Working from home and effects on downtown Pittsburgh (Erie, Harrisburg: apartments, townhouses)

[eschaton]

Originally Posted by Higherho

They are doing fine on revenue. Check out the latest months, EIT tax alone is quite high compared to previous decades. EIT increased over 40 million within 13 years. Granted EIT did go down a bit from 2019 to 2021 from 102 to 94 ish but real estate went up.

https://pittsburghpa.gov/controller/revenue-report


I have to find the news report but they interviewed a city official who stated that the downtown leases that did not renew were majority tech sector and it was only like 20% or something like that. I don’t think it will be a big issue and not every sector or even every individual likes to work from home so there will always be an office space.

It's also worth noting that Pittsburgh does not have a heavily property-tax based structure, so to some extent the budget will be insulated even if there is a devaluation of downtown commercial.

[Higherho]

Originally Posted by eschaton

It's also worth noting that Pittsburgh does not have a heavily property-tax based structure, so to some extent the budget will be insulated even if there is a devaluation of downtown commercial.

I forgot about that, good point. I updated the post you quoted to show / link the annual reports dating back to 1979. The City is doing MUCH better than the past 30 years. I try to point this out as we have a few select individuals on this forum that try to paint a different picture.

[PghYinzer]

Originally Posted by Knepper3

I work for a large firm (Yes I do Real Estate, this is a 2nd job I've had forever) of about 54k employees global but about 300 US offices. Across the board they are cutting all US offices to under 1/2 of the prior size since they are allowing everyone to work from home if they prefer. Offices will be more for meetings and clients though certain collaborations might be in office as well. Companies realized the savings with this switch and are more comfortable with format.

My son took a job recently with a IT firm though North of the city, he's been there a week and has yet to go into the office. He said he will likely go in a couple days to work one on one with his boss then will be back to remote. While I HATE when people say this is the new norm about everything, I do agree companies are just going to be more comfortable with this.

I've worked remote for SNC (was Atkins and prior was PBS&J) for 17 years, it is good and bad for both, I've loved the flexibility to never worry about my job if I feel like changing my lifestyle/location. Downside though is your pay doesnt adjust if you feel like moving somewhere more expensive.


EDIT: I forgot to say we do not have a Pittsburgh office anymore, they pulled out of the area about 5 years ago though we might still have a little office down in Washington.

Sadly, I got no increase/stipend to cover the increases in paying more in my utilities or having to provide my own office while I was WFH. The tax credit for a home office is also gone.

One thing I have learned thru all of this, is how many of my coworkers do not enjoy their coworkers or other humans in general. The idea of everyone living like mole people in their homes for the majority of their week is not good for the mind or the soul. Maybe some jobs are better with WFH, but being plugged into a headset for 9 hours a day is exhausting. I never considered myself an extrovert but perhaps I am. I miss even random three second interactions with strangers and every conversation not having to be a pointed decision. The lack of a quick conversation while walking down the hallway, which now has to be a planned activity, has really killed a lot of information sharing and just general overall human interaction. Doesn't everyone miss a nice happy hour or lunch with coworkers...even when the annoying coworker showed up, it was a good time to get to know them and participate in society.

All we will need is one big ice storm to take out the electricity to a few thousand employees of a company for a week (which really wasn't a concern downtown) and we will see the true costs of people not having an office to go to. My team saw hints of that during the disaster in Texas this past winter.

[SteelCityRising]

I work for the city as a civilian analyst and have been reporting to the office Downtown daily during the pandemic. It has led to a lot of resentment in our office because we are aware of other city civilian departments who are working from home; partially working from home; or who are even rotating with a "Pod A"/"Pod B" system of going in every other day and then working from home the other days. Our job was able to be done remotely, but our department heads did not want to work to make that happen.

[BUILD PENN SQUARE]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I work for the city as a civilian analyst and have been reporting to the office Downtown daily during the pandemic. It has led to a lot of resentment in our office because we are aware of other city civilian departments who are working from home; partially working from home; or who are even rotating with a "Pod A"/"Pod B" system of going in every other day and then working from home the other days. Our job was able to be done remotely, but our department heads did not want to work to make that happen.

the resentment is understandable - the whole point of working hard to become a professional is having control over your quality of life

what quality of life do you have if you have to wear a mask all day for an office job?

surgeons understand their jobs will require face coverings - but lawyers, architects, financial planners, etc?

[Knepper3]

Originally Posted by PghYinzer

All we will need is one big ice storm to take out the electricity to a few thousand employees of a company for a week (which really wasn't a concern downtown) and we will see the true costs of people not having an office to go to. My team saw hints of that during the disaster in Texas this past winter.

That is a concern but also if we had a major ice storm likely no one is going into the city either. The main issue I have with WFH is accountability, many employees will do fine but there are those employees that simply can not work without supervision. The flip side to that is if everyone is WFH then they could be located anywhere thus outages are less likely to effect a major % vs everyone in a single location.

[chao]

is there's some article says during lock down pandemic and WFH has increase divorce rate by 50%? or whatever high %

I know my wife prefer me to go back to office so there's that

[svband76]

Originally Posted by erieguy

Why do they “need” to?

It is pretty safe to do so. Time to get out of the pajamas and stop using the pandemic as an crutch. Downtown is slowly seeing more homelessness on the streets. The prior investment in downtown living is being lost. Just rambling here. We can go forth knowing that many jobs can now have some flexibility to work from home here and there when needed but for the sake of sanity and our health it's time to get out of the house. Wear a mask if you must but at some point we gotta get back to some kind normal life.

[PghYinzer]

Originally Posted by Knepper3

That is a concern but also if we had a major ice storm likely no one is going into the city either. The main issue I have with WFH is accountability, many employees will do fine but there are those employees that simply can not work without supervision. The flip side to that is if everyone is WFH then they could be located anywhere thus outages are less likely to effect a major % vs everyone in a single location.

Ive noticed a lot of co-workers who complain about having to go into the office to be micro-managed are the ones who also have mentioned doing laundry and what not during the day. Perhaps my specific role is different than most, but I work more now than ever before so I haven't picked up that perk. If you want to do chores during the work week, there is an option for that, and its called working part-time.

As for working anywhere, i dont know how many people actually moved anywhere to work remotely. Yeah there are stories of it, someone "escaping" Brooklyn to live in Boulder, but most dont uproot their entire lives to move just because they can WFH. Those types of moves would most likely happen anyway but now they just keep their old jobs.

As for quality of life and having to wear a mask...come on....I also have to wear pants and shoes, which could be considered a negative impact on the quality of my life. If you can't tolerate wearing a mask, stay home.

[Paul2421]

Originally Posted by PghYinzer

Ive noticed a lot of co-workers who complain about having to go into the office to be micro-managed are the ones who also have mentioned doing laundry and what not during the day. Perhaps my specific role is different than most, but I work more now than ever before so I haven't picked up that perk. If you want to do chores during the work week, there is an option for that, and its called working part-time.

As for working anywhere, i dont know how many people actually moved anywhere to work remotely. Yeah there are stories of it, someone "escaping" Brooklyn to live in Boulder, but most dont uproot their entire lives to move just because they can WFH. Those types of moves would most likely happen anyway but now they just keep their old jobs.

As for quality of life and having to wear a mask...come on....I also have to wear pants and shoes, which could be considered a negative impact on the quality of my life. If you can't tolerate wearing a mask, stay home.

this is a boomer mentality if I ever heard it. double taked at the user name. why put the stress on the environment if it isn't necessary?