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The company I work for has a commercial lease that is up for renewal in December, and (AFAIK) they have zero intention of renewing it. So that's one data point

The company I work for has a commercial lease that is up for renewal in December, and (AFAIK) they have zero intention of renewing it. So that's one data point in the "no" column.

spc476 4y ago
Here's a second data point: the office I work out of has its lease up for renewal in November (I think). There are so few people left working out of that office (less than 10, from a high of 30 a few years ago) that the company has decided not to renew it, and we no longer have to go to the office at all. A third data point: Every other office our company has is now open, and employees have to (or are strongly encouraged to cough cough) return.
balaji1 4y ago
The cost benefit analysis has to indicate what companies would do. Many companies think offices are costly; employees are happy and still very productive working remote. If Elon thinks great products can be shipped only from the office, it's fine. We continue to ship "subpar" stuff from wherever. Our products are still useful to a lot of people, get the job done and is profitable and making lots of money. Modern tech and knowledge work seems like it would happen in a hybrid of office and home (or wherever).
ruh-roh 4y ago
I don't feel that the realities of rent/utilities/snacks get nearly enough attention in conversations like this. If you have more than a handful of employees with office space in a major metro area, rent is easily equal to (or more) than the cost of multiple people. If you are looking to trim costs in a bad economy, or on the flip side - grow your company efficiently, rent seems like an easy spot to compromise on. The FAANGs have spent millions of dollars building or leasing their current offices, it's not hard to see the Finance/Accounting folks escalating that those investments should to be utilized. (Not saying that it's a primary driver here - but surely it's a factor.)

The company I work for has a commercial lease that is up for renewal in December, and (AFAIK) they have zero intention of renewing it. So that's one data point in the "no" column.

spc476 4y ago

Here's a second data point: the office I work out of has its lease up for renewal in November (I think). There are so few people left working out of that office (less than 10, from a high of 30 a few years ago) that the company has decided not to renew it, and we no longer have to go to the office at all. A third data point: Every other office our company has is now open, and employees have to (or are strongly encouraged to cough cough) return.

balaji1 4y ago

The cost benefit analysis has to indicate what companies would do. Many companies think offices are costly; employees are happy and still very productive working remote. If Elon thinks great products can be shipped only from the office, it's fine. We continue to ship "subpar" stuff from wherever. Our products are still useful to a lot of people, get the job done and is profitable and making lots of money. Modern tech and knowledge work seems like it would happen in a hybrid of office and home (or wherever).

ruh-roh 4y ago

I don't feel that the realities of rent/utilities/snacks get nearly enough attention in conversations like this. If you have more than a handful of employees with office space in a major metro area, rent is easily equal to (or more) than the cost of multiple people. If you are looking to trim costs in a bad economy, or on the flip side - grow your company efficiently, rent seems like an easy spot to compromise on. The FAANGs have spent millions of dollars building or leasing their current offices, it's not hard to see the Finance/Accounting folks escalating that those investments should to be utilized. (Not saying that it's a primary driver here - but surely it's a factor.)