CINCINNATI — There is a gap widening between some job seekers wanting to work from home and employers who want them in the office, according to researchers.
"From what I've seen in talking to other people (in the petroleum industry), it's been a lot of people calling up looking for remote positions and finding that they're not available and then moving on," said Phil House, general manager of Hightowers Petroleum.
Working remote is long gone for House and others at the company.
"We're better off, I think most people are better off, with people in-house more often than not," House said. "I think that outside of the office confines you have a lot of outside distractions and it just makes for less productivity and less availability."
Among businesses surveyed by LinkedIn, productivity is a top concern for managers, along with helping employees build connections with co-workers. The career networking site found half of the job seekers using its site earlier this year wanted to work from home. At the same time, around 20% of postings offer such arrangements.
"I have not seen a lot of very robust research that says people are less productive at home," Northern Kentucky University economist Janet Harrah said. "I think a lot of that actually managers are just uncomfortable that they can't see what their employees are doing all day, every day. The reality is the workforce is aging, so the supply of new talent is not as robust as it was 10 years ago. So, that's going to give the employee a little more power in the negotiation process."
Such leverage is no surprise to University of Cincinnati seniors and fresh graduates.
"Sometimes having that hybrid dynamic is kind of nice because you can work from home, you can save that time on the commute," said Josh Ogorzaly, who just earned a degree in aerospace engineering said.
UC senior Maon Adams said working from home is preferred because it works better during her schedule and the ongoing pandemic.
Times could be changing come July when some economists see the potential for a recession. It could bring potential layoffs and give employers the upper hand in negotiations, Harrah said. That is why she recommends people determined to work from home get it in writing now.
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