The Trial Balance is CFO’s weekly preview of stories, stats, and events to help you prepare.
Part 1: In-office trends and the week ahead
The post-pandemic in-office trend has had its starts and stops, and CFOs have to adjust accordingly. Even as such companies as Google, JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America have issued back-to-office mandates, research still indicates resistance. And as a result, there are ripple effects, such as a decline in office rent.
But looking ahead, an in-office trend is emerging that may have implications for how CFOs manage teams, and it may indirectly tie into this week’s outlook for inflation and its impact on gas prices, food and other work-related expenses. Over the weekend, executive chairman Mark Ein of Kastle Systems spoke on CNBC about the future. Kastle is the industry leader in managed office security and collects substantial data on in-office footprints.
Ein said the trend is “clearly people are coming back to the office incrementally more and more,” and while average occupancy is plateauing across the week, peak days are increasing. Peak day occupancy — usually the middle of the week — is increasing from 50% a few years ago, to 60% this year. And in certain geographic markets, such as Austin, Texas, it is approaching 80%.
However, the tradeoff is Friday in-office work is on the decline, and the occupancy gap between the peak day and the slowest day is widening. Kastle’s data indicates that in Austin, there is a gap of nearly 41 percentage points, and in New York City the gap is approximately 37 percentage points.
The takeaway question, Ein offers, is that we may be on our way to a more organic shift to a 4-day work week. If Friday occupancy remains low and only goes lower, and employees continue to dislike companies monitoring their work day, executive leadership may see it as an opportunity to remake the in-office landscape.
Here’s a list of important market events slated for the week ahead.
Tuesday, April 23
- S&P Global U.S. manufacturing PMI
- S&P Global U.S. services PMI
- New home sales
Wednesday, April 24
- Durable Goods Orders
Thursday, April 25
- First quarter GDP
- First quarter personal consumption
- Initial jobless claims
- Pending home sales
Friday, April 25
- PCE inflation, month-over-month
- PCE inflation, year-over-year
- Core PCE, month-over-month
- Core PCE, year-over-year
- Consumer sentiment
Part 2: Toxic work environment remedies, polls, and Lacework’s CFO
This week, reporter Adam Zaki writes about how employees and human resource leaders are handling what surveyors call a “toxic work environment,” using data from a survey compiled with Workplace Intelligence and INTOO. (4/24)
Zaki will also put together a story on the viewpoints and trends of thought from subscribers of The Daily Balance, CFO’s email newsletter, using data from our weekly polls. Our subscribers have shared their thoughts about their economic outlook, Gen Z, work-life balance, AI, and more. (4/24)
Contributing writer Bob Violino will also publish a Q&A with Lacework’s CFO Andrew Casey about his company’s potential IPO launch and how Casey’s previous IPO experience plays a major role within it. (4/25)
Part 3: 6 a.m. CFO
Komprise’s CFO Craig Gomulka, who joined the company in January, shares how he structures his morning, his favorite quote, and the app he uses to learn how to speak German.
“I have several quotes I like, but one of my favorites is from Clinton Hurdle, former manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team: ‘If you’re the smartest person in the room you might want to look to add staff’.” (4/25)
