‘A SIGNIFICANT DISCONNECT’

Many workers expected to seek new jobs to continue working remotely

“It starts with just human nature — ‘this is how we’ve done things, this is what we know, this is what we’re used to, and just because we were all put into a situation where we had to work from home doesn’t mean we should continue to do this.’ Employees have come back and basically said, ‘Why?’ — and made a very cohesive argument.” OperationsInc CEO David Lewis

Four of every 10 workers surveyed by a Connecticut firm expect to search actively for a new job in the back half of 2022, to gain, maintain or expand remote working allowances as employers reel more people back to the office.

Norwalk-based OperationsInc surveyed 500 workers nationally on their expectations for remote working, and changes in the policies of their employers more than two years after the COVID-19 virus forced people to hole up in home offices while waiting for vaccines.

A third of workers told OperationsInc they expect to be back in the office daily or nearly so in the coming six months — and many appear to be balking at the prospect, whether in vocal protest or initiating job searches quietly to scout opportunities to lock remote working into their careers.

OperationsInc CEO David Lewis told CTInsider the survey and anecdotal feedback suggest large numbers of employees are willing to take less money to work from home — amounting to a double-savings for employers who can save on rent in the longterm by leasing less office space.

“There continues to be a significant disconnect between employers who are, in our view, ill-advised in continuing to attempt — if not mandate — that employees do their work from their offices, versus the employee who is saying, ‘No way’,” Lewis said. “For us it’s really clear: the employee populations do not want to go back to the office and

are making that clear they are not going to. And they are winning that battle.”

Ipsos, which likewise has a Norwalk office, undertook a poll commissioned by McKinsey of more than 25,000 workers this past spring on how remote working has evolved in their companies. Ipsos calculated only about four in 10 people hold jobs with requirements that prevent them from working remotely. Of those polled by Ipsos, 87 percent indicated they would prefer a remote-working allowance for at least a portion of the normal routine.

And a ZipRecuiter survey from earlier this year indicated that six of 10 job seekers are looking for

more flexibility.

“Fully remote work is the No. 1 search term on ZipRecruiter today and all of 2022,” said CEO Ian Siegel during a May conference call. “We’re entering a new and interesting period where a lot of employers across America are compelling workforces to return to the office full time, and so we’re going to have to see whether that abates or aggravates the rate at which the currently employed are quitting their jobs and looking for new work.”

The U.S. Census Bureau estimated that 43,000 Connecticut workers quit their jobs in April not including those who left for retirement. Adjusted for seasonal considerations like the holidays and summer months, it was the second highest total in the past decade after November 2021.

Employers posted nearly

110,000 open jobs in Connecticut in June, according to a Conference Board count published by the Connecticut Department of Labor. While only a small percentage of jobs on the Indeed website specified remote working arrangements as of Wednesday, many of those openings fit the parameters that would allow for remote working at least some of the time through a broadband connection.

Lewis says Connecticut should be benefiting more from the era of remote working, with the decoupling of commutes eliminating the daily grind on roads and rails for workers in New York City, Stamford, New Haven and Hartford; and allowing some to consider moves to preferred communities, whether for cost-ofliving or lifestyle considerations.

In a June interview, the CEO of

MannKind Corp. said the company has been able to retain all of its employees in Danbury who manufacture inhalers to treat diabetes and pulmonary arterial hypertension, despite limitations on what it can offer as far as remote working given the nature of the job.

“Some of this is Millennialbased — I feel like younger employees want more freedom and flexibility to work from home a lot,” said Mike Castagna, CEO of MannKind. “That’s just not our culture, so I’ve said to people, ‘we;ve got to recruit people who want to be here.”

He added managers still grapple with the intersection of home and office life, for elements as simple as dress codes for online confabs, or interruptions whether they originate on the home front for child care or any other reasons.

But his own sense is that bosses more than anything are generally averse to the kind of overnight change that the pandemic spawned, and still place a premium on in-person interactions that flex working arrangements have limited.

“It starts with just human nature — ‘this is how we’ve done things, this is what we know, this is what we’re used to, and just because we were all put into a situation where we had to work from home doesn’t mean we should continue to do this,’” Lewis said. “Employees have come back and basically said, ‘Why?’ — and made a very cohesive argument.”

Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media file photo Metro-North passengers during rush hour in March in Stamford. As employers look to bring more people back to the office, a new survey suggests four in 10 could look for new jobs this year if they lose some or all of their remote working allowances.