Trendspotting: Need a New Desk? Rent It

NewsWire: 5/15/21

• Add furniture to the list of popular things that are up for rent. The furniture rental brand Feather has seen huge growth during the pandemic as people sought to  furnish their home offices for less. (Fortune)
• NH: When Covid-19 closed offices around the country, many now-remote workers found themselves in need of office chairs and desks--and with no idea of how long they’d need them. Enter Feather: a furniture rental startup that rents designer pieces. Since the pandemic began, demand has surged 400% for its home office items and 260% for other furniture items like sofas, chairs, and beds.
• Feather was founded four years ago and currently only operates in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and the D.C. metro area. Its competitors include ZZ Driggs and the Los Angeles-based Fernish. Unlike established furniture rental companies, the new wave is aimed squarely at Millennials and emphasizes high-end materials, upscale design, and the environmental benefits of renting.  Feather wants to be the furniture equivalent of Rent the Runway.
• Sure, part of the appeal of renting is financial. But now the appeal is also ideological. To rent is to participate in the "sharing economy." Whether it’s used furniture or used clothes, renting has become aspirational: It’s a way for young people to access products they otherwise couldn’t afford and save them from going to a landfill--with no pesky commitment.

Did You Know?

• The Multitasking Worker. If you’ve ever folded laundry during a remote meeting, you’re not alone. Microsoft just released the results of a study on employee multitasking that began in February 2020, as the company was transitioning to a fully remote workforce. Microsoft tracked every time a video call participant sent an e-mail or edited a file, and also asked employees to keep time diaries. The study found that multitasking is common during remote meetings, particularly during recurring meetings and meetings held in the morning. Employees were six times more likely to multitask during meetings lasting more than 80 minutes than ones that were 20 minutes or less. Much of this multitasking was work-related: People sent e-mails during 30% of meetings, for instance. But the diaries also showed employees exercising and watching cat videos. While bosses might frown on these activities as “distractions,” the study authors categorized them as much-needed coping mechanisms to help deal with the stress of, well, too many virtual meetings.