80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans: ‘A lot of executives have egg on their faces’::As some business leaders accept hybrid work as a permanent reality, others are backtracking on earlier pledges to let employees work from home.
A lot of companies are stuck in long term leases so they’re paying rent whether the buildings are being used or not. When out of touch upper management sees cubicles laying fallow they get pissed
Yup, classic sunk cost. We’re paying for this, why aren’t we using it?
This should get interesting in the next few years when those leases come up due and companies decide they can shrink their office substantially.
Imagine what would happen if a bunch of huge fully-remote companies with no office space were told by the government that they now had to buy a building for workers to work in.
Imagine how fast their opinion would switch.
That’s still weird though. You could still generate more savings from the utilities costs if you don’t have your people return to work. The company I worked for actually reduced office space because of the savings.