Working from home becomes new normal for NC tech firms, survey finds

RALEIGH – Telecommuting is no longer an option but a requirement for many technology firms in North Carolina as businesses stay open but must operate under a statewide “shelter in place” order. And virtually all tech execs say their firms are complying.

Nearly 90 percent of tech companies have 50 percent or more of their employees working from home, executives told the North Carolina Technology Association in a new survey.

Over half say 100 percent of their employees are now laboring online.

That’s a huge increase from January of this year when Raleigh, Durham and Charlotte ranked among the top 15 cities for telecommuting in a study from SmartAsset. Raleigh ranked No. 8 nationally at 8.6 percent of employees working remotely with Durham and Charlotte coming in at even less.

And this isn’t just temporary.

“Half of the respondents predict that working from home will become more common in the long-term aftermath of the stay-at-home orders presently in effect,” NC TECH, a business advocacy group based in Raleigh, reported.

Only 40 percent expect a return to normal while 10 percent are unsure.

NC TECH graphic

Fast-growing Raleigh startup Pendo, for example, hasn’t seen much impact from sending workers home.

“On a positive note, it’s been nice to see some of our customers experience surging usage, due to secondary effects of global events, and our employees have already proven to me that we can keep up with those demands while working remotely,” said CEO Todd Olson in a recent blog post.

Red Hat thinking virtual

RedHat’s Chief People Officer DeLisa Alexander appeared as a panelist on a Zoom video webinar to discuss virtual teams and the future of work through and beyond COVID-19 on Wednesday afternoon. It was organized by UNC’s Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise.

“We have a pretty good experience base working remotely as about 25 percent of our workforce historically has been considered to be remote. So we had a basis to draw from, but the rapid decision that we had to make [to send] everyone to work from home, was certainly unprecedented and pushed us to change quickly as well.”

She said office-based processes like on-boarding staff and development programs had to be swiftly moved online. Even the firm’s annual Red Hat Summit scheduled for San Francisco in late April.

“Those are being reimagined to be virtual,” she said. “So we’re all learning on the fly how to do everything virtually. Where we felt like we were pretty good at it before, we realized we had a long way to become really completely virtual, but it’s been it’s been interesting.”

Tech sector ‘much better positioned to adapt’

“Overall, the tech sector seems much better positioned to adapt to the sudden transition to virtual working and less impacted by loss of jobs or reductions in compensation than many other sectors of the economy where in-person work is necessary,” NC TECH added.

The survey found that the tech sector is faring well for the most part as the COVID-19 pandemic continues and many firms are still hiring, longer term these business leaders say changes in where employees work and how the interact is changing.

They cited numerous issues even though nearly 85 percent acknowledged the “transition to work from home has gone fairly smoothly.”

NC TECH graphic

Challenges include:

Lack of in-person interaction
Bandwidth capacity at homes where multiple family members need high speed access simultaneously
Unclear/inaccurate/conflicting information from federal officials
Delayed or lost revenue
Delays or lack of availability of technology hardware
Keeping employees’ morale and productivity high
Forecasting future timing/levels of sales and revenues
Navigating the work from home environment (kids, technology, distractions, long hours…)

Chantal Allam contributed to this report.