Oddbean new post about login | logout A coworker of mine pointed out that the push by big companies to return to in-office work disproportionately impacts working mothers. Now moms who have a job outside the home have to find some way to provide child care for those work hours. Remote work has been one of the best things for parents, but corporations don't typically care about that.
They're under pressure from the government to stop Pret A Manger from going under
Yeah apparently there are tax incentives for companies to use their downtown office space.
There's a lot of money in office space rental, which would plummet in value. And add to that the office lunch industrial complex collapsing. That's basically the end of everything lol
‘office lunch industrial complex’ 😝
Does that mean the cost of office rent or offices themselves would go down and present opportunities for newer businesses?
Pret's been too greedy but managed to get £700 million in debt while the execs cash in. CEO bonus is now £5 million & counting, plus year-on-year payrise. “Pret CEO handed near-£4m bonus in year staff pay was cut. Pano Christou also given 27% salary rise in 2021 as chain took more than £50m in government support” https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jul/14/pret-a-manger-ceo-handed-near-4m-bonus-in-year-staff-pay-was-cut-pano-christou -
Push for RTO is real. Still lots of remote postings, but I'm seeing established companies hybrid or full in office. I don't understand it. I have also seen many large companies forcing RTO to new locations as they shut down satellite locations. I think it was Dell that cut bonuses for remote workers, and they happily accepted it, and then I think a few months ago they threatened to take retirement benefits away or move to a hub office.
In Germany, it seems to usually be a way to reduce workforce without firing anyone, or they just get tired of paying for empty office buildings, but don't want to sell them and take a loss.
Definitely understand the whole corporate land debt cycle garbage we live in, along with coordination struggles, but it seems like so much of the work that gets done in cubicles could be done from a park bench with a cell signal. The only people I know that work remote and would prefer a return to office are the people that absolutely hate their job and they hope being around people will help it, or the monotony will distract them.
I know of at least one german company (callcenter) that rented most of their space to other companies during Covid and they still 'force' their employees to work from home. But that should be an exception. I like that old-school CEO from Trigema, also a german company: "Who does not show up in presence is superflous" 😁 Well, he also reads his email on paper. Yes, they print it out for him every morning. Another point is workplace safety, there are a fucking lot of socialist regulations on workplaces in Germany, and they also apply to Home Office. Thats why a lot of people officialy are not at 'home office', but very often do 'remote work' (from home...)