About half of organizations polled said they have no plans to track employees’ COVID-19 vaccine status, reported Gartner Thursday. It canvassed several hundred human resources leaders March 16, finding only 8% will require proof of vaccination for employees returning to the physical office. Among HR professionals surveyed, 45% said they expect their workers to return to the physical workspace in Q3, and a quarter (24%) said that won’t happen until Q4, said Gartner. “Given the uncertainty that will exist around vaccination status, most organizations that reopen will do so with social distancing and mask wearing in place,” said analyst Brian Kropp. “Regardless of reopening plans, only 1% of the HR leaders we surveyed expect all of their employees to work full-time in the office.”
Though consumer spending intentions are largely “stable” after issuance of $1,400 stimulus checks, the economic package “should provide another leg of growth within consumer sectors,” Cowen wrote investors Friday on the impact of the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill signed into law March 11. A Cowen survey of about 2,500 U.S. consumers showed households expect to spend about the same in the upcoming month vs. the previous month: 17% plan to spend less, 14% more. Cowen expects a disproportionate amount of spending to come from lower-income and displaced employees receiving "outsized" benefits from the fiscal package. Employees laid off during COVID-19 had significantly higher spending intentions at 36% vs. a 14% average, said Cowen. Twenty-two percent of laid-off consumers intend to spend less. On how they expect to spend stimulus funds, 23% said to pay down debt; 17% on food, household supplies and personal care; “other” items (13%); mortgage/rent (10%); clothes/shoes (4%); and healthcare expenses (4%). Cowen noted a considerable uptick in travelers through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints beginning mid-March. It forecasts 1.1 million to 1.6 million TSA travelers around Memorial Day weekend. A year ago, Cowen analysts didn’t expect a third round of stimulus and think it will take time for people to repair personal balance sheets, especially those who lost jobs. “As it happens, the US government has been very supportive of both its citizens and of the airlines, and as a result, we believe people have some money with which to travel, and they are.” Analysts envision a “jailbreak” this summer among consumers who have been cooped up at home. They see Americans traveling domestically to national parks, beaches, golf resorts and other places with outdoor activities where they can continue social distancing.
Many employees who “have acclimated to remote work are not in a rush to go back to an office full-time,” Verizon reported Thursday. Of the 3,000 U.S. adults canvassed online March 14-16 in a Verizon-sponsored Morning Consult poll, half would consider changing jobs to continue remote or hybrid work; 54% work remotely at least part time, vs. 28% pre-pandemic. Nearly seven in 10 prefer to continue in a year working remotely at least one to two days a week. A quarter hope to return to a physical office full time by a year from now. Nearly a third say they upgraded or considered upgrading their home internet bandwidth and their mobile data plans within the past year. Two-thirds spend at least three hours weekly watching live TV. Nearly six in 10 say the same about watching content through a streaming service. Forty-seven percent subscribed to a new streaming service during the pandemic, and 70% say they have binge-watched a show.
The “rising confidence” in the COVID-19 vaccine brought “more urgency” to Steelcase’s conversations with CEOs who were “eager to put their real estate investments back to work” by returning workers to the physical office, said CEO Jim Keane on a fiscal Q4 call Wednesday. “Now we're seeing an increase in actual projects,” he said. The world’s largest manufacturer of office furniture is taking tremendous financial hits during the pandemic, with physical workplaces shut down. Profit of $6.6 million in the quarter ended Feb. 26 was 10% that of the year-earlier Q4. Revenue of $2.6 billion for the year was $1.13 billion lower than in the previous 12 months. Before the vaccine, many CEOs were targeting Sept. 1 for returning employees to the physical office, “and now we're hearing more talk about early summer or even spring,” said Keane. His optimism doesn't square with the results this month of a Partnership for New York City survey that canvassed local employers and found companies expect 45% of their employees to return to the office by September, down somewhat from the survey in late October, when employers anticipated 48% would return by July.
Global videoconferencing device shipments are expected to reach 12.5 million units by 2025, a sixfold increase from 2020, reported Frost & Sullivan Wednesday. “This year marks the beginning of the revival of meeting rooms and office spaces,” F&S said. “As businesses and educational institutions prepare for the return to work, meeting rooms and classrooms will see heavy technology investments to support hybrid work and learning.” The company projects global revenue will exceed $7.7 billion in 2025, vs. $2.75 billion in 2020: “The long-term, sustainable demand for video meetings to connect remote workers and geographically dispersed teams” is driving the “secular growth opportunity,” said F&S.
Workplaces with “shared seating” will be the new normal after COVID-19, reported Gartner Tuesday. It canvassed 127 finance and real estate executives last month, finding 59% expect shared seating arrangements will be the norm for at least a quarter of their employees who return to the physical office. “An increase in remote working will meaningfully change office space configurations,” said analyst Tammy Shoham. “The most obvious consequence is that firms will need less office space per employee.” More than a third of the survey respondents expect most employees to be in shared seating for at least the next year or two. This would be a “significant shift from the pre-pandemic workplace,” in which 80% of management leaders report that fewer than a quarter of their employees were in shared seating, Gartner said.
Employees’ sentiments are high for working from home after the pandemic, and management appears to support them, a Lenovo survey found. The PC vendor canvassed 8,500 respondents in the U.S., U.K. and 12 other countries Jan. 15 to Feb. 11, finding that 70% reported higher job satisfaction at home, with 56% feeling more productive than at the office. More than eight in 10 management respondents expect post-COVID-19 work to be remote “at least half the time,” it said. About 60% of employees canvassed would prefer working remotely at least half the time, and more than a third want to do so “most or all of the time,” said Lenovo. “This sentiment increases among workers in larger companies,” with about two-thirds of them preferring to work remotely at least half the time, it said. Work-from-home challenges abound, said Lenovo, with slow or unreliable internet “chief among them.” About half the employees in medium-sized businesses and 40% in small or very small businesses “report delays or challenges in getting any kind of IT support when needed,” it said.
The hybrid workplace is “here to stay,” and the quality of the employee experience, one year into the pandemic, "has never mattered more,” reported Citrix Thursday. The digital workplace tech provider hired OnePoll to canvass 7,250 employees in 12 countries, finding 52% say they're married to a hybrid model that lets them choose to work remotely or from the physical office each day. The poll found 16% indicating "no interest in returning to the office and would prefer a permanently remote role,” it said. Many were steadfast, with the three-quarters of respondents saying they would consider relocating “if they could perform their role to the same level without commuting,” said Citrix. Work-from-home fatigue is growing. Two-thirds say they're working longer than pre-pandemic and struggle to stay as productive. Distractions at home from kids and pets were the main productivity killers among 41% of respondents, followed by 36% who feel out of touch with colleagues and 28% who lack sufficient technology.
Remote learning and work during the pandemic drove the tablet applications processor market to growth in 2020 after five years of shipment declines, said Strategy Analytics Thursday. The tablet AP market grew 36% to $2.6 billion led by Apple (48%), Intel (16%) and Qualcomm (14%), it said. Arm-based tablet APs were 89% of the segment. Apple's M1 for Macs, Qualcomm's Nuvia acquisition and Nvidia’s proposed acquisition of Arm “all point to a heightened interest in the mobile computing,” with competition and innovation expected to follow, said analyst Sravan Kundojjala.
CEDIA Expo will return in September as an in-person event, emailed Jason McGraw, group vice president of show owner Emerald, Thursday. The 2020 Expo, planned for September in Denver, was canceled due to the pandemic. The 2021 show is set for Sept. 1-3 in Indianapolis, with registration beginning June 9. “After months of COVID-19 pandemic meeting restrictions, vaccines are finally being distributed in mass and live events are beginning to come back safely,” McGraw said, saying Emerald and Indianapolis “are committed to putting on healthy and safe shows.” Indianapolis has hosted 58 live events with over 130,000 attendees since July, and The Indiana Convention Center invested over $7 million in health and safety upgrades, he said. Crestron, Digital Projection, Elan, Harman, Lutron, Origin Acoustics, Samsung, Savant, SnapAV/Control4, Sound United, URC and Yamaha are among nearly 200 exhibitors that contracted to participate in the September show in Indianapolis, McGraw said. Emerald expects over 350 brands to exhibit. Emerald is working with CEDIA on planning for Expo, which is scheduled to have about 100 live and streamed education sessions, plus “dozens" of case studies, product application briefs and industry thought leadership sessions. Highlighted growth segments will include smart appliances and connected living solutions, lighting, outdoor living, "resimercial," security and work from home, he said. Trade show company Emerald canceled 94 shows last year, leading to a 65% revenue drop (see 2102180039).