Three years after the coronavirus pandemic sent people to work from home in record numbers, U.S. employers are still struggling to get people back to the office.

Office mandates don’t help companies make more money, study finds::Three years after the coronavirus pandemic sent people to work from home in record numbers, U.S. employers are still struggling to get people back to the office.

  • nillocEnglish
    14·
    5 months ago

    The leases are often very long term like 5-10 years. So they are locked into paying for the building or risk hurting the company’s credit lines. So in a sense, they have paid for the building use. Which I think was OP’s intent, since they mentioned the lease.

    • Kecessa@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      7·
      5 months ago

      Sure but leaving it empty until the loan expires is still cheaper. My point is, in most cases it’s not the company’s problem if the building they have their office in loses value because it’s empty and no one wants to renew their contract, so why force employees to go back?

      • nillocEnglish
        6·
        5 months ago

        You’re right, and you’re pretty much describing the sunk cost fallacy as well.

        They probably don’t save much money that way though. You stop have to keep the place warm enough and clean enough to prevent mold and frozen pipes. Many are in bigger buildings with cleaning, maintenance and security contracts.

        I suspect as dumb as it is, the moronic managers still think micro-managing makes up for the 5-10% cost of employees there (might even be less in some offices). And as said before, they usually at best break even, while alienating the smarter employees who go find wfh jobs.