Remote-Work Czar Is Highly Sought-After Position

Bloomberg Business Weekend iTunes, SoundCloud, or Bloomberg dot com. You can also listen to our radio show at two pm Eastern Time on the Bloomberg Radio or watch us on YouTube search Bloomberg Global News. We talked about a New York Times reporting that Fiser Maderna expanding vaccine studies of

children under eleven. We've also talked about, or you've heard, certainly on Bloomberg about COVID infections globally increasing the most in two months amid the spread of the delta variant, a surge across the US and low vaccination levels in most Southeast Asian nations, and New York City tim saying all municipal workers will be required to receive a vaccine or get tested weekly. We just talked about that, Yeah, just some of the things we're thinking about when it

comes to the virus and vaccine. Joining us now is Dr Hilth Pause, chief executive officer at Wexner Medical Center, also Chancellor of Health Affairs at the Ohio State University, on the phone from Columbus, Ohio, Ohio, Doctor Pause, it's great to have you back on the program. How are you. I'm doing well. Thank you, it's great feedback. Appreciate the opportunity definitely. Well. I think the big concern that among at least people in my own universe has to be

breakthrough infections and the delta variant. It's it's one of the things that that we are certainly thinking about, especially as kids under the age of twelve still cannot be vaccinated. So I'm wondering what evidence do we have right now about how somebody who is infected with a breakthrough can

they pass it to somebody who isn't vaccinated. Yeah, so, um, there certainly is the possibility that if someone has um uh an infection, they've been vaccinated, and they and they are infected now with one of the COVID nineteen variants, they could pass it. Um It really depends on a number of factors UM, particularly their immune status. There are some individuals that are not going to achieve the kind of immunity we want and to see after they're vaccinated.

Here we've seen at the Wexner Medical Center UM admitted to the hospital teen percent of individuals who are fully vaccinated and UH and in in those cases, these are individuals that have our immunocompromise because of an underlying disease or or undergoing active cancer treatment. If they have higher and high enough viral counts, there is the possibility that they could transmit it. But these are you know, these are the exception, not the rule. The the the opportunity

is is for all of us to get vaccinated. And you know, we're learning a lot now with additional studies around how to best handle individuals that are you know, in an age group or have underlying conditions where they may need an additional booster and UM because of their increased risk. Well, how should we how should we think about that people within who do have an increased risk?

I mean should should It's this it's this strange sort of scenario that we're in right now, because if we were think back where we were at the beginning of the summer, it was sort of like, Okay, we are very happy right now, things are getting back to normal. We don't have to wear masks anymore. And suddenly we're in this situation where it's like, okay, now people now health experts are talking about wearing mass again, even if you've been vaccinated. M Yeah, So you know, we need

to I think put all this into into context. So if we go back to March of the original strain in the US, since then, we are we've had four variants that have come forward. So Alpha from the UK, Beta that first was detected in South Africa, Gamma originally detected in Brazil and Japan, and now Delta, which was originally detected in India. And as you mentioned, Delta is now quickly spreading and becoming um the most prevalent um

right now. And we know that in part because it is forty six more contagious than alpha, and Alpha was more contagious than the original strain that we also so right now in the US, Delta is responsible for thirty percent of all COVID cases and we're going to continue, I believe, to see Delta become more and more prevalent It's important to remember though that infections, contagiousness and and lethality of the virus are two different things. And I

mentioned this I think when I was on previously. You know, think of a virus like a bowla exceptionally lethal Obviously it is not a pandemic. On the other hand, as these variants in COVID developed, the more they become contagious, the more and they can spread. There's no evidence that we have right now that the delta variant is more lethal than the earlier variants we've seen in the US. Um. Obviously, that's something we have to keep um watching carefully, but

it also does follow the natural evolution of viruses. If they're going to become more contagious, they can't kill the hosts. Obviously it would you know, that would be a tragic set of circumstances. Could it happen? Sure? But um, that's something we just don't see, right That's often a question line dr pause that we are that we pursue here to understand that do we get to a point where there is a variant that is not only more contagious but also more lethal, which would be not a good combination.

Is that inevitable or not necessarily well. Again, we can only base what we know on test experience with viral infections as well as with the data we have right now, and right now we don't see evidence that the delta variant is more lethal than the earlier variants that we've experienced here in this country, around the world, but we

continue to collect that information. The surest thing we can do is get everybody vaccinated, and those that are in exceptionally high risk groups, those that are immunocompromised, look at the studies that suggest giving them a booster as well. That's what we need to do to protect everyone. And we've talked about this before war Um. The whole point of this is to prevent people from dying, from winding up in the hospital. That's what we're trying to do.

People have already been reinfected or have become ineffective after being vaccinated, but quite frankly, if the worst thing they have is a cold, and I remember when I came on the first time I mentioned that. You know, we believe fifteen percent of the time, going back for a long time, the common cold was caused by some coronavirus.

This is Bloomberg Business. We Carl Master along with Tim Stanovic. Well, earlier we had Dr Anthony Fauci, of course, the nation's top doctor when it comes to COVID and the vaccine catching up on CNN and he talked about the nation, the United States, going in the wrong direction. Check it out. I'm not so sure it would be the worst case scenario,

but it's not going to be good. We're going in the wrong direction if you look at the inflection of the curve of new cases, and as you said in the running to this interview, that it is among the unvaccinated, and since we have of the country is not fully vaccinated, that's a problem, all right. And that, of course was Dr Anthony Faucci yesterday on CNN talking about what's going on when it comes to COVID and the vaccine in the progress or process here in the United States. Let's

get back to Dr Harold Pause. He's Executive EP Chancellor for Health Affairs at the Ohio State University CEO Wexner Medical Center. It's a massive enterprise hospitals, College of Medicine, Research and more. Former chief medical officer at ETNA. Still with us on the phone from Columbus, Ohio. So how do we dr pause? Tim and I talked about this a lot. So we both have the vaccine, We feel pretty comfortable and that even if we get COVID, we're

probably in a good shape. A lot of those around us, whether who we work with, our families, have also gotten that. But how do we need to start thinking about a booster shot, especially as there's more and more research about the efficacy or the waning efficacy of these vaccines on younger people, older people. There's a lot of moving parts on this, So how do we need to maybe mark our calendars about what we need to do next? Right?

So great question. First of all, let me just reiterate what uh Anthony Fauci said here in Columbus at the Wexner Medical Center. Of the patients who have been admitted to our hospitals with active COVID, nineteen have either been unvaccinated or partially vaccinated. That's is just I can't give you better evidence to support what he said. Only ten percent have been fully vaccinated, and all of them, to an individual, are either an active cancer treatment or have

some underlying immune disorder. I mean, it's staggering when you look at that, and when we think about younger people now getting infected with the delta variant because it's so much more contagious. I don't know what else we can do other than convince everyone to get this vaccine unless there's some medical reason why they can't. I mean, this is what it's all about out It's about saving lives.

And I think that as we get more and more data about how these vaccines impact our immune response to COVID. It's making antibodies, but it's also cellular immune response T cells, for example, how they respond to the virus, will know more about getting a booster, how long the vaccine protects us for keep in mind, we had a pandemic a century ago. H one N one influenza hasn't gone away.

It comes back every year, and all of us I hope all of us go out and get a vaccine for the flu because every year, tens of thousands of people in the US diet influenza. So we want to prevent that from happening. We all get our annual flu vaccine.

I suspect that as a result of the variance and what we've seen evolved now over more than a year and a half, we're going to be in a situation where the foreseeable future we're going to have to think of strategy about getting boosters or additional vaccine to protect us from winding up very sick in the hospital on a ventilator or dying. One more point, we are doing more lung transplants now than we've seen before. Those are lung transplants for COVID nineteen survivors. That's not a situation

we want to have in this country. Is does it get to a point where the way that this virus just burns off as similar to what happened in nineteen where the people who are not vaccinated and we weren't talking about vaccines then, but the people are not vaccinated, Uh, they become sick or even worse, uh, and then they get immunity. Right as a result, if they if they do not die from this, and we just have about thirty seconds left, well, but the immunity doesn't last forever

when you're infected. And we know, for example, infections with COVID don't offer the same protection for the variance as getting a vaccine. So it's the vaccine that offers much better protection than getting an infection um and you know, with the influenza, it never really did go away. H one N one comes back annually. But that's why we get an influenza shot, right, And that's really kind of increasingly how we need to think about all of this. Hey,

Dr Pause, thank you so much. Always a treat when you join us. Dr Harold Pause. He's Chancellor for Health Affairs at the Ohio State University CEO of Wexner Medical Center. With a great perspective on everything that's going on today. You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Bloomberg Quick Takes. Tim Stinovic on Bloomberg Radio. Our world we know, disrupted by the COVID pandemic, more e commerce,

more technology and automation everywhere, virtual medicine. Also, the relationship between employee and employer has changed because of ramped up remote working and as a result, one of the most sought after management jobs right now is something akin tim to a remote works are. A remote works are, it's a shortcut to the c suite for rising professionals, joining us down, tell us all about it. As Joe Weber, editor at Bloomberg Business Week, he joins us on the

this line from Brooklyn. Also, Matt Boyle, us retail reporter for Bloomberg News, joins us on the phone from New York City. Joel the Rise of the remote the vice president of Productivity and Remote Experience. It's it's not necessarily something that I knew would really exist, even in a post COVID world. I didn't. I didn't either, And that's what UM sort of caught my attention about it. But as you would expect, UM, this last year's changed UM

a lot of stuff. Uh. And in the season, we I think there was a recognition that there that there was a new role that needed to be created. And and I was not only surprised to hear the title of the role, but also learned that it is sort of a shortcut. So so Matt take us uh and said that conversation, and how many of these positions are

really crupping up? Yeah, that's hard to say at the moment um, but we we do know, because it might not be called specifically that, but we do know that there are going to be people sort of you know who's responsibilities include making sure that remote workers UM are engaged, you know, are productive. Um. There's been so much debate over you know, whether or not you know, when you spend your day on zoom, Uh, if your home all day,

you're going to be as products. And I think the case is clear that you know, workers certainly are as productive, if not more productive, working from home. The pandemic has proved that. But um, you know, are they happy? Are they thinking of leaving? And that's something that this rule would help figure out. Um, so you'd have somebody, you know,

sort of responsible for your entire remote workforce. And those workforces are growing, of course, we can have as many as one in five workers primarily working from home in three years according to some research we've seen. So you really need somebody to sort of, you know, oversee all

of them. And that's what this role uh, you know, right, you know what, Joe though, you know, I'm listening to Matt talk and I'm wondering, is this going to be more like a remote work police person policing people making sure they're really working while they're at home? War? Is this more about remote we're a cultivator like remote war or guru like really thinking about how flexible we can

be in terms of how we work. Because I feel like there are companies that embrace it and all of a sudden they're like, oh, no, you've got to get back to the office, like it's back and forth so much. Yeah. Well, and I think, you know, to try and answer your question, I think it's going to start with the ladder right, like, this is an attempt to recognize that the workforce has changed,

the workplace has changed. Can we get a flexible executive style thinking talent sort of in charge of these challenges that the workforce UM is going to face. I think that's where the position probably is going to start. But then I think it probably if we think out, you know, down the line here a couple of years, I think it has the potential to put you know, to potentially become a little bit more of that enforcer to be like how many people are actually online doing their job

right now. But I don't think starting there necessarily. I think I think that's potentially where it could go. But Matt, you want to ask about Yeah, I just want Matt, I want to bring you back in and and talk about the survey. And you know, a lot of this is rooted in this um uh Cowen Partners who said in the you know, in your story that you know this is one of the ten most on after management jobs right now. And and so talk to me because part of me thinks is, like we put this in

the headline a little bit. If this is truly like a shortcut to the C suite, there's gonna be a lot of talented people who are just going to be looking to change potentially career tracks. And like, so what kind of person fulfills this this job description currently? I mean you have to already have experienced leading large teams. That's sort of a seen a client on of this role.

You have, you know, whether you've been running a call center or you've been running you know, um a factory or what have you um, Having experienced leading large teams I think is key on top of that. Certainly, you know, communication skills are are you very much necessary here? You're going to be talking to a lot of people remotely Obviously you might be you know, overseeing folks that you never actually see in person. Um, so that's you know

key as well. And then just sort of having you know, knowing the ins and outs of all the various companies workforce policies. You know you're gonna be handling a compensation issues might come up, tax issues might come up. What if a remote worker moves from California to Texas or

to Florida, you know what happens there. So they're going to kind of need to be a bit of a savant in terms of all the companies, various workplace policies and that you think that might lend themselves to You know, this person coming from the HR department, and while they might have HR experience, it doesn't necessarily mean this has to be, you know, an HR career person taking this world. They could be coming from operations or sales or just

about anywhere. I do wonder too, Matt, if it's akin to chief financial officers got elevated after the financial crisis chief sustainability officers. I'm increasingly having conversations with them with other C suite officials, and they're both like executive vice presidents, they're on the same level. Is there this remote works are that all of a sudden becomes a big player in the C suite kind of part of the core that's running the company. I mean, it might be, but

you've got to be carefully. I mean, think of all the attention we've paid to chief diversity officers. But I've been told and plenty of studies have shown that that role can often be a bit of a backward career wise. You know, you're kind of blamed for everything and you get credit for nothing. So there's a lot a lot

of turnover in that chief diversity officer role. So, um, you know, with this role specifically, I think, of course, if you do it well, if productivity soars under your purview as uh, you know, as remote workings are, then yes, you could certainly be uh in line for you know, a C suite position. But again, you know, the jury still have. We got to see some people that have some actual experience in these roles and it keep you know, remember,

it's keeping people engaged and satisfied as well. It's not just about okay, it's productivity of twenty Yeah. Well, to that end, I do wonder to what extent this type of job is permanent. As you point on your piece, and this is something I did not know. The term telecommuting was actually coined by a NASA worker in the early nineteen seventies, and you do point out that in Yahoo abruptly ended its long standing telecommuting policy Um, that

was years ago. I wonder though, if if this time is different, if this is the turning point where the American workforce is distributed, Well, we're definitely going to be more distributed. Yeah, I think that that is a lasting change in the pandemic in terms of yeah, certain terms of the sustainability of this job specifically, though, yes, we do say and I spoke to an expert in HR issues at Cornell who said, hey, you know, if you do this job too well, you might make yourself redundant

and be out of a job. But that was a bit tongue in chic. I think there's always going to going to be a need for somebody who really, you know, whose job it is to make sure that the remote workforce, especially if it's one in five workers. Why color workers moving forward? You know, they're engaged, they're satisfied, they know what the company expects of them. Um, you know, and

the companies can you know, see it through here. Definitely saw that companies are trying to figure the way forward and who they needed management to kind of, you know, see that way at their companies. Joe Webber, thank you so much, editor at Bloomberg Business Week on the remote access in Brooklyn, along with Matt Boyle, who has used at US retail reporter, also Bloomberg News senior reporter for Management,

joining us on the phone from New York City. This is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Bloomberg Quick Takes Tim Stinovik on Bloomberg Radio. So top of mind

for us on this Monday. We've actually been talking about a lot of things when it comes to China specifically, but the US and China holding their first high level talks in months and in doing so highlighting deep differences, really suggesting once again the world's two biggest economies haven't quite found a clear path for improving their increasingly strained ties. So writing about that is our own Bloomberg New Economy

Editorial director Andy Brown. He joins us here in our interactive Broker Studio, you have a great column about going back several decades and how ping pong actually solved a lot of what ailed the U. S And China in their relationship that doesn't work anymore. I'm afraid it doesn't. Um You know this was it was almost exactly fifty years ago when a US amateur ping pong group led by a weed smoking hippie. I love it already got an invitation. This isn't a Netflix series, and he should be.

It's so improbable. I mean, they were in they were in Tokyo in a ping pong match, Joe and lie that. Then Chinese premier sees them and says, hey, we should invite them over to Beijing. And of course the intention was to break the ice with the US, and it led to Henry Kissinger's visit to China and the whole

opening of China and US Chinese diplomatic relations. But the point I was making in in in my piece is that the reason these two countries got together is because they had a common enemy, and that was the Soviet Union. That the Soviet Union and China had split. China needed a friend. The US, for its part, needed a counterweight

to Soviet expansionism in Asia. When the Soviet Union collapses, the raison detra for the relationship collapses and outcomes all of the issues that are being suppressed for decades, like human rights. So if you look now what just happened in Tianjin with this, with this visit by Wendy Sherman, Deputy US Sexual State, the whole meeting is dominated by these contentious issues. Just to give you a flavor, she accuses China of genocide in Shinjian. China turns around and

accuses the United States of genocide against Native Americans. That is basically the way the meeting went. Really warm and cozy. Yeah, I don't think a ping pong tournament or ping pong game is going to end this stuff anytime soon. But there's also the technological aspect of this, right, and and you write about that in your column Andy, Yes, so tech. You know, for a long time after the Soviet Union collapse, people said, well, it's business, that's the ballast for the relationship.

And now what you're seeing is that business and particularly tech has become an irritant in the relationship, and it's now part of a strategic competition between the US and China. With China now with this latest eruption over the d D and the ED tech sector over the weekend, which you've seen blowing up, China is now seeing US investment

in Chinese data companies as a national security threat. So now you're seeing decoupling across the board um including in the business sector, between these two large worlds too largest economies. We've talked about this and we kind of joke, but don't joke, like follow the money, and I want to follow investor money, whether ultimately they pull back. We've talked with investors and they're like, it's going to continue. US investor money will still go in. How do you see it? Sure?

I mean, you know, US investor money can still get into Chinese tech companies through Hong Kong, through Shanghai. There are various mechanisms in which you can trade shares um, you know. But what you're seeing now is China very explicitly saying we're not that interested. In fact, we're not interested at all in US foreign investment in some of our most critical tech sectors. You're you're well because because I think about when I started Business News, like long

you know, years ago, but not so long ago. I mean, that was all kind of wanted for direct investment, right, They wanted US companies to come over and help. You couldn't own a facility, right, but you could invest in a joint China US facility because they wanted to. They wanted to know how, right, they wanted to know how, and they wanted at in the early stages, they wanted

the funding. I mean, you know, you have to remember Ali Baba, these early tech companies, most of them, they were all funded by largely US private equity or venture capital companies. So what happens when that goes away? Does it matter at this point? Well, I think it does matter. I mean, I think it matters that tech is now and the whole industrial areas and now seen as being areas of confrontation between the US and China. And you've got to remember that in almost every supply chains in

almost every industry in the world run through China. China touches everything. So andy, how does this play out? Because it seems like increasingly there are allies of the United States that are looking increasingly skeptical at China. And I'm and I'm wondering if relations improve or if they continue to freeze and China becomes increasingly isolated. Look, you find a lot of rhetorical um, you know, the China that the United States is building up allies to push back

against China. But so far it's been rhetorical only, right, I mean, you you don't see any uh much appetite among US allies for real sanctions I think what you're seeing with this Wendy Showman visit is essentially stalemate. The idea is you've got to prevent this thing from spinning

out of control. That's the modest expectation. So I was just gonna say, carell, I mean to that point in one thing that investors want to see from Tesla today is any news about growth in China, sales in China, and they're looking for how the company is actually doing in China, which I think speaks to the way that American companies still continue to think about the company in

the country. Right now, test Tesler is perceived as being useful for China to the extent that it can help set up a supply chain, you know, strengthened Chinese battery makers and so on. Wait what happens when that mission is accomplished and China has developed its own homegrown e V stars, Right, You'll then start to see and you're you are already actually starting to see political pressure building

against Tesla. Right. There's been a lot of criticism, right, and I mean we've seen that kind of push back to full real what would cause right exactly? Um, thank you so much, great stuff, great column and so relevant because I feel like when it comes to our market story, we're hitting on this so many different times. Over the next three hours. Andy Brown, He's editorial director at Bloomberg

New Economy, on the phone from New York City. Any chance, though, Andy, ten fifteen seconds, that they're just playing tough and they'll figure it out because they need each other, or not so much anymore, just quickly, not so much. The key is going to be whether or not we get a summit meeting between c. Jimping and Joe Biden, potentially in October at the G twenty meeting. Let's see if Wendy Showman can come back from her meetings in China with

that in her pocket. Market calendar's everybody, Andy, You're the best, Andy Brown. This is the big take, the best of Bloomberg's in depth original reporting from around the globe. Well, we have to do, as the Economy covers is look at the data kind of broken down a bit. It's fun to becoming more and more expensively to be looking at the shifting billion dollars for their entry. Levels of immigration that have tasted a lot of resistance, a lot of color behind the scenes, and a great untold story,

How did Bezos really come out on top? As the cover says, Jeff wins he always seems to win the bog tick. On Bloomberg Radio, it's today's Big Take, and it's by Julie Johnson, aerospace reporter for Bloomberg Knew. She joins us now on the phone from Chicago. It is a story that focuses on Boeing and the brain rain that has been happening at Boeing in recent years. Julie, it's really great to have you on the show. I

encourage everybody to check out this story. It is a fantastic one and goes a deep dive into the history of the company, especially how it's changed in recent years. Just how bad is the brain drain, as one analyst you spoke to describes it at Boeing, You know, it's it's definitely a worry, and I know this is something that people um within Boeing have been talking about and

worried about as well. The company had to to cut deeply last year to survive COVID and the max grounding and its rival in Europe air Bus did not and um, so we're coming out of the other side of the crisis and this is the point where you start to to find out did they let too many people, especially

engineers walk out the door. You know, it's a story that I that I read and I have the takeaway about share price share by backs, and I think, to myself, it seems like a story of a company that is really really focused on its share price, perhaps to the detriment of long term sustainability and thinking about the big picture of what the company was and what it wants

to be generations from now. You know, out is so well put and I think that you know, looking back on the last decade, you could definitely make the case that just a lot of thought and resources and focus

went into financial engineering and um, I mean Boeing. Boeing continued to build facilities and um and definitely you know, had planes in the pipeline, but um along the way did this you know, did this company the management team that at the time sort of lose you know, lose sight of the big dreams, the big bats that had made Boeing, you know, just such a pillar of American industrials. Julie, That's what I wonder. I mean, there was an era where Boeing was the place where so many engineers wanted

to work right. It was just incredible. And I do wonder the financial engineering definitely going on, or you know, doing the buybacks and doing the dividends. But what also happened in term is of it being a visionary company, the company that was figuring out the next great airplane or the next great you know, device, or a vehicle into space. What happened? Where did that go wrong? With that? Senior management? What was it? Well? UM so, yes, to

some degree, senior management. And we could go back to the history of the merger with McDonald Douglas and where you had a management team who were really strongly influenced by ge and and Jack Jack Welch winding up in key positions at Boeing. So that's I mean, it's that's part of the history. And UM. As maligned as Dennis Muhlenberg is for his handling of the seven thirty seven Max, I think he had aspirations. I mean I don't think I know, he really well wanted to make this a

great company. UM he won. You know, he knew the history. He had spent his entire career at Boeing and UM as an engineer, and you know, I think he um was was thinking about space and you know, in sort of the next iteration, and that all came crashing down um with with the seven Max crashes. And there's just been two years of hell for people who've been working at Bowing. So where does the company go from here?

I let out an audible gas when I read that the seven Dreamliners nearly twenty years old, because to me, that still seems like the new thing at Boeing. And you also talked about the sty Starliner spacecraft and the way that it competes with with SpaceX. Where does it go from here? Julie, Yeah, so, so it's it's at an interesting juncture. It's got a new CEO, Dave Calhoun, who who also came from GE, but in in private equity. Yea, so he he definitely has his creds as a cost cutter.

But at GE he made a huge gamble on on a jet engine technology that went on to become right after nine eleven actually and it went on to become a huge So so the jury is out, but we'll see. Well it's a really deep dive. It's the Bloomberg Big Take today and it's a must read and we'll put it out on Twitter. Julie Johnson, she's aerospace reporter here at Bloomberg News, covering it so well. Joining us on the phone from Chicago. All right, you're listening to Bloomberg

Business Week. Cow Master tim Stenavic, This is Bloomberg. Thanks for listening to Bloomberg Business Week. Download the podcast on iTunes, SoundCloud, or Bloomberg dot com. And you can also listen to our radio show at two pm Eastern on Bloomberg Radio or watch us on YouTube. Search to Bloomberg Global News