{"id":18316,"date":"2023-10-21T08:49:59","date_gmt":"2023-10-21T08:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/leadership\/how-vacant-offices-can-become-apartments-job-cuts-at-linkedin-and-discussing-war-at-work\/"},"modified":"2023-10-21T08:50:01","modified_gmt":"2023-10-21T08:50:01","slug":"how-vacant-offices-can-become-apartments-job-cuts-at-linkedin-and-discussing-war-at-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=18316","title":{"rendered":"How Vacant Offices Can Become Apartments, Job Cuts At LinkedIn And Discussing War At Work"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This is the published version of Forbes’ Future of Work newsletter, which offers the latest news for chief human resources officers and other talent managers on disruptive technologies, managing the workforce and trends in the remote work debate. Click <\/em>here<\/em> to get it delivered to your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n

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L<\/abbr>inkedIn cut 668 jobs this week\u2014a 3% reduction and its second round of layoffs this year\u2014in the latest sign tech companies aren\u2019t finished trimming jobs and the cooler labor market may be having a broader impact. The Microsoft-owned platform did not give a detailed explanation, but said in an announcement that \u201cwe are adapting our organizational structures and streamlining our decision making.\u201d<\/p>\n

LinkedIn, of course, has become a much more integral part of many professionals\u2019 lives during the pandemic as people have increasingly looked to change or quit jobs, build their personal brands or make sense of the changing world of work. And indeed, the platform has been growing: Revenue increased 5% year-over-year in the fourth quarter and surpassed $15 billion for the first time during the last fiscal year, the company said in July\u2014and membership has grown for eight quarters straight.<\/p>\n

Forbes\u2019<\/em> contributors weighed in with their own thoughts on the news\u2014or on what the platform could do better. Michael Gale thinks LinkedIn could be more of \u201cthe Google of the business arena,\u201d leaning in to be more of \u201ca Camera Obscura for the professional realm,\u201d where people have more ability to explore industry developments. Rachel Wells, meanwhile, questions what the layoffs could mean for Gen Z, who have long wanted jobs in Big Tech. My take? As hiring slows, there is likely less demand for recruitment, but it could also foretell more focus on AI as the company adds new features in that space. As LinkedIn wrote in the announcement, \u201cwe are continuing to invest in strategic priorities for our future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Heads up: Forbes<\/em> is making changes to its newsletter schedule. Starting Oct. 30, Future of Work will be coming to your inbox on Monday mornings. We will not be publishing next Friday, Oct. 27.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s to a good weekend.<\/p>\n

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HUMAN CAPITAL<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Labor strikes at the Big Three automakers \u2014 Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Chrysler owner Stellantis \u2014 continued another week, with United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain announcing a new twist to the union\u2019s strike strategy: Workers will walk out of any plant whenever necessary<\/strong>. The union, which has members striking at various plants, previously announced escalations on Fridays.<\/p>\n

A Ford executive said they have \u201cstretched themselves\u201d<\/strong> with their latest offer to the union. And earlier this week, Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford called for an end to the strike, saying the company was \u201cat a crossroads\u2026about the future of the American automobile industry.\u201d<\/p>\n

The strike for members of the SAG-AFTRA union, which represents actors, also continues. The biggest dispute between the union and Hollywood studios at the moment is a proposed payment structure for streaming residuals assessed per subscriber<\/strong> that would go toward actors based on the popularity of the works they appear in. The union\u2019s proposal would come out to $500 million annually, while studios offered a bonus pay structure totaling about $20 to $30 million annually.<\/p>\n

Discontent is simmering among flight attendants for American Airlines. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents the carrier\u2019s 26,000 flight attendants, expressed its \u201cprofound dissatisfaction\u201d<\/strong> with an executive it said was being \u201cdismissive\u201d and indifferent about concerns surrounding the suspicious death of a flight attendant in a Philadelphia hotel last month. The carrier is currently negotiating a new contract<\/strong> with the flight attendants\u2019 union, though a strike authorization vote in August received 99% backing.<\/p>\n

POLICY + PRACTICE<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The war between Israel and Hamas is weighing on the minds of many people. While it\u2019s a huge topic in the news today, it can be difficult to discuss it at work<\/strong>, especially because it personally touches so many ethnic and religious groups in varying ways. Some best practices include giving workers a forum to share their feelings, as well as offering help to employees who might have a hard time dealing with the flow of tragic news. Leaders should educate themselves on the conflict and its history, and do their best to respond compassionately to the feelings of employees.<\/p>\n

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Jewish, Muslim, Palestinian and Israeli professionals shared some ideas on ways to deal with colleagues who are personally involved<\/strong> in the situation, including supporting the suffering they feel and seeking understanding with different groups of colleagues.<\/p>\n

WORKPLACE DIVERSITY<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Kim Ng, general manager for the Miami Marlins since 2020 and the only woman so far to hold that position in Major League Baseball, will not be returning for the 2024 season. She\u2019s credited with making several strategic changes<\/strong> that gave the team its best season in nearly two decades. She hinted in an interview with the Athletic that operational changes the team\u2019s principal owner wanted to make, which would essentially put her in a number two spot for decision making, made it apparent that they \u201cwere not completely aligned\u201d and she should step away. Experts have said this is an example of work organizations undermining or devaluing women in leadership roles\u2014especially organizations with deeply entrenched institutionalized gender norms.<\/p>\n

The Women in the Workplace study by McKinsey and LeanIn.org showed that while gender parity in executive ranks has improved in the last eight years\u2014increasing from 17% to 28%\u2014there are issues in the promotion pipeline for women in middle management<\/strong>, especially for women of color. This can add up to larger problems in the future, since Black women bring a different\u2014and often overlooked\u2014perspective and image to the C-Suite.<\/p>\n

WHAT\u2019S NEXT: GENSLER\u2019S STEVEN PAYNTER<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Steven Paynter is a principal in the architecture and design firm Gensler who created an algorithm that helps decide if offices can be economically converted to apartments\u2014doing the analysis in hours rather than months. He\u2019s served on White House and Department of Housing and Urban Development panels on the topic of office building conversions\u2014and chatted with <\/em>Forbes about what works and what doesn\u2019t. Excerpts from our conversation below have been lightly edited for space and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n

How would you describe this algorithm to a non-architect? <\/strong><\/p>\n

At the end of 2019, when we started thinking about what we’re going to do the next year, a lot of our clients\u2014developers and landlords\u2014were saying they’re really worried about their class C office buildings. The stuff that was 50 years old. We started talking to them about conversions, but most of the ones we talked to were like \u2018we tried that. We spent months looking at it. We did all this design work and spent all this money and it didn’t pencil out.\u2019 At the same time, we had projects that were finished or under construction that were doing great. We couldn’t understand why sometimes it worked great and sometimes it didn’t. We wanted to come up with a way of determining which buildings were going to work without spending 4 to 6 months on it and wasting everyone’s time.<\/p>\n

So how did you figure it out? <\/strong><\/p>\n

An office building has a floor plate size, it has a number of floors, it has a number of parking spaces and a number of elevators. It’s dressed up to look like a nice piece of architecture, but it’s basically numbers. The same applies to residential. It has a number of units, it has a mix between two bedrooms and one bedrooms, there\u2019s a certain parking ratio. \u2026 The closer [the office building is] to the perfect residential building, the more chance you have of success. None of the buildings we’ve looked at have scored 100%. But the closer you can get, the more viable the project.<\/p>\n

If you have to do something really expensive like add fire exits or replace the facade, that’s going to be weighted quite heavily in the negative direction. And if you can create the perfect unit with great windows and good proportions, that will be weighted heavily in a positive direction. We aggregate 150 different scoring mechanisms, and you need to get above 80% to be confident. As of [mid-October], we’ve done 964 studies for conversions. Somewhere between 25 and 30% of the time, it works.<\/p>\n

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Can this actually make an impact in the commercial real estate glut? <\/strong><\/p>\n

What’s happening in the commercial market is really an acceleration of what was happening pre-COVID. The lower class, less desirable buildings and locations were really struggling. People didn’t want to commute to them. They didn’t want to work there. Now with hybrid working that\u2019s accelerated. People were like: \u2018Remember back five years ago and I had to go? And I hated it? Well, now I have a choice.\u2019<\/p>\n

It may not sound like a lot if only 25 to 30% of the buildings will actually work as conversions, and we\u2019ll probably do a lot less than 30%. But there’s 100 billion square feet of [commercial] real estate in the U.S. If you converted just 5% of that, you’d create 6 million homes. Just those small percentages make a massive difference.<\/p>\n

Hybrid work is not going away though\u2013even with conversions and incentives from cities, where does it go from here? <\/strong><\/p>\n

What we’re finding is that [employers] are taking less space, but they’re taking higher quality space. It’s not about getting everyone back all the time. But when they do come in, you need to give them a really high quality experience and something really special. What that means is that there’s going to be some real winners in the real estate market and some real losers too. That’s where my focus has been: How do I identify the losers and figure out what to do with them?<\/p>\n

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FACTS AND COMMENT<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The State of Work-Life Wellness 2024 report from Gympass, a company providing flexible access to fitness resources, looked at how employees feel about their job\u2019s impact on their lives<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

93%: <\/strong>Percentage of workers who said their well being was as important as their salary<\/p>\n

78%:<\/strong> Amount of HR leaders who say a wellness program has decreased their healthcare costs<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s clear that employee wellbeing is non-negotiable\u2019<\/strong>: Gympass chief people officer L\u00edvia de Bastos Martini said.<\/p>\n

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VIDEO<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Reach Capital partner Jomayra Herrera spoke to Forbes\u2019<\/em> Brittany Lewis at the Forbes Under 30 Summit about the future of work.<\/p>\n

STRATEGIES + ADVICE<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There\u2019s a business case for corporate activism on issues that matter. Here\u2019s how to get started.<\/p>\n

Is there an office Halloween party coming up? Here are appropriate costume ideas.<\/p>\n

Being a business leader is a huge accomplishment, but there can be a right time to step away for your own mental health.<\/p>\n

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QUIZ <\/strong><\/h3>\n

National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell\u2019s contract was extended until 2027. The amount of money that the average NFL team is worth has climbed<\/strong> to a record high under Goodell. According to Forbes<\/em> calculations, how much is that?<\/p>\n

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  1. $5.1 billion<\/li>\n
  2. $803 million<\/li>\n
  3. $7 billion<\/li>\n
  4. $1.2 billion<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    See the right answer <\/strong>here<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

    ACROSS THE NEWSROOM <\/strong><\/h3>\n
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    • Get our weekly rundown on the future of climate tech with our Current Climate newsletter. Sign-up here to get tomorrow’s edition.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Thanks for reading! Follow us on Twitter<\/a> for by-the-minute updates on the latest business and financial news throughout the day.<\/p>\n

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