There’s a lot in this thread. But the comments about companies divesting themselves of commercial real estate has got me thinking about ripple effects. 1/n

Because a large shift to decentralized work tanks not only the commercial real estate business, but also a whole sector of service work that exists to handle large concentrations of office workers. 2/n

Janitorial staff, physical security, catering and hospitality, to name just a few. As these jobs go away, the income gap widens even further. And the burden of providing these services shifts to the remote employees. 3/n

And I fear the long-term outlook for these service jobs is bad. Lacking economy of scale, remote employees will look to gig workers to fill some of these functions—house cleaning, catering/shopping, etc. 4/n

This is clearly not good for these service industries and the people they currently employ. But I would also argue it is a bad thing for our society to be shedding these jobs into a gig economy which so far appears to be exploiting many for the benefit of very few. 5/n

So if you’re one of the lucky few (like me) who has been dealt the winning hand and can work remote and make a good living, I’m happy for you. But give a thought to the wrenching dislocation that this societal shift is going to have on those less fortunate. 6/n