Hybrid schedules take hold in Mass. in wake of COVID

More than three years after COVID-19 prompted a huge shift in how office employers approach remote work, many Massachusetts business leaders still aren’t sure when the changes will end. That’s one key takeaway from a survey of more than 50 Massachusetts Business Roundtable members conducted this spring by McKinsey & Co. The results, released on Wednesday, show that the vast majority of employers, 96 percent, still allow some kind of hybrid approach to work — a mix of at-home and in-office days. And that decision has consequences: 47 percent of survey respondents plan to pare back their local real estate footprints within the next two years, up from 36 percent in 2022. Returning to the office? Seems like just about everyone is still figuring out the right way to do it. “It’s absolutely still in flux, 100 percent still in flux,” said JD Chesloff, the Roundtable’s president. “I don’t think anyone thinks they’ve figured it out.” Chesloff said he never would have thought, back in the early days of the pandemic, that so much would still be up in the air with regard to remote work. “I don’t think we’re close to the new normal, to be honest with you,” Chesloff said. No employers said they plan to leave the state entirely, and most said access to well-trained, skilled workers is a top reason for staying in Massachusetts. But it’s also a reason they go looking elsewhere. Three-quarters of respondents expect some difficulty in recruiting talent over the next 12 months. And about a third of respondents said more than 10 percent of their workers who are affiliated with a Massachusetts office actually live outside the state and work remotely, a more than threefold increase from before the pandemic. One respondent put it quite simply: The choice comes down to keeping a quality hire and allowing them to live elsewhere, or risk losing them by forcing them to move here. — JON CHESTO