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☆ American offices are half-empty. That could be the next big risk for banks
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( Julia Horowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

“I’m more concerned than I’ve been in a long time,” said Matt Anderson, managing director at Trepp, which provides data on commercial real estate. About $270 billion in commercial real estate loans held by banks will come due in 2023, according to Trepp. Questions about the health of banks with sizable exposures to commercial real estate loans cause customers to pull deposits. That forces lenders to demand repayment — exacerbating the sector’s downturn and further damaging the banks’ financial position. The likeliest outcome is thought to be an uptick in defaults and reduced access to funding for the commercial real estate industry.

☆ Working from home: The latest on who is WFH and who isn't
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( Jeanne Sahadi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

In other words, 72.5% of private-sector organizations — up from 60% in the July-to-September 2021 period — said they did not have employees working remotely. The BLS survey also interpreted respondents’ answers as referring to a company’s formal telework policies, not whether some employees informally work remotely on occasion, such as responding to work emails from home. The same survey respondents said their employers plan to allow employees to work remotely 2.2 days a week, for those who can. “I have talked to hundreds of organizations about WFH [working from home] over the past three weeks, and this is now clearly stabilizing to a post-pandemic norm,” he said in an email. In Pew’s February survey, 35% of people who could work remotely were doing so full time, down from 55% in October 2020, but still well above the 7% of people working remotely full-time before the pandemic.

☆ Swipe your badge or get fired? Employers and workers face a reckoning over returning to the office.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Rebecca Knight | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Employers are hardening demands for workers to return to the office and quashing resistance. Apple is tracking employee attendance and has threatened action against staff who don't work from the office at least three days a week. Today, though, as a recession looms, companies are rolling back perks and demanding workers return to their desks or risk termination. After 2020's COVID-19 lockdowns forced office workers to work from home, many of them discovered the benefits of remote work. Many of the same companies demanding workers return to the office have recently conducted mass layoffs — some more than once.

☆ See inside a few of the coolest offices in North America, where frozen yogurt is served out of Airstreams and conference rooms have holograms. Should your office be on the list? Let us know.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Office use on average is around 50% of prepandemic levels in major cities like New York. Employers are responding with amped up perks and spaces that allow for hybrid work. From an Airstream trailer serving frozen yogurt to fort-like meeting rooms, see a few office perks. Take a peek at a few of the offices that are pulling ahead of the pack. If your office opened after 2020 and you think it should be on this list, email reporter Jordan Pandy at jpandy@insider.com.

☆ 'We need to get Monday back' and get people in the office earlier in the week, says the CEO of the world's largest insurance marketplace
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Lloyd's of London CEO says people are mostly going back to the office Tuesday to Thursday, per FT."We need to get Monday back," CEO John Neal told the Financial Times. Many corporate leaders are trying to get employees back to the office after three years of pandemic-induced remote work. "Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are busy," John Neal, CEO of the world's largest insurance marketplace Lloyd's of London, told the Financial Times in an interview published Wednesday. Other high-profile executives who want their employees back in the office include Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. While Lloyd's Neal may have been referring to employees in the UK, the experience across the Atlantic is similar.

☆ Companies want to know how many people are back in the office. They're using water coolers to find out.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Aidan Pollard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Bevi, a Boston startup, makes high-tech water coolers that collect usage data. Some investors and hedge funds are using this data to track America's return to office trends, Bloomberg reported. Bevi, a Boston-based startup that sells high-tech water coolers, collects data about how much water its machines dispense over time. When Bevi's usage data rose from 28% to 44% between January 2021 and 2022, office occupancy data collected by securities firm Kastle Systems rose in tandem. The companies hope to gain insight into office trends, as remote work continues to solidify itself as a standard.

☆ I took an office-personality quiz, and it turns out that as a remote worker, I'm a caged butterfly
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Rebecca Knight | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Turns out, I'm a "break-room butterfly" who thrives on teams and doing in-person work. It's hard to let your inner break-room butterfly soar when the only break room in sight doubles as your kitchen. After all, what does an "office personality" even mean nowadays? My gregarious editor is a fellow break-room butterfly, our tight-ship boss is a cubicle cat, and another free-spirited, somewhat reclusive colleague is a couch koala. By extension, the very notion of an "office personality" is becoming outdated.

☆ How's the return to office going? Just look at shares of one of the largest office REITs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Scott Schnipper | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Vornado says it owns 20 million square feet of office space plus 2.6 million square feet of street retail space in Manhattan alone, 3.7 million square feet at The Mart in Chicago and a controlling stake in almost 2 million square feet of office in San Francisco. But in the New York metropolitan area last week, the rate fell to 46.7% from 47.8% the week before, Kastle said. In San Francisco, the rate was even lower last week, at 43.9%, while in Chicago it was 49.4%. Maybe that's why Deutsche Bank analyst Derek Johnston ranked office REITs last out of eight REIT industry groups in a monthly review released on Tuesday. In January, subsector year-over-year cap rates climbed the most for office owners, he said, up 80 basis points, or 8/10ths of a percentage point.

☆ American workers aren't returning to the office like their international counterparts—here's why
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Jennifer Liu | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Workers around the world throughout Europe and Asia are going back to the office while U.S. employees are still working from home. Meanwhile, office attendance has returned to 70% to 90% in Europe and the Middle East, and around 80% to 110% in some Asian cities, meaning some workers are spending more time in the office now than pre-Covid. In particular, several global cities steadily reached at least 75% office occupancy throughout 2021 and 2022, according to JLL data, including Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, Paris and Stockholm. Average office attendance in 10 major U.S. metros only recently reached 50% for the first time since the pandemic hit, based on data from Kastle Systems. Here are three big reasons why American workers aren't returning to the office while their global counterparts are:

☆ Biden taps CEOs of 3M, CVS, FedEx, Citi, others to join his Export Council on trade
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

U.S. President Joe Biden has appointed the heads of Citigroup , United Airlines , CVS , 3M and FedEx , among other top executives, to sit on a White House advisory committee overseeing international trade. The President's Export Council gives recommendations and insight into the ways government policies impact U.S. trade performance. The group also provides feedback on how Biden's trade policies are affecting businesses across sectors from industry and labor to agriculture. She previously served as chief operating officer and group president of Starbucks and CEO of Sam's Club. The Export Council features expertise from labor, real estate, national security and law, and leaders of Fortune 200 companies.

☆ Is remote work gaining ground again? 'It's all a work in progress,' says jobs expert
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-13 | by ( Jennifer Liu | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

And 18% of workers say they're working a hybrid schedule, which has steadily trended upward since 2021. After most office workers stayed home throughout 2020, reporting onsite regained its ground as the most popular way to work after April 2021, according to LinkedIn data, and has increased ever since while remote work declined. "Remote work is having its moment" and it's "at the very least a short-term reversal of a pattern we've been seeing in the long-term." A similar pattern happened in January 2022 when the share of people working in-person dipped and remote work became more popular. However, an increase in remote work despite a drop in remote listings could mean people are negotiating for the flexibility after applying, Anders says.

☆ Offices across the US are at least half full for the first time since before the pandemic, new data shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Aaron Mcdade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A new study found offices were over half full for the week of January 19-25. The 50.4% average occupancy rate recorded by Kastle is the highest since before the pandemic. Three years after the pandemic drove workers across America to home offices and Zoom meetings, employees are increasingly returning to in-person work settings. Unsurprisingly, the data found offices have varying rates of occupancy throughout the week, as many workers still come into offices less than five days a week. Friday was the least common day for working in offices, with an average of just 34.9%, per Kastle's findings.

☆ Offices are more than 50% filled for the first time since the pandemic started
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-03 | by ( Jordan Valinsky | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —Nearly three years after the pandemic began, American offices are finally more than halfway filled again as workers have gradually returned to the office. Office occupancy across 10 major US cities crossed 50.4% of pre-pandemic levels for the first time since early 2020, according to security swipe tracker Kastle Systems. That marks the first time occupancy has crossed the 50% mark since March 2020, when many offices sent workers home because of Covid. Disney is ordering corporate employees to return to offices four days a week beginning March 1. The protest involves more than 40 contractors for YouTube Music, according to the Alphabet Workers Union, which is backing the strike.

☆ U.S. Return-to-Office Rate Rises Above 50% for First Time Since Pandemic Began
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Joseph Pisani | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Average office use last week was 50.4% of early 2020 levels in 10 major U.S. cities, according to Kastle Systems. Workers in the U.S. are spending more time in the office again, with occupancy rates surpassing 50% for the first time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Average office use last week was 50.4% of early 2020 levels in 10 major U.S. cities, according to Kastle Systems, which tracks security swipes into buildings every business day. It is the first time office occupancy has topped 50%, according to Kastle, since March 2020, when Covid-19 forced most workplaces to temporarily shut down.

☆ Bosses are increasing RTO requirements, but experts say it won't stick: 'We're at an inflection point'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Jennifer Liu | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

More corporate bosses could follow Iger's lead with fresh RTO mandates, says Caitlin Duffy, director of research at Gartner. Plans to boost in-office days unlikely to pan outSo far, most hybrid policies expect workers in offices two to three times a week. But requirements increasing in-office days are unlikely to become a norm, experts say. As of January, workers say they want to work from home for 2.8 days on average, versus employers planning to allow 2.3 days remote. Some leaders are expanding remote work to keep their workers happy with their jobs and pay, Bloom says.

☆ More Bosses Order Workers Back to the Office as Job Market Shifts
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Chip Cutter | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The average office occupancy rate in 10 major U.S. cities remained below 50% for much of 2022, according to data from security firm Kastle Systems. Employers are losing their patience with empty desks in the office. Companies including investment giant Vanguard Group , workplace technology company Paycom Software Inc. and others have sent directives to employees in recent weeks, urging workers to follow existing hybrid schedules or to come into the office on additional days in 2023, according to internal memos viewed by The Wall Street Journal and interviews with employees. In some cases, bosses have told those who fail to comply that they could face termination within weeks.

☆ People Googled excuses to skip work over 2 million times this year amid return-to-office mandates, a nearly 1900% increase from 2020
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Google searches for excuses to miss work hit over 2.2 million in 2022, up from just 112,400 in 2020. Some of the top search terms in 2022 were "calling in sick" and "best excuses to miss work." In 2022, there were 2,230,240 Google searches in the US for excuses to miss work, according to data analyzed by recruitment company Frank Recruitment Group. That's a massive 1884% spike from just two years ago in 2020, which saw 112,400 Google searches for excuses to miss work. In 2018, the researchers saw 305,590 searches, with "good excuses to miss work" as the top search term.

☆ These 15 people are shaping the office of the future, designing meeting pods, hologram calls, and buildings that actually make workers healthier
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Robert Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +27 min

These 15 power players are just a handful of the people designing workplaces to balance productivity, interaction, and employee well-being through indoor-air-quality monitoring systems, building amenities, holographic meeting spaces, and more. AftershipCities like Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; and Raleigh, North Carolina, began offering business-relocation incentives during the pandemic to boost their workforces and help increase occupancy in office buildings. Room's office suite includes a phone booth, a meeting room, an open meeting room, and a focus room. Room also makes a soundproof meeting room that fits two people, a more open meeting booth, and a focus room designed for quiet concentration. "The future of office work needs to be guided by a new, genuine form of flexibility in which the work, not the workers themselves, become even more malleable," Petersen writes.

☆ One office building is trying a radical new ploy to lure Google and other firms to Brooklyn
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Jordan Pandy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

An office building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is slashing rents and offering flexible leases. At 25 Kent Ave., it's offering 50% off to lure tech and media firms that are attracted to Manhattan. In July 2019, Rubenstein opened an eight-story, 511,000-square-foot office building at 25 Kent Ave. in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Bilyana DimitrovaTarget tenants include Google, Facebook, Amazon, and companies that have over 500,000 square feet of office space in Manhattan. People who work at 25 Kent have access to its fitness center.

☆ Goldman Sachs' return-to-office policy has brought back 65% of its workers to the workplace 5 days a week, said the bank's famously anti-remote work CEO
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon said 65% of its workers are back in the office five days a week. He told CNBC it's especially important for young workers in their 20s to get into the office. Today, it's about 65%, so we're kind of operating close to the way we were," Solomon told CNBC, according to a transcript from the broadcaster. On Tuesday, he told CNBC it's especially important for young workers in their 20s to get into the office. We mentor our people, we teach our people, we strive for excellence," he told CNBC.

☆ REITs are suffering big time as rates rise, but there's opportunity in the carnage
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-07 | by ( Michelle Fox | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

Their underperformance this year can be pinned to rising interest rates, since investors who have REITS for their high dividend yields may dump the assets for risk-free Treasurys. While he had reduced his firm's exposure to REITs due to rising interest rate fears, he's now thinking about increasing that exposure. REITs typically make up 5% to 10% of his firm's 10-year plus portfolio portfolio, with the exposure currently at the lower end of that range. In this environment, companies that are less sensitive to rising interest rates should outperform, said Morningstar's Brown. "They should be less sensitive overall to interest rates movements given that most investors are not in hotel names for the dividend," Brown said.

☆ U.S. Return-to-Office Rates Hit Pandemic High as More Employers Get Tougher
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Peter Grant | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Workers are returning to U.S. offices at the highest rate since the pandemic forced most workplaces to temporarily close in 2020, as infection rates continue to fall and more companies intensify efforts to bring employees back. Office use on average was 47.5% of early 2020 levels for workers in the office over the five business days from Sept. 8 to Sept. 14 in the 10 major metro areas monitored by Kastle Systems. The company, which tracks security swipes into buildings, said that was the highest percentage since late-March 2020.

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