#SanFrancisco #RemoteWork #downtowns #WorkPatternsChange
Three years ago, San Francisco’s business district was bustling.
Tech workers were heading in and out of train stations by the droves.
People rushed to grab lunch at a favorite salad bar.
Visitors crowded the sidewalks when a big conference was in town.
Today, San Francisco may be the most deserted big-city downtown in America.
Conor Dougherty and Emma Goldberg explored this in an article for The New York Times.
It was also published December 29, 2022, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“Occupancy of the city’s offices is roughly is roughly 7 percentage points below that of those in the average major American city,” the article quotes Kastle, a building security firm.
Because San Francisco’s economy revolves around the tech industry, and those workers have found the idea of working remotely appealing, in any given week, office buildings are at about 40 percent of their pre-pandemic occupancy, the article says.
It’s been almost like sport to predict how remote work would affect many things. This article shows what can happen when people go home to work, and don’t come back.
In another article published a few days later, Zachary Hansen, development reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, wrote about how Atlanta’s older office buildings are being, if not deserted, emptying out. The article attributes that to more remote working and moving to newer office spaces. The private sector and the city are working together to convert some of that old office space into housing, the article says.
The good news: the more people who work from home, the fewer people are on the roads commuting. The bad news: businesses who thrived on busy downtown areas are closing. The Times article talks about one owner of a salad shop who has moved her store to the suburbs, because many of those remote workers still like to grab a quick salad for lunch.
This phenomenon could bring about many trends, as has been discussed. Your employer could be based in place X, where living expenses are high. (San Francisco is a classic example of that).
But, because of technology, you could do your job from anywhere, preferably a less expensive location, and live there.
Or, you could work from your favorite vacation spot.
Regardless, the downside could be big-city downtowns becoming relatively deserted. Another downside is the loss of face-to-face contact with colleagues, clients etc.
With the shortage of affordable housing just about everywhere, some of these office buildings could be repurposed, as Hansen’s article says. But, if that’s done, the owners and builders of those buildings may not see the return on investment they had expected for a good long time.
The live-work-play concept may gain even greater popularity, because it might give people the best of both worlds – working from home with easy access to the office as needed, with all the amenities and necessities of life within the same complex.
Fear not, however. SOMEONE will find a way to turn this downtown problem into a solution that will benefit all concerned. Atlanta seems to be out in front of that trend.
One’s imagination could think of a downtown that’s active, fun, but not overcrowded. No traffic gridlock is visible. Individuals saving money either by not commuting at all, or commuting less.
Change is no longer coming, it’s here. How can you best take advantage of it?
Peter
Tag Archives: San Francisco
LONLINESS IN THE WORKPLACE CAN BE QUANTIFIED
#LonelinessInTheWorkplace #loneliness #workplaces #SolitaryJobs
Some people are lonely at work.
So what? Who cares?
Well, loneliness has a cost to employers, according to an article by Danielle Paquette for the Washington Post. It was also published March 31, 2018, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
“According to researchers who study the issue, the economic damage caused when employees suffer feelings of isolation could soon worsen as offices become increasingly automated and more people work remotely,” Paquette writes.
“Employers who tackle the issue now – rather than brush it off as a personal matter – will save money in (the) future,” Paquette quotes Gabriella Rosen Kellerman, a psychiatrist and chief innovation officer for BetterUp, a workplace consulting firm in San Francisco.
According to the article, Kellerman’s team crunched data from a survey of about 1,600workers across the country to better understand the risk by profession. The results, published in the Harvard Business Review, alarmed Kellerman: “Sixty-one percent of the lawyers in her sample ranked ‘above average’ on the loneliness scale from UCLA,” Paquette quotes Kellerman.
“Generally, the happiest – and most productive – workers feel like valued team members,” Paquette quotes Kellerman.
So, are you feeling lonely at work? Do you often – or always – work by yourself? Do you get to talk to anyone during your work time? Does your employer ONLY care about what you do, rather than who you are?
What if someone could show you a way to make money that would essentially REQUIRE you to interact with people. What if someone could show you a way that could not just potentially put extra money in your pocket, but also potentially exceed your current income? And, what if someone could show you a system in which advancement depended on how many people you helped succeed? To learn about such a vehicle, message me.
The article quotes a Gallup poll that found 42 percent of working Americans said they did some of their job remotely, a four-percentage-point jump from 2012. It also quotes a recent study from the global consultancy firm McKinsey, which predicted that demand for office workers in the U.S. will drop by 20 percent over the next decade because of technological advances. That could mean smaller or more siloed teams, it said.
So if loneliness at work has a grip on you, get a grip. Look for a situation that will allow you more interpersonal interaction. Oh sure, dealing with people can be a pain. But, as the article says, the alternative not only takes a toll on workers, but is costly to employers in terms of productivity.
The proverbial water cooler, cafeteria or other workplace gathering spots may be going out of favor. Try making it a point of sticking your head into someone’s workplace every day, just to see whether they are receptive to people.
Who knows? Maybe you can find people with common interests that you never knew had the same interests as you. Perhaps you can become friends and socialize outside of work, if it’s not possible to socialize at work.
If you are an employer, you might look at ways to conduct team-building exercises, personal growth seminars etc., for the folks that have solitary jobs. You may get a lot more productivity from them by doing that.
Peter