Eighteen months into the Covid-19 pandemic, and the office is looking more like a Motorola pager than a brand-new pair of AirPods.

Shiny corporate headquarters weren’t supposed to go the way of Blockbuster Video: Earlier this year, with Covid-19 cases receding, corporate America seemed ready to open its doors, but the Delta variant punted those plans into an unknowable future. Now, workers and people-ops managers alike are navigating a tricky return to our old ways of working.

Clashing philosophies: The pandemic has thrust two opposing managerial philosophies into the spotlight. The old-guard approach maintained by certain corporate leaders says that workers need to toil away at an office to be productive, while the majority of workers say the pandemic-born remote-work revolution has proven exactly the opposite.

A study from the National Bureau of Economic Research from this year projects that overall economic productivity will grow by 5% after the pandemic recedes, largely due to new work configurations and the elimination of universally loathed commutes. But some workers are still feeling the pull of their leadership teams, who’ve communicated plans to reopen offices, often in an iterative, unclear fashion.

“I think there’s that push from managers who want to be a bit more controlling. Who want to have a more domineering feel over their employees,” said an employee at PayPal familiar with the company’s reopening plans in a major US city.

Communication underload: The uncertainty over the permanence of remote work at some companies could have repercussions for workers who fled bigger and more expensive cities during the pandemic.

• At New York City digital media publisher G/O media, employees are “waiting for a concrete statement to be made about if they have to be in the office five days a week or quit. There has not been clear communication from the CEO, HR, or any department heads,” an employee of the company told HR Brew.
• There’s, of course, the issue of safety, too: One employee at a major New York City book publishing company told HR Brew about the company’s vaccine honor system, and how that has sparked anxiety among the rank-and-file. “You don’t have to provide any proof of vaccination or proof of a Covid test,” they said.

Where is the office headed? Ultimately, the “office” as most people knew it before 2020 is in the midst of a seismic shift, in which it may exist for more targeted purposes, and less as a communal hub for 40 hours a week or more.

“Life is not going to look like it did before Covid, especially in the office,” said Aran Klingensmith, VP of people and culture at the California software provider Fast Spring. Companies, she added, need to ask the question: “What are the aspects of the office that we can promote that will allow people to use the space in a way that is productive and can help us maintain our culture?”

Click here to read the full story.—SB

Do you work in HR or have information about your HR department we should know? Contact Sam Blum via the encrypted messaging apps Signal and Telegram (@SamBlum_Brew) or simply email [email protected].

When the federal government’s Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program started in 2007, the intention was presumably not to make it as exclusive as the Met gala. Unfortunately for the Department of Education, between November 2020 and the end of April 2021, a staggering 98% of (PSLF) applications were denied.

PSLF is FUBAR: The federal government struck a deal with students: Commit to 10 years of public service, make 120 loan payments on time, then, when the clock strikes midnight, watch your remaining student debt disappear like your clearly marked leftovers in the communal work fridge.

That’s a pretty good deal for applicants who shoulder a combined $115.9 billion and an average of $87,514 in loans individually, except it didn’t work: applications were denied in droves.

Why it matters for recruiters: Public-sector work, including teaching and healthcare jobs, is often frontline work. It doesn’t pay well to begin with and didn’t get more attractive during a global pandemic. Without the promise of loan forgiveness, many worry the 1.5 million qualifying public-sector employers will have difficulty attracting and retaining the necessary talent.

What went wrong: Congressman John Sarbanes, who authored the bill creating PSLF, hoped the program would offer graduates the financial freedom they needed to pursue public service careers.

“This program is a critical factor in helping drive the pipeline of qualified people into public service,” Representative Sarbanes told HR Brew. “It was meant to give everyone the opportunity to pursue meaningful work, regardless of loan status.”

Instead, the dismal track record of PSLF approvals has had a chilling effect on mission-driven careers. According to Erin Powers, the director of marketing and communications at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA), 74% of borrowers lack confidence in the program.

“The employees’ mistrust of the program and concern over their debt can lead would-be public servants into other types of work,” Powers explained.

Making it right. On October 6, the Department of Education announced an overhaul to the program that will put more than half a million Americans on track toward loan forgiveness.

“Borrowers who devote a decade of their lives to public service should be able to rely on the promise of Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The system has not delivered on that promise to date, but that is about to change,” said US Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in a memo.

The new rules aim to fix past mistakes and increase program flexibility moving forward. Borrowers will have the opportunity to count all previously discounted payments toward their 120 qualifying payments, including payments toward the wrong loan type or repayment plan. By next year, the department will streamline the application process and automatically enroll federal employees and military service personnel in the program.

Click here to read the full story.—SV

Do you work in HR or have information about your HR department we should know? Contact Susanna Vogel via the encrypted messaging apps Signal and Telegram (@SusannaVogel) or simply email [email protected].

As Plato once pondered while waiting for his AthensEats delivery, “What makes someone an employee?” I hope you’ve had your coffee, because today we’re getting philosophical about the nature of work and how forced arbitration has become the latest battleground in the war between labor and management.

To be or not to be (classified as an employee)? As many as 51 million Americans currently work in the gig economy, an increase of 34% over 2020, according to a report from MBO Partners. Companies ranging from Uber to TaskRabbit contract gig workers to perform on-demand services and often classify them as “independent contractors.” Critics point to obvious financial incentives for doing so: companies usually don’t have to foot the bill for employee benefits and independent contractors are usually entitled to more limited workplace protections than full-time employees.

Forced arbitration clauses are an overlooked component of the worker classification conversation. As of 2016, two-thirds of gig workers had arbitration clauses in their contracts that basically say, “If you have a problem with your boss, you agree to negotiate in a private setting—not sue.”

Statistically, arbitration is stacked against workers: employers are favored, workers receive smaller awards than in court, and, crucially, it doesn’t lead to improved workplace standards. This is a huge problem for gig workers hoping to use the legal system to access employment benefits and rights.

“If workers get a good decision in arbitration, [due to confidentiality] it sits there, and it doesn’t do anything to reform the overall industry,” Nicole Moore, an activist with Rideshare Drivers United, explained.

Now some gig workers are taking legal action against companies including Amazon, DoorDash, and Uber, demanding their complaints be heard (these companies did not respond to HR Brew’s request for comment). Moore said that, if successful, these cases—and subsequent legal proceedings they’d allow—have the potential to change the industries.

“[Arbitration] doesn’t help overall accountability. It’s just a one-time payment,” Moore told HR Brew. “So, these lawsuits [are] a way that [workers] can both fight back and set precedent moving forward.”

Zoom in: So far, the courts have been mixed in their response, ruling against Amazon in its bid to compel Flex Drivers into arbitration and elsewhere siding with Uber. In hearing the arbitration suits, two big questions loom: Can workers pursue claims and damages outside arbitration, and, if they can, will the courts begin to award employment rights to gig workers?

People ops should watch these evolving cases closely. (SHRM offers advice on independent contractors here.) As employment attorney David Pryzbylski told HR Brew, “The best defense is a good offense. Take a look at where the tide is flowing and talk to your legal counsel, it’s always better to be ahead of the curve than behind.”

View this story on our website.—SV

Do you work in HR or have information about your HR department we should know? Contact Susanna Vogel via the encrypted messaging apps Signal and Telegram (@SusannaVogel) or simply email [email protected].

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: Spending on HR tech systems “is up by 57% from last year, with a major focus on learning, recruiting, HR analytics, benefits and wellness, and skills management.” (Human Resource Executive)

Quote: “There is little doubt that the patchwork of emerging state marijuana laws is making it significantly more difficult for employers to create and enforce uniform drug-testing policies that are consistent with the laws in all of the jurisdictions in which they operate.” (SHRM)

Read: The new Talent Market Drivers report from LinkedIn contains a lot of new survey data about “what talent wants, what employers need, and what we’re learning in the Great Reshuffle” (LinkedIn)

Four of these HR job titles are real...and one is most definitely not. Can you spot the fake without Googling?

1. Chief Bridge Architect
2. Chief Heart Officer
3. Chief Office Officer
4. Chief Purpose Officer
5. Chief Hybrid Work Officer

Keep reading for the answer.

Private sector vaccine mandates are proving largely successful, and may be contributing to a decline in Covid-19 cases throughout the US.

A Black contractor who did not sign a typically mandatory arbitration agreement with Tesla was awarded $137 million in damages by a jury for the racist abuse he says he was subjected to while working at Tesla’s Fremont, California, plant.

Vox analysis: Companies love to boast about their purported values, but is the high-minded corporate rhetoric resulting in actual change in the world?

US companies hired at a “faster-than-expected” pace in September, adding 568,000 jobs, despite worries about the Delta variant and a broader economic slowdown, according to payroll processing firm ADP.