Manhattan has suffered greatly during the government mandated shutdown. Covid is all but over, and the city is a ghost of what it once was. Empty storefronts, violence and crime are all plaguing a once bustling city.
Millions of people have decided that instead of spending their hard earned money commuting into the city they are interested going to continue to work from home. It’s a simple calculation. It costs less to work from home for both employers and employees.
And because most corporate jobs can be done using email, phones, and teleconferencing, the fact is that Manhattan businesses must adapt. If a company is looking to recruit for a new position, then they must contend with the thousands of other companies around the country that are offering remote work from home positions.
The simply fact is that anyone who can stay out of Manhattan at this point, stays out.
The only people who work in the city on a daily basis are government employees, medical personal, and retain workers. Most corporate companies have either scaled back their in person roles or have transitioned them to a completely remote position.
Eric Adams, the must maligned Mayor of NYC has been demanding that people return to the office to work for months. Most people have laughed at his inept calls for action and his arrogant speech.
But now there is a behemoth of a company, Goldman Sachs, which is stating that they want their office staff to return to the office and begin to work in person.
This is a big game changer because Goldman Sachs is a corporate firm, it’s not a government funded non-profit or a government agency. Goldman Sachs is, of course, heavily tied into real estate investors. This is one areas where it does draw some criticism.
However, this move by Goldman is out of touch with the current workplace and major newspapers are all claiming it's a bad look.
Real estate investors and commercial landlords are some of the most vocal about filling those buildings. They rely on the hundreds of millions in rent that NY landlord’s generate each year.
While many Lanford’s take advantage of the cities generous voucher program, this is a bit of a different situation as it pertains to commercial real estate for Manhattan. They rely on corporate firms to pay the enormous rents.
So, it was a concern among many investors and city officials when companies started to feel comfortable with a work from home environment.
Eric Adams Pleads With Workers To Return to NYC
As I’ve detailed on this site before, the current mayor of NYC has been quite vocal about demanding people to return to the office.
Of course he’s been met with outrage from most people who are hesitant about:
The rampant crime in Manhattan
The exorbitant cost of commuting into and out of the city
The poor state of Manhattan-poor services, unkept sidewalks and streets
The long hours it takes to commute.
There are other issues that are keeping white collar commuters out of Manhattan. First, the city has lost thousands of small businesses. The businesses that survived the pandemic were the ones who best negotiated and navigated the government loan process and PPP packages.
Thousands of small business were lost and are replaced either by empty storefronts or franchise restaurants and businesses.
This isn’t what commuters or anyone in general liked about Manhattan. It’s turned into much like any other suburban landscape. Franchise stores, Targets, TJMax and chain restaurants.
Rampant Crime in Manhattan: WFH Challenges
The more pressing issue, and the one that would be within the Mayor and other elected officials power to alter, is the rampant crime in Manhattan.
Companies have resorted to telling their employees to not dress as if they were professional working people and to try and dress down in order to avoid being robbed, attacked, and becoming the victim of crime.
Just this week there was a serial killer caught murdering people on the sidewalks of Manhattan.
The crime is completely out of control. And this is much the reason why recruiters are seeing that people are no longer interested in working in person. And as a result, many recruiters find themselves dealing with both companies looking to hire remote and WFH workers and candidates who will no longer commute into Manhattan.
Tolls, MTA Fairs, Subway Cost and Time: Barriers To Deal With
In addition to the terrible violence in Manhattan, there are other obstacles to overcome. Many people are simply not in a financial place to commute every day into the city. It can cost, in some cases, hundreds a month.
This is a cost that employers do not cover. The average person who commutes into the city is paying out of pocket for all of these incredibly expensive commute.
The MTA is expensive, and as most people attest, is filthy and dangerous. So, in addition to spending hundreds of dollars a month on transportation, commuters are going to have to deal with a service that is slow, smells, and is also often late.
Work From Home Employees Are More Productive
The simple truth is that work from home workers are more productive. Especially in situations where their job entails emails, computer work, and other non-in person activity.
Nurses, retail workers, and other people whose jobs require them to work in person obviously cannot work from home.
However, that does not mean that no one can work from home. While the much-discussed mayor of NYC has demonstrated his ignorance when it comes to work from home and the current workplace environment, it doesn’t matter as many corporations have already pivoted away from in person workplace to WFM and combo style environments.
Workers who don’t have to travel an hour or more twice a day make more productive employees. They are not wasting time on subways, busses, trains or driving and stuck in traffic.
The mayor and even big business with ties to commercial real estate and landlords are behidn the curve and every recruiter and emlpoyer in need of talanted canadites knows it. That's the reason you're seeing more and more hybrid and combo work situations on the market.
The only types of jobs that are now necessary to do in person are retail jobs (the ones that political figures mock as "low skilled") such as working in a bank or working at home depot. As well as medical roles. Essentially, the entire set of jobs that fall under the older and antiquated term "blue colar".
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