Office workers are returning to their offices, at least part time, now that Covid-19 cases and safety restrictions have abated.
But what if that return entails an airplane flight, rendering any kind of hybrid work life impractical, if not impossible? That’s the situation faced by many Oregon employers, whose workers may have scattered far and wide during the pandemic and then decided to stay put.
“What’s most interesting is how many employers found that their employees moved out of state during the pandemic,” said Jenna Mooney, a partner in the Portland office of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and co-chair of the firm’s employment group. “You’re finding out after the fact that some of your high performers have moved to California, which comes with lots of additional challenges because it’s a fairly regulation-heavy state, and a host of other states — Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.”
Many back office and administrative jobs can certainly be performed remotely, to be sure. But when a worker lives in a different state, the employer must deal with legal, regulatory and tax implications.
“You have to figure out what does this mean, can we allow you to work there?” Mooney said. “It’s time for some difficult conversations. It creates some tension.”
In a tight labor market, the employee has some leverage over where they live and work. But allowing out-of-state workers can also benefit employers.
“Because you realize you can have remote workers who are productive, it opens the whole country...
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