New York City employees are back in the office, and many of them are not happy about it.
The last time anybody checked, only 8 percent of the people who work for private employers in Manhattan were back in their offices full time. But nearly 100 percent of the municipal work force is back. And there are signs that the municipal work force is less than 100 percent happy about it.
There’s no survey on the happiness factor. But some city workers relish the flexibility that remote work can provide and don’t like Mayor Eric Adams’s push to bring them back. Some worry about Covid exposure at work. “There was an outbreak at my office,” one city employee wrote on Instagram, “and everyone continued as if nothing happened.”
And some see new opportunities — and bigger paychecks — in private-sector jobs when the labor market is as hot as it has been.
The New York Times
By James Barron
July 14, 2022