‘The new normal’: work from home is here to stay, US data shows
‘The new normal’: work from home is here to stay, US data shows
The same percentage of employed people who worked remotely in 2023 is the same as the previous year, a survey found
The same percentage of employed people who worked remotely in 2023 is the same as the previous year, a survey found
Don’t call it work from home any more, just call it work. According to new data, what once seemed like a pandemic necessity has become the new norm for many Americans.
Every year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) releases the results of its American time use survey, which asks Americans how much time they spend doing various activities, from work to leisure.
The most recent survey results, released at the end of June, show that the same percentage of employed people who did at least some remote work in 2023 is the same percentage as those who did remote work in 2022.
In other words, it’s the first stabilization in the data since before the pandemic, when only a small percentage of workers did remote work, and a sign that remote work is here to stay.
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WFH is supports the very policies that the government wants, less pollution less traffic more mental health. Unfortunately the business lobbies want us scurrying around like rats again because you know. Profits. Cats out of the bag now, no going back.
It's not even about profits. If companies don't have to pay for expensive office buildings they can save money. It's all the middle management realising their jobs are are unnecessary.
I’ll start by saying that I work from home and am very happy with the arrangement but I can see why businesses are pushing back to the office.
It’ll kill a lot of the smaller banks. The larger ones will likely get another government bailout. Banks have most of their assets in loans. A lot of those loans are for commercial real estate. Other people/companies invest heavily in commercial real estate as well. As some companies pull out of big sky scrapers the companies that own those buildings struggle to pay their loans.
As those loans get renegotiated, many borrowers will see their loan payments spike sharply. Those elevated costs, combined with languishing tenant revenues resulting from falling occupancy rates, could create a perfect storm for defaults and delinquencies. Banks, of course, are the bag holders here, and small and midsize banks are particularly heavily exposed
I get the fuck’em attitude towards big business like that but you will likely feel the blow back on it personally.
There are also other associated things that get impacted too. A lot of strip malls with restaurants and the such go up near business parks. If the business parks are empty then those places won’t stay open either. Which is then more commercial real estate back in the market.
You can search ‘work from home commercial real estate banks’ for several articles on the subject.
True for companies that aren't locked into their pre-covid space. Some have decades-long leases, others own the buildings outright. My last place was able to walk away from a lease that they had just signed months before covid hit, and downsized to a space that just had some meeting rooms, a couple offices for execs, social space and server rooms. No need for a bunch of desks, they went 100% remote during lockdown and decided to stay that way permanently.
Business lobbies? Profits? This train of thought has derailed somewhere. WFH saves on real estate, increasing profits.
Not for office block owners, who are the ones whinging the very loudest :(
True
If there is less demand for people leasing offices, the property valuation will drop. There's also another school of arguments where people commuting drives business to the areas they commute through, but idk how much that argument still holds with the rise of online shopping.