The report is out folks... (Boston, New Bedford: rent, house, college)

[massnative71]

Originally Posted by timberline742

Listen, you have this agenda that you think most white collar professionals can work from home, and most can do it as efficiently as being in the office. That's fine. It's your thing.


But its not reality across the landscape. My org is overwhelmingly "white collar". About a third with Ph.D.s. 50% or so of the rest with at least one masters. The work we do, and most of the people I know do, across a wide swath of industries, can't be done sitting behind a screen at home full time efficiently.


Sure, there are some days where reading, writing, or virtual checks in. Video meetings, or phone calls, will suffice. They have for a decade plus. Nothing new.



The metrics coming out from business consultants, except in a few office / desk work based fields, are abysmal with the forced work from home situation we had. Efficiency and productivity plummeted. I know you don't like that, but its reality.



Would I rather not have to commute so much? Sure. Would it be nice to ease into a cup of coffeee right before I start my day? Sure. But that's something VERY few people can do. And that's just in the college educated white collar work force... and that is a minority of the workforce in this country.

Then I find it very interesting how despite all that, you have managed to crank out nearly 40K posts on City-Data, the vast majority during 9-5 office hours. That must take some fine time management skills.

[msRB311]

I will go ahead and say that yes commuting IS that bad, people hate it, they dont miss and they ARE intent on making more WFH work because of this. Whoever said MA salaries are what they are because of commutes is wrong...salaries are what they are around here because of COL. No one gets paid more because they commute in.

I am in the minority it seems about wanting to WFH on this forum...but i am NOT the minority in this country on this topic at all.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by msRB311

Half of my dept has PhD's as well.

You're in a University. They're academics. Big difference.

Originally Posted by msRB311

I am in the minority it seems about wanting to WFH on this forum...but i am NOT the minority in this country on this topic at all.

It has little to nothing to do with "wanting".

[msRB311]

When people want something in the workforce these days and enough people push for it they often get it. So yes it has everything to do with wanting. There are more employees than executives...this one is happening.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Yep. In particular, intellectual property creation tends to be collaborative and very ad hoc. A repetitive task job? Sure. That can be 100% remote. As gets pointed out repeatedly, 100% remote also means it can be done offshore for a heck of a lot less money. I’m posting this from the beach because someone in Asia can do my job effectively. I haven’t been in the intellectual property creation game since before the Great Recession.

My prediction is that the hybrid work experience will put a spotlight on some of the intangible benefits of in-person work; even for some of the jobs that would, on paper, appear to be candidates for remote work. You're right, there are going to be a number of repetitive task jobs that can be done 100% remotely with no negative impact on production in the long run (a statistically significant number) . But I would be surprised if the in-person workplaces didn't come back stronger that point-in-time predictions such as this report would suggest.

[OyCrumbler]

Are there going to be some office to residential conversions?

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by msRB311

When people want something in the workforce these days and enough people push for it they often get it. So yes it has everything to do with wanting. There are more employees than executives...this one is happening.

Even if the work can't actually be done from home like so much can't?

Most work forces don't have strong unions. The employees are rarely in control except for individually very valuable ones that can dictate terms. Lots of those already had incredible flexibility if their functions allowed it.

[yesmaybe]

Originally Posted by OyCrumbler

Are there going to be some office to residential conversions?

Converting to lab space. I hope you like Chemistry.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by OyCrumbler

Are there going to be some office to residential conversions?

I'd hope so if it gets to a point where we have a huge glut of unused office space (though we're not there yet). The problem is that office floor plates don't lend themselves to residential use. The floor areas are so huge (and generally open) that it's extremely challenging to add walls to create living spaces and maintain natural light throughout. If you look at an office tower in the Financial District and compare it to one of the new residential towers in town, you can see what I'm talking about. One Dalton is a pencil compared the Pru. The Millennium Tower is razor thin next to One Beacon. Look at the residential tower vs. the office tower at The Hub on Causeway. One Congress is a whale next to The Sudbury and they're part of the same Bullfinch Crossing development. But if it gets to that point, the city will adapt.

Originally Posted by yesmaybe

Converting to lab space. I hope you like Chemistry.

Also extremely tricky. At least for downtown offices. They need to have the ceiling heights to incorporate some bulky, heavy duty equipment. Many office towers don't have those heights. They also need to be able to accommodate a significant amount of additional HVAC equipment. Ceiling heights, roof real estate, and land on the ground (or lack thereof) all pose major challenges to converting offices to labs.

[msRB311]

You keep talking about all the jobs that can't be done from home. There are plenty that can be done from home.