Hacker News Reader

Comment by xwdv | Hacker News Reader

So what does it really mean for work from home stocks? Will valuations finally come down?

I bet every company will go to a hybrid style setup. Thus requiring less physical space... so corporate RE still down. WFH companies like what? There's really no secret sauce in any of them, doubt their values go up that much.

Why do you think companies will want people back in the office? Many have switched to work from home permanently, and the vast majority of workers won't want to go back either after having experienced it.

> the vast majority of workers won't want to go back either after having experienced it.

I'm not sure how to qualify this statement without trading anecdotes. What kind of data do you have to back up this claim?

Maybe a good gauge is to look at studies that examine people's dislike of commuting. Google shows several results on this.

For some anecdata, our 5000 person software company held a survey early in the year and 30% said they wanted to be remote. Then the company shaped policies around that to allow remote work in the future. When the time came for people to proactively request to be remote, it turned out to be around 50% (and I assume that will rise as people figure out what they want, where they want to be, how life is during non pandemic shutdowns etc.).

I think what it ultimately comes down to is a significant number of people will want to continue to be remote; it's not just a few people.

My company has always stated back to the office was the goal. Working from home is useful, but talking to real humans in person is also useful

> Why do you think companies will want people back in the office?

I know more than one person running 100+ people offices who can’t wait to get everyone back into the office. Interesting to see where this ends up

They already did last week.

They could still drop more.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com