When will we come back to work at the office? Do we really need to return, and does anyone want to return at all? Such questions and others are asked by employees who are accustomed to working “remotely” due to the Corona pandemic every day in various parts of the world, and everyone is looking for the answer.
But the wrong answer, especially for employees in the technology sector, can cost companies dearly. Read also Even after the Corona epidemic ends … Twitter employees will not return to their offices It is used in offices, schools and gyms.. Advanced technology to fight Corona Microsoft is preparing to reopen its offices and enter the era of hybrid business hours Google threatens to lose its employees if it forces them to return to the offices
Why?
Observers and business leaders have noted that the pandemic has accelerated digital transformation in various sectors, starting with supermarkets rather than ending with the healthcare sector. The world has learned to do everything online, from ordering fruits and vegetables from the grocery store to showing symptoms of a rash for dermatologists, and this shift has put tremendous pressure on tech companies to expand their networks, businesses, and capabilities to accommodate this massive demand for their services, which is This led to extensive recruitment processes in these companies, and fierce competition between them to attract talent.
Increased demand and reduced supply
According to a study published by Market Watch , one of the largest organizations that monitors market changes in America and the world, it found that the salaries of workers in the information technology sector in the United States increased by 3.6%, reaching an average of $97,859 per year. Some majors within the sector are more than others, such as the salary of cybersecurity analysts at 16%.
This momentum in employment accelerated in 2021, as vacancies announced in the technology field increased by 28% in the first quarter of this year, and the unemployment rate among workers in the sector decreased to 2.4% compared to 6% before the pandemic.
Although workers in the technology sector are not a homogeneous bloc, the most recent survey data conducted by the corporation found that there was a “lukewarm interest” at best among them to return to work full-time in the offices.
Many employees in the sector prefer a flexible and mixed schedule for the shift program, that is, work for one or two days in the office per week, provided that work is done remotely in the rest of the days, according to the latest opinion polls. Surveys conducted by Market Watch have not been officially announced yet. More than half of the respondents prefer working remotely at least part-time, and this percentage increases to 3 out of 4 employees among workers under the age of 35.
Major technology companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Alphabet and others have begun to absorb these new facts, and have provided this flexibility to their employees at work to varying degrees.
The data tells the whole story
Market Watch adds that the data tells the whole story. “We are in a market where skilled technicians can choose the companies they want to work for, with increased demand, high salaries, and fierce competition between companies to attract them due to their urgent need for their skills and experience. And here flexibility becomes in the work schedule A necessity imposed by the reality of the situation, there is no shortage of companies willing to pay more.
So the most important question that companies find themselves facing: Can we afford to risk losing our most important technology experts by forcing them to return to work in the office full time?
The answer is certainly: No, especially since the alternative may be more expensive and may require a higher salary, and this means that companies have to adapt to the requirements of the new labor market that they invented.
With a simple look at the reality of the labor market in America, for example, and after analyzing more than two million technical jobs, the required technical jobs exceeded 309,000 jobs last April alone, with an increase of 60% over the same period of the previous year 2020.
Understand how tech experts work
To properly understand this change we have to understand how technologists work, and let’s take developers as an example, they are creative thinkers and like writers and artists where they can do their best by working alone in a quiet environment away from the noise of offices, and they need this quiet in writing and engineering “code” Which can be considered a poem or a painting, which supports some of the most innovative inventions of our life.
No wonder they used to put headphones in their ears before the pandemic to escape from the noise of colleagues in the office, as this quiet increases the flow of their thoughts. To understand more, imagine that you are a technical developer trying to solve a very difficult issue in data science. Want to hear your colleagues’ jokes and jokes over your head in the office?
Reimagine the workplace
But loneliness and isolation may lead to mental health problems, as human beings are social creatures that cannot live alone for long periods, so companies can call their employees to work in the office for a day a week or even a month in order to achieve social interaction, and managers must be clear that the goal of this program Take them out of their isolation and achieve social interaction with their colleagues.
This means reimagining the workplace according to the new data, as offices are no longer necessary at all to accomplish the required work. Adopting a flexible business model is the future sought by technologists and employees of technology companies around the world.
Major technology companies have already begun to adapt to work requirements and the desires and needs of their employees. Google, for example, has begun designing and building a special camp-fire place for a work inspired by Disneyland theme parks, as suggested by the company’s CEO, Mark Benov.
The world has lived through a difficult time during the pandemic, but technologists have proven that there is nothing they cannot imagine, design and accomplish wherever they are.