Tech:NYC Digest: May 23

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Monday, May 23, 2022 

In today’s digest, what the final district maps mean for your ballot, NYC’s response to the nationwide baby formula shortage, and the companies (again) confronting changes to their RTO policies. 

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By the numbers:  

• New positive cases statewide: 6,460

  • New positive cases, NYC: 3,122

• NYC Positivity Rate: 6.3 percent (no change)

• Statewide Vaccine Progress: 

  • New Yorkers with at least one dose: 90.5 percent

  • New Yorkers who are fully vaccinated: 77.3 percent

In today’s latest: 

• A state court formally approved new maps for New York’s congressional and state Senate districts. (New York Times) 

  • This tool from THE CITY is a helpful way to see how the redistricting process affects your ballot.

• NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams delivered her first State of the City address this weekend, during which she proposed tripling the city’s budget for affordable housing to $4 billion. (Crain’s New York Business)

• Data released today shows that a three-dose pediatric regimen of the Pfizer vaccine has a strong immune response in children ages six months to five years, and analysis is expected to be submitted to the FDA for emergency use authorization this week. (NPR)

• New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency on Sunday in response to the nationwide shortage of baby formula. The emergency executive order is intended to prevent price gouging for formula. (NBC New York)

• And lastly, today we said goodbye to the last remaining payphone in NYC. RIP.

In other reading:

• What We Know About Long COVID So Far (New York Times)

• Welcome to the Next COVID Wave (New York Magazine)

• Are you bad at texting? Here are the new rules for 2022. (Washington Post)

With COVID-19 cases spiking again — and new fears about the spread of monkeypox — companies are once again forced to confront their RTO plans. It’s the latest sign that any long-term, fixed policy may prove elusive — if not impossible. (New York Times)

• Many tech companies instituted a three-two weekday RTO split, where employees were expected in the office at least three days per week.

• But ongoing changes in seasonal COVID-19 spikes has made enforcement challenging. ​​“People are way too fixated on number of days in office as a metric,” said Zach Dunn, founder of workplace management platform Robin. “The office has to earn its place in the average person’s week.” 

Some companies are further delaying their plans to require workers to return to the office in any capacity, while others have reversed their own RTO policies entirely.

• Apple, for instance, delayed and modified its return to office plans. The company has suspended its requirement that employees return to the office this month for at least three days a week because of a resurgence of COVID-19 cases.

But others have held firm to their RTO expectations, even as COVID-19 rates spike, and are still requiring workers to return to the office a set number of days a week.

• Goldman Sachs in particular has pushed for workers to return a majority of the workweek, if not all five days. BlackRock has asked about half of its employees to come to the office three days, and Citigroup now asks for at least two. 

But the majority of companies remain undecided: Data from Manpower Group found that nearly a third of employers just haven’t decided on their return-to-office plans. (New York Times)

• Survey data of 10,000 offices globally from Robin found that the largest share of US office workers — about 20 percent — have returned to the office one day a week. Ten percent are back two days a week, and the number continues to decrease the more days are added. More than 50 percent do not use an office consistently every week.

Zillow head of product management and flexible work Meghan Rubenstein said an absence of enforcement shouldn’t be considered indecision: “Zillow has not said, and will not say, ‘Tuesdays and Thursdays you need to be in the office.’ Our employees are adults. Call this a millennial type of thinking — I am a millennial — but we believe that if they are happy and fulfilled in their lives, that will help them show up at work.”

In other reading:

• What Really Happens When Workers Are Given a Flexible Hybrid Schedule? (Bloomberg)

• What people don't understand about being CEO (Protocol)

• Switching Jobs? Here’s How to Make Sure You Won’t Regret It. (Harvard Business Review)

• Tusk Venture Partners, a NYC-based early-stage VC firm, raised $140 million for its Fund III, focusing on companies operating in highly regulated industries. (TechCrunch)

• ZenFi Networks, a NYC-based digital infrastructure solutions provider, raised $175 million in secured credit funding. Participating investors include TD Securities, Regions Securities, and Societe Generale. (Businesswire)

• May 24: In-person: The Collision Between Web3 and Consumers, with Unlock VP of business development Patrick Workman and Fenwick partner Vejay Lalla. Hosted by Betaworks Studios. Register here.

• May 25: In-person: The Business of Biodesign, with AlgiKnit CEO Tessa Callaghan, TomTex chief scientific officer Ross McBee, Werewool CEO Chui-Lian Lee, and others. Hosted by Newlab and the Biodesign Challenge. Register here.

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