this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2023
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[–] wesley@yall.theatl.social 88 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I can't go back to working in an office full time anymore. It would be a really difficult adjustment especially losing the time to commuting and needing to deal with child care. Plus we found that we no longer needed a second car anymore since we were both at home so we sold one. Our life is built around not having to commute anymore.

[–] NatakuNox@lemmy.world 58 points 1 year ago (4 children)

The push has nothing to do with anything but getting money back into real estate. The majority of wealthy people's money is tied up in either oil or real estate. Billion dollar office buildings going unused is unexplainable to the oligarchy. And I don't use the word Oligarchy lightly. Combined with less oil being used moving people around, and you have the most powerful people in the western world yelling at business executives to get their workers back in the office or they'll be unable to barrow money from the 0.0001% small companies don't have a lot of debt from the Oligarchy so they don't have to listen to them. But if you know anything, wealthy people don't like it when the poors don't filter their money upwards so this fight is long from over.

[–] ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 year ago

Don't forget micromanaging bosses who can't stand not being able to watch their employees at all times.

[–] Saneless@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 year ago

It's pressure from real estate and also managers who do nothing but hover and stare. So multiple sides.

The only people I feel bad for are restaurant/coffee shop workers who definitely aren't getting nearly as much money

[–] neblem@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's not like the land wouldn't be viable for high end housing if the corps could push for rezoning. It doesn't have to stay only office space.

[–] NatakuNox@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Conversion would cost billions for most of those buildings. And many of those areas can't support a population increase on the level of hundreds of thousands of people. It's do able but these people are not willing to do anything that improves humanity.

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

If Zoom is trying to get people back into offices, it may not be a real estate issue.

After all, are you going to argue that companies that are more than happy to outsource and offshore work overseas and sell off industrial assets are suddenly going to care about keeping their 4-year leases?

[–] NatakuNox@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Zoom is beholden to the same investors trying to force everyone back to the office. They are likely required to use office space owned by one of their investors... That or poor leadership that hasn't adapted to the new environment

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 3 points 1 year ago

Unless I'm invested in commercial real estate, why would I, as an investor, want to pay for commercial real estate?

What makes commercial real estate so precious compared to other capital investments?

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

After all, are you going to argue that companies that are more than happy to outsource and offshore work overseas and sell off industrial assets are suddenly going to care about keeping their 4-year leases?

Yes

[–] ipkpjersi@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago

I'm right there with you. It's just incompatible with how I want to live my life and the cost savings and time savings are unbelievable.