[picard102]

Guess they are trying to cut headcount as well then.

 

[Bayer]

Guess they are trying to cut headcount as well then.

I know at least a couple of long-time public servants who left when they went from full-time WFH to hybrid.

I rented an office for 25 years and the idea of having to commute again (even the short 20-minute commute I used to have) is repulsive. But I was an employee for just one year in my whole career, I barely remember what it was like to be on a fixed schedule. The other night I couldn't sleep, so I grabbed my laptop and turned in an assignment at 1 am.

 

[christiesplits]

Guess they are trying to cut headcount as well then.

Also, with a softening economy, I suspect the government is considering the economic benefit of RTO. More people buying cars, pumping gas, buying lunches, and going for drinks after work.

 

[afransen]

Also, with a softening economy, I suspect the government is considering the economic benefit of RTO. More people buying cars, pumping gas, buying lunches, and going for drinks after work.

If you burn houses down and rebuild them, that also gooses GDP.

 

[Amare]

Also, with a softening economy, I suspect the government is considering the economic benefit of RTO. More people buying cars, pumping gas, buying lunches, and going for drinks after work.

Vs the "economic benefit" of people pissing away their time in traffic, being stuck in traffic gridlock, while transport trucks and other business vehicles will be forced to deal with increased travel times leading to increased transport costs and the chain effect of that. There are numerous studies out there with how much congestion costs the economy every year, but yet we have governments and business saying that they want people back in office full time because "they're more productive in office" (something which is proven not to be true in many cases).

This move to full time in-office is highly idiotic, hybrid is the most optimal solution as you have people still going into the office and doing the things that you mentioned and the roads/transit aren't gridlock unnecessarily 5 days a week.

But it's ok, let's push people back just to justify empty commercial real estate spaces and bosses feeling like they've been losing their power by not monitoring their people and having eyes on them all the time.

 

[gabe]

Vs the "economic benefit" of people pissing away their time in traffic, being stuck in traffic gridlock, while transport trucks and other business vehicles will be forced to deal with increased travel times leading to increased transport costs and the chain effect of that. There are numerous studies out there with how much congestion costs the economy every year, but yet we have governments and business saying that they want people back in office full time because "they're more productive in office" (something which is proven not to be true in many cases).

This move to full time in-office is highly idiotic, hybrid is the most optimal solution as you have people still going into the office and doing the things that you mentioned and the roads/transit aren't gridlock unnecessarily 5 days a week.

But it's ok, let's push people back just to justify empty commercial real estate spaces and bosses feeling like they've been losing their power by not monitoring their people and having eyes on them all the time.

Just a few years ago it was nice taking the bus in the morning to work. i had no trouble finding a seat. Today the buses in my area are packed like sardines by the time they get to my stop, as more and more people have gone back to the office. In time they will have to add more buses to keep up with demand adding to the gridlock, not everyone can afford or even wants a car these days.

 

[narduch]

Also, with a softening economy, I suspect the government is considering the economic benefit of RTO. More people buying cars, pumping gas, buying lunches, and going for drinks after work.

I think you are giving our leaders way more credit than they deserve.

They were lobbied by office REITs and caved.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I’ve been WFH since Covid, but we’ve just hired a new inside sales and reception admin who’s full time RTO. They’re happy enough for it, as they live very nearby the office. But that means I have to start RTO for a least a month to train them, which is a bummer. I’m not looking forward to the two hour round trip. On the plus side, my adult kid is starting at College nearby, so I can drop them off at school as I drive to work.

 

[Northern Light]

With the move to greatly reduce WFH.......we're now seeing net rents in Toronto rising.

Toronto office landlords reduce tenant incentives as demand for space rises

Power has shifted since a year ago, when tenants had a host of options and were being wooed by brokers and landlords

www.theglobeandmail.com

Some notable bits from the above:

***

***

On the above, that now means Brookfield and Oxford are nearing effective zero vacancies in their downtown portfolios

We didn't get the exact numbers from Dream and CF in the article, but they are clearly trending favourably.

***

Now this next bit if of interest:

I don't know where you're getting a single block that large in the core, in a AAA or trophy-class tower.

 

[Bayer]

The Davpart building where I used to rent an office (25 Adelaide East/44 Victoria) is still at least 30% vacant despite its great location, but it's a Class C with no parking and no dock.

 

[afransen]

With the move to greatly reduce WFH.......we're now seeing net rents in Toronto rising.

Toronto office landlords reduce tenant incentives as demand for space rises

Power has shifted since a year ago, when tenants had a host of options and were being wooed by brokers and landlords

www.theglobeandmail.com

Some notable bits from the above:

View attachment 679592

***

View attachment 679593

***

On the above, that now means Brookfield and Oxford are nearing effective zero vacancies in their downtown portfolios

We didn't get the exact numbers from Dream and CF in the article, but they are clearly trending favourably.

***

Now this next bit if of interest:

View attachment 679594

I don't know where you're getting a single block that large in the core, in a AAA or trophy-class tower.

Perhaps the coming recession will cool things off again.

 

[Jonny5]

Now this next bit if of interest:

View attachment 679594

I don't know where you're getting a single block that large in the core, in a AAA or trophy-class tower.

One of the ways of smoothing work from home could be suburban campuses, so people don't have to commute as far.

RBC has those towers in Meadowvale, and I've heard they already have people doing RTO but to work there instead of downtown, which works well for enough where it's a 20 minute drive to the office instead of a 20 minute drive to the GO Train to make a 30 minute trip downtown with a ten minute walk added on to that. That's managed things so far, but I don't know what Scotia can do, I'm not as familiar with their alternate suburban space, but I bet they will try to get people out from the core.for now.

 

[evandyk]

Suburban campuses were all the rage until around 2010. But they are not popular because they don't in aggregate reduce the commuting time, and there's no transit available. If you live in Mississauga, the RBC towers are a short commute. If you live in Scarborough, Union Station is a lot easier to get to.

If you can let people choose between a suburban building and downtown, sure. But letting people just choose where to work kind of defeats the point of RTO, which is to get your teams working together in person again.

 

[PL1]

Also, many of the meetings are still held via Zoom/Teams even when people are in person.

 

[afransen]

Suburban campuses were all the rage until around 2010. But they are not popular because they don't in aggregate reduce the commuting time, and there's no transit available. If you live in Mississauga, the RBC towers are a short commute. If you live in Scarborough, Union Station is a lot easier to get to.

If you can let people choose between a suburban building and downtown, sure. But letting people just choose where to work kind of defeats the point of RTO, which is to get your teams working together in person again.

I thought the point of RTO was to get people to quit?