What if we converted some of these office buildings into housing? (Along with dying ng/dead shopping malls?)

They did that to our former HQ and converted it to flats - took them longer and cost more than simply blowing it up and starting from scratch.

The entire building was gutted down to only it's outer frame, the support structure - the concrete slab floors and outer support pillars.

I guess getting planning permission for this was easier to obtain than demolition and building from scratch in that area.

On one hand they want the people to be in office, on the other hand they don’t want to be paying for office real estate. Tough to be a tech MBA

I genuinely find it amazing that companies aren't changing the workspace so as to make working in it more productive and desirable.

Broadly speaking, the goal is control and leverage, not productivity or worker quality of life. There are caveats of course (Dropbox comes to mind), examples can be found of pragmatic leadership, but it is more rare than not.

https://www.businessinsider.com/dropbox-ceo-employees-value-...