The number of people working remotely in S.A. has nearly quadrupled during the pandemic, a...
Josie Norris, San Antonio Express-News / Staff photographerSAN ANTONIO — At Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union, it began in the summer of 2020. As COVID-19 upended the way they work, some employees began splitting their work time between the office and home.
Now, hybrid workplaces appear to be the norm. It’s a work lifestyle many employees are loath to give up. And in today’s tight labor market, many executives are reluctant to force a full-time return to the office that might push employees to look for a position with more flexibility elsewhere.“I have learned over the last two-plus years that it just isn’t necessary to be in office for this line of business,” said one, who recently took a new job at a San Antonio insurance company.
Despite the upswing, there’s still friction. At some businesses, workers describe a generational difference: Older employees who have worked in offices for decades want to return while younger staffers don’t see the need and prefer the flexibility. At mid-year, Transwestern pegged the San Antonio office vacancy rate at 11 percent, which was lower than pre-pandemic levels. But, Gallagher said, that rate could have been skewed by companies in the midst of moving to new offices while still having leases in other buildings. By the end of the year, she expects the vacancy rate to be as high as 14 percent. In pre-pandemic 2019, it was 12.9 percent.
“You’ve got a large amount of space available in what is a very small central business district,” she said. “I think we’ll see that space be absorbed. It’s going to take some time because it will likely require a new-to-market user to come in.” San Antonio does not have as many large corporate office tenants as Dallas, Houston and Austin, for example, Gallagher said. Rather, it’s home to more small local and regional firms. And it doesn’t have as many jobs that can be done remotely compared with some other cities. Primary industries include government, retail, food services and healthcare.
If an employee needs to run errands, care for a sick child or let a repair person into their house, they can work remotely or shift their hours. Sales and marketing staff work from home. Otherwise, president and CEO Louis Hoch prefers Usio’s roughly 120 employees to be in the office.“Because we’re tech it’s all about innovation and innovation occurs through collaboration, and it’s just harder to collaborate remotely,” Hoch said.
At USAA, more than half of the insurance and financial services company’s roughly 37,000 employees nationwide are on a hybrid schedule, a percentage that has been increasing. As remote work rises, the company has reduced its real estate occupancy by about 10 percent in the past year through subleases or expired leases.
Offering flexible options is also important for retaining employees and attracting new talent, Cantu said.Some employees have left the company. But “by and large, that has not been as big of a risk as we were preparing for,” Cantu said. “Employees say they like having options where possible, and we’ve heard good things about people feeling comfortable gathering with their groups more often,” Day said.
That schedule was determined based on what employees wanted and trends playing out in the engineering industry. In surveys for the annual Express-News Top Workplaces awards program, employees at various businesses cited remote options as benefits of their workplace. Also downtown, the owners of the Tower Life Building — a group that includes the McCombs family, local developer Ed Cross and Jon Wiegand of Alamo Capital Advisers — want to turn it into housing and retail.
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