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Originally Posted by Rizzo
Full remote work won’t last long. To those long employed with a company, it’s a wonderful benefit. You’ve proven yourself capable and coworkers and bosses know you well and and respect you based on all those years prior to the pandemic and still getting work done during it. To those coming in, it’s more challenging to adapt the workplace. Harder to ask questions and resolve complex situations. Ultimately there will be shift back to hybrid. I believe these companies may prove themselves more capable.
It’s the same psychology how people behave online. No one solves problems easily on Facebook. Same thing applied to the workplace. A new hire sending you 5 emails in an hour how to do something a certain way gets annoying. A brief conversation of the same content at the office is a lot easier.
I think this boom of workplace productivity software is trying to resolve remote work deficiencies, but it’s more of a crutch.
Then there’s the social aspect. I credit my first job in the city with building my social life starting out. Having many coworkers of the same age and we’d go to bulls games, happy hours or even just get lunch. Imagine a college grad with no money starting out at a full remote office. It’s not like you have all the money to live some place extravagant. If it’s an expensive city you’ll get a studio apartment or a coffee shop for the office but that isolation will get old.
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I can see the arguments for getting back into the office, but the reality is, the pandemic has proven companies can thrive without having people come into the office.....
No way anyone is going in five days a week anymore. I flew out to Colorado for a week back in July just to get some in-person time with a few folks. And honestly, I don't feel I got much out of it. Our company is so damn spread out now with employees from Tel Aviv to San Diego, there's just no reason for me to be tied down to any city just to go into an office one or two days a week. If that in-person working is absolutely needed, then fly me out a couple weeks a quarter, or a month a year. I have no problems with that, but I don't expect any company to mandate I uproot my life to move somewhere I don't want to be based out of. There's plenty of ways you can get the best of both worlds still while still being mostly remote. And if you hate working from home, get a WeWork global access pass.
I definitely see parts of downtown, like the loop, getting hurt from this. But, across various neighborhoods, I don't see the harm. People love to be in the city within walking distance to everything they need. If anything, I see working from home increasing the desire to be closer to that, as opposed to the suburbs where you have to hop in the car to go anywhere. But maybe I'm just an overly optimistic urbanist.
Thirdly, you should never rely on work to build out a social network. They are your co-workers, not your friends. You should absolutely get along with them, but don't rely on them. Again, I go to WeWork and get great social interactions with folks there, and they aren't my co-workers, which makes it even more fun because there aren't really rules. There's professional networking events and groups you can easily be a part of to meet folks and build out social networks that way.
Anyways..... The point is I think permanent remote work may hurt core parts of downtown, but I don't see it hurting the city overall.