Incredibly, Over Half Of New Yorkers Have Never Met Colleagues In Person
Interestingly, a huge number of employees in New York State who have started new jobs since the pandemic began in March of 2020 have never met their co-workers in person.
There was a way that the average business operated and that way, for most businesses, hadn't seen a shakeup in literal generations. And then, the pandemic happened.
Businesses that weren't exactly up with modern technology were suddenly thrust into a situation where they needed to figure out how to allow their employees to work from home while offices were closed because of various mandates and restrictions.
Younger generations had been suggesting for years that allowing employees to work from home would be beneficial to both employees and employers but it took a pandemic to make that happen for a good majority of businesses.
Mandates have been dropped, businesses have re-opened and employees have been required to return to the workplace...except for the employees who were hired as virtual employees, most if not all, are still chugging away from the comfort of wherever they are.
Green Building Elements conducted a survey of employees and found that over half, (57 percent) of employees in New York who were hired during the pandemic to work from home have not yet met a single of their co-workers in person and 41 percent of employees said that the company often organizes online social events in an effort to foster bonding.
How do people feel about not meeting co-workers face to face though? Well, over half ( 58 percent) of people said relationships with co-workers have improved since they began working from home. Employees say they feel that they are able to be more productive without the annoying habits of their co-workers slowing them down.
There's something to be said about being able to speak to someone face to face which is evident in the fact that 66 percent of employees say that they made an effort to stay in touch with their co-workers outside of work hours in order to create a meaningful bond with them.