This month’s newsletter includes the best articles from December 2023 on work trends, Artificial Intelligence, commercial real estate trends, the economy in 2024 and cleaning expectations.
We hope this content is helpful as you hit the ground running in 2024.
Work Shift: Five Things We Learned In 2023 by Nicole Bullock (Bloomberg)
This is the time of year for reflections and predictions for the coming year. This article takes a look at some key work trends that defined 2023 and will impact 2024.
Highlights include:
- Even before the United Auto Workers reached historic contract deals with carmakers, unions had already won their members 6.6% raises on average in 2023 — the biggest bump in more than three decades, according to an analysis by Bloomberg Law.
- Workers can’t ignore ChatGPT, the generative AI chatbot now used by 100 million people a week, according to its creator OpenAI. It’s still so new that long-term effects seem not yet known. A few studies have emerged though.
- The stickiness of flexible work — even as people have returned to their pre-Covid patterns for school, travel, socializing and so on — has surprised even its biggest proponents. According to Stanford’s Nicholas Bloom, 60% of Americans and northern Europeans don’t have a remote option, another 30% are hybrid, mostly working from home two days a week and the remaining 10% are fully remote.
The promise and peril of AI at work in 2024, according to Deloitte's Tech Trends report by Sabrina Ortiz (ZDNet)
Artificial Intelligence is a big technology trend and expectation to disrupt how we do, analyze and improve our work in future. It doesn't come without it perils, however. This article tackles the latest tech report from Deloitte on the potential and pitfalls AI could present to organizations.
Highlights include:
- Within the first 60 days of ChatGPT's release to the public, OpenAI garnered 100 million users. For comparison, it took TikTok, a major leader in the social media space, nine months to reach that milestone.
- Business leaders' interest in the technology parallels that of the public, with 80% of business leaders in a Deloitte CEO survey from summer 2023 agreeing that generative AI will increase efficiencies in their organization.
- Other research comes to similar conclusions. An IBM survey showed that the most common use cases for generative AI that business leaders prioritize include improving content quality, driving competitive advantage, and scaling employee expertise over reducing headcount.
Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2024 from PwC
As corporate real estate and facilities leaders, keeping tabs on the financial and occupancy rates for commercial real estate will impact how we determine our office usage and budgets. This report takes a look at key trends affecting the real estate markets (key insights on office space markets start on page 83).
Highlights from the report include:
- Office market sentiment is largely negative as the market faces headwinds that include declining space demand, pressure on owners to increase capital expenditures, and the impact of rising interest rates.
- Office market recovery will be hampered by weak capital market liquidity as many investors and lenders are reluctant to increase exposure to the sector. Office property values are expected to drop 30 to 40 percent on average.
- Despite the negative outlook, most office buildings are performing well, with the occupancy rate either staying the same or even improved since 2020. The pandemic has prompted an effort to redevelop obsolete office buildings and renovate CBDs that will serve the sector well over time
The 2024 economy could be shockingly normal By Neil Irwin (Axios)
As we enter 2024, there is a lot of speculation on the state of the economy. This article from Axios includes a lot of data and predictions on what 2024 will bring and it is surprisingly normal economy. We will just have to see.
Highlights include:
- It's the answer we got when we asked about 600 Axios Macro readers how they expect the economy to perform in 2024. They put 25% odds on a 2024 recession, down from 50% a year earlier.
- In 2023, the economy has been experiencing the pain set off by those events, with high interest rates causing everything from bank failures to tech industry layoffs to a dysfunctional housing market.
- With inflation on the way down, Fed officials now anticipate cutting interest rates three times in 2024 — and financial markets think there will be even bigger moves.
The pandemic is over, but Americans are still obsessed with cleaning everything by Patrisha Antonaros (Study Finds)
As we look to get back into the office at least some of the time, know that we are more cleaning conscious as a society than ever before. This article looks at our continued obsession with cleanliness coming out of the pandemic and the expectations we have.
Highlights include:
- A recent survey finds Americans dedicate nearly four hours per week just to cleaning. The poll of 2,000 people reveals that nearly half (49%) report that their cleaning habits have been greatly affected by their experiences during COVID.
- The survey, conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Tineco, finds that six in 10 Americans have become increasingly concerned about the effectiveness of their cleaning practices following the pandemic. As a result, cleaning habits have become a continued area of focus.
- The survey also affirms that cleaning isn’t exactly a chore, with 67 percent of respondents finding it therapeutic and a practice that reduces their stress and improves their mental health. Increased productivity and focus (56%), improved aesthetics and comfort (49%), and even improved physical health (48%) were among the other reported advantages.