Friday Already?

The 4-day work-week.

I’ve long been an advocate for working 4, 10-hour days instead of 5, 8-hour days and, if this virus has taught us anything (other than the Government will print all the money you need), it’s that work can be much more flexible than it has been.  Going back to the arbitray, rigid Monday through Friday, 9am to 5pm, spending two hours in rush hour traffic would be like going back to sharecropping at this point.  Having all 3-day weekends would greatly improve leisure travel for the struggling hotel and airline industries as well.

There are a lot of aspects of our work-life balance we’ll need to rethink as we begin to normalize.  A lot of companies will be more inclined to let people work at home (which does not bode well for Commercial Real Estate).  The reality of the pandemic is that productivity is UP significantly since the pandemic started – in great part because so many people were laid off and the remaining workers were forced to pick up the slack and, for those of us who end up working CONSTANTLY from home – that’s not necessarily sustainable but it clearly is possible.  

43% of the workers surveyed said they were more productive at home vs 15% who said they were less productive at home.  If we can just get those 15% to be honest with their bosses, the rest of us can keep working at home!  Now that the Zoom idiocy has died out, I think a lot of the productivity gain comes from having less meetings

President Biden had a useful meeting with President Xi this morning and that is perking up the markets and should get Gold (/GC) back over $1,800 along with rising copper as US/China tensions had been weighing on metals.  Xi largely blamed the U.S. for deteriorating ties but expressed optimism that the two powers could find ways to improve their relationship and work together on issues of global concern, including the Covid 19 pandemic, according to a readout of the call provided by the Chinese…

Provided courtesy of Phil’s Stock World.