[Genuine Realist]

So let's take that a step further.  For the past few years, our work force has been clamoring to work from home.  All of our offices are in areas which are negatively impacted by traffic congestion.  Who wouldn't want to save a few hours per day by avoiding the commute?  Management was loathe to implement the broad policy because in their collective minds, we would work harder at an office than at our homes -- in spite of the fact that what we do is project-based, and it's difficult to maintain oversight in an office in any event.

Well now we have no choice, with shelter in place.  And management has noted that we've become more productive on average. Not only that, management is reviewing how much we spend on rent, utiliities and other costs associated with having large offices.  The grand social experiment has been thrust upon them.  So to extend your original thought, I wouldn't want to be in the commercial leasing/commercial building/commercial building ownership businesses either.

I think we'll have permanent offices, I just think they'll be much smaller than in the pre-pandemic era.

Look at us - models of consensus! Completely agree with all of this as well. If Congress were smart they'd look for ways to either subsidize employees to enhance their WFH technology/ergonomics, or else subsidize employers covering those costs for employees. I've never understood why people thought WFH led to reduced productivity - my experience has always been that my productivity is negatively correlated with the number of people around me. So much so that in my position, where I have had WFH flexibility, I basically tried to stack my meetings and other required "in office" activities for 1-3 days a week and wrote off most of those days even when I didn't have meetings, because of the amount of chatter, etc., in the gaps between meetings. The WFH days were pure productivity. (Not to mention the approximately 1.75 hours I saved when I didn't have to commute - if I even split that commute time 50/50 with my employer the employer would be getting almost an hour extra free per day.)

I do believe a great many of those involved in travel services and the like are going to be involved in personal delivery services, messengers, and so on. The challenge will be to see that they are fairly compensated, which is the same challenge we face now.

There's also going to be a brobdingnagian growth industry in refitting buildings for social distancing purposes.

[Genuine Realist]

So let's take that a step further.  For the past few years, our work force has been clamoring to work from home.  All of our offices are in areas which are negatively impacted by traffic congestion.  Who wouldn't want to save a few hours per day by avoiding the commute?  Management was loathe to implement the broad policy because in their collective minds, we would work harder at an office than at our homes -- in spite of the fact that what we do is project-based, and it's difficult to maintain oversight in an office in any event.

Well now we have no choice, with shelter in place.  And management has noted that we've become more productive on average. Not only that, management is reviewing how much we spend on rent, utiliities and other costs associated with having large offices.  The grand social experiment has been thrust upon them.  So to extend your original thought, I wouldn't want to be in the commercial leasing/commercial building/commercial building ownership businesses either.

I think we'll have permanent offices, I just think they'll be much smaller than in the pre-pandemic era.

Look at us - models of consensus! Completely agree with all of this as well. If Congress were smart they'd look for ways to either subsidize employees to enhance their WFH technology/ergonomics, or else subsidize employers covering those costs for employees. I've never understood why people thought WFH led to reduced productivity - my experience has always been that my productivity is negatively correlated with the number of people around me. So much so that in my position, where I have had WFH flexibility, I basically tried to stack my meetings and other required "in office" activities for 1-3 days a week and wrote off most of those days even when I didn't have meetings, because of the amount of chatter, etc., in the gaps between meetings. The WFH days were pure productivity. (Not to mention the approximately 1.75 hours I saved when I didn't have to commute - if I even split that commute time 50/50 with my employer the employer would be getting almost an hour extra free per day.)

I do believe a great many of those involved in travel services and the like are going to be involved in personal delivery services, messengers, and so on. The challenge will be to see that they are fairly compensated, which is the same challenge we face now.

There's also going to be a brobdingnagian growth industry in refitting buildings for social distancing purposes.