What’s the future of work from home as restrictions lift in MA? – Boston 25 News

BOSTON — Resistant at first, Dee Morton from Hingham now loves working from home.

“I can go to the gym at noon, but I still get my full day in so, I found it refreshing actually,” Morton said.

Morton is an accountant, and her CEO asked employees what works for them. She said she’ll choose a hybrid model with at least two days working from home.

“I think it depends. It depends if my kid has a game or not. I think it’s flexible,” Morton said.

Dee is fortunate to have some say in how she will work moving forward, but not everyone is so lucky. Donna Silva teaches dance, which she said is not easy working remotely.

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“Yeah, I have mostly from home on Zoom. It’s been tough, especially for dance what I teach, yeah,” she said.

For Silva, being there in person is vital for her job, and she’s happy to go back. Navigating this is tough for workers but also for human resources people like Paul Alexander, who is the chief human resources officer at Cape Cod Community College.

“I believe a number of employees believe they may be the final determinant in terms of whether their job can be done at home. And that’s a challenge because no employer can operate under that standard. Ultimately, it has to be the employer who determines whether the job can be done remotely,” Alexander said.

He added that, hopefully, that happens with employers and employees discussing it. But Alexander also said a move to full in-person work is coming, although he also expects some flexibility at the office.

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Keren Horn, who is an associate professor of economics at UMass Boston, agrees. She believes a hybrid model will be the new norm.

“I think it’s going to be really common. I’ve heard pushback on this, but I think workers really like a day at home or two days at home. And I think that we’ve proven the experiment,” Horn said.

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