this post was submitted on 10 Jan 2024
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[–] RandomPancake@lemmy.world 45 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I'm a boss. My criteria for evaluating whether an employee continues to be allowed to work remotely full time is:

  1. Can their job be done remotely?
  2. Is the job getting done remotely?

If the answer to both is "yes", then I'm happy to let them work just about anywhere they'd like.

[–] veni_vedi_veni@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

If 2 is not being fulfilled, it should really be a fire decision

[–] nkat2112@sh.itjust.works 4 points 9 months ago

You are boss who rocks. Thank you for being you.

[–] Talaraine@kbin.social 28 points 9 months ago (2 children)

He adds: "CEOs and CFOs are looking at that lease or redecoration cost in their profit and loss statements and fixating on it as a bad financial decision that needs to be course-corrected — and in their minds, requiring people to use the space they're paying for is the best way to do that."

And then they lay off 25% of the workforce. The executive class's mindset resembles insanity.

[–] nicetriangle@kbin.social 26 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Remember folks, your preparation/travel time and budget for commuting to and eating at work is a free subsidy to both your employer and business real estate companies that is coming out of your life/pocket.

[–] IWantToFuckSpez@kbin.social 14 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

Plus all that foot traffic in the business districts, where nobody lives btw because of dumb zoning laws, will increase the real estate value because of the ancillary businesses that arise in that district to serve that stream of people.

When people stop going into those business districts those smaller ancillary businesses, like the shops and restaurants, will of course go bankrupt first. Which in turn will lower the value of those offices. And since the companies that own those building are using that real estate value to secure loans, they will be put at risk. It’s basically a house of cards that will collapse. Simply because people are working remotely and outdated zoning laws.

It’s why San Francisco’s business district is turning into a ghost town.

[–] Machinist3359@kbin.social 5 points 9 months ago

Not to mention most modern office buildings can't be converted into what is actually useful—housing. They need to be simply scrapped and replace.

If we adopted more mixed use zoning, there wouldn't be this juggling act and waste. Cities could adapt to needs.

[–] nicetriangle@kbin.social 4 points 9 months ago

Well put. I hope this reconfigures cities to be more people oriented and forces better zoning.

[–] CosmicTurtle@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It's not just lease costs. It's insurance /Liability, HVAC, cleaning services, toilet paper, med kits...so much money is being spent just to make it possible for people to just sit at a desk and zoom into meetings.

Honestly...I don't know why boards of directors aren't screaming for CEOs to drop RTO requirements purely from a profit perspective...unless those board members are also the same landlords of these office buildings.

[–] starchylemming@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

guess what they did with all that excess money they couldn't spend? buy property to rent out

[–] Boozilla@lemmy.world 15 points 9 months ago

"Always be punchin' down. Never not be punchin' down." --Typical Boss Guy

[–] scytale@lemm.ee 12 points 9 months ago

Rules for thee, not for me.

[–] spider@lemmy.nz 11 points 9 months ago

Bosses want to work from ~~home~~ their ivory towers

FTFY

[–] Spitfire@pawb.social 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

They can’t have the empty office space after all. They’ve got a lease!

At least that was the excuse.

[–] FrickAndMortar@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I personally think this is the biggest reason. MY company just went “well, guess we’ll sell 2/3 of our campus and let someone else use that space, we sure don’t need it any more”… but I think a lot of businesses are stuck with their lease and struggling to make the square footage pay for itself.

I can’t look for a source right now (I’m on the clock at my WFH job) but I thought there was evidence that hedge funds and investment houses had invested in commercial real estate, like they invested in residential real estate in the 2000’s (which ultimately resulted in the “sub-prime mortgage crisis”)… and that THEY are really the ones pushing for RTO, trying to avoid another crash when their investments tank because nobody wants to own commercial real estate any more and starts looking to sell it off.

But take that with a big grain of salt, because I can’t cite a source ATM!

[–] Spitfire@pawb.social 1 points 9 months ago

I swear I’ve heard something similar, but I don’t have a source to cite either at the moment.

But off of a gut feeling, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s all over investments into commercial space that they don’t want to go unused.