Will More Employees Stay Home?

PriceWaterhouseCoopers recently announced that it will allow its entire workforce to continue working remotely full-time. This means that 40,000 employees would not necessarily need to return to the office, other than for in-person meetings up to three times per month. However, the Manhattan-based firm is considering following Google’s lead and reducing salary for those employees who stay remote and move to a less expensive area. With that in mind, I do wonder which option the majority of the workforce will take. Will the convenience of a commute from your bedroom to your desk win out over a higher salary and a long drive to the office?

The question is an interesting one for Miami, which, through the Pandemic, seems to have had a gravitational pull on people from the Northeast and Northwest, who have moved here for larger homes, sunny weather, beaches, and no state income tax. Miami certainly has a more affordable housing market than Manhattan or the San Francisco Bay area: would a move here mean a pay cut for PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Google’s employees? Or would our tax code cause them to break even?

It will be very interesting to see whether we have another influx of out of state buyers. If we do, then we will know that the quality of life that comes with a full-time work from home position has proven stronger than a larger pay check.