By Jason LaMonica, COO — Spec On The Job

Blue-collar workers were on the front lines during the spread of COVID-19, and their health and well-being took a back seat. These employees clocked hours in person — putting themselves and their loved ones at risk — while they watched their white-collar counterparts migrate to more comfortable and safer remote setups.

Blue-collar jobs requiring workers to be on-site still present health challenges in the workplace. However, since the pandemic, employers have been working to create policies that enable employees to keep healthy without putting themselves at risk.

Blue-collar jobs struggle to offer the flexibility of remote work

At the peak of the pandemic, a Gallup study noted a massive difference in the numbers of white-collar and blue-collar remote workers. While 72% of white-collar workers did their work remotely, only 14% of blue-collar workers took their work home.

The global lockdown is long over, but remote work and hybrid schedules are still trending. The welcome return to normalcy has not left the workplace culture completely as it was. Eager to attract top talent, white-collar employers still hold out carrots such as working from home, living in another area than a geographical office, and attending meetings via video conference. All of this comes in response to the increased focus on flexibility and work/life balance. 

Many white-collar fields, such as finance and law, easily offer these remote opportunities. Still, most blue-collar work, by nature, cannot be accomplished remotely. Employees in jobs such as construction, manufacturing, nursing, retail, and food service must do their work on location.

How flexibility in the blue-collar sector competes with remote work

2023 will see a shift toward increased flexibility for blue-collar workers, and smart organizations are already doing what they can to stay ahead of this trend. Some blue-collar employers are offering more autonomy and stability in regard to work schedules, and others are providing increased paid leave.

Driving this trend is the feeling that remote work offers a better work/life balance for white-collar workers, but remote work comes with its own set of disadvantages. For example, white-collar remote workers report a feeling of always being on the clock. Because their job is always at home, they say they cannot “turn off” work. 

In comparison, blue-collar jobs are generally paid by the hour. If these jobs require extra work, they pay overtime. When the job is done, blue-collar workers leave work at work and devote their full attention to home, family, and free time. 

Blue-collar jobs also offer their own forms of flexibility and work/life balance. Self-employed blue-collar workers are often able to choose their own hours, making it easier for employees to work around family commitments and personal needs. Even when working for an employer, blue-collar jobs often allow employees to choose their shifts and whether or not they will work overtime. This freedom permits them to create schedules that work best for them personally.

Another type of freedom blue-collar jobs offer involves career advancement. Whereas white-collar workers must depend on networking, connections, and status to advance on the career ladder, blue-collar sectors — such as transportation and construction — often equip employees with the skills and knowledge they need to start their own companies. Although hybrid and remote workers enjoy flexible hours, many blue-collar jobs allow workers the ultimate freedom of being self-employed. Flexibility and work/life balance boil down to the goals and needs of each individual. 

Despite these advantages, many blue-collar employers find that their workers are longing for the greener grass on the other side of the fence. In the coming year, we will continue to see blue-collar workers look for more opportunities in white-collar fields. 

This trend puts increasing pressure on an industry already struggling to find workers. Companies in the blue-collar sector can only do so much to offer remote or hybrid work options. 

At the end of the day, it is an industry driven by production and timelines. These factors make a more flexible environment difficult.

Addressing health concerns posed by on-site blue-collar jobs

A triple whammy of the flu, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and new Covid variants are sweeping the country and forcing many blue-collar workers to call out sick. Employers are already concerned about mounting absences, as blue-collar jobs often require many employees to work collaboratively in confined spaces. It is only natural that illnesses spread more easily in these environments than in office settings or in remote workplaces. 

Additionally, after working the kinks out of remote work during the lockdown, even the white-collar employers who have moved back to the office still have technology and systems in place to allow their sick employees to transition to remote work when the need arises. Allowing them to work from home prevents illnesses from spreading to other employees.

Due to the number of absences in the blue-collar sector, employers are struggling to keep up with demand. They are repositioning their employees to cover shifts and relying heavily on contractors and third-party staffing providers.

The most significant shift across the blue-collar space is employers asking their employees not to fight through illness. When employees are sick today, many employers see the value in encouraging them to stay home and regularly draft policies to guide employees who test positive for Covid or feel under the weather. These protocols set a new tone in many companies and redefine expectations. In addition, many blue-collar employers are offering increased sick leave to alleviate employees’ concerns when taking days off without pay. 

It is easy for people to advocate for more flexibility in the blue-collar sector, and I agree that this is the right direction to take. However, this increased flexibility has to come from management as well as the public. 

Because blue-collar employees work directly with consumers, the flexibility to take sick leave means that people who rely on their services need to extend greater patience. During flu season, consumers may need to wait a few minutes longer at the doctor’s office or be willing to extend the 24-hour delivery window on their packages. These are just a few concrete ways that consumers can offer increased flexibility to blue-collar employees who do not have the luxury of remote work.