🛍 Neiman Marcus, neuroscience, and negotiating WFH

Good Morning,

Telling you this news could make me Santa or the Grinch: according to international talent agency Robert Half, 96% of professional services firms expect to give out holiday bonuses this year, up from 57% in 2022 and 77% in 2021.

The survey responses were from 1,700 financial, IT, and other “white-collar” companies. While 96% sounds absurdly high, these results should be accurate given Robert Half’s HR expertise and past experience running this survey.

So feel free to share this data with your bosses 😉 and if your company is one of the estimated 4% not giving out bonuses, it may be time to browse the 450+ companies hiring on our job board.

Remote Source Job Board

Featured companies:

Enterprise Holdings: 43 remote jobs
Juniper Networks: 130 remote jobs
Calendly: 12 remote jobs

🤝 Find Remote Jobs Here

Need to Know

🏦 Citigroup gives employees remote work for the next two weeks
It’s the same perk that the bank implemented last year, and it will impact most of their employees. But it’s not a perfect rollout: the policy was only announced two weeks ago, not giving employees much time to plan around their newfound flexibility. And it comes during a tumultuous period for the bank, causing some employees to question whether they’ll remain employed in the new year.

For companies that insist on year-round hybrid schedules, allowing full remote work during the holidays makes sense. I expect these holiday WFH policies will become much more common in the future, and that most companies won’t make their employees wonder until the last minute if it will be allowed. (CNBC)

🙅🏻‍♀️ RTO mandates are terrible for working mothers
The female workforce participation rate has reached all-time highs because of remote work. And when reading the anecdotes from women in this WSJ article, it’s easy to understand this trend. Unfortunately, return-to-office policies have potential to ruin this progress.

That said, the companies who continue remote work will win the battle for the best talent, as they always have. Allstate saw female applications increase by 12% this year, and it’s likely other remote companies saw similar data. (Wall Street Journal)

🛍 Neiman Marcus doubles down on remote work
Speaking of companies that will benefit from remote work: Neiman Marcus’ Chief People and Belonging Officer, Eric Severson, shared that the company is even more firmly committed to remote work since first rolling out a corporate remote policy in 2019.

He says the benefits far outweigh the risks, and he shared some of their data: with remote work, they’ve saved on overhead costs by taking up 80% less office space, their time-to-hire has decreased by 31%, and their employee Net Promoter Score has increased 34%. (HR Brew)

🧬 Neuroscience says remote employees still develop strong connections
A common objection to remote work is that building relationships with colleagues is difficult to do. But that’s just because those connections are formed in ways that most office-bound leaders don’t have experience with.

This study, done by Slalom consultants and the UPenn Wharton Neuroscience Initiative, used brain activity to prove that employees are able to create meaningful connections with colleagues remotely just as well as they can in person. (Fortune)

🥊 The remote work battle will heat up in 2024
Goldman Sachs estimates that 12% of office leases will come up for renewal in 2024, which is more than twice as many as 2023. The decisions made on those renewals will have long-lasting impacts, as commercial real estate leases often span at least a few years.

Companies will have four choices: renew the lease, terminate the lease, increase office space, or decrease office space. In this new WFH-friendly world, there will be higher rates of termination and reduced office space than before. Further, companies that are growing headcount may elect to renew without taking on more office space.

But there’s one major risk that could lead to lower levels of remote work: rising interest rates. These could lead to a more volatile economy and an increase in unemployment, which would give more negotiating power to company management. (The Economist)

🙏 Gen Z worker says remote work “changed my life”
If this interview is any indication, Gen Z will usher in an even higher rate of remote work, especially as more of them become parents over the next decade. While there’s plenty of value found in an office setting for people early in their careers, Gen Z’s attitude that employees should demand more ownership of their time outside work is certain to increase remote work adoption in the coming years. (Business Insider)

Stuff We Like

• Outsite: community living for remote workers

  Their headline slogan is “Work anywhere. Live differently.“ It’s basically shared Airbnbs for remote workers all around the world, and that includes houses in ten cities here in the US.
  
  Most Outsite locations across the world are in relatively warm cities, with the exception of NYC, Tahoe, and Denver/Boulder. If you’re one of the few looking for adventures in bone-chilling cold instead, maybe the “digital snowmad” lifestyle is more your speed.

• Remote work software leaders
  Not sure how much of this is pay-to-play, but Forbes put together a list of software solutions that have proven to be particularly valuable for remote companies. Some are stalwarts, but there are plenty I haven’t heard of that I’m sure would benefit remote companies to learn about.

• 🎙 TED Talks Daily: flexible work strategy with Mark Mortensen
  In a quick 7-minute podcast episode, this organizational design expert explains how companies should approach their flexible work policies. He says it’s important to realize there is not a one-size-fits-all solution. And instead of asking the single question “should we implement remote work,” organizations need to answer the following:
  

  • Are we able to deliver on our stakeholder commitments?

  • Will we be able to attract and retain the talent we need?

  • Can we maintain our culture?

Hard pass sending emails on Christmas, but I’ll be back in your inbox on Tuesday the 26th. Hope you’re not reading that issue from an office!

Cheers,
Grant

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