My office just came out with a new schedule starting in April. We were 50% since September, with 100% home during the variant, but back to 50% after.
Now our new WFH schedule is 3 days home and 7 days in the office. Which honestly kind sucks. 4 days home and 6 from the office seems ideal. MWF and then TuWedThurs.
What is everyone else’s schedule like?
Still remote. In my opinion, its idiotic to make people on the acquisitions/origination/underwriting, etc come into the office. Even with a fully open office, people in these roles are barely in because they are seeing properties, meeting clients/investors, etc. I can totally see a need for back office support to maybe stay in. Companies and management should use covid as a way to adapt to an arcane system. Do we really need an extra 2000 SQFT extra where we are paying $60 PSF NNN? Is there really a $120K annual benefit by giving all of these people a place to put their laptop? For some, there maybe, for others maybe not. Every company should truly evaluate what they can and cannot do.
The counterargument here is a lot of deal strategy occurs by just popping your head into each others office, which is why a lot of deal team heads are pushing to go back in.
We're on a 3/2 office/hybrid schedule and expect to stay that way.
Thats one side to the argument. The other side is by everyone popping heads into each others office, we end up talking about college football, politics, restaurants, etc. I think it depends on how big or small your organization is. We're a smaller firm. I can pick up the phone and ask a quick question to one of my peers or managers. Im sure big companies might have had to struggle with WFH.
Most of the arguments for getting back into the office tend to be these very soft and non-quantifiable things like "synergy", "team-building", and worst of all "one-off spontaneous encounters". The benefits of remote work (especially to the employee) are very real and immediately obvious: no commute, savings on office clothes/food/car maintenance etc., more time for family and hobbies.
2021 was a banner year for many RE firms which were working entirely from home, so I'm not convinced that being in the office leads to more efficient discussions of deal strategy and getting deals done. It definitely leads to more bullshitting with colleagues.
To answer the original question, I'm currently WFH one day a week currently, and working to get a fully (or mostly) remote job.
I see how some people need to be in the office, but I dont believe anymore than 50% in-office M-F is needed. I've worked in RE finance / PE for almost 10 years now, and think if I see my analysts / team every other week, there is 0 productivity lost.
I think this is a major problem for people 40+; I dont see them naturally setting up a Zoom vs walking into an office, while both have the exact same result imo.
I was WFH once a week after the 1st covid wave. I am plan to be hybrid 60% of the month.
All the synergy talk is SO boomer. you can hop on Facetime in 2 seconds with your peers and do the same thing if you're really brainstorming deals.
My firm will be back in April as well for M-W.
I want to be back but the thing I’ll miss most is just the overall flexibility from WFH. Now, I may shut my laptop at 430/5, go workout and come log back on like 7 and work until 9 whereas in the office..I wasn’t leaving until like 6. Or if I have an errand to run I will pop out in the afternoon.
Return to office was made official recently with 3-4 days in and 1-2 days out. However, my company is so large that they leave the enforcement to the individual managers. Some managers care and others don’t. Luckily, mine doesn’t. Plan on coming in 2x a week, sometimes once a week. I been to the office before and I get easily distracted because we’re in a new, well amenitized building with amazing views. Only reason I plan to go in is to meet new folks & network within the industry. If I really wanna get work done, I’ll stay home.
Honestly feel like the people who want to be in the office 4-5 days a week are those who have no meaningful life outside of work.
I think that the disconnect is based on the role, obviously at the jr level we spend much more time doing tasks that require solo work ( drafting memos, working on the model, etc ) so we prefer to work from home where we can be uninterrupted while we get things done. Whereas mgmt and sr. roles depend more heavily on meetings and talking to people, and I think a large portion of this group really wants to get back in the office because they feel its essential to their role.
My firm asked us to come back FULLY last month. Company morale took a complete dive and everyone is pissed. We are a boutique investment & development company with around 20 employees. Bosses say that because we are a small shop, it's critical for us to be fully back in the office for (x,y,z reasons, see comments above..).
Thinking about making a proposition to the higher ups that they need to reconsider the flex schedule. What would help my case is if I can say our true peers are likely to have some form of flex going forward (or at least the foreseeable future, maybe even just one day a week, hell 2 days a month even...).
Anyone willing to throw their company's name out there that is forward looking / adopted some flex WFH? I am aware of the major money center banks that have this, and have brought this up directly to the founders. However, they counter and say "national companies like that need to have standards.. we are a smaller company and our success depends on all of us being in the office."
The funny thing is if you look on indeed, companies are still trying to hire remote even in the RE industry. I think Covid taught companies based in secondary/tertiary markets that they dont need to convince top talent to move down for a job. Example, my buddy got a job in OKC has a decent development shop. They were trying to hire within the region, but found better candidates nationwide that were looking to go remote. They opted to secure prime talent and let them WFH. Buddy took a paycut to work for the firm and he continues to live in ATL. Every now and then he'll fly down there to get some face time.
If you truly dont want to return to the office. Apply elsewhere. There is a need for talent and people will allow you WFH. That would make you happy and also send a message to your management that times are changing.
20B+ AUM firm here. We're still waiting execs to make a final decision. They themselves can't even come to a consensus. We've been 3/5 days in the office for the past year or so and I don't see that changing.
I think it is fair to say 3 days in the office should be the minimum, or 5 days every 2 weeks. There was one company on linkedin that I saw gave weeks like thanksgiving, the fourth of july week, christmas week, all work from home. It feels like it would be very smart for employers who don't pay top dollar or are not sweatshops to adopt this or at least 20-40 work from home days a year on top of the schedule.
What I'm about to say next will sucks for 90% of this board. Anyone under 30 in their career should be going to the office, more than mid-mid senior and senior people. As you get older and have your network the purpose of your office has slightly less meaning. I believe in "culture" and camaraderie, and the connections you make while young you keep those throughout your career. These are built staying late a night talking with other analysts and associates.
The best part of WFH is the flexability, but really only because I have a family. I can turn off my computer at 5/5:30pm play with kids do dinner, then pick back up at 7pm/8pm. I just care less about "hanging out" with friends or experiencing new things because I already had that phase in my life.
BB Bank - 3-4 days/week in office, can pack up early and log on after I get home though which is solid
That IS pretty solid
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So it looks like everyone basically agrees.
I have had mad recruiters hit me up, and I actually engaged meaningfully with one. Told my employer WFH was important to me, and was able to negotiate a 50% WFH schedule. I also bust my ass and get deals done, which is important when negotiating lol.
Unfortunately it is true about ppl with less than ~6 yrs exp. You prob need to be in the office more than 50% of the time just to absorb stuff ...
We're allowed to work from home on Saturday and Sunday.
Ha...that sucks.
We're Mon-Thurs in the office and Friday at home. It's perfect
Our shop is the same way. Love this schedule.
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