Kaste

Despite rising occupancy rates, office values ​​remain low compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). It found that there has been a 39% drop in office building values ​​since 2020 – and a large percentage of pre-pandemic leases will be renewed over the next few years. This could force some companies to evaluate their office needs more closely.

The COVID pandemic served as an unintended experiment that revealed a number of uncomfortable workplace truths — namely that most employees have always preferred remote work, and home-based knowledge workers have been just as, if not more, productive . Another realization: Office work, by default, isn’t as rewarding for some people as it is for others, according to Phil Kirschner, associate partner in McKinsey & Co.’s real estate and people and organizational practices.

Not everyone, for example, feels the same level of inclusion and equality in an office setting. “Different populations of almost every measure — whether skin color, sexual orientation, physical disability — are affected by the demands of the office, and there’s a greater desire for flexibility in the workplace, whether you’re doing a job or the likelihood of leaving a job if you’re not on offer,” Kirschner said in a previous interview with The world of computers.