Chattanooga employers set sights on future of remote work

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – With the summer heating up and the pandemic cooling down, Chattanooga employers are looking at ways to safely bring workers back to the office.

“After careful planning, gathering input from our employees, we made the decision to begin a voluntary phased return to on site work beginning July 6th,” says Dayla Qualls, director of communications with Bluecross Blueshield.

Nearly two thirds of the company’s workers will remain at home most of the time. Dayla Qualls says the company is aiming to be flexible.

“We believe that our employees will have more flexibility than they did before the pandemic. This working model improves the work-life balance for our employees and it just makes Bluecross more resilient,” says Qualls.

At TVA, workers are expected to remain remote until after Labor Day, before the federal utility can then make a plan about a phased return to the office.

“After Labor Day, we’ll start looking at what that phased in approach might look like, that’s mostly to accommodate family needs, ongoing health concerns that people have,” says Malinda Hunter, TVA spokesperson.

As far as what that plan might look like, Hunter says TVA is also embracing flexibility.

“Some employees do want to come back full time, some don’t want to come back at all. So the management team is working on what they think might be good and to consider what the flexible options might be, depending on the job that’s required,” she says.

Other Chattanooga companies such as Unum have announced a hybrid schedule moving forward, offering workers the chance to work remotely when they choose.