In his latest headline grabbing speech, Eric Adams has come out and said that working from home is not sustainable. He lambasted people working from home as working in their pajamas.
Of course, for the millions of people who currently work from home, this was seen as tremendously insulting.
Let’s breakdown the current scandal and see why and how Eric Adams has most recently outraged an entire segment of the working public.
Low Skilled, Working in Pajamas, What’s Next?
Eric Adams has made numerous faux pas and missteps during his time in office. While he’s being softly joked about on SNL (the innocent Swag jokes) the majority of his missteps have to do with slighting low skilled workers, demanding work from home end, and now making insulting comments about working in pajamas.
This has obviously upset many of the working professionals in NYC and the NYC area who are currently working remotely. For many reasons.
Number one is the issue that Adams has suggested that people can’t work at home in their pajamas because they were social creatures.
Of course, everyone who works at home understands that this is a wildly misguided understnaing of how work from home actually goes on. It’s clear that Adams, who was a police officer before being a politician, is not aware of modern technological developments.
The slight has further angered the millions who are productive and work from home—many who are working longer and more hours than if they were to waste hours traveling through the incredibly dangerous NYC subway system.
Work From Home: Fighting Technology
As mentioned, Adams was a police officer for years before networking himself into politics. Police have to work in person because their job is a blue collar role which involves physical enforcement of laws.
However, for a huge number of other roles, this is not necessary. And many large companies in NYC are realizing that they do not have to fall prey to the incredibly expensive Manhattan commercial rents.
Adams, and likely his financial backers in the real estate industry, seem unaware that they cannot fight technology.
There are several reasons that workers do not want to return to in person work in Manhattan.
For workers, it’s clear. Manhattan is dangerous. Under the last mayor, crime rose sharply. It continues to do so under Adams. Violence in the subways is in particular out of control.
People are attacked and killed traveling to and from work. This is something that is only getting worse.
The second reason that people are no longer interested in commuting to work in Manhattan is the cost. Subways, buses, trains if they live in Long Island or New Jersey, are very expensive.
When you couple those issues, along with the enormous time waste that commuting brings, it’s quite clear. No one wants to return to a long, dangerous, and expensive commute.
And on the other hand, there are many companies that also are in no rush to return to the office. Why?
Well, they can negotiate lower salaries for work from home workers. Second, they get a more productive workforce. People who work at home work longer hours, as studies have shown. That’s because they do not have waste time on a lengthy commute.
Finally, companies are saving huge sums of money on the cost of overpriced Manhattan commercial real estate.
There is a good reason companies such as Zoom, Salesforce, and apps like Skype and Google Meet became so popular during the lockdown. People saw what they were capable of and there is no turning back.
Commercial and For-Profit Companies Have Fled Manhattan
Due to all of the reasons listed above, people who do not have to work in person, will not work in person. Union members who work for city agencies are still forced to work in person, and roles such as teachers, cops, fireman, sanitation, retail, grocery, and many other roles are still in person.
However, the huge spending money from professionals that Manhattan used to get and use for the huge tax revenue is fast disappearing.
This is obviously a problem for Adams and people in office. Without the hundreds of millions in revenue, they are going to be in a tough spot with all of the government spending programs.
The payroll for the city of NYC workers is the highest in the country. Civil Servants make six figures, plus full benefits including pensions and health care.
Obviously, with millions in revenue disappearing, that is a concern.
Should companies completely abandon Manhattan, then the situation would drastically change.
This is why Adams is seeking to end work from home anyway he can.
He’s claimed that he will try and reduce violence and crime on the subways. This will entail hiring city paid for social workers and case managers. But until a visible decrease in violence is generally accepted by the entire city it will be of no use.
Non-Profits paid for by the city have long failed to do anything regarding homelessness and crime. And because of failures such as the infamous Thrive NY scandal, and other subway and homeless related non-profit problems, the average working class and professional will continue to doubt that change is going to happen.
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