Workers want to work from home to work less, says CEO – 10/26/2023 – Market

Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman said that one of the reasons why professionals resist the return to in-person work is that they “don’t work as hard” at home as they do in the office.

Schwarzman said people working from home have benefited and have a “lighter workload.”

The owner of the investment company who owns commercial properties explained that workers also save money on travel, meals and work clothes.

In the assessment of the president of Blackstone, the situation contributed to the fact that commercial buildings in the USA still have empty spaces without a full return to in-person work.

The executive assessed that newer office buildings are proving resilient and demand for other categories of properties, such as warehouses, should maintain its upward curve.

At Blackstone, the expectation is that all executives and investment professionals work in person five days a week.

Productivity in remote work has been the subject of more research in recent times, and some of it exposes positive and negative points.

Economist Anthony Diercks, a member of the Fed’s board of directors, challenged the prevailing view of CEOs that fully remote work leads to lower productivity.

According to Diercks, much of the research supporting this conclusion involves workers doing data entry, for example, and should not be generalized to all professionals who work in offices.

The effect of remote work on productivity “depends on the individual,” he said.