The Offices Are Not Reopening

In the early days of the 2020 crisis, businesses who had employees that could work from home sent them home in mass. It should be noted that this had little to no impact on the internet or internet service providers nor the effort required to equip staff to do so as might have been the case over a decade ago.

As we know working at home is not new, but this year many individuals who were reluctant to work from home have gotten a crash course in being productive using only online shared resources, emails, instant messaging, and conference calls. Even before the crisis, working regularly with remote teams was commonplace. Businesses have experimented with “returning back to normal” which includes having people in the office attempting to be on a conference call in masks and being unable to be heard. This part of “normal” will not return until after widespread vaccination is deployed which is unlikely to occur before 2021.

At the same time many businesses have realized that they can continue to be productive even without an office. Since offices are expensive and budgets are squeezed at the present time, some have gone as far as to begin to let leases expire. Human Resource teams and managers have already adjusted to starting and training new staff totally remotely. Face to face time is still the most productive but it is not enough of a typical workday to keep the office space. Many spaces may be kept for face to face conferences but now as a shared resource occupying much less space.

As an individual you should begin planning for the long term. Invest in new equipment, lighting, and furniture for your personal ergonomics. That gaming chair you’ve always had your eye on, you still don’t need it but this would be a great excuse to get it.

As a business if you haven’t already you should review your real estate usage and consider making location based employment offers a think of the past.

As a municipality with a large amount of office space providing a solid tax base via property, income, and sales tax please plan for reduced budgets. There has been a flow of people out of city centers during this crisis related to being able to work remotely. This will be an extra difficult burden on top and after the existing crisis.

As a municipality with a large amount of office workers suddenly working from home use the newly found tax base wisely.