As an investor, you are interested in results, did the company make a profit? can it pay a dividend? and if can and does, the company is worth looking at, keeping your holding and maybe investing more money into. After the results are in, there are always other issues in how the company functions, maintains and keeps workers and will continue to make money.

In an article by Emma Goldberg of the New York Times News Service, 5 years the world reacted to COVID by shutting down and working remotely. Is it time to change to in house or hybrid or something in-between.

President Trump wants federal workers to be in the office and not work remotely. CEOs of Amazon, JPMorgan Chase and AT&T have told their employees they want them in the office 5 days a week.

Amazon moved from 3 days required since May 2023 to 5 days starting Jan 2 or as soon as space is available. CEO Andy Jassy said the office would be better allow workers to invent, collaborate and be connected to one another and the culture of Amazon.

JPMorgan Chase believes that in person would support better mentorship and brainstorming. JPMorgan will have 5 days starting March 1.

Nick Bloom an economist at Stanford University, believes sometimes a back to the office push is a way to reduce head count, because some will decide not to come back. Data from a Stanford project tracking work from home rates show that more than 1/4 of paid full days in the US are remotely working. About 3/4’s of Americans whose jobs can be done remotely continue to work from home some of the time. according to Pew Research. The main reason is the flexibility that remote working allows.

Some companies have no plans to change remote work including investment firm TIAA.

Other companies such as Yelp believe being remote helps them attract and retain employees and that is the way they are going to continue.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, while everyone can have an opinion of what works best, it is the results that investors are looking for. Ideally, you want the company you invest in to be recognized as a good company to work for because it cuts costs on both recruiting and retaining people. If the company is a good place to work for, the company can focus on making money and that is a good thing.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.