Tag: office space

All those empty offices

Leave a comment

When it comes to discussing what to do with all the empty offices of today, there are several schools of thought of this.

The Executive’s Plea

The Executives at many companies plea for everyone to return to the office (RTO). Regardless of any new perks (carrots) or threats to fire/layoff those who do not RTO (sticks), many office buildings remain empty. How many quarterly losses will it take to realize most commercial office buildings are no longer needed for the number of people that are willing to RTO? How many egos will need to be checked before they offload most of this burden that was once considered an asset?

I keep telling employers if you want me to come to your office as a 100% virtual digital knowledge worker, I will resign.

Virtual employee and employer working from home

Over the past few years, many have learned how to work from home (WFH), regardless of who their employer happens to be. Many of the tools to do the work virtually have been there for years well before we took WFH seriously and even as a necessity.

The major exception involves work have to move physical objects as part of our daily work whereas virtual work is not possible: brick-and-mortar stores selling physical products including restaurants, hospitals, factories, warehouses, shipping, and delivery, etc.

Why are they happier?

More choices. Their own individual choices. Not choices made for them.

Ultimately, work wants work done. If you can get the work done virtually, it no longer matters where you are to get it done.

No more waiting for a meeting room. A scheduled meeting is 2 clicks away. An unscheduled meeting is 1 click away. Collaboration is virtual and more visual for clarity today.

The employee’s distress and employer’s disconnect

For those who long for the commute, time at the water cooler (mostly alone), the shared bathrooms, concessions, or a presumed sense of belonging by being in a shared office space or cubical farm, many of the offices still remain open today for you come to in and work just as you did at home. Once there, you may have plenty of space to reconnect via Teams or Zoom, with the rest of your local, regional, national, or global co-workers from your office desk. Maybe you will realize the difference between home and office as well as the advantages of each. Maybe you can list them both out and see for yourself.

Maybe you miss the printer, copier or fax machine. Maybe it missed you since it needs a good dusting. My printer went to the trash a few years ago and I have no reason to get a new one since I don’t print anything, even as a published author.

You might have a short-lived thought that being in the office is better than being in your workspace at home. This is likely nostalgic or a space issue. Maybe we had a few years to figure out a better way while working remotely and take those steps to improve our own workspace.

Maybe you are assuming you can impress someone by RTO, being the first one there or the last one to leave. Maybe you think someone will notice or care. Maybe you think it shows that you are dedicated while most don’t see you except on virtual video conferencing calls and through your own work results.

Maybe the technology is too complicated to connect when a scheduled event occurs. Maybe the employer never checked with employees to ask if anyone needed help with the “new” technology. Maybe the employees never spoke up to ask for help or seek it within the software’s help menu.

Maybe you miss the whiteboards. Maybe no one shared that this feature exists on virtual video conferencing calls, allowing remote collaboration among participants. These virtual whiteboards can be saved and shared after the call unlike physical dry erase boards that require a smartphone to capture and send at the end of the meeting.

Architect’s Dream

The architect’s dream is the present state: beautiful office buildings untouched by people.

Is it worth the expense of the art? Is the art of the office building dead yet?

The hard questions to answer

Are the intended purposes of a commercial office space overstated, outdated, or simply unnecessary at the present scale?

How will we continue to justify the commercial real estate burden for unused commercial office space year after year?

When will we do the hard thing, even when something was purpose-built for yesteryear, and stop ignoring the obvious next step? Dump it. The next question is how much do you need to keep if any? Keeping read

Since there is no compelling reason to RTO in order to do the work, why do employers need employees to RTO when they are happier and more efficient while they WFH?

Stop imposing.

Ask what everyone in the company wants to do (WFH, RTO, or a hybrid of both) and the obvious next step can happen from the results.

What do you think we should do with all those empty offices?

Image of person working at desk

How I do: work remotely and thrive

Leave a comment

Since early 2020, there has been a significant growth in remote workers. Many were forced to do so, whether they were ready or not. Some adapted well while others are still adapting or resisting. Some workers are considering working in a hybrid (some time in the office and some time remote), which makes little sense since you do not accomplish anything more in an office away from home.

Have a dedicated workspace where you can focus on work.

If you really look at how you spend your time, measure your productivity, and have meaningful/impactful communication, you will have more online than in person. And I say that as an Extravert.

If you really become self-aware of your time in an office, you will be less productive, less communicative with valued impact, and more wasteful commuting, walking around to places that have decreasing value for every step you take in an office. The empty office is a waste of time and money. Stop defending the commercial real estate spend that is a sunk cost and dump it already.

I was called by several Fortune 50 companies that had the illusion that my time should suddenly be 20% to 50% cheaper now that everyone can work remotely based on their projected “cost of living”. Allow me to correct them publicly as I did over the phone before I declined their bid for me to work for them. This goes for every employer or contract, though.

My work does not change in scope or difficulty regardless of where I am physically located to do the work. Neither do the rates I charge.

Let us very publicly burst the bubble that employers pay anything close to “the cost of living” where they are located. Some day, Human Resources professionals will stop using ‘cost of living’ as an excuse when they have not researched this themselves in their locality today, nor updated regularly based on where their employees are located. Let us stop this fiction since we live in reality.

Each role has a budget set aside for it. What is the budget for this position? Know ahead of time what you should be paid for this role.

By the way, distributed companies (those that have little to no offices with thousands of workers), offer the same pay scale to everyone, based on their title and role, regardless of their location worldwide because it is the employees’ choice where they live and work. Not the employers. If it is not a choice, employers will have fewer applicants, fewer experienced professionals, and fewer employees in the near future, even when they really need them.

Why does it matter where the company is located? It is understood that many companies will have pay grades and pay scales that slide up and down. I am not advocating for the unionization of workers, especially if you have negotiation skills and work experience to back it up.

What can employers do better to adapt to remote workers?

Here are some ways to set expectations publicly.