[twister244]

I think where things end up are still being figured out.

I just can't see a reality though where companies require the same amount of office space as pre-pandemic. I think that's folks here being overly optimistic as that's a great justification for more office towers in their cities. And this is a skyscraper forum after all.....

Yes, some people are going to go back 4-5 days a week because they need to be around their co-workers. But many folks are going to only go in 2-3 days a week now instead. So, if you are a company, are you going to lease up enough space to give every employee a desk or office if they are only going to come in a couple days a week? Or.... Do you lease up a smaller office plate with more co-working space for folks to come in and use. Maybe companies implement a system like WeWork where you need to reserve a desk/office if you are coming in. You get the best of both worlds. You save money on office leases, while also getting people back in.

Some companies may use the WeWorks of the world if they are small enough. A handful of employees come in and rent an office or use open space when they need to collaborate in-person. In that case, you would think more office space will get converted into co-working spaces under WeWorks or Industrious.

But aside from that, there will definitely be more people going fully remote now. I'm one of them. I have interviewed a few companies over the last few months where half of them have turned me down because they want me to move to city X or Y. I respectfully said no as I wish to be based out of Chicago and have the option to work remotely. But, I have also interviewed with smaller group that are totally OK with me being remote. I know other folks who have picked up new jobs with companies where the job is fully remote.

Of course nobody expects major firms to have their entire organization be fully remote. If you are big enough, you will just have enough people coming in as they will want to. Not every single person wants to be fully remote. My decision to be remote is because I want to be in Chicago, and most of the jobs I have been applying for are with groups outside of Chicago because my job is heavily specialized. If I joined an organization that was based in Chicago, then I would go in. I use WeWorks during the week because I can't stand working from home. But that doesn't mean I hate working remotely.

There's a huge spectrum of scenarios that people are sifting themselves into. But no doubt we live in a new world now. To suggest we are going back to exactly where we were in 2019 is to ignore the reality we have in front of us.