| sebastian_dangerfield |
12-08-2020 02:02 PM |
Re: Time to Cancel Scott Galloway
Quote:
Originally Posted by Replaced_Texan
(Post 530707)
I'm actually super curious on how this pans out in a year or so. I'm infinitely more productive here with barking dogs and my husband vacuu-sealing stuff in the kitchen and the distraction of a million things in my house than I ever was at the office.
One of the admins outside my door and an eggshell neighbor made it so I was always worried there about the noise I made. Here, none whatsoever. If I blare RATM while I'm going through documents, my husband is happy to hear it in the next room. I have more time to get work shit done because I'm not commuting or having to deal with small talk or even moving from meeting a to meeting b. Everyone has figured out WebEx, and while the number of meetings is up, we're getting better at getting to the point quickly and getting out asap. I'm super-siloed in my practice, and I don't need to walk down the hall to bounce ideas off a colleague's head.
From late September until this week, we were going in once a week on a staggered basis for some unclear reason. I was ok with it because there was no one else in the building and I could get some affidavits notarized, but I didn't see the point in it. Numbers are up again, and we're at home for the foreseeable future. A good hunk of the employees at work will be in the front of the line for the vaccine, but I'm happy to wait here.
I suspect that there will be a lot of moving once this is over. Some employers won't be able to let go of how it was done before. Some employees will never be able to go back.
I don't have kids. I have a job that I can do this. My situation is different than tons of other people who need/want the structure of the old way of doing things. I work in a fairly traditional place, and I'm really interested in whether or not the changes will be permanent. I suspect some of them will be for some people. For others, not at all.
Employment lawyers are going to have an interesting few years ahead of them.
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I think people who assume offices will make a broad comeback miss the fact that not only are companies able to shave lease or carry costs, but they are also able to:
1. Avoid HR costs (dispersed employees can't harass each other as easily);
2. Avoid insurance costs;
3. Avoid supply costs (all those leases and purchases of copiers, printers, desks, cubicles, etc. - gone);
4. And (HUGE one here) they can limit wage increases (ability to stay at home is an economic gain to workers who avoid commuting costs, which justifies the employer paying less... I've read that in some instances, employers are considering decreasing wages for stay at home workers because such an arrangement is providing them with the benefit of a wage which was previously justified based on cost of having to work in office.)
If your company is creative, or a start up, you'll always need an office for interaction. But it's going to be seriously difficult for any company to justify ignoring all of the savings that accrue from jettisoning high priced real estate and leases.
Also, companies that are forward thinking will want to hire remotely because it expands the talent pool immeasurably.
The final argument I hear for why offices in densely populated areas will make a broad comeback is that young people will want to work together and be together. They're looking for mates, for connections, etc. This makes some sense superficially, but falters a bit when you examine the assertion more closely. How many people find mates at work? Not a lot, I'd assume. Most people try to avoid office romances because they can be career disasters. And as to connections, people have the internet. They can get connected to people who can help their career far more easily and quickly by connecting through online networks than they can using the often slow and unpredictable method of glad-handing and meeting through drinks or dinner with mutual acquaintances. Also, a lot of the most important people to whom you'd want to be connected are going to be working from their places in FL. |
