Job status

[pbiflyer]

Our offices are closed until at least 4/1.
I fly to customers but that is also on hold thru the same times.
They are expecting a reduction in travel of 30-40%.

[BM1090]

I've been working from home since late March. I am not scheduled to go back until half the country has a vaccine. My guess is that I'll be in a hybrid role moving forward.

[Goose]

Worked from home for three days and then back to empty office building in downtown MKE. Rest of our team has been back since Memorial Day. Downtown MKE remains a ghost town.

[Billy Hoyle]

6% pay cut and 1 day a week furlough through December. I actually haven't minded the three day weekend. I've been going in more often than not since mid-September (my office is kind of secluded) but am quarantining at home right now after traveling out of town last weekend. When I would say fewer than 20% of our staff is there and I only have my assistant come in one day a week.

What frustrated us at work is if they hadn't taken an "it's all going to be ok" approach over the summer we could have come out ahead with UE and the $600 bonus. Perfect timing to get the news two weeks after closing on a condo.

My wife hasn't dealt with pay cuts but she is now FT WFH. Her company was supposed to move to a larger office space but after this, they canceled the contract and are consolidating corporate offices instead.

[Keithtisbarf]

No need for office space anymore

[4everwarriors]

My boss duzant allow mee ta werk from home, hey?

[Skatastrophy]

My boss duzant allow mee ta werk from home, hey?

If you could figure out how to do teledentistry you'd make real money.

[Hards Alumni]

My boss duzant allow mee ta werk from home, hey?

Surely you have some power tools in the garage?

[The Sultan]

No need for office space anymore

I just don't agree with this, and five years from now a lot of these predictions aren't going to look very good.  I think people work better in-person, at a work location and away from home.  I bet 90% of people are back in an office a year or two when this is over.

[tower912]

Offices space will be needed going forward.   As many people dislike working from home as like it.

[JWags85]

I just don't agree with this, and five years from now a lot of these predictions aren't going to look very good.  I think people work better in-person, at a work location and away from home.  I bet 90% of people are back in an office a year or two when this is over.

Totally agree. People are confusing necessity or making things work in a pinch with a preferred way of working moving forward.

And I'm a millennial. I know plenty like me who aren't all gunned up to WFH indefinitely.

[mu_hilltopper]

It's not "if" there will be fewer office-workers, it's "how many" fewer -- in, say 5 years.

Fluffy BM says -10% .. From a landlord perspective, that's the most optimistic estimate possible.   

From a corporate, sheer profit/loss perspective, you'd want to pay -100% less rent. 

From a management/leadership/sales perspective, there's value in collaboration, in dazzling potential clients, synergy, morale.   But how much?  What is the worth of bringing everyone back to an office?    Maybe just some folks?  Who?  Will your revenue go up if you have an office full of workers?  Will it go up more than rent?

A very healthy chunk of people love WFH.   I think we're only in the 3rd inning of learning how to WFH.  It'll get better, more natural. 


I was thinking about our accounting department and how the hell they are working from home, with all the paper shuffling .. then I remembered, we gave them a e-document management system 5+ years ago.  There is no paper.

The past 5+ years, IT and data processing has been moving to the cloud, the pandemic has lit a fire under that.   Now we're moving "people to the cloud."

I think it's going to be an enormously tough sell to bring people back for huge swaths of office businesses.

My guess?  50% will never return.  Halving or eliminating your rent is extraordinarily attractive for the bottom line for the unknown price of "synergy." 

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

It's not "if" there will be fewer office-workers, it's "how many" fewer -- in, say 5 years.

Fluffy BM says -10% .. From a landlord perspective, that's the most optimistic estimate possible.   

From a corporate, sheer profit/loss perspective, you'd want to pay -100% less rent. 

From a management/leadership/sales perspective, there's value in collaboration, in dazzling potential clients, synergy, morale.   But how much?  What is the worth of bringing everyone back to an office?    Maybe just some folks?  Who?  Will your revenue go up if you have an office full of workers?  Will it go up more than rent?

A very healthy chunk of people love WFH.   I think we're only in the 3rd inning of learning how to WFH.  It'll get better, more natural. 


I was thinking about our accounting department and how the hell they are working from home, with all the paper shuffling .. then I remembered, we gave them a e-document management system 5+ years ago.  There is no paper.

The past 5+ years, IT and data processing has been moving to the cloud, the pandemic has lit a fire under that.   Now we're moving "people to the cloud."

I think it's going to be an enormously tough sell to bring people back for huge swaths of office businesses.

My guess?  50% will never return.  Halving or eliminating your rent is extraordinarily attractive for the bottom line for the unknown price of "synergy." 

I think this is a good way to think about it, but it is not an all or nothing proposition.   

There is just going to be a lot more workplace flexibility for a time.  Apparently there are new technologies that can merge physical and virtual meetings.  If those work, then more and more people will be not 100% in the office.  Jim/Jane from accounting will book a desk for month-end when its more efficient to work together.  However neither will have their office/cube with the family pictures, etc. 

[warriorchick]

It's not "if" there will be fewer office-workers, it's "how many" fewer -- in, say 5 years.

Fluffy BM says -10% .. From a landlord perspective, that's the most optimistic estimate possible.   

From a corporate, sheer profit/loss perspective, you'd want to pay -100% less rent. 

From a management/leadership/sales perspective, there's value in collaboration, in dazzling potential clients, synergy, morale.   But how much?  What is the worth of bringing everyone back to an office?    Maybe just some folks?  Who?  Will your revenue go up if you have an office full of workers?  Will it go up more than rent?

A very healthy chunk of people love WFH.   I think we're only in the 3rd inning of learning how to WFH.  It'll get better, more natural. 


I was thinking about our accounting department and how the hell they are working from home, with all the paper shuffling .. then I remembered, we gave them a e-document management system 5+ years ago.  There is no paper.

The past 5+ years, IT and data processing has been moving to the cloud, the pandemic has lit a fire under that.   Now we're moving "people to the cloud."

I think it's going to be an enormously tough sell to bring people back for huge swaths of office businesses.

My guess?  50% will never return.  Halving or eliminating your rent is extraordinarily attractive for the bottom line for the unknown price of "synergy."

This.

With literally no notice (we were told on a Wednesday afternoon that the office was closing starting on Thursday.  No one has been back since, and the accounting department functioned with barely a hitch - and we were smack dab in the middle of implementing a completely new ERP system. 

The bad news about the WFH thing is that not only do certain folks never need to be in the office - they don't even need to be in the U.S.  I think you are going to see a lot more back-of-the-house functions outsourced to India and other countries where labor costs are lower.

[JWags85]

I'm sure studies will come out, but I don't believe for a bloody second that productivity and energy dedication is nearly the same WFH as in office. Sure, there are plenty of opportunities to waste time in the office and be unproductive, but that's not factoring in errands, chores, TV watching, exercise, childcare, etc... that all get done on the clock in a WFH setting. Unless companies start monitoring that sort of thing, I think rent savings start being balanced against loss of productivity.

Training and on boarding new employees or team members will take significant hits.

People have this almost blissful ideal of "keeping doing your job but from home, live where you want!" And thinking it's a no brainer for their companies to save money. But they won't consider offshoring, automation, and other inevitable outcomes if your physical presence in an office and member of a team is no longer a priority.

Also, interestingly, could be a talent shift too. If I worked for a company that was aggressively approaching WFH, cutting travel, looking at most being remote, I would without a doubt begin job searching. It's one thing if you're working tech or certain sales where that is a factor when you approached the job pre-COVID, but another entirely of a company radically was reshaping their workplace view, overreaction or not, coming out of this.

[Jockey]

I'm sure studies will come out, but I don't believe for a bloody second that productivity and energy dedication is nearly the same WFH as in office. Sure, there are plenty of opportunities to waste time in the office and be unproductive, but that's not factoring in errands, chores, TV watching, exercise, childcare, etc... that all get done on the clock in a WFH setting. Unless companies start monitoring that sort of thing, I think rent savings start being balanced against loss of productivity.

Training and on boarding new employees or team members will take significant hits.

Spot on. I'd also add that if you want to rise quickly in a company, WFH isn't the answer. Interaction with peers, and especially superiors, is absolutely necessary.

It's hard to sell yourself and promote your skillset WFH.

[warriorchick]

Spot on. I'd also add that if you want to rise quickly in a company, WFH isn't the answer. Interaction with peers, and especially superiors, is absolutely necessary.

It's hard to sell yourself and promote your skillset WFH.

The decision to WFH may not be the employee's choice to make.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

The decision to WFH may not be the employee's choice to make.

Yup. I agree chick.  The calculus has changed.  I am not sure how it affects career development yet but 5 days in an official will become a rarity. 

[djvern414]

Does anyone else we don't offensively use screens?

[Skatastrophy]

Does anyone else we don't offensively use screens?

I try not to.