Quote:
Originally Posted by the urban politician
^ I realize this, but you are also failing to acknowledge the downstream repercussions of an even small dip in human volume in downtown offices.
Obviously we are over a year into the pandemic and much of the damage is done, but the damage was partly contained due to an expectation that this situation was temporary--ie, people were "hanging on."
Lenders are holding back on foreclosures, and business owners/landlords are burning through reserves with the expectation that good times will return.
But if you had a business downtown (restaurant, store, hotel, property owner of an office building, etc) with certain expectations yielding a profit margin of X, then even a 10% reduction of volume could potentially be enough to put your business in the red. And I'm pretty sure that with even partial WFH, we are going to see far more than a 10% reduction in daily downtown office workforce.
The other shoe hasn't even fallen yet due to stimulus checks and the aforementioned time bought with cash reserves and the holding back on foreclosures and bankruptcies. So even partial WFH--maybe this is a done deal and that's fine--but the economic havoc it will reap has not borne itself out yet.
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Actually, no I didn't. I never once stated anything about repercussions to the local economy even with a hybrid office model. Please stop putting words in my mouth. You'd have to be a complete fucking idiot to not realize that there's repercussions. You are confusing me telling you what the reality of a lot of businesses are post pandemic with work arrangements with "everything will be back to normal for the local economy around these offices!" which I never once stated. Contrary to popular belief, I can tell you what the reality of a post pandemic work arrangement will be without having to insert my own opinion about how it's not going to get things completely back to normal as they were pre-pandemic.
We're even lucky that some companies are considering this. A lot of companies, including mine (at least my large organization), got even more done during the pandemic than a normal year. Literally the main reason we're going back to the office in some capacity is to not screw over the local economy and to help do our part how we can. There are a few more minor reasons and they aren't miniscule but the above is the main reason. Many companies have realized that they are just as productive at home, but are doing hybrid to not completely screw over the commercial real estate sector and local economy around offices. The thing is that we also have a duty to ourselves and shareholders, and realizing the above means that we are able to increase something like profit margin by cutting down on perhaps a few million sq ft worldwide but still keeping millions.
And the funny part is in all of this is that MANY companies in cities like Chicago and NYC have been on the hybrid model for years (like 20+ years). What am I exactly talking about? Consulting. I used to work for a very large consulting practice in Chicago and most of the people I worked with were traveling every week. They were on projects with people from all over and literally almost never came into the office. I was staffed on a local project for 5 years in Chicago where I worked from the office 4 days a week (Fridays at home - for 5 years). There were people I worked with who I never even met once but they had desks because they were traveling and perhaps the only day they could ever come into the office was a Friday which was pointless. I have friends who still work for the company who have told me they haven't even been to the office in 4 years and the entire time was working remotely either from a client site somewhere or from home in the area.
Chicago has tens of thousands of workers like this who haven't even stepped foot in their offices in multiple years downtown. Chicago has one of the largest populations of consultants of any city in America. And yet, you probably didn't even realize that tens of thousands of workers, who technically count towards the working population of downtown, haven't even stepped foot downtown for work in literally years.
So yes, local economy obviously suffers and it will be eased a bit by hybrid arranagement, but not completely back to normal which is just fucking obvious. I'd like to know where your outrage has been though at the above knowing that for years and years and years, there could be way more people working downtown even 1 more day a week who don't (i.e. consultants).
And please, stop putting words in my mouth. Never once did I state that everything will be "back to normal" with a hybrid work arrangement. I am merely telling you what the reality is that many companies will do. And guess what? In 10 years, things will change maybe. I remember about 20 years ago that telecommuting was cool, and then 10 or 12 years later (something like that) everyone started saying "nope, bad - everyone needs to be in the office all the time."
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