Two-thirds work at home rather than in the office

 

"John Rowady has done everything he can think of to make his company's Chicago office a place where workers want to be.

As president of rEvolution, a sports-marketing firm, he's installed a scoreboard, bleachers and a tunnel between the elevator and lobby to make his 100 employees feel like athletes emerging from a locker room into an arena. To further entice his staff to come back, after many got comfortable doing their jobs from home during the pandemic, Mr. Rowady stocked an office bar with free beer and bourbon for on-site happy hours. Then there's the full-size race car in the lobby.

Nevertheless, much of the team prefers to work remotely most days, Mr. Rowady says, even if it means gazing at the family minivan in the driveway instead of a Formula One speed machine.

"It can be frustrating to really do everything that you could possibly do, try not to be overbearing, engage with your employees -- and then have to deal with situations where people still aren't comfortable coming back," he says.

The thing holding up the return to the office right now? Plenty of workers simply don't feel like it. They're dining at restaurants, going to movies and taking trips, but offices aren't on their itinerary. That is delivering a reality check for bosses, who've been hoping the plunge in Covid-19 cases meant workers would finally -- finally! -- come back.

Big banks like Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Jefferies Group LLC recently recalled much of their staffs, and tech giants like Microsoft Corp. and Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, are planning March returns for some employees. There are people eager to resurrect their office lives, just as many business leaders have let go of the notion that face-time five days a week is the optimal way to work. Nationwide, however, office occupancy rates are hovering around one-third, according to an estimate by Kastle Systems, which tracks building-access-card swipes.

Sure, employees like catered lunches, lounges filled with bean bag chairs and the masseuse who sets up in the conference room every other Friday. But they aren't ready to recommit to a five-days-a-week relationship -- or even a three-day one.

"You're not going to get me on the train for two hours for free bagels," says Jason Alvarez Schorr, a 36-year-old software engineer who quit his job in New York in January, when his former employer signaled an office return was imminent.

It isn't that Mr. Schorr disliked his old boss or workplace. The father of two young children says he simply found something better -- a remote job that allowed him to move his family to Puerto Rico, where they plan to live for at least two years.

Call it the professional version of "It's not you; it's me."

That can be a tough message to accept. Aaron Johnson, president of Automatic Payroll Systems in Shreveport, La., maintains people work best together, and for the past six months he's expected most of his 165 employees to report to the office at least a few days a week. Last year 30% of his staff turned over -- twice the typical rate. Many job-hopped to firms based in California, Texas and New York, collecting hefty raises while staying and working from home in lower-cost Louisiana.

What stings, Mr. Johnson says, is that his company trained a lot of those workers and retained them when the economy was at its worst, in 2020. Yet the investment in his people didn't seem to matter when it was time to reopen the office.

"The amount of effort and energy that was put into ensuring nobody lost their job -- that we made the proper adjustments to weather the storm -- people just don't remember those things," he says. "You have that lack of loyalty."

Bosses are surveying seas of empty seats and quietly noting employees who are going to packed sporting events, posting sun-drenched photos on Instagram and helping the latest Spider-Man movie set box-office records -- basically, going about every facet of their daily lives from the Before Times, except coming in to work.

Not all workers are back to their old routines. The U.S. is still in a pandemic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and many working adults care for small children who can't be vaccinated or elderly or immunocompromised parents.

Yet new research shows the office reluctance is less about Covid-19 and more about convenience. As of this month, 61% of U.S. workers who telecommute most of the time are doing so by choice, according to a recent Pew Research Center poll. Among this group, more than three-quarters simply said they prefer working from home.

Pat Donaldson, a 63-year-old biophysicist, retired early last year rather than heed a call back to her office in Rochester, N.Y. While working from home during the pandemic, she'd gotten a puppy and thrown herself into gardening, cross-country skiing and English folk dancing with her husband.

"Once you go remote full time, you fill up all the hours," she says.

Though Ms. Donaldson enjoyed the office, she wasn't willing to compromise her new lifestyle -- especially since she felt she'd proven her productivity.

"I phoned up my manager and said, 'This is stupid,'" Ms. Donaldson recalls.

She says she's now considering part-time, remote gigs but won't go back to bricks and mortar.

Managers are doing their best to remain Zen. Months before the pandemic, Kyle Porter bought a sprawling home -- complete with an outdoor, wood-fired pizza oven -- a mile from the Atlanta headquarters of Salesloft, the software company he leads.

"The No. 1 objective of the house was enough space to host Salesloft events," he says.

Mr. Porter's mansion hasn't gone unused, but his company gatherings have been smaller than he envisioned -- only a dozen colleagues or so -- in part because the office head count remains low. Mr. Porter instituted quarterly "sync" weeks to convene roughly 400 workers for face-to-face meetings, but most other days the office is optional.

On those occasions, maybe 15% of the staff shows up.

"You kind of have to keep feelings out of it when the world is rocked by external circumstances," he says." [1]

1. On the Clock: Bosses Dangle Perks to Return, But Employees Still Stay Away
Borchers, Callum. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 24 Feb 2022: A.11.

Sankcijos Rusijai kelia tam tikrą ilgalaikę riziką ir Amerikai

 "Sugriežtintos JAV finansinės sankcijos tik dar labiau sumažintų dolerio, kaip rezervinės valiutos, patrauklumą. JAV technologijų sulaikymas iš Rusijos padarytų tiek tiesioginę, tiek netiesioginę žalą Amerikos įmonėms, kurios turi daug tarptautinių konkurentų, ypač Kinijoje." [1] 

1. How to Beat Putin With Energy
Griffin, Kenneth C; Ferguson, Niall. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 24 Feb 2022: A.17.

Sanctions against Russia have some long term risks for America too

 "Tougher U.S. financial sanctions would only further reduce the attractiveness of the dollar as a reserve currency. Withholding U.S. technology from Russia would inflict both direct and indirect damage on American companies, which have many international competitors, not least in China." [1]

1. How to Beat Putin With Energy
Griffin, Kenneth C; Ferguson, Niall. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 24 Feb 2022: A.17.  

Dažnos atlyginimų apžvalgos išplito intensyvios konkurencijos dėl darbo jėgos metu

„Dėl JAV darbuotojų paklausos kai kurie gamintojai, technologijų įmonės ir kiti darbdaviai atsisakė kasmetinio atlyginimo padidinimo ir pradėjo dažniau peržiūrėti atlyginimus, nes jie konkuruoja dėl talentų ir neatsilieka nuo didėjančių atlyginimų.

 

    Pramoninės keramikos gamintoja „CoorsTek Inc.“ praėjusiais metais pradėjo kas ketvirtį atlikti atlyginimų peržiūras, visų pirma siekdama užtikrinti, kad galėtų samdyti ir išlaikyti darbuotojus svarbioms ir sunkiai atliekamoms gamybos pareigoms, pavyzdžiui, gamybos operatoriams ir techninės priežiūros mechanikams. Auksinėje Kolobrijoje įsikūrusi bendrovė pernai JAV pasamdė apie 1 300 žmonių, o naujų žmonių priėmimo metu dažnai tekdavo mokėti daugiau, nei įprastai.

 

    „Kai rinka vystosi realiu laiku ir tikrai nėra kito pirmaujančio rodiklio, išskyrus tai, ką matote, kad galėtumėte konkuruoti ir samdyti, turite greitai prisitaikyti“, – sakė Irma Lockridge, 6 000 žmonių įmonės vyriausioji pareigūnė.

 

    Ekonomikai atsigaunant po Covid-19 pandemijos sukrėtimų, JAV įmonės ir mažos įmonės konkuruoja dėl darbuotojų istoriškai įtemptoje darbo rinkoje. Praėjusiais metais darbdaviai pridėjo 6,7 mln. darbo vietų, tačiau JAV laisvų darbo vietų skaičius ir darbuotojų kaita svyruoja netoli aukščiausių rekordų. Šios tendencijos skatina atlyginimų augimą. Vyriausybiniai duomenys rodo, kad atlyginimai sausį išaugo 5,7%, palyginti su praėjusių metų laikotarpiu, beveik dvigubai daugiau, nei vidutinis augimas prieš prasidedant pandemijai.

 

    Apklausos rodo, kad visos atlyginimų peržiūros ne ciklo metu yra gana retos, o vadovai teigia, kad įmonės gali pasinaudoti kitomis galimybėmis, pavyzdžiui, naudoti vienkartines premijas, išplėsti pašalpas arba pridėti atostogų dienas, kad išlaikytų darbuotojus, nedidinant atlyginimų.

 

    Konsultacijų įmonės „Mercer“ sausio mėnesį atliktoje apklausoje maždaug pusė respondentų teigė, kad šiais metais neplanuoja papildomų peržiūrų ar atlyginimų didinimo, kad sumažintų infliaciją, nors beveik ketvirtadalis teigė, kad tai svarsto. Maždaug 20 % respondentų teigė, kad 2022 m. planuoja peržiūrėti atlyginimų padidinimą ne ciklo metu. Tik apie 6 % iš 2565 atsakiusių žmogiškųjų išteklių vadovų teigė, kad šiais metais nusprendė peržiūrėti kompensaciją du ar daugiau kartų, reaguodami į didėjantį atlyginimą. kainos.

 

    „Tai dažniausiai būna nuolatiniai sprendimai“, nes darbuotojai pripranta prie naujo atlyginimų peržiūros dažnio ir tikisi, kad jie tęsis“, – sakė „Mercer“ karjeros verslo partneris Tauseefas Rahmanas. Kai įmonės įdiegia naują procesą, „sunku jį sumažinti, todėl įtariu, kad organizacijos yra atsargios“.

 

    „CoorsTek“ didesnis atlyginimas naujiems darbuotojams sumažino skirtumą tarp darbo užmokesčio  nuolatiniams darbuotojams ir naujesniems jų kolegoms, todėl dabar bendrovė kas ketvirtį atlieka „suspaudimo“ peržiūrą. Ji nori užtikrinti, kad esamų darbuotojų, kurie galbūt buvo įdarbinti mažiau konkurencingoje darbo rinkoje, patirtis būtų tinkamai atlyginta.

 

    Dėl to praėjusiais metais kompensavimo išlaidos už svarbiausius bendrovės vaidmenis išaugo apie 10%, o „CoorsTek“ tikisi panašaus padidėjimo ir šiemet. Ji numato kelis papildomus milijonus dolerių atlyginimams didinti, be įprasto 3% atlyginimų biudžeto padidinimo.

 

    Gamybos vadovas Austinas Smithas matė, kad daugiau nei 60 % jo skyriaus darbuotojų atlyginimai padidinami dėl naujos CoorsTek darbo užmokesčio praktikos. Jis mano, kad praėjusį rudenį jam taip pat buvo naudinga, kai buvo paaukštintas iš skyriaus vadovo, o jo atlyginimas padidėjo mažiausiai 20%. „Jei atvirai, tai buvo daugiau, nei tikėjausi“, – sakė 28 metų p. Smithas.

 

    Ketvirčio kadencija prideda darbo M. Lockridge komandai, ji pasamdė papildomą atlyginimų analitikę ir du darbo jėgos analitikos specialistus. Tačiau tvarkaraštis taip pat reiškia, kad „CoorsTek“ gali greitai prisitaikyti, jei rinka sušvelnėja. „Jei jis sulėtės, paskutinis dalykas, kurį norite padaryti, yra per daug išleisti metų pradžioje“, – sakė M. Lockridge.

 

    „TigerGraph Inc.“, dirbtinio intelekto startuolis, kuriame dirba apie 350 darbuotojų, praėjusiais metais perėjo prie atlyginimų peržiūros kas du kartus per metus. „Tai nebuvo sprendimas, kurį priėmėme lengvabūdiškai“, – sakė operacijų vadovas Toddas Blaschka. "Vien tai, kad yra peržiūra, nereiškia, kad jūsų atlygis tikrai pasikeis. Taigi turime valdyti darbuotojų lūkesčius".

 

    Atlyginimai Silicio slėnio įmonėje, kurios darbuotojų skaičius 2021 m. padidėjo beveik trigubai, per pastaruosius 12 mėnesių iš viso išaugo maždaug 12 proc., sakė ponas Blaschka. Papildomi rinkos duomenys, kuriuos bendrovė renka samdydama, padeda nustatyti du kartus per metus atliekamų peržiūrų bazinius rodiklius. „Dabar mes daug greičiau sužinome, kur eina rinka“, – sakė jis, „ir galime pradėti prognozuoti, kur viskas vyksta pagal renkamus duomenis“.

 

    Konsultacijų ir apskaitos milžinė Deloitte LLP paprastai darbuotojų atlyginimus pakelia kartą per metus, vasarą. Įmonės vadovai praėjusį rudenį suprato, kad negali tiek ilgai laukti, kol vėl pakoreguos kompensaciją. Deloitte U.S. atliko papildomą darbo užmokesčio analizę, kad ištirtų savo 120 000 darbuotojų atlyginimus ir galiausiai 2021 m. pabaigoje padidintų atlyginimus tūkstančiams savo darbuotojų.

 

    Netikėtu padidinimu buvo siekiama išlaikyti, kad „Deloitte“ darbo užmokestis būtų konkurencingas darbo rinkoje, kurioje atlyginimai sparčiai auga, sakė „Deloitte U.S.“ generalinis direktorius Joe Ucuzoglu. „Akivaizdu, kad yra spaudimas augti“, – sakė J. Ucuzoglu, pažymėdamas, kad įmonė padarė „pakeitimų ten, kur pasikeitė rinka“.

 

    Padidinimas sutapo su pastangomis didinti išmokas darbuotojams, o tai dalis to, ką Deloitte apibūdino kaip 1 mlrd. dolerių investiciją į savo darbo jėgą. Klausimas, ar įmonė dar kartą svarstys apie atlyginimų didinimą ne ciklo metu, yra atviras, sakė J. Ucuzoglu. Daug kas priklausys nuo darbo rinkos stiprumo, anot jo, ir nuo atlyginimų trajektorijos.

 

    Žmogiškųjų išteklių vadovų teigimu, iššūkis nustatant atlyginimus pandemijos metu yra tai, kaip greitai keičiasi atlyginimai ir už tokius vaidmenis. Įmonės ne tik nori samdyti techninius talentus, bet ir daugiau rinkodaros specialistų, įdarbintojų ir profesionalų, turinčių įgūdžių samdyti.

 

    Bendrovės „General Motors Co.“ talentų pritraukimo, paieškos ir įžvalgų vadovas Kyle'as Lagunas teigė žinantis, kad daugelis automobilių gamintojų įdarbintojų galėtų padidinti savo atlyginimus 20–30 proc., pateikę pasiūlymą su konkurentu. „Mes tikrai svarstome, kaip užtikrinti, kad galėtume konkuruoti su tuo, kas ten yra“, – sakė jis. „Dabar tiesiog beprotiškai karšta“.

 

    Kai kurie vadovai paskelbė apie visuotinį atlyginimų padidinimą per įprastus visų rankų užsiėmimus, nustebindami darbuotojus. Spalio mėn. Brianas de Haaffas, programinės įrangos gamintojos „Aha!“ vadovas ir vienas iš įkūrėjų. „Labs Inc.“ pasirodė per kassavaitinį penktadienio vaizdo skambutį, kad daugiau nei 100 darbuotojų praneštų, kad jie visi gaus 10% padidinimą, nepaisant jų pareigų įmonėje. „Žmonių veiduose matėsi tokio lygio nuostaba“, – sakė ponas de Haaffas.

 

    Devynerių metų įmonė, įsikūrusi Menlo parke, Kalifornijoje, niekada nebuvo paskelbusi tokio padidinimo ir paprastai atlieka metines peržiūras ir atlyginimų pakeitimus darbuotojo nuomos datos metinių proga. Spalio mėnesio atlyginimų didinimo laikas atspindėjo gerus veiklos rezultatus įmonės viduje ir iš dalies įtemptą technologijų darbuotojų rinką, sakė p. de Haaffas.

 

    Aha! padarė ir kitų kompensacijų pakeitimų, kad darbuotojai būtų greičiau apdovanoti. Užuot kasmet darbuotojams išdavusi vieną pelno pasidalijimo čekį, įmonė pernai išmokas padalino į dvi dalis, todėl darbuotojai greičiau pamatys savo darbo rezultatus. „Laukti ištisus metus yra ilgas laikas“, – sakė ponas de Haaffas. "Taigi mes jį pakeitėme."” [1]

1. Frequent Salary Reviews Spread in Labor Competition
Weber, Lauren; Cutter, Chip. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 24 Feb 2022: B.1.

Frequent Salary Reviews Spread in Labor Competition

"The demand for U.S. workers has led some manufacturers, technology firms and other employers to ditch the annual raise and switch to more frequent pay reviews as they compete for talent and keep pace with rising wages.

CoorsTek Inc., a maker of industrial ceramics, last year started doing quarterly pay reviews, primarily to ensure it could hire and retain workers for critical and hard-to-fill manufacturing roles such as production operators and maintenance mechanics. The Golden, Colo.-based company hired around 1,300 people in the U.S. last year, and bringing on new people often meant paying above its usual ranges.

"When the market is evolving in real-time and there really isn't a leading indicator other than what you're seeing to compete and hire, you quickly have to adjust," said Irma Lockridge, the chief people officer at the 6,000-person company.

As the economy bounces back from the shocks of the Covid-19 pandemic, U.S. companies and small businesses have been competing for employees in a historically tight labor market. Employers added 6.7 million jobs last year, yet U.S. job openings and worker turnover are hovering near their highest levels on record. Those trends are spurring wage growth. Wages climbed 5.7% in January from a year earlier, government data show, nearly double the average gain before the pandemic hit.

Full off-cycle salary reviews remain relatively rare, surveys show, and executives say companies can turn to other options, such as using one-time bonuses, expanding benefits or adding vacation days, to help retain workers without boosting wages.

In a January survey by the consulting firm Mercer, roughly half of respondents said they didn't plan additional reviews or salary increases to address inflation this year, though nearly a quarter said they were considering it. Around 20% of respondents said they plan to review off-cycle salary increases as needed in 2022. Only around 6% of the 2,565 human-resources managers who responded said they had decided to review compensation two or more times this year in response to rising prices.

"These tend to be persistent decisions" as employees get used to a new cadence of salary reviews and expect them to continue, said Tauseef Rahman, a partner in Mercer's career business. Once companies put in place a new process, "it's difficult to scale it back, so I suspect organizations are cautious."

At CoorsTek, higher pay for new employees shrank the difference between pay for tenured workers and their newer counterparts, so the company now does a quarterly "compression" review. It wants to ensure that the experience of existing employees, who may have been hired in a less-competitive job market, is rewarded appropriately.

As a result, compensation expenses for the company's critical roles rose about 10% last year, and CoorsTek expects a similar increase this year. It is budgeting several extra million dollars for pay increases on top of its usual 3% salary budget increase.

Production manager Austin Smith has seen more than 60% of the employees in his department receive pay increases thanks to CoorsTek's new pay practices. He believes he too benefited last fall when he was promoted from department manager, and his pay went up at least 20%. "It was more than I anticipated, to be honest," said Mr. Smith, age 28.

The quarterly cadence adds work for Ms. Lockridge's team, and she has hired an additional compensation analyst and two specialists in workforce analytics. But the schedule also means CoorsTek can adjust quickly if the market softens. "If it slows down, the last thing you want to do is overspend at the beginning of the year," Ms. Lockridge said.

TigerGraph Inc., an artificial intelligence startup with about 350 employees, moved to biannual pay reviews last year. "It wasn't a decision we took lightly," said Todd Blaschka, chief operating officer. "Just because there's a review doesn't mean there's a guaranteed change in your compensation. So we have to manage expectations" for employees.

Salaries at the Silicon Valley firm, which nearly tripled its head count in 2021, have risen around 12% overall in the past 12 months, Mr. Blaschka said. The additional market data the company collects during its hiring helps set baselines for the biannual reviews. "We now learn where the market is going much more quickly," he said, "and we can start predicting where things are going based on the data we're gathering."

The consulting and accounting giant Deloitte LLP typically raises employee salaries once a year, over the summer. Executives at the firm realized last fall they couldn't wait that long to adjust compensation again. Deloitte U.S. conducted an additional pay analysis to study wages for its 120,000 employees, ultimately raising salaries for thousands of its employees at the end of 2021.

The surprise increases were aimed at keeping Deloitte's pay competitive in a labor market where wages were rising quickly, said Joe Ucuzoglu, chief executive of Deloitte U.S. "Clearly, there's upward pressure," Mr. Ucuzoglu said, noting the firm made "adjustments where the market had moved."

The increases coincided with efforts to bolster employee benefits, part of what Deloitte described as a $1 billion investment in its workforce. It is an open question whether the firm will consider off-cycle pay increases again, Mr. Ucuzoglu said. Much will depend on the strength of the labor market, he said, and the trajectory of wages.

A challenge in setting wages in the pandemic, human-resources executives say, is how quickly pay is changing, and for such a range of roles. Not only are companies eager to hire technical talent, but they also need more marketers, recruiters and professionals skilled at hiring.

At General Motors Co., Kyle Lagunas, the company's head of talent attraction, sourcing and insight, said he knows that many of the auto maker's recruiters could increase their salaries by 20% to 30% by taking an offer with a rival. "We're really looking at how we ensure that we can compete with what's out there," he said. "It's just so crazy hot right now."

Some executives have announced across-the-board pay increases during routine all-hands sessions, surprising workers. In October, Brian de Haaff, chief executive and co-founder of software maker Aha! Labs Inc., appeared on the company's weekly Friday video call to tell its more than 100 employees that they would all be receiving a 10% raise, regardless of their tenure at the company.

"There was this level of surprise you could see in people's faces," Mr. de Haaff said.

The nine-year-old company based in Menlo Park, Calif., had never issued such an increase, and typically conducts annual reviews and pay changes on an employee's hire-date anniversary. The timing of the October pay increase reflected strong operating results inside the company and, in part, a tight market for technology employees, Mr. de Haaff said.

Aha! made other changes to compensation, too, to more quickly reward employees. Instead of issuing one profit-sharing check to employees annually, the company last year split the payments into two, so employees can see the results of their work sooner. "Waiting for an entire year is a long time," Mr. de Haaff said. "So we've shifted it."" [1]

1. Frequent Salary Reviews Spread in Labor Competition
Weber, Lauren; Cutter, Chip. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 24 Feb 2022: B.1.