Hybrid work in Bay Area could be nearing its ‘new normal’

SAN JOSE — Caroline Mills now goes into her San Jose office at accounting giant Ernst & Young whenever her team agrees they want to — and sometimes when the company puts on the Wednesday happy hour featuring beer, wine and Asian-fusion food-truck treats. That weekly grub-and-gab session did not exist before the pandemic, nor was a fund to pay for dog-sitting, or company-paid parking. Office attendance, for audit staffer Mills, was also not “very optional,” as it is today.

“They’re definitely trying to keep us happy,” said Mills, 25, of Mountain View, “and keep employing us.”

Despite a recent swell in coronavirus infections, a strong majority of Bay Area employers say they have started refilling offices. And half say they have arrived at their target mix of remote and office-based employment, suggesting the region is approaching a “new normal” of hybrid workplaces, according to the Bay Area Council, which represents hundreds of employers, including Silicon Valley technology giants.

The group’s most recent survey of companies showed that while previous COVID surges led most businesses to roll back their plans for in-office work, that’s changed, even as local case numbers tick up. More than 80% of employers said in April they were bringing workers back, compared to 68% in March and 56% in February.

“Unless there’s some massive spike in COVID cases with some crazy variant … I feel like we’re starting to enter a state of new normalcy,” said council research manager Abby Raisz.

The council’s data shows that most of the region’s employers have embraced hybrid work, at a time when overhead can be slashed by cutting office space, and with workers now accustomed to the benefits of remote employment.

Many Bay Area employees said they have missed their colleagues and the opportunities to socialize and collaborate in person. But walking through those doors Monday through Friday? The answer is usually an emphatic “nope.”

“I could never go back to working full-time in offices again,” said Michael Stellfox of San Jose, a manager at San Francisco technology startup Threekit, where the workforce will soon return to the office — once a month. Doing his job from home, he said, “saves me so much time before and after work.”

Stellfox, 30, said he now has abundant time for exercise, doing laundry, and cooking. “The quality of life is much better,” he said,.