In an article in Site Selection Magazine, BLS & Co. managing director Tracey Hyatt Bosman discusses how current work trends are set to affect the workforce and corporate site selection. Read more in the article below:

How a Study Changed a Company
Trip.com did not offer hybrid work prior to the study. A total of 395 managers and 1,217 non-managers — all with undergraduate degrees and all of whom worked in engineering, marketing, accounting and finance in Trip.com’s office in Shanghai — participated. Most were in their mid-30s. About half had children, and about 65% were male.

Since many were software engineers, the study compared the quality and amount of computer code written by workers in the control group with that of the trial group (hybrid workers). No difference in work quality or volume was found between the two groups.

Bloom says the study should put to bed, once and for all, any lingering concerns business executives have about hybrid work.

“If managed right, letting employees work from home two or three days a week still gets you the level of mentoring, culture-building and innovation you want,” he said. “From an economic policymaking standpoint, hybrid work is one of the few instances where there aren’t major tradeoffs with clear winners and clear losers. There are almost only winners.”

Trip.com executives were so impressed by the study’s findings that they changed their policy and began allowing hybrid work companywide.

The publication of this study comes at a time when many major companies in the U.S. are tightening the screws and issuing return-to-office mandates. The Washington Post and its parent company Amazon, for example, recently notified staff that a return to the office five days a week was mandatory. Amazon’s mandate takes effect in January 2025, while the Post’s edict takes effect February 3.

Post publisher Will Lewis justified the policy by saying it was essential for improving the company and for restoring the “great office energy” that existed before the pandemic. The Washington Post Guild, the union that represents many Post employees, views the policy differently. The Guild says the mandate will be disruptive and will not boost productivity.

Economic development leaders say that this disconnect between bosses and workers will continue to be one of the defining workforce challenges of our time. “Companies are struggling to find the right mix of virtual, hybrid and in-person work to be competitive in the marketplace for the attraction and retention of workers while simultaneously maintaining a company culture and developing employees,” says Tracey Hyatt Bosman, a site selection consultant and managing director with Biggins Lacy Shapiro & Co.

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