Big employers cut office space

Having “discovered during the pandemic that they can function with nearly all of their workers out of the office,” many big employers are downsizing on expensive office space in city centers, said Peter Eavis and Matthew Haag in The New York Times. Most aren’t going fully remote. But Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s CEO, said recently he expected that “for every 100 employees, the bank would need seats for only 60 on average.” United Airlines is getting rid of 17 percent of its space at Willis Tower, in Chicago, while Salesforce has started subletting half its office in San Francisco. On average, “just a quarter of workers in the 10 biggest urban areas have returned to offices, a rate that has stayed the same for months.” had to pay between $1,000 and $5,000 in replanning expenses. Now, “plenty of couples are looking at the financial math of a big wedding reception and saying, ‘Forget it.’” The Knot still expects wedding costs in 2021 to be roughly on par with 2019, mainly because some couples postponed their plans “in order to celebrate with a larger number of guests.”