TRAVERSE CITY — When the future came knocking for workers to stay home and ply their trade remotely, Traverse City was one of the first to open its doors and dust off its welcome mat.
But then again, it always has.
A 2021 report by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) said fostering a remote workforce — the need for which was magnified by the 2019 to 2021 pandemic when small mom-and-pop stores were told to lock their doors, and larger businesses and factories were forced to cut back for health reasons — was nothing new to the Cherry Capital.
After all, having a remote workforce, said the MEDC, has been “... a trend that communities like Traverse City have been paying attention to well before the pandemic hit with incubators and coworking space like 20Fathoms offering tech talent the opportunity to work and live in a community Conde Nast Traveler named one of the Prettiest Towns in the USA.”
But though Traverse City seems to have gotten a jump with its workforce, it doesn’t mean it didn’t have to make adjustments brought on by pandemic shutdowns.
“I think that a lot of businesses have actually had to adjust and offer some sort of flexibility when it comes to remote work, just because employees realize that they can perform the same job that they did during the height of the pandemic, remotely,” said Diane Culver, service center manager of the Northwest Michigan Works, Traverse City and Petoskey offices.
“I think that businesses are looking to be a little bit more flexible. Employees are definitely looking for remote work. I think that characteristic of employment — remote working — has been very high due to a lot of factors. Daycare has been number one, finding quality care (that’s) affordable is very difficult.”
Culver said two reasons employees are looking for remote work are daycare issues and the quest for a better work-life balance.
“Those who were set to work remotely during the pandemic have seen that they can perform their job remotely, so they’re looking to expand that even more, as things get back to normal,” she said. “We’re really seeing a flux of employers offering that.
“I know that here, Networks Northwest offers eight hours a week of flexibility of remote work for most divisions. Some divisions just aren’t able to be remote, but most divisions are. Most of our positions have laptops, so they are able to do that.”
Culver said from her perspective today’s work environment is “... definitely a job market for job seekers.”
“They’re the ones calling the shots a little bit,” she said. “Because of the amount of job openings, they feel they can be a little bit more picky in what their requirements are. I think (remote work is here to stay). I think that with the remote aspect of a lot of things, we’ve been able to function properly, whether it’s learning, work, even meetings.
“Even though we can’t always meet in-person, a lot of my meetings now are still remote because it’s convenient,” she said. “You take the drive time out of it, you take out a lot of the logistical part of it — it’s just more convenient to have a meeting virtually, you can get a lot of people from different areas collectively. So yes, I think it’s definitely here to stay.”
Culver said some people who live downstate, and many more who live in neighboring counties, work remotely with one Traverse City business or another. On the flip side of that, she said there are those who live in Northwestern Michigan who work remotely with businesses down state.
She also said housing markets often dictate where a person might live, and work remotely, if need be.
“I think that we have a housing shortage, and I think that people are moving here because it’s a beautiful, bright place to live, (while they’re) working elsewhere,” she said. “I think we see more of that — people living here and working remotely, elsewhere.”
For all the advantages of working remotely — for both the employee, and the employer — such work does have its disadvantages, she said.
“There are some drawbacks, one is that you lose that socialization,” said Culver. “But having a combo (where you can work at home part time, and in the office part time), like what we do within our organization, is a benefit.”
So, who might a person contact to get a listing of would-be remote job openings, as well as on-site job openings?
“They can call us, we have a job board in our service center that lists all of the jobs within our region,” she said. “But, I definitely would refer them to the Pure Michigan Talent Connect.
“We’re a non-profit. Networks Northwest is the main organization that runs Northwest Michigan Works! and some other organizations that are work-specialized. If you go to Indeed.com and punch in remote, there are a ton of (job listings). The Pure Michigan Talent Connect, which is the State of Michigan website, also posts jobs, and that’s what we use here.”
While working remotely is nothing new — after all, it’s been around since the World Wide Web was unleashed more than 30 years ago, and untold numbers of business and companies have worked remotely ever since. It wasn’t until 2019 when governments across the globe began shutting down businesses and restricting social gatherings because of COVID that promoting remote worksites in home became part of our daily discussions and demands.
It appears likely that remote work numbers will continue on an upward trend long after COVID becomes a footnote in history.
According to findstack.com, remote work statistics today include:
- 16 percent of companies in the world are 100 percent remote;
- 44 percent of companies don’t allow remote work;
- Seeking better work-life balance is the main reason why people choose to work remotely;
- 77 percent of remote workers say they’re more productive when working from home;
- The average annual income of remote workers is $4,000 higher than that of other workers;
- 85 percent of managers believe that having teams with remote workers will become the new norm;
- 74 percent of workers say that having the option to work remotely would make them less likely to leave a company;
The three biggest challenges associated with remote work, that report cited, are unplugging after work (22 percent), loneliness (19 percent), and communication/collaboration (17 percent).
Eric Gustad is a Community Affairs Manager with Consumers Energy. He works remotely from his home near Manistee, as do 18 co-workers across the state who share the same job responsibilities.
“I don’t have a formal office anymore, I work from home,” said Gustad. “They say we can do about 90 percent of our work right now from home.”
Gustad also meets with citizens, civic leaders, business personnel and more in various communities in his region. He also “attends” one meeting or another while working remotely from home. Such remote working, he said, benefits both the employee and his employer.
“It’s a plus for the company (in many ways),” he said. “It minimizes their use of utilities (and the likes). Safety, too — like not having to drive to work.”
He said it also cuts back on the company’s need for office space, thus saving it money. Gustad said other departments within the company — such as customer service reps and some designers — also work from home.
“Production has gone up,” he said, “as has employee satisfaction. A lot of people are happy with it — a happy employee is a productive employee.”
Gloss