Friday is the new Saturday (and other need to knows)

It appears it’s going to be a while -- if ever -- before we’re seeing crowds of workers returning to our office buildings.

 

And it looks like Friday will be a great day to get your favorite parking spot.

 

While the general consensus had been that many large employers would be bringing back workers in September, a new study by Massachusetts Competitive Partnership says it won’t be until the end of the year when more than half of employees – 61 percent -- will be back at their desks, writes Jon Chesto at the Globe.

 

Eighty-two percent of companies will offer fully remote or hybrid work arrangements, according to the survey’s respondents, representing 110 companies and 113,500 employees mostly inside I-495. 

 

And some days may not look much different than many of our buildings and office parks do these days, i.e. still pretty empty -- with half the companies expecting they'll be at 25 percent or less capacity on Fridays and with light crowds on Mondays too.

 

(This decline in workplace activity is similar in many cities globally, according to mobility data from Google.)

 

Fewer workers in the office (36 percent of companies surveyed by MCP said they will seek to decrease their footprint) has obvious consequences for building owners.

 

But restaurants, retailers and other business that depend on lunch time and after work crowds will suffer too.

 

 

 

Massachusetts is asking some freelancers to give back money they were sent months ago from unemployment, unless they can prove they were entitled to it, reports WBZ Radio.

 

Some freelance or gig workers have reportedly been asked to pay back up to $30,000, even though the state approved the payments.

 

The state’s Office of Labor and Workforce Development tells WBZ that the problem came from a change in requirements between the CARES Act, passed in March 2020, and stricter rule that were part of the stimulus package passed in December.

 

 

Work search requirements were reinstated for all regular Unemployment Insurance claimants in Massachusetts last week.

 

The requirement applies to UI claimants receiving Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation and those on Extended Benefits. Massachusetts temporarily suspended these work-search requirements in March 2020.

 

Job seekers can learn more about finding employment opportunities through tools like the MassHire Career Centers.  Here’s two other state programs of note.

 

 

 

 

On Monday, the Metropolitan Area Planning Council sent an alert to municipalities urging them to reduce power consumption that afternoon/early evening.

 

The grid's peak demand hour typically occurs during the late afternoon or evening in the hot summer months when air conditioning adds to the electrical load of businesses and homes.

 

During peak demand periods, dirtier fuels like oil are pressed into service so reducing demand during those times can have a greater impact on emissions displacement by limiting the use of high-emitting power generators, writes Colin A. Young at State House News.

 

Over the weekend, the Globe published these four charts illustrating the “damage inflicted” by our recent heat wave.

 

 

The Newton City Council's Zoning and Planning committee voted 6 to 1 (with one abstention) against banning gun shops in the city. 

 

It’s not that those six councilors want gun shops. It’s that they feel newly-approved strict zoning and special permit rules will make it nearly impossible for a shop to open here, while a ban risks a constitutional challenge.

 

The full council vote later this month is expected to be closer.

 

  

Meanwhile, three Newton City Councilors are proposing yet another ban, this one on those small bottles of alcohol, known as nips.

 

The proposal by Councilors Norton, Kelley and Leary would prohibit “the sale of miniature, single-use containers for alcoholic beverages in containers less than or equal to 100 milliliters.” It’s been referred to committee.

 

 

Two new shops have popped-up in Needham.

 

Wesleaf Designs & Décor and Seaspray & Shorelines by Starboard are part of Project: Pop-Up, a pilot program in partnership with the City of Newton and the Commonwealth aimed at filling vacant storefronts with small retailers, restaurants and artists.

 

Both shops will be open in Needham through August.

 

More than 75 emerging brands and entrepreneurs applied to be a part of Project: Pop-Up. Twelve were selected for the opportunity and will be popping up for the next serval months in Needham and Newton. Find the full list of brands here.

  

Project Pop-Up received funding from the Massachusetts Office of Business Development.

 

 

Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP has brought on all four lawyers at the Wellesley corporate-law firm BRL Law Group LLC, three of them as partners on its own corporate and transaction team.

 

Nutter will maintain BRL’s Wellesley Hills location until the lease runs out, according to Greg Ryan at the BBJ.

 

 

Remember earlier in the pandemic when COVID variants were named after locations where the strain was circulation, such as the U.K, South African and Brazil variants?

 

Recognizing that naming mutations after nations stigmatized those countries, the World Health Organization set out late last year to come up with a new naming convention, including a proposal to name variants after American song birds.

 

But, reports the Wall Street Journal, that idea ruffled more than a few feathers.

 

“’It is almost inevitable that some will mistakenly think the birds carry or are responsible for COVID, putting robins and pelicans at risk the world over,’ one commenter protested.

 

“‘If the ‘Robin’ variant takes off, you will be impacting my daughter and every other person named Robin,” complained another.’”

 

Greek gods, numerical systems and other ideas were deliberated too.

 

“It was basically all these esteemed scientists telling each other their ideas were stupid,” one expert told the Journal.

 

Ultimately, last month, the WHO settled on a Greek alphabet-based system.

 

Even that decision has drawn critics, including from an “aggrieved Greek national demanding to know why the WHO hadn’t chosen the Roman alphabet."

 

 

Finally, we respect that not everyone is ready to dive back into in events.

 

But today we’re opening registration for our first in-person networking event of 2021: A Coffee Connect, on the green at The Street Chestnut Hill on July 8.

 

Advance registration is required and attendance is limited. Masks for anyone not vaccinated are requested and optional for others.

 

That’s today’s Need to Knows, unless you need to know how much Danny Ainge is selling his house in Wellesley for.

 

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P.S. A reminder: We're now publishing three days a week. Be back in your inbox on Friday.