Working Remotely

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Lots of work still being done at home

Data: Flex Index. Chart: Axios Visuals In May, 30% of U.S. employers had a structured-hybrid plan, where workers come in a minimum number of days per week, Axios' Emily Peck writes from Flex Index data from the hybrid-work software company Scoop. Back in February, only 20% of firms in the database were doing structured-hybrid.

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Remote work is alive and kicking

While some employers are pushing unwilling employees back to the office, others are leaning into permanent remote work, Axios Markets co-author Emily Peck reports.

• Yelp is closing its Phoenix and Hamburg, Germany, offices, the company announced yesterday.
• ? Fewer than 6% of the desks in those offices were being used, the company tells Axios.

?Catch up quick: Yelp had already closed offices in New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

• It has one remaining U.S. office (in San Francisco), plus Toronto and London locations.
• Office closures and reductions will save Yelp around $27 million in annual expenses in 2023-24.

Etsy is also embracing remote and hybrid work, in part by redesigning its Brooklyn HQ.

?‍? The bottom line: Despite the noise from "desk-banging CEOs," plenty of companies "lean into remote-first or more radical flexibility," Erin Grau, co-founder of media and services company Charter, tells Axios.

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?️ When remote work goes too far

The inspector general for the Architect of the Capitol, Christopher Failla, has been ordered to stop working remotely from Florida and return to Washington, Roll Call reports.

• That's not to say the watchdog isn't doing his job: Biden fired former Architect of the Capitol Brett Blanton this year after Failla found he had serially misused government-issued vehicles for personal trips.

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