jersey

☆ No one knows how much they should care about work right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

If you're not sure how much to care about work, or what it means to you, you're not alone. Work blurred into life, and life blurred into work, suddenly making my personal errands the same as work. In the wake of our existential reckoning with work, some office workers flipped the script, making life their full-time job and work a part-time pursuit. Lazy girl jobs and a window of opportunityRight now, we're in the "uncomfortable" middle of work, as Klotz calls it. The opportunity to job hop may be dwindling, but that doesn't mean work has to settle into 2019 norms.

Persons: Anthony Klotz, It's, Klotz, " Klotz, Chris Bailey, Bailey, Nick Bloom, Bloom, it's, stayers Organizations: Service, University College London School of Management, Workers, Stanford Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ Delta's CEO tells bosses who 'moan' to him about staff not coming into the office more: 'I know where they are – they're on my airplanes.'
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-22 | by ( Jordan Hart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Ed Bastian told Semafor that bosses complain to him about trying to get employees back in the office. The Delta CEO said remote and hybrid workers now spend more time traveling. But the CEO of Delta CEO says their workers aren't just sitting at home – they're taking trips. American employees are clinging to remote work despite senior management thinking it's time to draw a line. I don't need to be in an office to do my work," she previously told Insider.

Persons: Ed Bastian, Semafor, aren't, Bastian, Nick Bloom, Bloom Organizations: Delta CEO, Morning, Delta, Semafor Locations: Arizona

☆ The WFH-vs.-office war might be over and hybrid work is winning out, says the nation's top remote-work expert
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Researchers explain how both employees and companies can benefit from a hybrid work model. What's more, these data points have leveled off in the last few months, Bloom told Insider. Bloom's paper concluded that hybrid work had a "flat or even slightly positive" impact on productivity and improved employee recruitment and retention. Remote work could rise in the years ahead as technology improvesPer Bloom's most recent estimates, 60% of Americans work fully in-person, 30% work in-person between one and four days per week, and 10% work fully remotely. But Harvard's Choudhury said there's one reason a recession wouldn't crush the remote work movement.

Persons: Nick Bloom, Bloom, Choudhury, Harvard's Choudhury Organizations: Service, Stanford, Harvard Business School Locations: Wall, Silicon

☆ 5 ways AI could change your job, including making it more interesting and helping to convince your boss to let your work from home
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Insider asked several experts in AI, economics, and remote work about the multitude of ways Americans' working lives could be impacted by AI moving forward. AI could eliminate some jobs and boost competition for those that remainGenerative AI technologies like ChatGPT will likely create some jobs and replace others. But for companies with leadership that has this concern, AI productivity gains could help them forget about some of their remote work "productivity paranoia" — a factor that in theory, could help remote work persist at some businesses. "So I think the biggest AI impact will be a ton of fully remote jobs like data-entry, payroll etc going to AI." Added Frey: "Any technology that increases productivity, ChatGPT included, makes a shorter workweek more feasible."

Persons: —, there's, Goldman Sachs, Mark Muro, Carl Benedikt Frey, coders, Frey, Oded, Muro, Nick Bloom, Columbia's Netzer, Michael Chui Organizations: Service, Brookings Institution, Columbia Business School, Workers, Microsoft, New York Fed, Companies, Stanford, McKinsey Global Institute Locations: Oxford

☆ Remote Jobs Going Back to the Office, Outsourcing to Cheaper Workers
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Finding a remote job is getting more and more difficult. That's because competition for remote work in the US remains fierce, the number of job postings are on the decline, and some of the remote jobs that remain are being outsourced overseas. Companies are moving remote jobs overseasSome companies are embracing remote work, but not in the US. Instead, they're outsourcing jobs overseas and saving on labor costs. For Americans who are eager to snag that remote job, it's not all doom and gloom.

☆ A remote worker loves the lifestyle so much she's locking it in by starting her own business so she can work from home forever
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Dawn-Michelle Lewis loves remote work, but not her remote job. Many researchers have found a correlation between remote work and happier employees. The share of remote postings could fall to 10% by the end of 2023, Nick Bloom, a leading work-from-home researcher and Stanford economist, previously told Insider. Remote work also saves them money on transportation — they sold one of their two vehicles — and allows them to live almost wherever they want. I want to give people the same opportunity of remote work I have been fortunate enough to have."

☆ ChatGPT is strengthening the case for a 4-day workweek
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Such a productivity boost could make a four-day workweek more possible. Calls for implementing a four-day workweek have picked up steam over the past year as pilot programs have described promising results. "Any technology that increases productivity, ChatGPT included, makes a shorter workweek more feasible," Carl Benedikt Frey, an Oxford economist, told Insider. 'The workweek length is up for grabs'Rep. Mark Takano, a Democrat from California, is among those advocating a four-day workweek. "Yes, ChatGPT might make a four-day workweek more feasible in principle," Frey said.

☆ Remote workers are clinging to work-from-home jobs, even if they aren't that happy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Jacob Zinkula | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Joe, 37, is torn between leaving his job and clinging to the flexibility of remote work. Many remote workers like him have gotten used to the WFH lifestyle, and built lives around it. With remote job openings tapering off, more remote workers may be inclined to stay put. Even before the pandemic, remote workers tended to be happier and stay at their jobs longer than on-site workers. The share of remote postings could fall to 10% by the end of 2023, Stanford economist and leading work-from-home researcher Nick Bloom told Insider.

☆ A remote worker who starts his job at 7:30 a.m. and takes afternoons off says the schedule 'makes it a lot easier to manage my focus, my energy, and just my overall attitude'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Remote workers taking afternoons off are powering a boom in golfing and other leisure activities. Maganas, 60, is one of the many American remote workers powering an afternoon-leisure boom. That type of schedule, which Maganas has had for about 20 years, has become increasingly popular with the widespread adoption of remote work. Research from Nick Bloom, a Stanford University economist who's studied remote work for nearly 20 years, and his colleague Alex Finan tracks a rise in split schedules for those who are remote. For those considering a foray into the split schedule, Maganas recommends giving it a try and seeing whether it affects stress levels.

Search resuls for: "Nick Bloom"

25 mentions found