this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2023
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My theory is they're attempting to keep real estate values high.
This is the truth. Or someone is and those someone's are putting pressure on bosses who are amenable to it anyway because they like control/lack empathy for employees/etc
Bosses are convinced by articles in mass media that this needs to happen. For real estate.
There are a bunch of new buildings in my city that have apartments with retail space on the ground level. All the retail spaces are empty, never used. I live in one. Someone is taking a bath on all the losses on these investments.
I think the "someone" putting pressure on them isn't really individual people but just a general sense of class solidarity. Upper middle class and upper class people will do anything to keep their avenues of profit healthy, and their avenues are the status quo. Giving lower level workers more autonomy, flexibility, and the power to shape what the workplace looks like is NOT the status quo. Add the effect that WFH would have on the real estate market to the mix and now they REALLY aren't going to be interested. Real Estate is a huge money maker AND has strong influence in many other industries. None of this should really matter to us regular folks though. We need to stop thinking that what is good for the goose is good for the gander. If workers want to work from home, we should continue to push for it. Our metrics for what is beneficial to workplaces should be very different from theirs because their goals are very different from ours.
I am on a hybrid schedule and I love it. If they allowed it, I'd probably be at 80% remote because my job, experience, and skillset allows it. It's beneficial to me, opens up space in our building, reduces my travel cost, reduces traffic at rush hour, and I GET MORE DONE! No losers as far as I am concerned. :)
Who is trying to keep Real-estate values high? The companies renting space? Why would they?
Managers tend to be people people. One of my better bosses believed in "Management by Walking Around". He'd show up a couple times a day to see "if we needed anything" and to keep track of what going on.
When workers are remote, managers don't get the frequent imformal reassurance that work is going smoothly. They feel out of touch and uneasy. Some workplaces have a culture amenable to remote work & some don't. My current job is hybrid. Some come in 1 or 2 days a week. I come in 3 or 4 days. My family can be distracting.