♪ announcer: building a better bay area, moving forward, finding solutions, this is abc7 news. kristen: hi. you are watching "getting answers." we asked experts your questions every day and get answers in real time. san francisco rolled out the red carpet, hoping workers will come back and revive the economy, but will they go back to the five-day workweek? a stanford economics professor says three might be the magic number. rallies to demand action to stop violence against asian american women on the one year anniversary of the atlanta shootings that killed eight people, six were asian american women. first, the ukrainian president gave an impassioned speech to

congress, asking for more help. he switched to english towards the end and urged president biden to be the defender of democracy and the leader of the free world. >> leader of leade world means peace. it does not just depend on you and your people. it depends on those next to you and those who are strong. strong doesn't mean big. strong is brave and ready to fight for the citizens of the world. kristen: the message, unmistakable. we need you now. this afternoon, i spoke with >> klein -- rick response, and the ramifications. thank you for joining us. president zelensky got a

standing ovation from lawmakers today. lots of memorable moments, but what stuck with you from the speech? rick: two things. one, the way the video clips were used to draw out the emotion of the moment. this was not a traditional speech. it was an attempt to reach the american people, tugged at the heartstrings, explain the humanity and tragedy of what's going on, children killed by the russian invasion, and a direct appeal in english to the american people come to the american spirit, and american president joe biden, saying he is the one who can lead for peace by intervening. it was striking and you could not help but be moved by his words in those images. kristen: you are right. it was a strong presentation. he made the case for help from the u.s., more help, invoking pearl harbor and the 9/11 attacks, and appealing to

america's role as defender of democracy. do you feel that that moved congress? rick: i think members of congress were wiping away tears as they left the room. you could not watch that and feel the impact and question your role in what you can do as a member of congress, member of the executive branch. people have to assess with the reality is. it is easy to draw lines and say this is good for america, this is bad for america, just the sheer magnitude of the humanity, death, and destruction going on is unavoidable. there is a renewed clarity of purpose on the part of congress to do what it can to help ukraine. i am struck by how much bipartisan consensus there is on what should and should not be done, and despite the fact that he cold for that no-fly zone, were not hearing prominent voices think that is a good idea. they're worried about what that means to directly engage putin

in a shooting war with russia for the first time ever. that is dangerous. the fact that is rolled out is significant. kristen: right, that was his biggest ask, the no-fly zone. right now it seems to be a no, but it can get to a yes or are there signs is moving along at in that direction? rick: zelensky gave a backup option to americans. the objective is to secure the airspace. if that can be done in other ways, and in this case, more offensive weapons to the ukrainians they may use on their own, that is where use also moved by the president on that step of the no-fly zone. i don't think that will move until or unless putin does something to force the issue, chemical, biological, nuclear weapons. even though there is no line in the sand drawn by the white

house, that would make it all but inevitable you would have to see a u.s. move in that direction. i think the international pressure would be strong and there would be a consensus more has to be done and there is a much more that can be done short of that. kristen: they ask is also for sophisticated weapons. it seems like there is some response from the biden white house. talk about that new $800 million of a, in addition to the 13 billion yesterday, and what do they include? rick: this is more in terms of unmanned drones. you might think of that as interchangeable with a u.s. airplane, but it has some significance in difference. there is also a lot of antiaircraft weapons that ukrainians are now using. they have run out of ammunition, so it could be resupplying that ammunition in trying to ease the

way to get direct aid into their hands. there was a move a couple of days ago by poland to get russia-made jets into the hands of the craniums. the biden administration's ruling that out. there are steps that could make that happen, but this is almost an unprecedented mobilization of u.s. resources into the hands of another country to give them the tools to defend themselves. kristen: can we talk about the fact the pentagon seems opposed to sending big fighter jets, and you talked about the more offensive and defensive weapons, and where putin might draw the line in terms of this is now a direct attack on us and draw the u.s. into war. where is that line? rick: wherever we think it is for putin. we are not dealing with a rational actor or someone whose intentions are fully understood. our intelligence agencies think he is not completely connected to reality.

he has more nuclear weapons than anyone. that is the danger you have here. we have made clear that the lines of communications are open with russia. they want to be able to clarify any miscommunication quickly. this is what would be seen in the eyes of putin in the world community as a provocative step that would have the u.s. directly engage in a shooting war with russia. that is the line we are trying to avoid. it means standing down the barriers so it may look like were not doing everything we can be doing, the optics around it, the language, but that is with the u.s. is trying to keep from doing. kristen: we talked about supplying weapons, the $13 billion in humanitarian aid in aid to the refugees, sanctions as well, and there are talks of broader sanctions. talk about what is on the table now. rick: the big ask is to crack

down on companies and any individual that has dealings with the russian regime. we have gone after putin and many people in his inner circle, oligarchs who have had their assets rosen taken away, the russian stock market and economy have been impacted, but a lot of countries and companies continue to do business with russia. one week ago, we cut off oil imports. more can be done there. we are seeing companies choose to cease doing business, but president zelensky would like to see a crackdown on all those companies, because the more you choke off the supply lines, that is what hurts. that is the only way you can economically tighten that vice. kristen: is that option more feasible with oil prices seemingly trending downward? rick: i think the gyrations in the oil market are very much

related what is going on perceptions of what is going on. we saw president biden call on oil companies to lower the price of gasoline now that prices are down a little bit. that might relieve the pressure and allow some additional flexibility. we don't get a ton of oil from russia directly. it is a small percentage. it was more about the perceptions of it. large portions of europe are dependent on russian oil, so if there were further pressure on other countries to take away that supply, you would see on the world market and impact that would mean higher gas prices, higher than they have been here at home. kristen: i want to talk about vice president harris meeting with the porsche president. can you talk about that meeting and whether misunderstandings were cleared up? rick: misunderstandings around the readiness to supply those airplanes has been a point of tension. the polish government said they

had it ready to go, but the bigger concern for poland and anyone in eastern europe is what is putin do next. will he be satisfied with taking over ukraine? does he go after belarus? are there other countries next on the chopping block? poland has a bad history of this. any reassurance, you have seen vice president harris say repeatedly the u.s. is firmly on the side of the nato alliance. poland is a member of nato, unlike karen, so that changes the calculations, commitments, and the fact we have more troops as well. kristen: the ukrainian president to really made it clear, democracy is worth fighting for. do you think it may have had an unintended effect of unifying us in the u.s. given the divisive times? rick: i think zelensky has to recognize the unity of the u.s. as a strength. i don't see him having a huge

upside in the fighting. it was a moment that is american, citizen -- as an american, citizen, you like to see the solidarity, democrats and republicans standing to cheer this fight for democracy he is almost certainly the most popular figure in the political states in the world right now, a genuine hero. the fact that people in both parties can take inspiration from that is a good thing for the printing because, although there will be disagreements along the way. you have policy disagreements and a lot of things they say president biden should be doing, but i am struck by how much leading republicans are backing biden and what he's doing, representing the mainstream views of how america should be acting in the world. kristen: seeing republicans and democrats standing shoulder to shoulder on something these days , that in itself is something to cheer for. rick klein, thank you so much.

rick: my pleasure. thanks for having me. kristen: next, a sanford university economics professor talking about a hybrid workweek is in new york city, erngnew to discove in new york city, ♪ ♪ come be a part of it. plan your next vacation at iloveny.com

kristen: the pandemic has changed so much about the way we live, including the way we work. after two years working remotely , many companies are transitioning to workers returning to the office part-time. that may or may not be what others are hoping for. joining us to talk about the new workweek, stanford university professor of economics, nicholas bloom, who has been studying remote work since before the

pandemic made it mainstream, right? nicholas: that's right. almost 20 years. it was quiet until march 2020, then it exploded. kristen: look, i need your expertise. a new survey shows most employers plan to bring workers back to the office in the bay area this month, but not in the old way. what does the new normal look like and what are the permutations? nicholas: right, first thing, only half of bay area employees work from home now. half of the folks are front-line retail, manufacturing, essential service. they have to go in hand have been going in during the pandemic. the half we are talking about are professionals, managers, people working in tech and finance. yes, most of those people will be going back two or three days a week and enjoying the other two or three days at home. kristen: ok.

google is asking for three days on-site. tell us why you think most opine that three days is -- people find that three days is ideal? nicholas: hybrid is the best of both worlds. the big two reasons to go into work is that it is easy to be creative and innovative face-to-face, and you build culture. you see your coworkers and get to know what's going on in the company. working from home has the upside that post-pandemic it will be quiet once kids go back to school, and you say big-time on the commute. the average employee in the bay area saves 80 minutes a day, and another 10 minutes for getting ready, so hybrid is the best of both worlds. you have companies like apple, who say we will go into the office monday, tuesday, thursday, social bays, meetings,

events, trainings, lunches, and wednesday friday, you guys get to work from home, while reading, studying, and analysis, and you say the commute for those two days. kristen: who likes remote work best? are there groups that prefer it more than others? nicholas: to be clear, 25% of people don't like it. 25% of folks say they don't ever want to work from home again. exactly. if you look at them, young singles. they want to go into work. they want to meet partners, etc. at the other extreme 30% love it , like i want to work from home forever. they tend to be middle-aged with kids living in the house with a long commute, so it is draining come and working from home works well. kristen: you mentioned the

commute and the high cost of gas , is it possible employees will start paying or reimbursing the commute to get people to come back and more? nicholas: maybe. it cuts both ways. i've heard people saying they should pay me to come in. i have to deal with the commute. other people say my employer should pay me when i am home because i'm using my electricity, etc. generally most people if you look in the surveys, they ideally come in two or three days a week to see their colleagues and socialize with coworkers men work from home two or three days a week, so hybrid fits most people pretty well. kristen: got it. the san francisco mayor announced an event taking place march 27 with fun events to draw workers back downtown, the reason being downtown needs workers to eat in restaurants, shopping stores and a bars, so if they are doing 3 -- stores,

drink in bars, so they're working three days a week, is it enough? nicholas: i don't think it is a bad thing, to be honest. san francisco is a bit less hectic. we have becoming more dense as the downtown has become more crowded over the last 30 years. it is less expensive to live in downtown because people have moved out to the suburbs. the prices in the suburbs have e one up, but downtown is a bit less expensive. there is slightly less business activity in downtown and more in the suburbs. maybe that is good? i could see why the mayor of san francisco would one people there , but in the areas around it, you're probably pretty happy to have people in the businesses too. kristen: through. the money could be moving there. has working remotely brought him productivity as a society? nicholas: so, actually, this is

the biggest surprise. at least in terms of remote working. as i mentioned, i have been working on this 20 years. pre-pandemic, people would call it working from home or working remotely. turns out from the pandemic, the experience from the data is people are more productive working at home. it is not a big increase, but 3% to 5%, so outstanding. most of the people in the world are amazed, but most people are better working from home. kristen: nicholas bloom, coming to us from home. i am sure many of my colleagues are saving this interview and taking into to the boss. thank you for your time and insight. coming up next, people across the country and in the bay area breaking silence and support for asian american women who are often the target of violence. we will be b

kristen: rallies are taking

place in san francisco in cities across the u.s. today to demand justice for asian american women , who have so often become the targets of violence, on the one-year anniversary of the shootings in which six women were murdered. the san francisco rally is underway right now outside the asian art museum. joining us is the lead organizer and cofounder of asians are strong, and also an activist. thank you for your time today. >> thank you. kristen: the rallies across the country are called break the silence, the vitriol, the hate, the assaults on asian americans, but especially the women. the numbers are alarming. and you share those? >> so, the report has come out that 74% of asian women have faced racism in the past year, and also, in the san francisco

bay area, the violence has increased five to six times in the past year. kristen: all right. well, this event demands of justice for these women. the spa workers killed were women. in new york this week, an elderly asian woman was punched 125 times by men in yonkers who called are racial store. woman was stabbed to death in a crime that police consider sexually motivated. why do you think these women more often end up as the targets? >> so, this is a complicated question. i think part of the problem stems from stereotypes about asian women that are long-rooted in our nations history. stacey abrams spoke at the atlanta rally this morning. she talked eloquently about how this is not new. this discrimination from asian americans comes all the way from

the chinese exclusion act and another act that excluded chinese women from coming to this country because of stereotypes. one thing the assembly is addressing is the need for asian american history and more ethics studies as requirements to address the history of racial struggle from all different racial groups, so i think it is a complex question, but something that all of our asian american nonprofits and grassroots we are working with are working hard to address. kristen: a lot of raising awareness is very important. the san francisco event has started. the main program begins at 5:00. tell us what it will offer for those people who attend. >> absolutely. this is an amazing space of the asian art museum. we started off with a resource benders fair, resources for

asian women. today, we are trying to focus on how we can do things and get uplifting on moving forward, happening between 3:00 and 5:00. from 5:00 to introduce some traditional performances. we have a list of speakers that will go until 6:30, then hopefully we can have the resources that are here, like 15 or 16 resource offenders in a very amazing, so i am excited -- vendors, so i'm excited to have them support them. kristen: what do you think needs to happen in the long term to effect meaningful change? >> i believe that we as a

community need to come closer together. the community is so big, so fast, and -- healing and discussions that need to take place that we can find solidarity. kristen: that discussion begins tonight. folks can go to break the silence outside the asian art museum until 7:00. you can be an allied to the communities here in the bay area or get help, just go to abc7news.com/take action. we

in new york city, ♪ ♪ there's always something new to discover. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ come be a part of it. plan your next vacation at iloveny.com have a great rally. i hope it would get a lot of people thinking. thank you for joining us on "getting answers." we will be here every weekday at

3:00 on there and livestream answering your questions. world news tonight is next. i will see you at 4: tonight, breaking news as we come on the air. the new and horrific images coming in now from ukraine. the shelter with the word "children" written on both sides in russian to keep it from being bombed. and still, the ukrainians say the building has been hit. it comes just hours after president zelenskyy addresses the u.s. zelenskyy pleading with the u.s. to do more. again, calling for that no-fly zone over ukraine. and then, the video zelenskyy showed u.s. lawmakers that left some in tears. and the new images tonight, reports russia has attacked that theater that was being used as a shelter in mariupol. reports hundreds of people had been sheltered there, including children. that message the ukrainians wrote in russian on the building, the word "children" ignored. also tonight, president zelenskyy says hundreds of pa