If you read one thing: Nearly three years after the pandemic sent many employees of Greater Houston businesses home to work remotely, workers are returning to their offices at one of the highest rates in the country, according to data tracked by Kastle Systems, a security technology firm.
How much are office occupancy rates increasing? Houston-area workplaces saw office occupancy rates increase to nearly 60 percent in December 2022, up from around 25 percent in April 2020.
Houston's rates are behind only Austin and ahead of metro areas including Dallas, Chicago and New York.
The case for returning to the office: Better communication according to Patrick Jankowski, chief economist for the Greater Houston Partnership.
For Stanley Hooper, who works in business development for an oil and gas company downtown, returning to the office has come with social benefits. Another benefit for him is the immediacy and ease of communicating with coworkers when you can get up and talk to them in person instead of waiting for a response online.
The case for remote work: A Gallup poll published last August shows that an increasing number of on-site U.S. workers have a preference for remote-work flexibility.
For recent University of Houston graduate Bryan Gudiel, remote work has been the norm for the entirety of his young career, and while he said he would consider splitting his time between home and an office, a full-time in-person gig wouldn't be as enticing.
For Jan Parayno, working full-time in an office is a hard no. Not only can she do everything required of her from home, she said, remote work also allows her to take breaks in a comfortable environment where she can do personally productive tasks such as walking her dog.
Read Jhair Romero's full story on the return to offices here.
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