How work has changed post-COVID for employees who can't work remotely

WNYC News | Oct 17, 2023

The pandemic created a major shift for white-collar workers who were suddenly allowed to work from home during the 2020 COVID shutdowns.

Three years later, many of those workers continue to work from home, or in a hybrid work environment that requires being in the office a few days per week.

But other workers, many of whom were on the front lines at the height of the pandemic, didn’t have that option. And the nature of their job requires them to be on site. How has their relationship with work been impacted over the past three years?

Emma Harris started working at REI, an outdoor recreation store, in 2019 and had to work in-person as a bike shop mechanic early during the pandemic. She is also part of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which represents the REI store in SoHo. She talked with WNYC's Sean Carlson about how her relationship with work has changed in recent years.

 

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