Silicon Valley Firms Ramp Up Efforts To Return Workers To Office
SAN JOSE (KPIX 5) – More companies in Silicon Valley are calling employees back to the office, but not all at once.
Google is mandating workers come back to the office at least three days a week beginning in April. Meanwhile, Apple is calling employees back for one day a week in April, eventually up to three days a week sometime in May.
"I think the first thing is just collaboration of the team, right? When you're in an in-person environment, teams tend to collaborate better," said Derrick Seaver, president of the San Jose Chamber of Commerce.
Seaver told KPIX 5 member companies big and small see value in having employees work together under one roof, especially for younger employees.
"I think if you've been in the workforce a little while, remote is working well for you, you know your job, you're able how to turn it out. If you're younger, you require more of that in person feel and mentorship that goes with it. And I think companies are responding to that," he said.
It's giving hope to small businesses and restaurants that depend on office workers that the worst may be over.
"We're starting to see corporate events coming back," said Randy Musterer, who owns three Sushi Confidential restaurant locations in the South Bay.
Musterer said walk-in business is still slow on weekdays. But he hopes to ramp up his hiring as companies phase-in their employees.
"A lot of the small companies are following what the big companies are doing. So now that the big corporations are coming back, that's going to help drive some of those smaller businesses," Musterer told KPIX 5.
In almost all cases, workers will have to be fully vaccinated. But when it comes to back to office, there is no one size fits all.
"We're hearing from members who have been back for a little while already, we're hearing members that are still all remote and pretty much everything in between," Seaver said.
Twitter told its employees that they can decide for themselves whether to work from home indefinitely or come back the office.
