🍽 The CEO has nobody to lunch with ☹️

Plus: Vegan dog treats | Thursday, March 24, 2022

Open in app View in browser     Axios What's Next By Jennifer A. Kingson and Joann Muller ·Mar 24, 2022 Thanks so much to the many, many of you who gave us your opinions about daylight saving time! In case you missed it, here are the results of the informal survey. (Some of us at Axios were surprised that so many of you want to stop changing the clocks altogether!) There's still time to sign up for Axios' inaugural What's Next Summit on April 5! Register here to attend virtual livestream sessions. Today's Smart Brevity count: 1,132 words ... 4 minutes.     1 big thing: Your CEO has no lunch buddy Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios   Offices are opening, but only the executives want to go in to work, writes Erica Pandey from Axios Finish Line. The big picture: There's an executive-employee disconnect in hybrid workplaces. Many CEOs and top leaders are eager to work in-person the way we did before the pandemic, while many rank-and-file workers want to keep telecommuting. 75% of executives want to come back to the office three or more days a week, compared with just 37% of rank-and-file employees, according to a Slack Future Forum report.  As a result, many executives are returning to barren offices. In the last quarter of 2021, 71% of executives were back in the office full-time, compared with 63% of rank-and-filers. That may not seem like a large gap, but consider the fact that many people in the latter category work in labs or IT or with clients in jobs that cannot fully be done from home. The disparity is likely much higher when looking only at workers who can work remotely, says Brian Elliott, VP of Slack's Future Forum. What's happening: Executives scored 77% higher than workers on the work-life-balance metric in Future Forum's survey, so they're likelier to have fewer responsibilities — like child care — keeping them at home. They're also likelier to have nicer offices and better setups in the workplace. So it makes sense that they're the first — and the most eager — to return, Elliot says. The stakes: Experts warn that an imbalanced return to work — with top leaders and a self-selecting group of other employees going back, while others stay home — could lead to proximity bias. Read the full story     2. Bonus: End of an office era Data: Kastle Systems; Chart: Axios Visuals Despite pleading from politicians and bosses, offices around the country are still pretty empty, according to data released this week by security firm Kastle, Emily Peck reports in Axios Markets. Driving the news: Kastle measures occupancy by looking at foot traffic into offices, pulling data from security swipe cards and keyfobs. Why it matters: If this lasts, it's a game-changing shift for the economics of cities around the country. The disruption could be comparable to the exodus of manufacturing from cities in the late 20th century, University of Toronto professor Richard Florida told the Wall Street Journal. Details: Occupancy rates are low even in areas of the country like Texas that have had looser pandemic restrictions in recent months: It's 52% in Austin, 48% in Houston and 47% in Dallas. Rates are even lower in New York (37%) and San Francisco (30%). Share this story     3. Apartments are being built like crazy in the Sunbelt Data: RealPage; Map: Jacque Schrag/Axios Nashville, Austin, Phoenix, Raleigh/Durham and Salt Lake City are poised to see the largest increases in the country in new apartments built this year — 5% or more, according to a national survey by RealPage, a data analytics and property management software provider. Why it matters: Growth in housing stock in the Sunbelt points to where people are moving — and where the economy is likely to continue thriving, Jennifer A. Kingson writes. About 40% of Americans live in apartments, and there's a huge demand for more. Cities that have been attracting workers during the pandemic-era relocation trend are particularly desperate for additional housing. Driving the news: RealPage projects that 426,000 apartment units will be built in the U.S. this year, representing a 30-year high in such activity, Smart Cities Dive reports. The push to build apartments in popular cities like Nashville and Austin is "driven by long-term migration trends, pandemic-geographic shifts, 40-year inflation, and deep pockets of institutional investors looking for higher returns," per Smart Cities Dive. The South was the only region with positive net domestic migration last year, Smart Cities Dive says, citing Census Bureau data. "Florida, Texas and Arizona posted the largest net migration gains among all states," the news outlet said. "They also boast four of the 10 cities with the largest expected inventory growth." Details: Here are the top 10 cities for apartment growth, followed by the percentage increase in apartment inventory expected in 2022, according to data sent by RealPage to Axios: Nashville: 7% Austin: 6.9% Phoenix: 5.8% Raleigh/Durham: 5.3% Salt Lake City: 5.1% Jacksonville, Fla.: 4.8% Seattle: 4.5% Charlotte: 4.4% Orlando: 3.9% Denver: 3.6%     A message from Axios 7 steps to craft Axios-style communications     Get the building blocks of Axios' Smart Brevity® method with this handy checklist from Axios HQ. Follow the steps for more effective employee and stakeholder communications. Get the free checklist     4. A possible solution to video games' romance problem Assassin's Creed Odyssey. Screenshot: Ubisoft via Kotaku   Video game creators should consider offering more complex depictions of interactive romance, designer Michelle Clough said in a talk at the Game Developers Conference this week in San Francisco. Why it matters: More interesting in-game depictions of love, flirtation and courtship could attract players who crave more than the medium's current simplistic approaches, Stephen Totilo writes in Axios Gaming. The details: Clough critiqued "kindness coins," a common transactional form of game romance, arguing for more complex systems tied to chemistry and attraction. Blockbusters such as Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed Odyssey use the "kindness coins" approach, in which players romantically engage computer-controlled characters with "nice" interactions — usually simple dialogue choices or the giving of a gift — and expect eventual reciprocity. Player choices gradually fill an invisible meter until the other character responds, maybe with a flirtatious comment, a kiss or a ratings-appropriate, non-interactive sex scene. Clough proposes a system tied to a range of actions, many of which already exist in scores of games, to attract non-player characters, or NPCs. "There's no reason why NPCs couldn't be attracted to the way your character fights or their look, or how they talk, how they pet cats, conquer kingdoms, you get the idea." Broadening how attraction could work in games, she says, "frees us up to tell more kinds of love and sex stories and more ways people can be drawn to one another." Yes, but: Some players don't want complex romance in games, Clough said. Read the rest     5. Vegan dog treats are proliferating When introducing a new pet snack, it helps to have an exceptionally cute dog. Photo courtesy of Bright Planet Pet   A Twin Cities entrepreneur is joining the trend toward selling vegan treats for dogs, Torey Van Oot writes in Axios Twin Cities. The big picture: As more humans adopt a plant-based diet, some want to wean their pets from meat, too. Big brands like Newman's Own and Wild Earth make vegan dog food, and some people are making their own meatless pet food at home — or turning it into a business. While cats are carnivores, "dogs are omnivores, and as long as their diet is complete and balanced they can be vegetarian or even vegan," the Guardian reports. The pitch: Bright Planet Pet, founded by pet food industry veteran Katherine Ellison, touts that its treats "satisfy all of your dog's cravings," from "the smoky grill smell to the indulgent taste of meat." Ellison said she saw an opportunity to "get ahead of the trend" as consumers look for "very small changes" that can lower their carbon footprint. "Something that we know is true for both ourselves and our pets is that when we look into the future, we will all be eating less meat," she tells Axios. Read the full story     A message from Axios 7 steps to craft Axios-style communications     Get the building blocks of Axios' Smart Brevity® method with this handy checklist from Axios HQ. Follow the steps for more effective employee and stakeholder communications. Get the free checklist   Was this email forwarded to you? 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