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People are attacking single family homes and commuter culture. Okay, but my solution is different. The pandemic showed that millions of us can work from home.

People are attacking single family homes and commuter culture. Okay, but my solution is different. The pandemic showed that millions of us can work from home. My office was closed for about 2 years. Our stock price shot way up. There were lots of stories about the environmental benefits. Air pollution in big cities decreased dramatically. Wildlife started returning in places. We keep building commercial real estate and most people I know have little desire to commute to the office and sit in a cubicle disturbed by other people constantly. I would severely limit commercial real estate building permits, encourage companies to have employees work at home via tax breaks or whatever. This will help with the housing issues, greenhouse gas emissions, decrease the need for new roads because of less traffic. Everyone wins except dumb control freak managers and restaurants that do lunch in the business areas.

decafninja 3y ago
The dumb control freak managers are often the same people holding the levers of power to make these decisions.
- lizknope 3y ago
  Of course, that is why there needs to be some incentive to get them to change their minds. Biden Calls for Federal Workers to Return to the Office August 2023 https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/employee-relations/biden-calls-federal-workers-to-return-to-office https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/employee-relations/bi... The government wants people in the office because it helps boost the economy. I suggest the exact opposite. Are we serious about climate change? Which is a more effective strategy? Encourage people to switch to electric cars or just have them drive their existing gas car less? My monthly gasoline bills dropped from $250 to $70 during the pandemic. How much are we spending on health care? How many people don't have the time to exercise? I had an extra 60 minutes a day to take a walk instead of commuting.
gottorf 3y ago
> Our stock price shot way up. This would imply that a company's stock price is directly influenced by its productive output; in reality, it's only very tangentially so. Especially for low-profit, high-growth tech companies, I'd wager the federal funds rate's effect on the stock price is way higher.
- lizknope 3y ago
  My company's profits were up in 2020-21 and then we went back to the office in 2022 and our profits and stock price dropped. We had 500 openings in 2020-21 and then we laid off 8% of the employees in 2023. I joke in meetings that we just need to go back home and we will make more money. I work for a fabless semiconductor company that makes chips for data centers and other applications, not a software company.
  - gottorf 3y ago
    No argument against your company's WFH productivity! But: > 2020-21 and then we went back to the office in 2022 and our profits and stock price dropped The broad stock index rallied like crazy 2020-21 with ZIRP, then all of 2022 was a bear market that followed rate hikes. The S&P 500 rose almost 50% from January 2020 to December 2021, then lost about 20% in 2022. So it's not unreasonable that your company's stock price followed that trajectory.

decafninja 3y ago

The dumb control freak managers are often the same people holding the levers of power to make these decisions.

lizknope 3y ago
Of course, that is why there needs to be some incentive to get them to change their minds. Biden Calls for Federal Workers to Return to the Office August 2023 https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/employee-relations/biden-calls-federal-workers-to-return-to-office https://www.shrm.org/topics-tools/news/employee-relations/bi... The government wants people in the office because it helps boost the economy. I suggest the exact opposite. Are we serious about climate change? Which is a more effective strategy? Encourage people to switch to electric cars or just have them drive their existing gas car less? My monthly gasoline bills dropped from $250 to $70 during the pandemic. How much are we spending on health care? How many people don't have the time to exercise? I had an extra 60 minutes a day to take a walk instead of commuting.

gottorf 3y ago

> Our stock price shot way up. This would imply that a company's stock price is directly influenced by its productive output; in reality, it's only very tangentially so. Especially for low-profit, high-growth tech companies, I'd wager the federal funds rate's effect on the stock price is way higher.

lizknope 3y ago
My company's profits were up in 2020-21 and then we went back to the office in 2022 and our profits and stock price dropped. We had 500 openings in 2020-21 and then we laid off 8% of the employees in 2023. I joke in meetings that we just need to go back home and we will make more money. I work for a fabless semiconductor company that makes chips for data centers and other applications, not a software company.
- gottorf 3y ago
  No argument against your company's WFH productivity! But: > 2020-21 and then we went back to the office in 2022 and our profits and stock price dropped The broad stock index rallied like crazy 2020-21 with ZIRP, then all of 2022 was a bear market that followed rate hikes. The S&P 500 rose almost 50% from January 2020 to December 2021, then lost about 20% in 2022. So it's not unreasonable that your company's stock price followed that trajectory.