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Comment on Almost all remote-work news is negative now but was positive in the beginning of the pandemic. Have you noticed this or am I going crazy?

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Azzu@lemm.ee ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

You missed the most important thing. Real estate investments that aren’t allowed to go down in value, which they would if offices became superfluous. Just imagine how many buildings would become “worthless”/could be used for something else.

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gmtom@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Yeah, this is BY FAR the biggest reason. Pretty much all the rich people and most big companies have huge investment in portfolios that contain a lot of commercial office spaces. If we were all allowed to work from home those investments would plummet and all the rich people and big companies would take MASSIVE losses on those investments. Which is why all the media and even companies like Zoom are trying to pull a 180 on working from home.

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- Blaze@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Zoom forcing employees back to offices still baffles me
  
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  - bemenaker@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    The video conferencing software that saved the world during covid and made all the companies survive the lockdown.
    
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ScrivenerX@lemm.ee ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
That is a huge pressure, but it’s less obvious why a company in a business unrelated to real estate would want real estate prices high.

The secret is that companies aren’t in the business of making a good or providing a service, they actually are just giant schemes for raising money for “investments”. For example, airlines don’t make their money off of selling tickets, but through prospecting jet fuel. Most companies aren’t as direct and clear about what their business actually is.

Also the link between real estate and all of jobs isn’t very clear and is very abstract. It’s easy to see the costs and interactions with companies forced by working in an office, it’s difficult to see how a building losing value effects anyone.

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Iamdanno@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
A forward-thinking wealthy person would start buying these buildings at fire-sale prices and converting them to residential buildings.

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- Revan343@lemmy.ca ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  You have to be very choosey, because most office buildings aren’t easily convertable
  
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Dagwood222@lemm.ee ⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
In the Wall Street area of Manhattan, some of the biggest buildings are already being converted to apartments. It’s been a trend for a while, because the older buildings are too expensive to rewire for computers/HVAC.

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