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Thread: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

  1. #6426

    Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    Quote Originally Posted by fortpatches View Post

    IMHO the biggest issue with WFH, I predict, we haven't even fully seen yet - nationalizing the labor market. When people can WFH, their location is immaterial. So a new employee (Adam, say) in a lower COL location (e.g., Oklahoma) can get a job for a business in a high COL location (e.g., California) where the business can pay lower wages than they would for a local Cali employee but still higher than Adam would be able to find in Oklahoma. This will have two large impacts - jobs considered low-skilled that can WFH will be farmed out to lower cost of living areas - thereby driving up wages in low COL areas (Oklahoma) as employers there have to compete with companies nationally instead of just locally, thereby causing the unemployment rate in low COL areas to be abnormally low while, simultaneously, increasing the unemployment rate in higher COL areas because employees there cannot afford to take a pay cut and still pay bills. Average wages have increase a lot over the last couple years - but I think we will see that increase (as a percent of pay) happening faster in lower COL areas than higher COL areas.
    This is already what we have been seeing with outsourcing. The companies that haven't yet outsourced overseas, are trying to keep time zones aligned or want to keep their work force close to the customer.

  2. Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    Quote Originally Posted by jn1780 View Post
    This is already what we have been seeing with outsourcing. The companies that haven't yet outsourced overseas, are trying to keep time zones aligned or want to keep their work force close to the customer.
    Yup, that's called outsourcing. And its far from new that companies are attracted to lower income areas. It's very common that even if your HQ is in an expensive town, that the Operations is not. In OKC, Hertz would be a perfect example of that. HQ=New Jersey. Ops=OKC.

    Anyone that does business in California knows that it's best to "get outta dodge" for Ops as soon as possible. It's simply too expensive and restrictive to make a profit for regular shared services environments. And when the US markets start looking too good for the employees, well we can't have that, so overseas we go.

  3. #6428

    Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    Quote Originally Posted by bombermwc View Post
    Yup, that's called outsourcing. And its far from new that companies are attracted to lower income areas. It's very common that even if your HQ is in an expensive town, that the Operations is not. In OKC, Hertz would be a perfect example of that. HQ=New Jersey. Ops=OKC.

    Anyone that does business in California knows that it's best to "get outta dodge" for Ops as soon as possible. It's simply too expensive and restrictive to make a profit for regular shared services environments. And when the US markets start looking too good for the employees, well we can't have that, so overseas we go.
    Actually, Hertz's HQ is in Florida now, the process started while I was working there (2009-2015, working for a subcontractor of IBM, who is a contractor itself, running Hertz's IT) and I believe is complete now.

  4. #6429

    Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    My wife retired from Hertz at the end of the year. Spent 43 years, 3 months and a week there. Happily retired now.

  5. #6430

    Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    Hertz started in OKC as a reservation center. And the reason they chose OKC was due to the central location in the country and the fact that phone service charges in the early 1970's was by the line mile. That's why a lot of res centers were started in the Great Plains.

  6. Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    Quote Originally Posted by G.Walker View Post
    Not necessarily, there were surveys and articles published regarding how big corporations want people in the office. It cited people were more productive and work relationships have more synergy when people are in the office. Moreover, corporations were looking actually needing more space, for more wide open footprints, for social distancing.

    And big office and residential development sure hasn't slowed down in other cities like Austin, Salt Lake City, Nashville, & Charlotte.
    That's interesting. My department and the part of the company we belong to as a whole were 20%-30% more productive while working from home. The company surprised everybody by instating a permanent work from home option for 2 days a week.
    Just anecdotally, I find there are a lot fewer interruptions and distractions at home than at the office. At home, I don't have someone interrupting me every 10 minutes (granted I don't have kids).

  7. Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    I work with some of the city's largest employers. We have been told that having employees in the office is definitely more beneficial. There are too many opportunities to collaborate throughout the day. What I have learned is that the companies that were transitioning to work from home before the pandemic are headed that way but most of the large office environments are planning to grow their space.

  8. #6433

    Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    Saw a news report the other day that a lot of employees have admitted to being high or using alcohol during work time while working from home.

  9. #6434

    Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    Quote Originally Posted by Bellaboo View Post
    Saw a news report the other day that a lot of employees have admitted to being high or using alcohol during work time while working from home.
    What a shock! In theory, working from home sounds good. But in reality, being at the workplace is probably a better idea. You can see what your employees are doing, leading to better accountability. Then, on a social front, it leads to more social interaction. I'm a believer that in coming years, we're going to learn that doing things from home such as shopping, work, etc, leading to less social interaction, is going to have some bad ramifications.

  10. Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    Quote Originally Posted by GaryOKC6 View Post
    I work with some of the city's largest employers. We have been told that having employees in the office is definitely more beneficial. There are too many opportunities to collaborate throughout the day. What I have learned is that the companies that were transitioning to work from home before the pandemic are headed that way but most of the large office environments are planning to grow their space.
    I'd be interested to know that source, because everything I have read is that companies are shedding real estate like a wildfire and keeping users remote. What they are creating is smaller collaboration space offices where people come in as-needed or for meetings, then go right back home. Basically where the entire small office is one big hotelling space. Yes there are some out there that won't ever do that, but the cube farm isn't going to look the same as people re-work their spaces. It will still be a few years before we see how all of this settles out though.

  11. #6436

    Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    Quote Originally Posted by bombermwc View Post
    I'd be interested to know that source, because everything I have read is that companies are shedding real estate like a wildfire and keeping users remote. What they are creating is smaller collaboration space offices where people come in as-needed or for meetings, then go right back home. Basically where the entire small office is one big hotelling space. Yes there are some out there that won't ever do that, but the cube farm isn't going to look the same as people re-work their spaces. It will still be a few years before we see how all of this settles out though.
    same. and i can speak from personal experience at my company that we are significantly more productive at home than we ever were in office, and we now work 4 remote and 1 day in the office, and it's very easy to see that everyone's 1 day in the office is their least productive day. As a manager of a team, i'm torn, because i use the 1 day my team is in office to get done my one-on-ones, reviews, team meetings, etc. but it is without a doubt the day we get the least amount of actual company work done.

  12. #6437

    Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    Quote Originally Posted by Bellaboo View Post
    Saw a news report the other day that a lot of employees have admitted to being high or using alcohol during work time while working from home.
    the real question. do those same employees also admit to being the ones that would go out to their cars and get high, or have a few cocktails at lunch before going back to the office? because i know a handful of fellow employees at every place i have worked at who used to do that a few times a week, for the past 2 decades...

  13. #6438

    Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    I've actually been working from home since COVID started. And my alcohol consumption has dramatically increased. I am currently seeking help with a counselor.

  14. #6439

    Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    Quote Originally Posted by G.Walker View Post
    I've actually been working from home since COVID started. And my alcohol consumption has dramatically increased. I am currently seeking help with a counselor.
    Good luck to you. I’ve been going through the same but haven’t had help yet. It’s gotten very bad. I hope you pull through it.

  15. #6440

    Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    Quote Originally Posted by G.Walker View Post
    I've actually been working from home since COVID started. And my alcohol consumption has dramatically increased. I am currently seeking help with a counselor.
    Best of luck. The same thing happened to me, so I quit February 2021. Granted, I also went back to the office a few months later which made it easier.

  16. #6441

    Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    Quote Originally Posted by G.Walker View Post
    I've actually been working from home since COVID started. And my alcohol consumption has dramatically increased. I am currently seeking help with a counselor.
    i wish you well and hope you are able to get it under control. we went full remote at the start of covid, and just recently went to being in office one day a week, and strangely, my alcohol consumption has dramatically decreased. I don't find having to get home and feel like i need a whiskey to calm down from my drive, or the frustrations of work.

    and granted both of our experiences are just anecdotal. and trust me, WFH was rough on my mentally for awhile. I had to adjust how i get social interactions with others, and that took probably six months. I really do wish you are successful with the help you have seeked out.

  17. #6442

    Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    I drank a lot more in 2020 vs 2021. Starting in 2021, I took advantage of the WFH setup to focus on my mental and physical health. That trend is continuing to 2022. I hope the best to ones struggling with it. What benefited me was focusing on a hobby/goal I wanted, which make drinking a burden to those goals.

    If you want to get actual information on how WFH/Remote affects productivity, you shouldn't look into what your company indicates to you, or any other anecdotal evidence. There are pros and cons to it. It depends on what your company values which determines if they want people back in the office or allows wfh/remote.

  18. #6443

    Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    It's amazing just how conflicted the "research" is on all of this. The reality is that anyone doing real research should just be collecting data points for later review. We can't possibly know the real ramifications of WFH.

    I suspect there are a lot of factors that pay into whether WFH might be more or less constructive and whether someone's health will be better or worse working from home depending on their job situation and living situation. I mean, we have someone in my office who commutes from Tulsa on a daily basis and they're actively seeking promotion within the company as opposed to trying to find their way out. I can imagine that there is a lot about the in office culture that the individual enjoys to seemingly enjoy that commute.

    Even within the same company some departments might do better WFH and others might do better in the office.

    I do find the interstate employment to be the most interesting element of all this and I suspect we'll see some legislation come to light if things get crazy enough.

  19. Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    We've definitely picked up on the remote hires at all levels, up to C-Suite. Unless you have to physically touch paper, most people are just being hired remotely from all over the US. And partly because technology is set up in a way where you can do that securely now without working with your pants down. But there are plenty of companies out there that did get caught without proper security...just google news stories over the pandemic about security breaches. The smaller businesses just can't always pay for the extra tools needed like the larger ones can (MFA/Traffic Scanning/etc). Of course, they may not be as much of a target as a larger one either. It's a crap-shoot.

    My own organization is saving money in real estate, but shipping expenses have gone through the roof. And terminations are thus more complicated. I mean when someone is terminated, they usually aren't super cooperative with returning their gear. And that has been a definite challenge to stay on top of. I think it's too early to evaluate if the savings from real estate have shown to be an overall savings for the company because of extra efforts for recovery/analysis/etc for terminated users. It's just too early to really see where this stuff will settle.

    I think things have forever changed, But I personally think we're currently seeing an extreme that will settle to a hybrid model in 5 years. But that's just my crystal ball outlook.

  20. Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    Quote Originally Posted by bombermwc View Post
    I'd be interested to know that source, because everything I have read is that companies are shedding real estate like a wildfire and keeping users remote. What they are creating is smaller collaboration space offices where people come in as-needed or for meetings, then go right back home. Basically where the entire small office is one big hotelling space. Yes there are some out there that won't ever do that, but the cube farm isn't going to look the same as people re-work their spaces. It will still be a few years before we see how all of this settles out though.
    The source was me. I was in an economic round table meeting with several of the major employers present. I don't want to name any names. This was in August.

  21. Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    We continue to attract in-office employers adding about 600 jobs to OKC. Liberty Dental (150) and Signify Health (200) should be opening their facilities very soon. Consumer Cellular (300) to follow shortly thereafter. There are others in the works that have yet to announce.

  22. #6447
    HangryHippo Guest

    Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    Quote Originally Posted by GaryOKC6 View Post
    We continue to attract in-office employers adding about 600 jobs to OKC. Liberty Dental (150) and Signify Health (200) should be opening their facilities very soon. Consumer Cellular (300) to follow shortly thereafter. There are others in the works that have yet to announce.
    Are these call centers?

  23. Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    More or less. They are back room operations such as customer service, billing, payment processing ect. All pay well.

  24. #6449
    HangryHippo Guest

    Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    Quote Originally Posted by GaryOKC6 View Post
    More or less. They are back room operations such as customer service, billing, payment processing ect. All pay well.
    Cool. Looking forward to the other announcements.

  25. Default Re: Mystery Tower( speculation, news and ideas) post here!

    Quote Originally Posted by GaryOKC6 View Post
    More or less. They are back room operations such as customer service, billing, payment processing ect. All pay well.
    If they are call centers, then the reps will end up going remote if the companies want to be competitive with the million other call centers around here.

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