Hybrid work schedules continue to prove popular among employers in Massachusetts, the head of a regional business group said.
The Massachusetts Business Roundtable, a group of business leaders that collectively employ more than 250,000 Bay Staters, surveyed its members this month and found another data point indicating that working from home remains in use for workers with access to that option.
JD Chesloff, president of the group, told Massachusetts lawmakers that 15 percent of members surveyed are currently working in person, while 77 percent are using either a hybrid or fully remote work schedule. That’s nearly an inverse of the pre-pandemic trend, Chesloff said, in which 90 percent of MBR’s members worked in-person full-time.
Remote work policies have been key to the strength of residential real estate markets in New Hampshire, particularly in the state’s traditional vacation destinations in and around Lake Winnipesauke.
But businesses don’t agree on what a “hybrid” work schedule means, eliminating easy answers for policymakers and office landlords, alike. While summarizing those results before a commission studying economic pressure points on the early education and care industry, Chesloff said some firms see a hybrid schedule as only one or two days at home, while others define hybrid as mostly remote with only an occasional in-person meeting.
“If you start to think about how do we design a childcare system that responds to a hybrid work model and hybrid is really undefined, it’s a really difficult task,” Chesloff said. “That is in the process of working itself through and settling out. My guess is this will begin to get a little more clarity as we head into next year, but right now with omicron, it’s still very much up in the air.”
MBR members “overwhelmingly” cited their preference for remote work when discussing their willingness to return to the office, Chesloff said.
“That’s why I think this hybrid work model has legs,” he said. “Employees want it, and employers need to respond to that.”
