New York Governor Katie Hochul said the pandemic had destroyed the traditional five-day work week as she called on businesses to ask employees to travel to work “at least three to four days a week” to help the city’s economy.
While COVID-19 is in decline in New York and across the country, Hochul complains that the days of work from home will remain here.
“It may never be a five-day week again,” Hochul told New York Post in Tuesday.
Hochul’s confession comes as Google and Twitter announced that they would introduce telecommuting days for their employees, with the latter doubling their promise to keep them working from home “forever”.
New York Gov. Katie Hochul, pictured Thursday, said the pandemic had destroyed the five-day work week, but called on businesses to demand personal work at least three days a week.
Google said it would reopen its U.S. offices on April 4 and said employees would have to return to work at least three days a week.
Twitter offices are due to reopen by March 15, but will allow employees to work from home each day of their choice, doubling the promise they made last year.
Calls to return to the office come as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations decline in the United States
Catherine Wilde, chief executive of the New York City Partnership, the city’s largest business group, said Hochul’s assessment was correct and that many workers were used to working from home.
“Gov. Hachul has met with many employers in the last few months and it accurately reflects their vision for the future of office work, “Wilde told the Post. “People will be expected in the office again, but with more flexibility than in the past.”
Hochul added that he wants employees to occupy office buildings for at least three to four days, as personal work stimulates creativity and social development.
The governor revoked the mandates for masks in the city last month, which she said will nurture the confidence of New Yorkers to return to personal work.
The pressure for more days in the office was shared by Google, as the company announced earlier this week that it would end its initiative to volunteer from home and require employees to return to their offices at least three days a week in their offices in Silicon Valley and the United States from April 4.
John Casey, Google’s vice president of global benefits, said: “It’s been a long and challenging two years since the vast majority of our people started working from home, but advances in prevention and treatment, the steady decline in cases we continue to see , and the improved safety measures we’ve implemented on our Gulf sites now mean we can officially begin the transition to the hybrid work week. “
Twitter CEO Parag Agraval (left) said Twitter would reopen its offices on March 15 and called on employees to return, while doubling a promise to let them work from home whenever they want. Google Vice President John Casey said Google’s offices will reopen on April 4 and require employees to come to the office at least three days a week.
Agraval said in a statement that he would fulfill the promise of former CEO Jack Dorsey that employees can work remotely “forever” if they want
The company estimates that nearly 10 of the company’s 156,500 full-time employees around the world have switched to full-time work.
said Casey CNBC that Google will help other employees relocate to their offices as the company prepares its new hybrid work schedule.
However, Twitter CEO Parag Agraval has again committed to the company’s promise that employees can work from home whenever they want, as he announced on Wednesday that the company’s office will reopen on March 15.
“Decisions about where you work, whether you feel safe traveling on business and what events you attend must be yours,” Agraval said in a statement.
Last year, former CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey promised that employees could work remotely “forever” if they wished, and while Agrawal plans to follow that policy, he warned that “distributed work will be much, much more difficult.” ‘And said’ there will be many challenges. ‘
He said CNBC that he encouraged employees to return to the office to “experience the company’s culture”, saying that office visits, meetings and events “bring this culture to life in such a powerful way”.
Calls for a return to the office are coming as the nation sees a steady decline in COVID-19 cases following Omicron’s jump in the winter.
The United States reported 52,355 new cases in the last day and 2,095 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
More than 65 percent of eligible people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and at least 81 percent have received at least one stroke.