Spoke with a guy two weeks ago who is a network engineer -- which I gather is a level above being an "IT guy." He said his corporation has not missed a beat, and had discovered that the employees' productivity has not declined in a remote environment.
He commented that they will not need their existing office space (or as much).
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recall a conversation I had over 15 years ago with a Product Manager at my company. We were talking about cost improvements and he commented that over the past year his operation ceased holding quarterly in-person meetings for the obvious cost saving benefits...however, as the year progressed and they looked at performance metrics, it was clear that targets were being missed, where they never had been before.
On reflection, he believed that it wasn't just the time in the meeting room that kept the operation humming, but rather the time 'outside the meeting', where attendees gathered together for meals, or at their hotels...it was in those settings that "real work" was done...understandings were shared...casual 'deals' were made...and "Trust" was built among the players...they became a stronger team.
This perspective 'synched' with experiences early in my career...there was a "watering hole" not far from our facility and the various managers from Engineering, Manufacturing, Quality and Marketing would gather, along with members of their staffs. While sports and other non-work topics were debated, there were often significant conversations about potential deals that required close collaboration and understanding of the "challenges" involved...this allowed Marketing to pursue more opportunities, since those folks knew that Engineering and Manufacturing had their backs.
I'm all for not wasting money, but there's still a human element to business.
Which makes a certain amount of sense.
Part of the reason productivity is up is few interruptions...but sometimes it is just easier to collaborate in person.
Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2020/10/18/work-from-home-fallout-productivity-up-innovation-down/?sh=77f262d1668d
My employer has observed that productivity has not taken a hit with us working from home. If anything, I'm more productive working only at home than working only at the office.
That said, I know some days (if there are meetings and/or a lot of commotion at home) then I would choose to go the office. Ideally, they would give each employee (working with their supervisor) a choice in what they want to do on a day to day basis as we know where we will be most productive. Not sure if my employer would still choose to rent a big office building if employees are only using it 1-2 times per week, but keeping it as an optional work environment would be the best option purely from a productivity standpoint.
and in reading the posts here, it's clear the Airline, Hotel, industries will have the greatest immediate changes - mostly negative to their industry - shutting down hotels creating loss of employees by the thousands
airlines will purchase fewer new aircraft as well as use less of their fleets with less flights creating big job losses and no new hiring. That's just the tip of that iceberg. Local economies will suffer the most
from this. Construction of office structures will stop as construction companies will rely upon infrastructure projects and that will depend of taxes not being taken in by Gov't.
In short, a negative snowball economy rolling downhill all across the globe. The future looks rough for the service economy which will have a marked affect on all other business and none more
than in the smaller cities across the nation.
But, overall you are correct. And I suppose bankruptcies could impact that backlog.
Things have trended to doing more remote for years. In the past 5 years, I'd say I've traveled more around 50%. The biggest driver has always been the customer. Old school management tended to believe that they will be cheated if they don't actually see you physically working.
Smart customers started to change 15 years ago due to cost. I spent a year traveling weekly to Disney in Burbank and my travel costs were north of $200,000. That was almost 20 years ago. Many customers have wisely figured out that they can significantly reduce costs AND have more access to their consultants if they aren't spending 20 hours a week traveling. I'm also more likely to take your call at 6:00 pm on Saturday if I didn't have to waste my week traveling.
In addition, more and more customers have started working partial remote schedules themselves. So, why would they want to spend $ having me onsite when they aren't even there. They have been much more intelligent in scheduling people to be onsite when it's really more beneficial to have face-to-face interaction.
Now that almost everyone has been working remotely due to the pandemic, it will become even more SOP. I've asked some of my customers when they expect to be back in the office and some have said, "maybe never." Things have run very smoothly and companies are thinking twice about why they are continuing to invest in physical facilities for roles that can be done remotely.
The remote model doesn't work for everything, but post COVID I expect it to be much more common. Hoping that my travel will be down to 25%. I haven't traveled anywhere in 12 months and it has been fantastic.
which will prolong a deep recession...
You can't have airline, hotel, restaurant, catering, convention space, rental car, etc. all become a tiny shadow of their former selves and not have a long-term very significant negative impact.
If Biden ends Trump's economic policies, then manufacturing will continue to leave (start to leave again), and if service doesn't come back to replace it, the US could suffer greatly.
But, hey, at least we have a nice guy in office to oversea the nation's demise.
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City into the workers' paradise he thought it should always be.
A lot of rude awakenings coming down the pike...
it. Haven't paid for Marriott hotel room in quite some time and same with flights and car rentals. I should be able to squeeze another week vacation somewhere on Marriott but that may about do it.
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codes will be jacked up, which means there could be a lot of empty space. Some frightening stuff out of pandemic and some good stuff. People seem to be happier working remotely if not quite as professional. However, if productivity remains the same or improves, why not?
I think people in their 20's and 30's are desperate to get back to offices and, more urgently, happy hours.
I work from home a lot anyway so these last 8 months have been fine. Post pandemic, I'll be less likely to jump in the car during inclement weather to get to a meeting. I'll just reschedule to Zoom or Teams.
Same thing for the regular bi-weekly meetings I have in my calendar. I'll probably switch to 50/50 in-person and Zoom/Teams. It's important to meet face-to-face monthly, but the Zoom/Teams set up saves so much wasted time driving to and from the meeting location. Everyone I work with recognizes this efficiency.
Beyond that, a number of firms I deal with have put off or cancelled acquiring more office space. They are going with flex desks and days so people rotate between working at home a couple of days and coming into the office. Most people won't have assigned desks, there will be work stations. I think that's a fine way to be more efficient with the current office space. I mean, if you can't trust your staff working from home a couple of days a week, why did you hire them in the first place?
At least I got to go all over the South and enjoy that cuisine and the way those women sweet talk, Sigh.
It's snowing outside my window right now and all I think about is Charleston.
Please dear god let the Irish join the ACC permanently.
Link: https://hanksseafoodrestaurant.com/holidays-at-hanks-in-charleston/
and a cold front moving in. May "get down into the 50's" tonight. Going to be a chilly one.
We had a major one in Land O Lakes last year. That was about 30 minutes east of me. Gators, not so much. Snow birds scare me more than gators.
Face time is important but those monthly trips to visit a client will become quarterly trips with Zoom calls filling in the gaps.
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The only ones at the factory are the union people on the floor building product. The rest are at home. Customer service, engineering, help desk and tech support working remotely has been a mess. There are plans to introduce people back into the plant little at a time. Even our product quality is suffering because no one is really watching. We need to get people back into our plant working. We have way too much information there that cannot be accessed remotely.
Talking to end users on a daily basis tells me people aren't answering phones and lead times for equipment are up. Many people in my field say the same, even the competitors I know.
The decision will be whether the cost savings justify the missed beats...
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there in their present form.