The man who allegedly wanted his football team to tank apparently now hopes the economy will tank, too.

The pandemic revolutionized the manner in which many Americans work. And, after learning that those who work from home can be even more effective than those who show up day after day for small talk and involuntary socialization that often impacts productivity, many decided that they prefer working from home.

Now that the pandemic is over (even if it really isn’t, but that doesn’t matter), employers want to get the employees back under their direct supervision and/or thumbs. Those with massive commercial real estate holdings don’t want to see their properties become unoccupied and, in turn, worthless.

Enter commercial real estate billionaire Stephen Ross, who made enough in that endeavor to buy the Miami Dolphins. Via BusinessInsider.com, Ross told Bloomberg on Friday that he sees a silver lining in an economic recession. Employees will feel compelled to return to the office.

“Employers have been somewhat hesitant because they didn’t want to lose their employees, but I think as you go into a recession and people fear that they might not have a job, that will bring people back to the office,” Ross said. “The employees will recognize as we go into a recession, or as things get a little tighter, that you have to do what it takes to keep your job and to earn a living.”

That’s a short-sighted and cynical view of worker productivity. If people can work as well if not better remotely than they do when crammed into a largely artificial space with largely artificial lighting and largely artificial air and largely artificial relationships, why squeeze them to do something that would make them less effective, less fulfilled, and less happy?

“Every executive recognizes that people need to work together,” Ross said. “You have to train your workforce and educate them and you work as a team. You don’t work as individuals.”

But many people work well as individuals. The PFT writing team is sprinkled across the country, from New York to West Virginia to Chicago to Texas to Los Angeles. We’re in constant communication via text message. We’re together rarely. We’re all productive.

Likewise, for two seasons I’ve contributed to Football Night in America from a studio in my home, avoiding 14 hours of weekly travel and everything that goes along with it, while also being able to focus on my duties in an environment far more conducive to maximum output throughout some very hectic football Sundays. It’s been better for PFT, better (and cheaper) for NBC, and better for me personally.

Not every business can thrive that way, I know. But not every business needs to shoehorn human beings into a shared space, where all sorts of potentially unfortunate interactions can occur, from someone eating someone else’s chicken salad that was left in the refrigerator to various forms of harassment that can become legally actionable.

Again, Ross has a clear bias. There’s no money in commercial real estate if offices shrink or, in some cases, disappear. Thus, while a recession would be a bad thing for the country, it will be a good thing for the commercial real estate tycoons out there who otherwise could see the demand for their products continue to shrink and, possibly, to evaporate completely.

There’s a clear irony in Ross’s viewpoint on this. He lives and works in New York, not Miami. It would benefit from his presence on a daily basis. Without him there, turf battles and personal agendas an infighting have made the franchise sufficiently dysfunctional to be rarely relevant. Owners who show up every day at their teams’ facilities love competing against teams whose owners are basically absentee landlords.

So Ross wants the economy to tank so those with more money who will not feel the sting will have more control over those working paycheck-to-paycheck. Seems like a very likable guy.

Ross is a dinosaur. The world is moving on and he’s trying to desperately cling to the old ways. Forcing people to work in the office by threatening their job isn’t going to work. People have choices and they know it. Any business that would demand my presence in the office just to justify their investment in real estate is not a place that I would consider working.

Cynical, yes. Correct, yes. We all should be bracing for a recession and hope it doesn’t turn into a depression.

Is Stephen Ross right on *any* issue? Yikes.

Escape the cheap energy economy? Forget that!

Ross is out of touch with the new norm. Hard stop.

If the economy goes into a recession he loses money. No one with any sense wants to lose money. The point is workers will not get to be as picky if there are less jobs. If you think you are ‘entitled’ to work from home in your pajamas all day then start your own company.

It’s cute how Ross presumes to know anything about regular people. He’s so disconnected it’s sad.

“There’s going to be a recession, so people will line up to take part in spending more money to work. They enjoy using many gallons of $5 gas and packing lunches and taking part in excruciating team building activities even though every one of them would rather take a bullet to the face than interact with coworkers.”

He’s really got his finger on the pulse of America.

Last time I checked, almost all industries are having trouble hiring both low and high-level employees. We are more than one step away from businesses being able to throw their weight around again.

Sounds like has has poor management skills, if that is how he views it. Set goals and objectives. If said goals and objectives are met, then it doesn’t matter where you are sitting.

Stay away Stephen. The team actually tries to win when you aren’t around.

If Ross sees a recession it likely won’t happen. He’s been wrong about EVERYTHING in Miami for 14 years.

“If the economy goes into a recession he loses money. No one with any sense wants to lose money. The point is workers will not get to be as picky if there are less jobs. If you think you are ‘entitled’ to work from home in your pajamas all day then start your own company.”

Ross’s fortune is dependent upon employers physically storing employees in centralized offices who in many cases *have no reason to be there* in order for the the necessary work to be done. Ross is losing money right now, because his role as a fancy corporate landlord is taking a massive hit.

The number of jobs available is largely unchanged. Wages are increasing after years of stagnating and employers (some of them anyway) are figuring out that no one is happy to be lowballed anymore.

I am not a fan of Ross and I do not disagree with your comments. However, this post is really not about football. I have other sites I go to for commentary on other subjects.

All Ross is saying is this. In a job market where there is a scarcity of talent – candidates/employees can dictate some terms of employment. In a recessionary market, where jobs are fewer and farther apart, companies can dictate terms -including to existing employees.

Remember, there are jobs which can be done remotely. But there are companies where not all jobs can be done remotely (Retail, manufacturing, etc). In those cases, you run the risk of establishing a two tier system – haves and have not, which isn’t always great for company morale.

And many companies sign long term leases on space, and those that renewed before covid hit may be paying big $$$ for unused space. As long as they are paying for the space, they may feel it is better to fill the space.

Bottom line, if you own your own company – you can choose how the employees work. And based on the market, and availability of other jobs, employees will accept it, or they will leave.

I was home-office based years before the pandemic. Personally I wouldn’t consider a position where I was required to drive to an office daily. Just like many other items on a companies list of benefits; I won’t work for a company that doesn’t have generous PTO, health ins, 401k/stock, etc. and I won’t work for a company that is anti work from home for positions where it is feasible and sensible.

From my experience Ross is wrong. My company just sold 3 satellite offices and told the workers to move to a new location or work from home. When asked for the reason the company told me that it’s due to the face people are more productive at home, absenteeism is lower, morale is higher and revenues are up.

Ross may say workers will be forced to tighten up and make a choice. I think the employers will also make a choice and remote offices will be the choice many will choose.

On the upside, he’s old………..like really, really old.

Spoken like someone who works from home.

From my experience Ross is wrong. My company just sold 3 satellite offices and told the workers to move to a new location or work from home. When asked for the reason the company told me that it’s due to the face people are more productive at home, absenteeism is lower, morale is higher and revenues are up. ————————————————————————————————————————– It’s also far less expensive for someone to work at home, so that’s essentially more money in a worker’s pocket that they’re not spending on all of the things we know you spend money on during the course of a work week……

If Mr. Ross is feeling financial heat because his real estate business is taking a hit, perhaps he will be more motivated to sell the Dolphins before the NFL cracks down on him for alleged “tanking” and/or former HC Brian Flores lawsuit.

Another old man out of touch w the modern worker. People are leaving companies in droves for full-time work from home remote jobs.

cletuspstillwaterjr says: June 18, 2022 at 8:03 am

So Ross wants the economy to tank so those with more money who will not feel the sting will have more control over those working paycheck-to-paycheck. ——–

He didn’t say he wants a recession. He said that with a recession – as many people think is looming – the workplace dynamic will change again. He probably has opinions of the effect on commercial real estate if the economy booms or stays level. So what?

Silver lining? Gas prices through the roof and making people drive back to an office.

So someone in commercial real estate wants his business to grow. How is that a bad thing? Doesn’t everyone on here want their business to grow?

I work for a Giant Corporation that used to micromanage , sold our giant offices 2 years ago and production is the same and costs are way down .

I’ve worked remotely in an old technology field since 2011 and have never met any of my co-workers face-to-face. We don’t even do video calls, just voice. I don’t work more than 40 hours a week, make a 6 figure income, don’t have a commute, read PFT at all three meals, and can easily take care of life’s little chores while still being productive. Our customer loves me and what I get done. I get that these real estate people and extrovert managers aren’t comfortable with it but I’ll never go back to an office.

A company can say whatever it wants, the sole reason for anyone to want their employees to return to office is that they are paying a lease on a empty office. Or in his case he has less of a pool to sell office space to. As someone who has a job and keeps an eye out on the market, if it ain’t remote or at least hybrid I’m not much interested in reading further.

Great another billionaire who really cares about the little people.

As always it is the money. Bill

All these young ones commenting who did not live through the 70s and 80s, better get ready for a hard lesson.

A recession which the same smart economists who predicted the explosion in Inflation, is highly likely over the next few quarters. Ross doesn’t need to wish anything. Economic factors already in play will make it so.

Enjoy not being able to afford a typical July 4th America.

Enjoy not being able to afford a typical July 4th America.

Are you suggesting that the day itself will disappear from the calendar? What is a normal 4th of July supposed to look like? Pretty sure most people can find a way to enjoy the holiday one way or another if they choose to, regardless of the economic conditions of the country. Holidays should be about celebrating, not spending money.

As far as Ross, if what he is saying is true, the companies that will lose out will exactly be the ones forcing people to go back to work, because all the best people will move to the companies that are not doing that. The giant sucking sound of talent leaving the companies that are forcing people back to offices will most likely be the death nell of many of those companies.

And perhaps that is what the larger ones are realizing and many are stockpiling cash for that eventuality in hopes of regaining the upper hand over employees. Not sure that will be successful this time.

Perhaps the opposite will happen as corporations look to cut costs and off-load overly high priced office space they will actually force people to work from home and then rent some space for a few days every now and then to bring people together. The smart people, which Ross is not, will not renew office space leases to off-load that pricey over head. Not-to-mention it reduces employee conflict which means leas HR people, etc, etc. Basically a bunch of worthless people managers will no longer have a real need in business. Furthermore, if business want the best employees one of the top perks that will be required is a work from home option.

Real estate includes shopping malls. Lots of people discovered shopping from home is better and cheaper for them. So malls are way less in demand. Probably does annoy the owners of malls. And, lots of people needed for the face-to-face and support jobs in malls don’t have those jobs anymore.

Can you imagine how hellish the last 2 1/2 years have been for those people for whom going to work is an escape from their family? I know a number of guys who suddenly turned into workaholics when the alternative is going home to the chaos of small children (and spouses who might not appreciate them).

Never miss an opportunity to show you left learning politics Ah we are already in a recession with two consecutive quarters of negative growth. We have the highest inflation in 40 years and just had the biggest rate hike in 20 and another one expected next month of at least half or 3/4 of a point.

Anyone saying Ross is a dinosaur for saying this probably also love Elon musk who also Said the same thing. Age doesn’t matter all elites want suffrage.

98 down votes to my post. Significant postings and up votes on social issues. Mike, consider a new link at the top of the page for related topics. There is a market for this line of commentary (or is it just anti Ross). The people have spoken.

Mock Ross if you like, but this economy will be subjected to more shocks if we start seeing waves of office building failures. Getting people back to work at the office is a good thing. Yes, it’s good for landlords like Ross. But it’s also good for surrounding businesses that depend on people showing up to the office to sustain their businesses. Local restaurants, shops and the like will be hurt badly. There’s a price to pay for everything – including working remotely.

Please explain how this is the guy that was going to orchestrate the Payton/Brady masterpiece

“Now that the pandemic is over (even if it really isn’t, but that doesn’t matter)”

In Ohio the positive COVID % the last 4 weeks averaged .00024. Pretty sure that qualifies as minimal right now. But let’s keep everyone frightened over this.

The entire work from home movement is an attempt to remove a sense of community from workers. At higher levels, the purpose is to silo activities so no one in group A knows what group B is doing. Much like Great Benefit in The Rainmaker. Couple that with national traditional and sports media putting out their Marxist propaganda, and nobody knows there are like-minded souls who do not believe the multiple Big Lies.

As a Dolphins fan of 34 years, it’s difficult for me to reconcile how much I dislike our owner. I can’t wait until he’s forced to sell the team.

I’ve been working 100% remotely since the beginning of the pandemic and I will never go back to commuting to an office. I don’t ever want the company’s to get the upper hand again. Employees need to stand together and use our power while we have it to put the company’s that think like Ross out of business entirely.

The entire work from home movement is an attempt to remove a sense of community from workers. At higher levels, the purpose is to silo activities so no one in group A knows what group B is doing. Much like Great Benefit in The Rainmaker. Couple that with national traditional and sports media putting out their Marxist propaganda, and nobody knows there are like-minded souls who do not believe the multiple Big Lies.

in 1987 i quit my job and started freelancing. it was not easy but I slowly picked up a few regular clients. in 1993 one client ask me to go to work for them. the pay and benefits were good but it was an hour commute. I said no, I like my current situation. after a several months of pursuing me, they eventually offered to let me work at home, if I came to the office once a week. I accepted. in 2004 I took a job with a company 400 miles away. I still work for this company. I’ve been in the office twice…..once in 2004 before I took the job, and again in 2018.

a smart employer knows the value each employee brings to the table.

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