Have long thought this. With everything going on, people are working from home, videoconferencing, and being productive remotely. So my theory is being validated. Millennials and younger prioritize flexibility. Office space can be costly and gets outdated every 10 years or so. As a matter of fact, companies looking for cheap and/or quality talent would benefit from a regional/national/global work force, which goes against sprawling office campuses. WeWork blew up (in good and bad ways), but the business model can work. It seems to be working for small players.
Some companies (especially tech) report higher employee retention, satisfaction, and productivity. Dell is a good example. Saves a ton of money and is cheaper to recruit personnel. Such flexibility could be good for the economy and may provide opportunities for lower income people.
Time to short office REITs?
Generally agree but I feel this trend will more acutely affect B / C product. Tenants in well located, amenitized office buildings are no strangers to remote work. In the last 3-5 years landlords / users have been heavily focused on creating work spaces that make the office a more appealing place to work than your couch.
Which has worked, for the record. Good retail hasn't died at all.
In the office space so maybe a little biased - but this last couple of weeks have really reinforced the benefits of having an office to go to. So many screaming children and barking dogs on the other side of conference calls, and I personally feel like a bit of a piece when I'm still working in my gym shorts at 5 oclock in the afternoon. I don't think that technology is the impediment that is keeping us attached to our offices.
I think we're all really underestimating how bad the wfh productivity numbers are going to be.
This. Does no one remember the whole Yahoo experiment?
i've been unproductive af these past two days
nope - people are starting to realize how horrible working from home is and productivity not being what it was in an office setting working around colleagues. We are social animals at the end of the day and I am witnessing many people who are WFH right now that are wishing to go back to their workspace in the office.
We need offices to draw the boundary of work versus home time. We also like routine - wake up, get ready, commute and do work in an office setting.
Biggest takeaway from COVID 19 is the confirmation of why offices are still a thing in 2020 and why projects like HY are successful