Tech:NYC Digest: May 21

Tech:NYC Digest: May 21

May 21, 2021 • Estimated Reading Time: 12 minutes

Friday, May 21, 2021Happy Friday! In today’s digest, it’s prime time for an economic rebound, the return to a pre-pandemic normal is long gone for offices too, you’re invited to our ranked choice voting session, and 27 of NYC’s best burgers (we have opinions).Was this digest forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

Signs of any economic rebound in NYC have been slow so far, but now under a much fuller reopening, the next few months could make all the difference. At the least, they’ll be some of the first real indicators for what the city might expect long-term post-pandemic. (New York Times)

The good news: NYC has so far added back about 375,000 of the jobs lost last spring, including 35,000 in April alone. And the unemployment rate is trending down, if slowly.

  • Restaurants are particularly ramping up hiring, accounting for 15,000 new jobs in April, the third consecutive month where more staff have been added over the month before.

But the city is still over half a million jobs short of its pre-pandemic level, and the unemployment rate remains considerably high at 11.4 percent, more than double the national average.

  • What to watch: A debate has taken off in recent weeks that the federal and state supplemental assistance programs provided through the CARES Act and Pres. Biden’s American Rescue Plan, while critical throughout much of the last year, are now actually fueling the labor shortage. (Wall Street Journal) Twenty-two GOP-led states are considering ending the benefits early, claiming they provide too much incentive for laid-off workers to delay a return to the workforce, making it harder for businesses to hire. (CNBC) Others are skeptical of those arguments, noting that a range of issues, from access to child care to ongoing uncertainty on remote and hybrid schooling, are more likely reasons. (THE CITY)

With most restrictions pulled, some are betting on a much more accelerated improvement in jobs numbers. After being stuck at home for the last year, New Yorkers are eager to get back out to the shops and eateries they’ve missed. Businesses are banking on it. 

  • But not everyone shares that optimism, predicting instead a “careful comeback.” (THE CITY) The tourism industry expects to see a much more gradual return, and with an economy that relies so heavily on those revenues, NYC could be in for more long-term losses.

Our take: Are people right to be optimistic? Yes. Are people right to be anxious? Also yes. We still have a long way to go, but the city’s economic maturity means NYC is up for the challenge. The next few months, especially, could be a key turning point for a post-pandemic New York.  

Further reading:

  • The ‘New York is dead’ crowd overlooks the city’s economic diversity (Crain’s NY)

  • Amazon hired 6,000 in New York last year (Crain’s NY)

We’re hearing from several NYC tech companies that the CDC’s updated mask guidance for fully vaccinated individuals has made them rethink their reopening plans — can (should?) they call their workers back to the office sooner than planned? (Wall Street Journal) Our first reaction: it’s complicated.

  • Hybrid workplaces are here to stay: The details of return-to-work plans shared by the likes of Google, Goldman Sachs, and Salesforce have made clear the appeal of the compromise: employers hope to give employees the flexibility and focus that come from WFH without sacrificing the in-person connections of the office.

But now that we’ve had 15 months to get the hang of the WFH part, the office re-transition will be the challenge. In many ways, the right decision is less about the mask guidance and more about the underlying vaccination guidance that makes masklessness even an option.

The consensus has been that companies won’t require a vaccine to return to the office, but will strongly encourage it — and in some cases, provide the incentives to get it. (CNN)

  • But, more recently, organizations across all kinds of industries — from Saks to the cast and crew of “Hamilton” — are choosing to make the vaccine mandatory. Amazon and JPMorgan Chase will ask staff to share their vaccination status to internal employee portals, making the shot a condition for ditching the mask. Delta Airlines will require new employees to be vaccinated, but won’t impose the same mandate on current employees.

In any case, tech companies like Salesforce, Spotify, and Okta are using the moment to acknowledge a reality: the offices their employees left can’t be the ones they return to.

  • Post-pandemic work norms will put front and center new collaboration and communication patterns. That doesn’t mean getting rid of physical office space, but repurposing and optimizing the space companies already have. (Axios)

The takeaway: Official New York state guidance grants permission for your company’s full headcount to come back right now. So at this stage, the right answer isn’t some designated date on the calendar; rather, the designated date on the calendar should be whatever the right answer is for your company culture and your workers’ wellbeing.

Further reading:

  • Google CEO: 'Work is no longer just a place' (Yahoo Finance)

  • I don’t want to go back to the office. And I’m not alone. (Washington Post)

Yesterday's results: A day after reopening, the sun is out, COVID numbers are at the lowest they’ve been in seven months, job numbers are ticking up, and consumer activity is surging by some accounts. But we’re not out of the woods yet, almost half of New York adults still need their first vaccine dose, many offices still remain empty, and COVID is still spreading in pockets of the country and the globe. How do you feel about New York’s future?

  • Aetion, a real-world evidence platform used by life science and health insurance companies, has raised $110 million in a Series C funding. Warburg Pincus led the round and was joined by Capital, Foresite Capital, New Enterprise Associates and Flare Capital Partners. (MobiHealthNews)

  • Better, an online mortgage startup, is going public via a merger with Aurora Acquisition, a SPAC. (CNBC)

  • Code Ocean, a computational research environment for sharing scientific discoveries, raised $15 million in Series A funding. The round, which brought total funding to $21 million, was led by Battery Ventures, with participation from Digitalis Ventures, EBSCO, Vaal Partners and other institutional and individual investors. (TechCrunch)

  • Somewhere Good, a social platform centered around identity and community, has raised $3.75 million in a seed round led by True Ventures. Existing investors Dream Machine, Debut Capital and Canvas Ventures participated in the round, along with new investors, including Slauson & Co., NextView Ventures and 2PM Inc. Notable angels include Ellen Pao of Project Include and actor Gabrielle Union. (TechCrunch)

  • The Grand, a New York City-based learning and development platform, raised $2.4 million in pre-seed funding. Seven Seven Six led the round. (Forbes)

  • May 26: Virtual: A briefing on Ranked Choice Voting in the NYC primary election, with Rank the Vote NYC and Gotham Gazette executive editor Ben Max. Hosted by Tech:NYC. Register here.

  • June 1: Virtual: A Tough Love Letter to the Machines That Rules our Jobs, Lives, and Future, with Cognizant’s Center for the Future of Work co-founder Ben Pring. Hosted by Betaworks Studios. Register here.

  • June 9: Virtual: Machines + Media 2021: Facing the Future, with Tech:NYC founder and executive director Julie Samuels, Primary Venture Partners co-founder Ben Sun, NYCEDC Senior Vice President of Tech Karen Bhatia, and more. Hosted by NYC Media Lab and Bloomberg. Register here.

We know the official start of summer doesn’t happen until Memorial Day, and call us over-eager, but we’re bringing the vibes early: it’s burger season. Eater put together a good list of the 27 best burgers in NYC, but we wanted to add some of our own staff picks:

  • Julie: the burger at Hillstone, the most deliciously consistent restaurant in America. Plus, you get to have spinach artichoke dip as an appetizer. 

  • Sarah: the burger at Red Hook Tavern — this classic and minimalist burger is the perfect reward for having made your way to Red Hook.

  • Ryan: the burger at Corner Bistro — it’s everything you want in a bacon cheeseburger but compact enough to eat in front of other people! 

  • Tyler: the Fedora burger at Bar Sardine (RIP), but luckily, you can now get it right across the street at Fairfax.

Have a good weekend (and stay cool!) 😰

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