Executives should push workers back to the office to help San Francisco, Fed president says

That’s amid reports of people fleeing San Francisco during the pandemic to lower-cost areas and working from home, leaving increasingly empty office buildings and nearby businesses without customers.

But during an appearance at the Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California in San Francisco on Monday, Daly noted that the bust more than 20 years ago prompted similar predictions of doom for the Bay Area.

She rattled off a list of what San Francisco has going for it, including a highly educated workforce, good infrastructure and its “innovative entrepreneurial spirit.” In fact, AI and other companies are seeking real estate in the city again, and more people are returning to work.

“Every week that I come by, the traffic is getting worse,” Daly said. “That’s a good thing, honestly, sometimes.”

However, data from property adviser CBRE shows that San Francisco’s office vacancy rate of 37% is the highest of any major US, according to Financial Times.

Daly also acknowledged that there is more work to be done to make the city – as well as the surrounding area – better and help it reach its full potential. And she sees a role for San Francisco’s business community, which is not a passive bystander.

“If you’re the founder of something and you’re part of it, then let’s change it. This is not happening to us, we live in the city and so together we can help and help,” she said.

When asked how CEOs and founders can help, she replied: “Talk about what you need to fix and also encourage your people to get back to work.”

Hybrid work appears to be a compromise between companies and workers, and Daly said she personally favors hybrid, noting that younger employees should also work with older employees to help grow and advance their careers. theirs.

But even hybrid work has received reactions from the technology sector. A study examining the effects of back-to-office mandates at giants like Apple and Microsoft found that many workers left their companies. This is after Microsoft mandated 50% of the week at the office and Apple only required one day per week.

Similarly, nearly half of Dell’s full-time US workforce refused to return to the office and preferred to work from home rather than be promoted.

A major drawback is that many employees have moved further away from the office. The average distance to work for workers who were hired in 2023 is now 35 miles, up from 10 miles in 2019, according to a Stanford University and Gusto study published in March.

Meanwhile, Patagonia gave some employees just three days to decide whether to relocate near the office or leave. The company began piloting a “hub” model last year, largely because of negative feedback it received about being completely remote, said Corley Kenna, Patagonia’s head of communications. wealth earlier this week.

“We wanted to be really intentional and we wanted to make sure this was the right model,” she said. “We knew it would affect a lot of people, and so we took it seriously to think about all the different ways we could take care of our people. So I think it’s a fair call, but I think that’s our real answer.”