Burton M. Goldfield’s Discusses Post-pandemic Workplace

Hear TriNet president and CEO, Burton M. Goldfield’s discussion with Maria Bartiromo of Fox Business Network on how the workplace as we know it is changing for good. Growth, innovation and digital transformation has led to movement of locations, people working remotely and the increased use of technology to facilitate that change. Burton provides his outlook for the future of small and medium-size businesses.

Maria Bartiromo:
Welcome back. Now, in this Fox Business exclusive, the workplace as we know it is changing for good. A new survey by TriNet shows small and medium-sized businesses are rethinking how business is conducted in a post-pandemic world. The CEO of TriNet, Burton Goldfield is with me now to talk more about that. Burton, it's great to have you this morning. It's really interesting to talk about how things will change post pandemic. Tell us about your survey and what struck you most.
Burton Goldfield:
Well, Maria, first, thanks for having me back on the program. Congratulations on your success and the survey is quite exciting. It is about growth, innovation and digital transformation in small and medium-size businesses. We did a survey of our over 17,000 small, medium businesses as well as the greater SMB market and change has occurred during the pandemic. What we're seeing is movement of locations, people working remotely, sometimes permanently, remotely and they're using technology to facilitate that change.
Maria:
Yeah, I mean, how are they doing that and is this a result of what they just went through in the year and a half of the pandemic, Burton? I mean, I think the savings in terms of costs have to be one issue that managers at small and medium-sized businesses are considering, given the fact that costs are down with many employees at home. Is that right? Tell me more about that.
Burton:
Well, I think it's the competition for talent. By broadening the aperture of location, what you're seeing is you can get great talent from other locations. We are seeing the movement of corporate headquarters, particularly the movement in both California and New York. And we're seeing that people can communicate even if they're not in the same office each and every day.
Maria:
And so with work from home becoming more prevalent, are people staying near the office? Moving away? This is also impacting people's plans in terms of where they live.
Burton:
It is. Absolutely. And you are going to be seeing people migrate to different states and different locations. In fact, 20% of all workers in the SMBs we surveyed have moved to a different location. Of those, about half have moved out of the state that they're in. But the key is that these small businesses are growing. We have seen progressive growth in employment since last June, every single month up till today.
Maria:
Wow, that's incredible. Burton, going forward, tell me how the business climate looks different, let's call it in the next three years.
Burton:
I think there's a couple of different aspects to it. First, I am very optimistic about small, medium businesses in the U.S. Second, is that innovation will occur at a much more rapid pace and I believe that collaboration will be done through technology and not always in the office. We are seeing 80% of companies now expect that some or all of their workers will be remote either part-time or full-time.
Maria:
Wow, what an incredible change, Burton. We've got to keep talking about this. It resonates with all of us. Thanks very much for your insights on all of this. We will talk soon. Burton Goldfield joining us with this latest survey. Burton, good to see you.