ButtBot9900
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Most large companies stand to lose way more in wealth from a stock crash caused by the collapse of the commercial real estate market than they do from running outdated and inefficient work models. So naturally they need to make it our problem.
dcjunkee
TBH, I miss the office. So much easier to knock on my boss's door to be told to fuck off vs. scheduling time via Zoom to be told to fuck off
LaffertyDanie1
Oh for the love of God not this again. If companies could get real estate off their books they would, it boosts ROA, ROE and ROIC.
Redyls
work from home kills old office model. remake old offices into homes. home is now office. your always at work. played yourself. profit????
Nunyajonesinc
That and middle managers can't justify their existence by micromanaging and scheduling a billion unnecessary meetings
Isorikk
Just think of the horror that big corporate office space might become cheaper per square foot than homes
RottedOnion
They're transitioning to residential buy ups and raising rents to compensate, they'll get the money. They always do.
Swedishbouldering
Those workers who you know you can trust to work without supervision, fine. The rest should then get fired, regardless of how good they are
CPTNNemo
After 2 years at home, I'm looking forward to some office time.
GodDerpsInMysteriousWays
This is my wife's job. Want everyone back in the office full time for "synergy", then the managers continue to WFH whenever possible
tonchandailvert
My boss was boosting ''company culture''. She barely comes in, and the culture is one of harassment without consequences.
NonstopRampage
Blizzard?
Hinkster
Tbh It's nice to have a office to go to instead of staying home 24 7
SociallyAwkwardCanadianMoose
I think it depends on the person. I suck at working from home. In college I had to be out of my home to get anything home. Mental traps
SewerRanger
It's more that companies usually sign 15 - 20 year office leases and don't want to waste money on empty buildings for the next 10 - 15 years
Hrafna55
Yes, this is staggeringly obvious to anyone with two braincells to rub together.
ThisIsMyDogLily
My corp office just told its 1000 employees that mandatory return to office is cancelled.
ItsNotTheFartThatKillsItsTheSmell
I know I'm going against the imgur band wagon here, but it is much easier for me to cooperate with colleagues who are physically available.
astrangehop
That's a fair point, but do you need to do that every day? Maybe there could be once a week meetings or whatever.
ItsNotTheFartThatKillsItsTheSmell
The meetings are on Teams, so that's fine. It's the everyday things. It's much easier to just turn to the left and talk to my colleague. 1/2
ItsNotTheFartThatKillsItsTheSmell
Also, I prefer working at my job, rather than at home. 2/2
3RsReadingRitingRithmatic
This post is missing a response to her tweet that was a crypto bro and worked in like real estate.
ImYouFromTheFuture
How does this make sense? Most office space is rented. If they didn't have to pay rent, it would save them money, not lose money.
LaffertyDanie1
It doesn't make any sense, you're ruining the corporate greed narrative.
aciddragon
ok Company A makes software and they rent an office space from Company B, if Company A stays work from home Company B loses the rent money
aciddragon
now if enough Company Bs keep losing rent money it would kill that segment of the economy. those skyscrapers in NYC aren't cheap
LaffertyDanie1
Company A doesn't give a fuck about Company B
takemywifecommaplease
darkestkale
It doesn't make sense, OP (from twitter) is making too many logical jumps to suit their narrative.
TacoPoweredHelicopter
There is a huge amount of middle management that I'd doing nothing and realizes they are superfluous.
LidJ
This is exactly why my workplace is staying wfh more or less indefinitely, as far as I can tell.
Crimsonak
Not only this, but it also impacts nearby businesses like cafés, which in turn impacts the economy.
montanafeet
I see these posts a lot. I have some feedback on this. 1) The owners of these buildings have more than enough capital to reposition the
montanafeet
assets and or partner with an equity group to convert any real estate to another purpose. They also have the political capital to do it
montanafeet
far easier than any average developer would. For a high rise of lets say 20 stories there are only so many principals in the country who
montanafeet
actually convert them to apartments. We are talking taking them from office to residential occupancy.
montanafeet
2) For anything like converting all these buildings to low income housing would take government intervention and market making.
montanafeet
The perfect example is Michigan after the last market crash. Millions of square footage of building sat vacant and
SuspiciousCactus
With some exceptions obviously, if we did our job from home for 2 years -we can do it from home forever.
limbodog
I think you would be surprised how few companies own the building they reside in
ButtBot9900
Notice how it said rented out and not owned.
limbodog
Yes. Point being your employer isn't likely trying to get you back to the office for that reason if they don't own the office.
LoneBoot
I laugh whenever we get return to work plan emails. Because it's always delayed and if they ever do try it, they will lose 40-70% of staff
nclu
Our CEO keeps warning that we will be coming back to the office soon but it's hilarious because its just talk and we all know he doesn't 1/
nclu
have anywhere near the leverage to get us back in there. HR and IT have arranged all of us on permanent WFH 2/2
LoneBoot
It's been so long now that employees have all moved away. Many would have a 2+ hour commute. Some as long as 6 or 7. They ain't coming back
aciddragon
a guy i went to highschool with was working in an office in California, after the pandemic started and they switched to WFH 1-2
aciddragon
2-2 he moved back to northern Wisconsin cause he hated California plus the cost of living difference was like getting a 25% raise,
ScruffyB
Why this meme every day? It's so dumb! Companies save money if they don't pay commercial rent and employees pay for their own home offices!
sambaah05
Wrong. The company with employees and the ones that own the buildings are usually separate. This sounds smart, unless you know how CRE works
NaughtButOne
I mean. I've worked for both. Two-jobs-ago company owns their HQ, just built a huge expansion maybe ... 5 years ago? They stopped WFH ASAP.>
NaughtButOne
>Current job leases their building. They're moving to primarily WFH, are now subletting and won't be renewing half the building.
NaughtButOne
I should mention, Job 1 and 2 are both mostly clerical, administrative busywork for the grunts. No reason both can't be done from home.
jabike2424
And this is proof folks do not.
sambaah05
I'm a manager, at a billion dollar company thats been in the room when this is discussed. Some people thing Productivity will be better. I
sambaah05
Disagree. But at least in the actual conversations I've been in, it's not about real estate. Leases end. That's fairly easy to deal with.
CycloneSP
but productivity can be measured. shouldn't be too hard to show how productive things were both before and after
sambaah05
Depends on the nature of the work. My team works on lots of different projects at the same time with blended timelines.
Klatchco
Wrong. CRE works by companies signing multi-year leases that they have to justify to their bosses by putting butts in seats.
sambaah05
But leases end. If you can say I'll save a huge amount in 3 years, my boss will take that all day everyday. Expense reduction is key. Thats
sambaah05
The scale where we plan. Across multiple years. I've done 8 year forecasts before.
funone77
Don't forget that we spend/consume less from home. Gotta get out there and keep that economy pumping so the rich can get richer.
stlouiscardinalsfan7
I’ve spent more working from home these last 2 years
miked854
We do not. Consumer good sales shot up something like 30% in lockdown. We buy just stuff instead of gas and food.
kubi
No commute means more free time, which means more hobbies, which means more spending on hobbies.
Heninthefoxden
Consumer good sales, is that all areas or just limited ones?
miked854
All areas, but limited within the type. E.g. "clothing" went up, but it was pajamas and sweats.
xj4low
And department heads like to see a big room or people they have power over. Without that, people start to question why they are needed.
ArandomDoctorOfScience
Also home office is not good for everyone and it definitely reduces the exchange between people, which fosters innovation
ChrisWsrn
Younger people are able to shitpost in chat systems like teams. For them it does not mater where they are physically working from.
Delabouilliederizquisourit
No
ArandomDoctorOfScience
Are you assuming my age?
ChrisWsrn
If you have issues with collaboration remotely then that typically means you have issues communicating casually with tools like teams.
ChrisWsrn
Younger people are more comfortable with remote collaboration platforms because they grew up with similar communication platforms.
Spuriusity
True within a department, but you lose it with those outside your team. The random interactions that spark innovation and collaboration
sambaah05
Most large companies don't own their real estate. This is extremely misguided. They lease.
Heninthefoxden
They aren't talking about the companies owning their own buildings.
IDontCareAtAllButIShould
And they pay the lease whether it's used or not.
sambaah05
Yup. But they can also plan ahead to say we won't have this big fixed expense after the lease runs out...
thatfreshjive
And who do these large companies lease from... other large companies, and investment funds. Nothing about this is misguided.
sambaah05
Ha. If you think the companies that lease are worried about taking care of their landlord, think twice. Every company is just worried about
sambaah05
Themselves and what is best for them. They aren't going to hold on to their lease to help out the landlord.... Thank you for that laugh.
oneofrhesamsame
You are forgetting a vast majority are multi year leases most common 3 to 5 years. Some being 20 plus
sambaah05
Not forgetting. For the shorter term leases it's a sunk cost, and often you can pay a penalty that's still worth it. Bringing your workers
sambaah05
Forgot to mention leases longer than 5 years arent very common. What if the area becomes much more popular, landlord can't increase rates.
PoliticalWanderer
Just think, we might have to turn all those unoccupied buildings into low cost multi-family housing! Can you imagine the horror?!
ImYouFromTheFuture
Honestly this happens more in entirely democrat controlled areas. Dems want it until it’s in their backyard
Frederf
I'll live in the backrooms
AlexDuos
One does not simply *help* the poor!
NewToTheEnterwbs
I pay MY taxes to bomb families out of their homes, not get them into affordable housing. I forced you to have those babies. Not my prob /s
aleister94
If they could be walkable communities with local gardens to buy fresh produce that’d so dope
imburningstar4
Commie! lol kidding of course
Ladris
TouchMyInfection
Tumescentpie
They would rather let the building rot than to help other humans.
beeeeeeerkaaaaa
It's a nice thought but they would be terrible living conditions. Not up to code for plumbing for one.
vash77
Won't somebody think of the share holders!
LeSethX
It was kind of a big deal when a 30 story former office building was converted into housing/apartments here a few years ago.
ThomasThundersword
lol they will be turned into housing. but it won’t be low cost. it will be spun as some post modern urban ruggedism with an appeal to the>
ThomasThundersword
moral goodness of using old offices as apartments. and a nice big price tag to go along with the happy little story they sell you.
ThomasThundersword
you don’t really think they’d let the poors into the biz districts after all.
SwampKittensRevenge
Zoning laws make something like that very challenging, unfortunately
paintingagency
It's almost as if the entire system is designed to fuck us.
Flustercuck
Well also so people aren't forced to live in buildings not meant for living. Some of it is done for good reason. Not all, but some
Sholk7
Those are building codes. Zoning laws require single family homes to be built in most places, making low income housing difficult. NH is 1/2
Sholk7
Passing a law that will allow up to a 4plex be built on any plot serviced by city water and city sewer.
fartharder
As if.
sfbiker
If you have enough money to turn an office building into housing, you have enough money to just build housing.
Larkins
the horror!!!!!
PoliticalWanderer
Fhant
What next, a *dun dun DUUUUN* stable salary for everyone? Or a *thunderclap* increase on the minimum wage?
NapoleonTrousersnakeBonaparte
aIohasnackbar
This is the case w/my company. "We built a $35mil HQ2 building in 2019, may as well fill it w/people to make it look like a good decision"
OuchMouse
My company is similar. They built a fancy new office, it’s 2 buildings on a bunch of land, and like 6 months after opening covid hit.
xj4low
And they won't want to train their managers on how to remotely manage, leading to many using the spy software to see what everyone is doing.
Syiss
My company literally bought new office in the middle of pandemic (late 2020). I'm sure the deal was in the works long before then but still
Syiss
The wfh transition had gone really well, we had record profits last year, and they still planning to send everyone back later this year
Syiss
Oh and before the panic even hit, they already have a 2nd office building in another part of the city with multiple empty floors
Fauxcused
mine made a better choice in when they built the first of what was to be two buildings they stopped before they built the second one
Cwellan
My best friends company completed the new 30 mill building Feb 2020. They are forcing everyone back now.
iusedtodream
Forcing is the operative word.
monikir
Do they have one of those signs up that taunt the employees with how much better working from home was?
Cwellan
Not sure. She quit like 2 weeks later and got a 25% pay raise while doing so.
FalconWithABoxOnItsHead
Same. Should have saved the money and given out raises instead.
MikeStinse
What is raises?
aIohasnackbar
HAH yeah I got a 0.57% raise last year after implementing cost savings for the company of north of $1mil year over year.
AntRam95
Should’ve not told them and redirected the money to yourself
phrax
So, you took an involuntary pay cut.
aIohasnackbar
yup. I'm building up savings so I have enough $$ to cover bills so I can take my time looking for a new job.
frischcode
I think companies that don't let workers continue to work from home will lose employees to companies that do. And they don't need buildings.
9zf2v2cvws3
And some people will prefer to work from the office and can replace those who move to companies with remote working.
frischcode
Sure. No one wants to work anymore in 3, 2, ...
xj4low
Many cities lure big companies with tax breaks on offices that must remain occupied. These "savings" are passed to the workers in inc taxes.
Decemberscrow
My company tried to implement a 3 days a week in the office policy to start June last year. Within a week it was 2 days to start in August.
Decemberscrow
By September it was "two days a month" with incentives for those who went in more often and a side of "please stop threatening to quit".
NonstopRampage
Look who's got the power now, bossman.
Youhavinagiraffe
And then those companies will get bought out by big conglomerates and they'll change their policies!
skeletalbelltoller
yeah I’m software dev and my manager is trying to get us back in - so ridiculous
FartingUncontrollably
Thats very true in IT
ghostofGracchusBabeuf
Hey. It’s been four years, and although I agree with your concept here I’m really curious if you’re seeing the same thing I am, namely that the companies that allow people to work from home full time are getting harder and harder to find.
frischcode
I'm still working from home five days a week. Am I looking for a new role? No.
ghostofGracchusBabeuf
Nice.
Tom40
This is how capitalism is supposed to work
AntiProtonBoy
And it will. Just give it some time for competing businesses to emerge that want you to work from home.
ImgurCouncilOfLlamas
Free-market capitalism, not whatever we have now.
TripleDane
Competitve capitalist vs conspiring capitalism. we have the later.
NonstopRampage
medieval style oligarchs trying their damndest to influence & control modernity, failing, and putting our planet at risk as a result?
IhopeyougetstageIIIcoloncancer
Adam Smith free-market capitalism, not modern right-wing "free market" capitalism.
monikir
Late stage capitalism, fascist capitalism, corporatocracy, one last burst of speed towards the edge of the cliff, unfettered greed
AspiringBeefCurtainInspector
Too bad that it will kill us all before it ends.
monikir
Ooh, this reminds me of another one - terminal capitalism
tracereading
Does it bug anyone else that we have to give 2 weeks notice but they can fire us on the spot?
poochyena
huh? Who lied to you about having to give 2 week notice?
tracereading
Most companies pretty much demand it of you.
poochyena
And what are they going to do if you don't give a 2 week notice? Fire you?
tracereading
It looks bad to other employers.
leshana
So don't tell them
Meepbeep12
It's ok, you don't have to tell other employers and you have no "permanent record" for them to look up. 100% do not have to give 2 weeks