Tech:NYC Digest: May 30

Tech:NYC Digest: May 30

May 30, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Welcome back (and ICYMI, Manhattanhenge has returned)! In today’s digest, a review of 100 years of NYC, the ongoing tug-of-war between WFH and RTO, and why tech workers leave too much PTO on the table.

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  • More NYC residents are set to become eligible for rental assistance programs thanks to a bill meant to relieve the city’s shelter system and secure permanent housing for low- and no-income New Yorkers. (Gothamist)

  • A new NYC law was signed to ban discrimination based on a person’s weight or height. (New York Times)

  • The Tribeca Festival opens next week. Here’s a good roundup of the movie screenings and concerts where you can still grab tickets.

In other reading:

  • In 100 Years in New York City, So Much Has Changed, and Yet (New York Times)

  • Will NYC have another hot shark summer? Experts say ‘maybe’ and that’s OK (Gothamist)

  • An Influencer With a Mission: Supporting New York’s Restaurants (New York Times)

The push-and-pull between WFH and RTO continues, but being in the office five days a week isn't the way forward.

  • Terri R. Kurtzberg and Mason Ameri, two professors who study the impacts of virtual and hybrid workplaces, write for Fortune that what executives want and what rank-and-file employees want isn’t all that different. 

They agree that hybrid work has taught us what doesn’t work: It doesn’t work to have employees commute to the office only log into online meetings just as they would from home. It doesn’t work to have some people in-office and others dialing in — despite the best intentions, it creates an imbalance in who feels fully part of the conversation.

  • The latest research shows that office occupancy in Manhattan has been largely unchanged through the past several months, suggesting the push for RTO has reached a plateau that will settle into the “new normal.”

Tech:NYC has been monitoring office occupancy levels over the last few years by cross-referencing data from tools like Placer.ai and Kastle, and data from the last four quarters have yielded very similar numbers. It’s safe to say we’ve locked in the routines we expect to stick to moving forward.

The big picture: As Kurtzberg and Ameri say, “Hybrid work isn’t new work, but it requires different strategies for accomplishing the same work under new circumstances.”

In other reading:

  • June 6: In-person: Build Your Own Generative AI App, with Replit, Ansa Capital, and Lerer Hippeau. Register here.

  • June 6: In-person: Newlab Resilient Studio Showcase, with ElectricFish, Orenda Power, Urban Electric Power, WATTMORE, and Yotta Energy. Hosted by Newlab, NYCEDC, and ConEd. Register here.

  • June 8: In-person: Cornell Tech Fest 2023, with NYC Chief Innovation Officer Oscar Romero, Dataminr SVP of AI Alex Jaimes, and more. Register here.

  • June 14: Make It in Brooklyn: Clean Energy Innovations, with itselectric co-founder Tiya Gordon, Streetlife Ventures managing partner Laura Fox, Latinxs in Sustainability lead Melina Acevedo, and Wildgrid partnerships manager Martine Luis. Hosted by Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. Register here.

  • June 20: In-person: Future-Proofing Your Digital Product and Brand with AI, Innovatemap principals Jon Moore and Meghan Pfeifer. Register here.

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