Return to office gets the brakes
First it was the COVID-19 pandemic, now high gas prices keep employees remote
Just when you thought it was safe to return to the cubicle with COVID -19 on the wane, there’s another reason to stay at home: skyrocketing gas prices.
As the number of coronavirus cases shrinks locally and across the U.S., people are slowly returning to their offices. But the rising cost of commuting suggests that the move toward remote working might not go away.
Everyone has felt the impact of rising gas prices, which stem from the closure of oil wells during the pandemic and the global cutoff of Russian fuel supplies amid the war in Ukraine.
And when fuel prices rise, the price of almost everything else goes up, too.
Food production is fuel dependent — think of all those farm tractors, fishing boats and milk tankers on the road.
Electricity rates have risen as much of our power comes from natural gas. And airline tickets are on the way up due to fuel costs.
But the clearest indication is at the gas pump and with people and employers now used to working from home due to COVID, the idea of staying put is less of a leap than it was three years ago.
“With the pandemic, people were already used to doing that,” John Howland, a bank manager who commutes from Albany to Voorheesville, said as he gassed up his Jeep at a Speedway station ($4.19 a gallon for regular).
As a manager, he is at the bank in person but he’s been doing more client outreach by phone or Zoom-type calls, especially for people and businesses who may be in remote spots such as the Hilltowns of southern Albany County.
While not expressing corporate views, he said he and others are simply making more calls or web chats rather than driving. “I try to do more things remotely,” Howland said.
“This whole pandemic thing set us up for success for not driving,” agreed Lauren Groff, who runs Groff Networks, a Troy-based IT consulting and service firm.
While there is still the peri
odic need for in-person visits, Groff ’s company is increasingly working over the web. He says he has even closed some deals remotely.
Moreover, he has employees working from home in Florida and Indiana, brought there by family obligations. Their job performance has improved since starting remotely, Groff said.
The IT field, as much as any industry, lends itself to remote working since it is so dependent on the internet. But it’s also a field where talent is in high demand. And that means employers, if they are smart, will offer workfrom-home options in order to find and retain the best employees.
“Employers who are not giving at least some sort of hybrid option to people are missing out on the best talent,” said Miriam Dushane, managing partner at Alaant Workforce Solutions, an Albany recruiting firm that works with a lot of tech companies.
Employers and recruiters are reconsidering remote work options due to rising gas prices, she said.
“Up until this point it’s been very COVID focused but now the gas prices are starting to become an area of concern for employers.”
It’s incumbent on managers to adapt to this new workplace model, Dushane said. There’s a tendency by some managers to want employees to be there in person, where they can be seen or easily reached.
It’s relatively easy, for instance, to gather a half dozen people in a room for an impromptu meeting or to discuss an issue.
But managers who can’t adapt will likely lose workers to those who can offer the most flexibility, in both workplace and scheduling, Dushane said.
“Being a manager today in a remote or hybrid work environment is completely different.”
Some of the region’s largest employers offer telecommuting options, although gas prices haven’t historically been the rationale.
“I have not heard it discussed as a reason for increased telecommuting,” said Rob Merrill, spokesman for the Public Employees Federation, the union representing whitecollar state employees.
Some state agencies, such as the attorney general’s office, for instance, are more liberal in terms of allowing telecommuters, he added.
As a whole, the state workforce, where possible, went remote at the start of the pandemic but is transitioning back to a combination of in-person and hybrid schedules. Each state agency is setting its own guidelines for that.
Currently, 17 percent of state workers are splitting their time between home and the office, said Department of Civil Service spokesman Jian Paolucci.
“Alternative work schedules, including staggered hours, flextime, voluntary reduction in work schedules, and compressed schedules are available in a number of agencies and are considered based on agency operational needs,” he said.
General Electric, another major employer, allows a hybrid schedule for some employees, said GE Research spokesman Todd Alhart. The workers who build or service items like gas turbines, though, have to be onsite in order to do their job, noted Alhart, who said those essential workers showed up right through the pandemic.
Lots of jobs, by their very nature, can’t accommodate remote work. Someone who assembles turbines, manufactures paper, or treats hospital patients, builds homes or repairs cars can’t do that from home.
They are stuck with high gas prices, unless they have the cash and desire for an electric vehicle or a schedule that fits with a local bus route.
Electric vehicles are still a fraction of the nation’s auto fleet, due in part to the cost, limited range and newness.
Environmentalists, worried over greenhouses gases and climate change, have been pushing for more EV incentives and better charging infrastructure to bring them into the mainstream.
But they also see continued telecommuting as a way to minimize the air emissions from commuter traffic.
“A lot of people see telecommuting as part of the solution,” said Liz Moran, a policy advocate for the Earthjustice environmental organization. “It is climate-friendly.”
While summer driving season, with its higher fuel demand, hasn’t yet started, gas prices have in recent days fallen a bit. AAA on Thursday reported that prices nationally fell 4 cents per gallon over the week to an average of $4.28 per gallon.
But a year ago it was $2.88 per gallon.
The organization in a recent survey found that 59 percent of those polled said they would change their lifestyle or driving habits in response to gas that had risen past $4 per gallon.