USA Today - 21.10.2019

USA TODAY z MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2019 z SECTION B

Oracle’s co-CEO has died

Mark Hurd had taken a leave for health reasons. 2B

Annoying flyers need a blacklist

Space hogs and talkers must be stopped. 3B

Across the nation

News from every state. 4B

IN MONEY

STATES

IN TRAVEL

VITAPIX/GETTY IMAGES

McKesson Corp ..........................13.0%

Unitedhealth Group ..................10.5%

Cardinal Health ............................9.8%

Cigna Corp ....................................9.5%

AmerisourceBergen....................9.4%

Intuitive Surgical..........................9.3%

NVR Inc ..........................................9.0%

Crown Holdings Inc.....................8.9%

KC Southern..................................8.8%

United Rentals..............................8.7%

SOURCE: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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Home is where the heart – and
frankly most of your money – is.
Most American homeowners – 83%

• wouldn’t go back to renting after
  buying a home, according to the 2019
  Fall Homebuyer Insights Report issued
  by Bank of America released last
  month.
  And 70% say they’re more emotion-
  ally attached than they anticipated,
  according to the online survey sample
  of 1,919 adults age 18 and older who
  currently own a home or plan to do so
  in the future.
  No doubt, homeownership has its
  challenges, such as a lack of affordable
  homes for young buyers. So it’s impor-
  tant to get a handle on where home
  prices and mortgage rates are trend-
  ing. Here are some points to consider:

Mortgage rates: Sharp drop
helps buyers

The average 30-year fixed mortgage
rate is now 3.69%, down from 4.85% a
year ago, according to Freddie Mac.
“The sharp drop in mortgage rates
this year, and particularly the move
below 4% this summer, has given a
boost to home buying,” according to
Greg McBride, chief financial analyst
for Bankrate.com.
Even so, “the housing market is still
pretty tepid, despite an otherwise
strong job market,” McBride said.
The Federal Reserve policymaking
committee met Sept. 17-18 and many
expect that another cut in short-term
rates could be in the works.
Mortgage rates already have fallen
quite a bit in the last few months and
may not fall on the Fed news, given
that the market likely already is pricing
in factors that could prompt another
Fed cut, said Sarah Mikhitarian, senior
economist for Zillow.

Down payments: New breaks

First-time home buyers, though,
say the upfront costs of buying a home
remain a challenge.
Many can afford a monthly mort-
gage payment, experts say, particular-
ly when one considers that the median
rent in metro Detroit is $1,200.
But about 69% of prospective home

Banks

might

help buy

a house

Grants could ease the

sting of upfront costs

Susan Tompor

Columnist

USA TODAY

SeeHOME BUYERS, Page 2B

Last month, Michael Richman,

owner of Academy Awning in Monte-

bello, California, waded gingerly into

the modern world of flexible work

schedules, allowing a 22-year-old de-

signer to come in at odd hours so he

could go back to college full time.

It didn’t go well.

The designer wasn’t available mid-

day to answer questions from an East

Coast customer and was hard-pressed

to quickly address concerns raised by

welders and other factory employees

at the awning maker, which has 35

staffers. Richman also wondered how

much the designer was

really working when he

was alone in the office.

“It was a disaster,”

Richman says. “We have

to have a somewhat re-

gimented schedule. To

have people coming and

going at different times

creates disruption.”

America’s new flexi-

ble workplace is going

through some growing

pains.Many businesses

are allowing variable

hours – as well as work-

from-home options – to

attract employees in a

tight labor market. But

as adoption grows, a significant share

are struggling to make it work. Con-

sultants say that’s because many com-

panies haven’t put technology and

other tools in place to ensure seamless

communication.

“They haven’t integrated it as part

of their overall strategy,” says Cali Wil-

liams Yost, CEO of Flex + Strategy

Group, which helps companies adopt

flexible work arrangements. “We’re

asking people to work differently but

not telling them how to do it.”

As a result, some companies are

throwing up their hands and going back

to traditional work policies while others

are ironing out the kinks through trial

and error. The gap among firms is un-

derscored by widely varying measures

of the portion of businesses with flexi-

ble hours. A spring survey by the Soci-

ety for Human Resource Management

found that 57% of organizations offer

flexible schedules, up from 52% in 2015.

A separate poll by Flex + Strategy re-

vealed that 98% of companies provide

some form of fluctuating hours based on

a broad definition that could include let-

ting employees leave occasionally to

pick up kids at school or go to the doctor.

At the other extreme are businesses that

let workers choose their own hours.

Meanwhile, a survey of 501 hiring

managers by USA TODAY and LinkedIn

late last month showed that to attract

and retain employees, 44% have put in

Millennial seek a better work-life balance.MOONLIGHTING

Flexible workplaces

can be boon or a bother

More employers use flex hours to attract, retain workers

See FLEXIBLE, Page 2B

Paul Davidson

USA TODAY

“We’re putting

more trust into

our team, and

measuring them

more by the

results they

produce than by

the hours they

log.”

Chris RonzioCEO of Trainual