Remote Work: Is it here to stay in California?

The pandemic caused more than half of all workers to suddenly work remotely and they adapted. The highways were no longer filled with rush hour commuters. Without having to drive into work, these workers found themselves with more time and a better work/life balance. A large-scale meta analysis from the National Institutes of Health explains there may be reasons that some may want to hold onto this newly found freedom — as long as we also take care of ourselves and support the right infrastructure. The fact is that many workers would rather suffer a pay cut instead of going back into an office. The Great Resignation is due to workers reaching a breaking-point with pay versus the cost of living — and the value of time: many would rather quit and those who remain are left with the work. Some who quit have started (or are starting) businesses and others are simply burnt out with no sign of stopping. What have we learned from the pandemic about how we work and what does it say about where we go from here?

Before March 2020, workers were used to the amount they could accomplish in a single working day. If you take into account the additional unpaid commuting time, this can mean being away from home for more than 9 hours a day — just for work. There is also the added expense of gas and car maintenance. With San Diego’s average commute time of 26 minutes and record gas prices, this is a significant expense. Some workers realized that they could accomplish more at work and in their own lives while working remotely — and could save a little money too. Suddenly, the center of the week wasn’t work; it was what you could do other than work and where you could live other than work. It became a way to have a better life for many who can even pursue side jobs to earn an extra income.

We must also realize that not everyone has the same experience and it doesn’t make sense for every job to be remote. Many also want to be able to go into an office in order to experience that separation from work and home — or to simply escape distractions. Others value the workplace culture and workplace interaction. We must realize that both of these things can be accomplished and can have a net positive impact for all: allowing more workers to work remotely have benefits in traffic for others who have to commute which would also have a positive impact on carbon emissions. The benefit expands beyond the environment as many workers sustain better productivity while working remotely compared to going into the office. This ends up being a net benefit in productivity for businesses.

As businesses open offices up, those who choose to force a rigid in-office routine face a significant new reality. Many of these workers will see their productivity suffer and anxiety increase as they may not be interested in company culture and will seek out jobs or lives that allow them this freedom. For many, it will be a loss of autonomy: a return to an office that controls your day, rather than you who control your day. Some workers are not interested in more than the idea of contractual working to get paid. We must start to recognize that this is the new normal. Workers are pushing back; it’s time to think about how to move forward.

I’m Daniel Ferrara and I am writing on one of the ideas within the Forward Party. In this instance, I believe the focus should be on Human-Centered Capitalism: we must humanize our economy to work for us instead of continuing to see ourselves as inputs into a system. I believe that we should be enabling workers to work in a condition that suits them best. As long as someone can accomplish their job as well as or better at home rather than in office, that should be a reasonable working accommodation.

I also plan to run in the upcoming California Assembling elections, but won’t know the specifics until the end of the year. Until that time, I will be writing and exploring ideas around a future we can imagine, if we only choose to vote to move forward. I recognize that my ideas are not always the best, and try to encourage constructive discourse. I created MathPolitics and these articles as a way to encourage more thought around the ways we can imagine a shared future. We face the outcome of our choices and voting influences that ultimate direction: in a democracy, voting is the ultimate choice and I am choosing to vote forward. I am working for a future where we have:

• Ranked Choice Voting and Open Primaries: We need to allow for more competition in democracy for it to succeed.
• Universal Basic Income: We face a future where automation is putting jobs at risk. In order for us to continue to create opportunity for everyone, we need to provide this stability.
• Term Limits in All Branches: Politics is inherently a position of power, and we need to limit a single person’s impact.
• Campaign Finance Reform: Massive money in politics has poisoned a free democracy, and enabled a two-party duopoly in government, with 14 billion spent in the last election cycle to “influence us”. (Non-)Bipartisan is a term that is only used in a two-party democracy; I’d like to see this term go.
• Financial Transparency (for all who serve in government): The minimum we can ask is that any elected official must submit their tax returns and their business holdings as well as detail into campaign finance donations. They must be held to a higher bar, as they have been elected to a position of power. We must have transparency.

I believe that to enable us to move forward, we need to enable everyone to move forward. People are quitting because there are too many barriers in the way and not enough tools to get ahead.

One recent tool that many have gained is the ability to work from home. This has enabled many to create side jobs, start new hobbies, spend more time with their families, or even simply throw in a load of laundry to wash during the day. The pandemic has given us so much time that we have no reason to want to give up. We want to be able to continue to work remotely and go into the office only when we want or need. Only in that way can our time once again be our own. Until then, we have lost some of our autonomy.

I would propose that we enact some reasonable allowance for remote work. I believe that if you were as productive or better due to remote work, and you wish to continue, that you should be allowed to continue that arrangement. I believe that giving workers the right to work remotely is focusing on human-centered capitalism. Although some would say that Universal Basic Income solves this problem — and I wholeheartedly agree — we are not there yet and I believe we must continue to move forward as we can. This is an idea that gives us a bit of our lives back. It gives us a way to try to get ahead. And above all else, it’s giving us our autonomy back.

I recognize that this is just an idea. I realize that I often may not have the best solution alone. That’s why I believe in constructive disagreement; let’s work together in the ways we disagree to end up in a better place.

If you like my ideas and want to help me move forward, please consider adding your email for updates. I also can make mistakes: so please contact me if I do. Lastly, if anyone would like to volunteer to help, feel free to reach out as well. Email at mathpolitics@gmail.com, follow me at @mathPolitics on Instagram or comment on this article.