PEORIA, Ill. – A number of stories in the news recently have suggested that returning to the office for work full-time might be backfiring.
Some are saying that it’s costing them in gas and other expenses, and they’d rather keep working from home.
While some experts think the offices of the big employers might fill up again here, Chris Setti of the Greater Peoria Economic Development Council sees the other end through a social media colleague of his.
“A lot of the folks that Angie Ostaszewski has recruited are remote workers. They came here with a job,” said Setti. “They realized, ‘Hey, I’m doing this job from my home, but my home is so expensive’ or whatever the reasons…so I think that’s a real opportunity.”
Setti tells WMBD’s “Greg and Dan” some of that is being addressed through the new “Choose Peoria” initiative.
That said, he believes some form of hybrid option where you periodically go to the office and work from home, is not going away.
“I think work-from-home is here to stay,” said Setti. “A lot of people were working from home even prior to the pandemic. I think…there will be a return to office as well, but I think it’s going to look different.”
Setti says he thinks it will, for many companies, involve a reconfiguration of office space. Plus, he says at some point workers who work hybrid will need some form of human interaction.
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