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The Move Toward Permanent Remote Work
State and local programs seeking to attract remote workers face a question —
by Joel Sams
Long before lockdowns, toilet paper shortages and ubiquitous Zoom meetings, Vermont state Sen. Virginia “Ginny” Lyons was already thinking about remote work. Vermont is a rural state facing a declining population. Remote workers, Lyons realized, could become a growing segment of the workforce. They just needed a reason to choose the state. “When I went in to draft the bill with legislative council, I felt like I was working in a little dark closet, because there were no models out there for this type of incentive,” Lyons said. “But I felt very strongly that we needed to have incentives to bring people to our state.” With the 2018 passage of legislation that Lyons co-authored, Vermont became one of the first states to create an incentive program to attract remote workers. Shortly afterward, Tulsa, Oklahoma, launched a similar program to attract remote workers to the city. In 2021, as the move toward remote works seems to be permanent, an increasing number of states and cities are creating incentive programs, like Vermont’s and Tulsa’s, to sweeten the deal for a highly skilled and newly mobile workforce. But while Vermont and Tulsa have seen success, other programs have shown that research is key — what do remote workers really want?
VERMONT
Lyons’ bill was signed by Vermont Gov. Phil Scott on May 30, 2018, and quickly attracted national attention. The program, which was funded through 2020, paid workers with jobs outside of Vermont up to $10,000 over two years for eligible moving expenses to Vermont and costs of remote work. The program was subsequently expanded to include new workers moving to Vermont for any job. By 2020, the program’s funds — a total of $500,000 — had been awarded to a total of 140 successful applicants, according to a 2020 annual report. The average grant size was $3,571, and counting family members, the program resulted in a total of 298 new Vermont residents. Other demographic data from the annual report shows that grantees hailed from 38 states, and 64% of grantees were under 40 years old. The program primarily attracted workers in information technology (20%), management (26%) and writing and editing (5%). New funding was temporarily halted due to COVID-19, but a bill signed by Scott on June 1 included $630,000 to continue funding eligible relocation expenses for new and remote workers, in addition to calling for a study of the program’s effectiveness.
WHAT DO REMOTE WORKERS REALLY WANT?
Lyons says the program has a bigger impact than just the number of grants awarded. While the program draws new workers, it also draws attention, helping create awareness of Vermont as an attractive option for remote workers — even those who don’t receive a financial incentive.
“In some ways, it’s public relations‚ saying ‘We’re open for business, and we welcome you,’” Lyons said. “It’s an opportunity to bring people into the local community. It will send that message consistently — we’ve seen that.”
TULSA, OKLAHOMA
Tulsa, Oklahoma, also launched a remote work incentive program in 2018. Funded by the George Kaiser Family Foundation, the program offers a $10,000 grant for successful applicants, as well as co-working space in downtown Tulsa. To be eligible, applicants must hold full-time remote employment outside of Oklahoma, be 18 years old or older, be able to move to Tulsa within 12 months of application and be eligible to work in the U.S.
Since its 2018 launch, the program brought more than 1,000 new residents to Tulsa, according to the program website. More than 10,000 people applied during the first cycle, with 250 successful applicants. Writing in a case study for Harvard Business School in 2020, Prithwiraj Choudhury and Emma Salomon cited documents from the George Kaiser Family Foundation showing that Tulsa Remote workers have an average salary of more than $100,000. The first cohort alone brought $249,538 in potential income tax revenue, and potential income tax revenue by the end of 2020 was estimated at $1,377,398. Potential sales tax revenue was estimated at $536,503 by the end of 2020.
WHAT DO REMOTE WORKERS WANT?
By any metric — applications, media interest, tax revenue — Tulsa Remote has been a success. According program creators, though, the financial incentive was not the only driver — maybe not even the main attraction.
After the program launched, media coverage focused on community life in Tulsa, availability of housing, low cost of living and quality of life. These concepts had been promoted through press releases, the Tulsa Remote website and a media kit, to help shape public messaging about the program. According Houda Elyazgi, a marketer quoted in the Harvard Business School case study, the Tulsa Remote team focused on crafting messaging that would address those concerns: “We wanted to find those elements that make Tulsa unique, that we could really elevate and promote: the
quality of life, the cost of living, the community connections, the ability to make a difference.”
Since the onset of the pandemic and the growth of remote work, many towns have tried to implement incentive programs similar to Tulsa’s. MakeMyMove.com, a website that tracks offer and incentive packages, has identified 45 of these programs. None, however, have seen the level of success Tulsa enjoyed. Writing in The Atlantic, Daniel Block suggests this is because other programs have not accounted for what Tulsa learned in its research phase: that certain quality of life indicators (including arts, culture and restaurants), walkability and community are more important to high-earning remote workers than just a financial incentive.
“In the battle to attract remote workers, cities can’t simply pay to win,” Block wrote. “If they don’t have the types of restaurants and walkable neighborhoods that professionals are looking for, $15,000 just isn’t going to cut it. They might even need to offer attractive, in-person jobs: New residents may work remotely when they arrive, but they could eventually want or need to switch careers.”
Choudhury, one of the authors of the Harvard Business School Tulsa Case Study, thinks well-designed incentive programs still have a role to play as the workforce adjusts to a new “work from anywhere” model. It won’t be easy, he says, but states can and should learn from successful programs to take advantage of a singular opportunity to attract talent to smaller towns. “We’ve had several decades of talent leaving smaller towns for coastal cities, and we’ve all read about the hollowing out of Middle America,” said Choudhury, a professor at Harvard Business School. “I think this is a once-in-generation opportunity to reverse those flows. And as Tulsa Remote has shown, we can effectively do it. If that model can work in Tulsa, it can work anywhere else. I would urge federal, state and local officials to really think about what does it take to replicate the Tulsa success.” Additionally, Choudhury emphasizes that the work-from-anywhere model offers an opportunity to make work more inclusive. This is certainly true for people with disabilities, some of whom may have greater access and be more comfortable in a remote environment, but Choudhury says others can benefit as well. “Folks have lost out on employment opportunities because of where they live,” Choudhury said. “Women have lost out on employment opportunities because of dual career situations. If I’m a woman and in a certain town, I get a great opportunity in a different city, my spouse doesn’t want to move, so I forego that opportunity. In a work from anywhere model, you don’t have to move. You can take that new job without leaving town.” Regardless of how well state and local remote work incentives programs fare in coming months, Choudhury is convinced remote work will be a permanent feature of the post-COVID-19 workforce. He sees it as beneficial for both workers and employers. Workers get flexibility; employers get more productivity (one of Choudhury’s pre-COVID studies found a 4.4% increase), a nation-wide or even global talent pool, and more diverse workforce participation. “My logic is it’s not us versus them — it’s a win-win, both for worker and for the organization,” Choudhury said. “It’s a great change to make, and that’s why I think it’s going to stay.”
“Folks have lost out on employment opportunities because of where they live. Women have lost out on employment opportunities because of dual career situations. If I’m a woman and in a certain town, I get a great opportunity in a different city, my spouse doesn’t want to move, so I forego that opportunity. In a work from anywhere model, you don’t have to move. You can take that new job without leaving town.” — Prithwiraj Choudhury, professor at Harvard Business School and one of the authors of the Harvard Business School Tulsa Case Study
VACCINE REQUIREMENTS FOR EMPLOYMENT
As the Delta variant drives new COVID-19 cases, U.S. workers face increasing requirements to show proof of vaccination to return to work. On July 26, California became the first state to require either proof of vaccination or weekly COVID-19 testing for all state employees and health care workers, and on Aug. 11, the California Department of Public Health required all school staff to show proof of vaccination or undergo weekly testing. According to The Hill, 17 states have since implemented some kind of vaccine requirement for public employees. These range from a vaccine requirement for all state employees, with no option for weekly testing instead (Oregon) to a twice-weekly test and indoor masking requirement for unvaccinated employees (Colorado). On the other hand, Ballotpedia reports that 20 states currently prohibit or limit proof of vaccine requirements.
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that 829 colleges and universities (public, private and for-profit) are requiring vaccination for at least some students or employees. At the national level, President Joe Biden announced new requirements for federal employees on July 29. Under the new rules, federal employees are required to disclose whether they have gotten a vaccine, and unvaccinated employees are required to wear masks, practice social distancing, take COVID-19 tests weekly or twice weekly and abide by restricted travel rules. He also instructed the Department of Defense to determine when COVID-19 would be added to the list of vaccines already required for military service members. Following Biden’s announcement, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said COVID-19 vaccination would be mandatory for U.S. military service members beginning in mid-September. The Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Health and Human Services have also required vaccination for some employees. “All FDA-authorized COVID-19 vaccines are safe and highly effective,” Austin wrote in a memo to all DOD employees. “They will protect you and your family. They will protect your unit, your ship, and your coworkers. And they will ensure we remain the most lethal and ready force in the world.” In the private sector, growing numbers of companies require employees to show proof of vaccination to return to the office. According to Barron’s, eight of the 30 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average have required some or all employees to get the vaccine. Included in that number are Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Salesforce.com, Walgreens Boot Alliance, Walmart, Walt Disney and McDonald’s. Dow companies are far from the only ones mandating the vaccine — other major employers include Facebook, Google, United Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Tyson Foods, Gilead Sciences, Lyft, Netflix and others, according to Reuters. The Wall Street Journal reports that 1,200 new job postings per million on the job website Indeed require vaccinations for new hires — a significant increase from the 50 per million reported in February. The move toward vaccination requirements carries risk for states and employers, however. According to Quartz, research from Qualtrics suggests that as many as 44% of employees say they might quit their job if their employer requires vaccine (in March, 39% of employees gave the same answer). On the other, hand, 38% of employees say they might quit if their employer doesn’t require vaccines.
EMPLOYEES SAY 44%
Source: Qualtrics, cited in Quartz
