Product development "is faster in-person, and although it may be possible to conduct some portion of it in a hybrid manner, we need to learn the processes to get there," Kharraz said. Segments of the business that already have well-established processes, such as customer service, could remain remote permanently, he added.
In the biotech world, companies are figuring out which departments they need to bring back into the office, and how.
"Certainly clinical development cannot be done remotely, but other things—such as business development and R&D—those are not as clear-cut," said Matthew Price, chief operating officer and co-founder of Phosplatin Therapeutics, a Midtown developer of cancer therapies.
"We have loyally maintained our office during the pandemic," Price said. "The hybrid model we see emerging is to have a nice office for dedicated purposes such as certain investor meetings. There is value not just in meeting your investors face to face but also for staff to be able see each other."
Phosplatin has enacted a soft transition for moving its 20 employees back to the office.
Kharraz said that during a company survey, some workers said they wanted to return full time, while others said they wanted to work from home permanently.
"We are not likely to have people 100% back all the time—that's a bygone model," said Robert Fallon, CEO and co-founder of Phosplatin. "But having most people back much of the time will be the new normal."
During the pandemic, companies hiring remotely realized their talent searches were no longer geographically restricted.
"We hired someone in Boston," Price said. "Realizing that person had access to Big Pharma and other resources there, it was a wonderful model for us to keep that person there."
Especially in biotech, in which business operations can be fragmented to begin with, it's not too hard to accommodate hybrid working models, Price said. Being in New York, for example, allows Phosplatin to collaborate with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Pfizer. But its manufacturer is in Europe, and it has a sublicensee in China.
The value of a hybrid working model in a post-pandemic setting is not clear.
"It may not be as feasible with exponential growth," Fallon said, "as we will need to be hands-on to mentor new people."
Hiring might still include remote positions, but managing the workflow of a rapidly expanding workforce might be better handled in person, Kharraz said. He added that Zocdoc is aiming to grow its team by a double-digit percentage by the end of the year.
Kharraz said the company is renovating its offices to accommodate its returning staff and has no plans to shrink its real estate footprint, because that could curtail growth.
"That kind of cost saving is not really significant for us to consider," he said. "Much better to focus on making the space more attractive for future expansions."
"Although there may be positions that do remain remote," Price said, "our identity prior to the pandemic was building a culture of in-person interactions, and we do want to continue that."
