Why offices need to be exciting places to work

I’ve spent the last two days in New York City and can report that it’s beginning to feel more like it did pre-pandemic. “Business meetings” are back in force, restaurants and bars have lively crowds, and the nightly rate at my go-to hotel has doubled from two months ago.

But offices? Well, there are some people in them, but it’s still sparse. If you are looking for a nice stretch of carpet to play indoor bocce ball, there are plenty to be found. And most of the people I talk with think the five-day in-office work week—or even the four-day in-office work week (which, to be honest was pretty common in pre-pandemic New York) are gone for good. Even JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who famously said last year that work from home “doesn’t work for people who want to hustle,” seemed to back off in his annual letter, conceding that only half his employees—many of them in bank branches—will be in office full-time, while 40% will adopt a “hybrid” approach and 10% will work from home full-time.

One of my in-office visits yesterday was from Charlie Lowrey, CEO of Prudential, which is based in nearby Newark. He’s cut back his company’s office space and reconfigured it to encourage collaboration. The company has adopted a hybrid plan, encouraging people to use the office only when there is a good reason. And he reports they have fielded calls from employees looking to leave other New York financial firms that offer less flexibility. All of which reinforces the notion that if there is a Battle for Talent underway, it’s talent that’s winning.

By the way, Prudential is one of the companies that made the decision in 2020 to publicly disclose more of its diversity data, so it could be held accountable for progress on that front. As a result, he says, “we are looking at all sorts of ways to bring in diverse talent.”

Separately, Centric Brands group president Suzy Biszantz told me yesterday that she actually upgraded her company’s office space on the West Coast, outfitting a new 30,000 square foot building in the LA Arts District that she says “features indoor and outdoor lounge areas, co-working environments, tech labs and countless meeting options as well as things like soundproof pods for private calls.” Lesson: if you want people to get back to the office, you had better make it an exciting place to be.

More news below.

Alan Murray
@alansmurray
[email protected]

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This edition of CEO Daily was edited by David Meyer.