By Mary Beth Nitz, VP, Global Consulting Services at Altair Global

The Altair Global Consulting Services team continues to have companies ask for benchmarking or information regarding remote work and how other companies are dealing with the requests from employees. As has been the case the past few months, we see more companies that are still in the decision-phase and/or working on implementing plans versus moving forward with solidified approaches. Given the ever-changing COVID-19 landscape, it would be difficult to provide benchmarking that would give a clear picture into set-in-stone approaches companies are taking. As it’s still such a fluid situation, most companies aren’t yet ready to make firm decisions one way or the other.

Interestingly, we’ve seen a shift in the conversation around remote work. Many organizations have seen a good amount of relocating employees choose to relocate roughly 100 to 150 miles away from the office as these companies are not requiring employees to go into the office until early to mid-2022. As a result, we’ve begun to field inquiries about additional verbiage being added to mobility policies or repayment agreements mandating employees move within a certain mileage radius of the office if they are full-time, in-office employees.

Many companies are facing this same challenge: what to do about employees who moved out of urban areas to secure more space for a home office, etc. These employees will have a decision to make when their company requires a return to office on whether they want to relocate closer to the office or accept a longer commute. Alternatively, companies will have to firm up flexible working arrangements to accommodate employees in their new locale. To date, we’ve not seen any clients make formal changes to repayment agreements or policies requiring employees to live a certain distance from the office; although, it remains to be seen whether these types of changes may gain traction in the coming months as we continue to see uncertainty around office openings.

If you have thoughts on this particular challenge, feel free to send them to Global Consulting Services at globalconsultingservices@altairglobal.com. If the data suggests any prevailing trend, we’ll compile and send out to all respondents.