The hybrid workplace is failing to live up to expectations in a number of ways, according to some observers. By one estimate, spending an average of three days each week in the office can limit encounters between any two workers by 64 percent compared with pre-pandemic norms. The gap widens to 84 percent in potential interactions for those in the office two days a week. As offices fill up, workers who turn up in person may therefore forge closer bonds with their teams and company leaders than remote ones. Proximity bias — the subconscious tendency to value and reward physical presence — may then disadvantage women, minorities and parents of young children, who are keener on home working than other groups. Before the pandemic, many companies were going to great lengths to engineer serendipity. Google, which credits spontaneous chats for products such as Gmail and Street View, designed its Silicon Valley headquarters to ensure that any one Googler could reach any other by walking no more than two-and-a-half minutes. Bathrooms at the headquarters for Pixar, the animation studio co-founded by Steve Jobs, were located in the central atrium so that people from different teams would cross paths when nature called. (The Economist)

Bodycams for retail: Bodycams, essential to law enforcement, have now come to retail, where customer abuse escalated during lockdowns. Tesco, Britain’s largest supermarket chain, says the number of serious violent incidents has fallen by more than one-fifth since it equipped staff with bodycams during the pandemic. Omdia, a retail-pricing company, put the global market for bodycams at $540 million, and by 2024 it expects the market to grow to $700 million. (British Independent Retailers Association, The Economist)

The download on wallets: These days, you may be more likely to download your wallet from an app store than pick it out at a department store. The mobile wallet industry has seen significant advances in the past decade, changing the way people manage and spend their money, and the tasks that these wallets can perform have rapidly expanded. In turn, the mobile wallet sector has become one of the fastest-growing industries, currently worth around $1 trillion and is estimated to grow by more than $7 trillion by 2027. (CB Insights Industry Analyst Consensus)

Iconic auto making electrifying comeback: The DeLorean Motor Co., or at least the entity now using that name, says it’s bringing back the iconic car, and this time, it’s luxuriously electric. In a 15-second teaser video uploaded to Twitter shortly before the Super Bowl, the company showed off the silhouette of a redesigned DeLorean called DeLorean EVolved — featuring the emblematic gull-wing doors. DeLorean originally manufactured the DeLorean between 1981 and 1982, but the car has since gained cult status for its prototypically ’80s looks, and its appearances in the “Back to the Future” films. (Futurism)

The costs of isolation: Even as many argue for the United States to internalize and adopt a Fortress America policy, overseas markets remain essential to many U.S. companies. In 2020 they supplied 28 percent of the revenue for S&P 500 companies. The technology industry is particularly outward facing, earning 58 percent of its revenues abroad. (Bloomberg, Dealogic, Goldman Sachs, The Economist)

Making millions the old-fashioned way: The number of millionaires investing in the Thrift Savings Plan also saw surges, by nearly 50 percent. As of Dec. 31, there were 112,880 TSP millionaires, up from 75,420 a year ago. Account balances also ballooned in the fourth quarter, according to Fidelity. Its average 401(k) balance increased to a record $130,700 in the fourth quarter, up 4 percent from the previous quarter and 8 percent from a year ago. (Fidelity, Washington Post)

Fracking could cushion oil price shocks: It takes an average of 12 years after the initial investment for new oil fields to begin producing. In contrast, fracking offers much more flexibility than conventional oil production. With fracking, within one year, you can invest and have oil running out. Secondly, with fracking, it is very easy to shut down or increase the amount that you produce. Fracking weakens the OPEC cartel, leading to a large, long-run decline in oil prices. Fracking also reduces the volatility of oil prices in the long run because fracking firms can respond more quickly to changes in oil demand. (Gideon Bornstein, Knowledge@Wharton)

The wall: The Financial Times will soon reach 1 million digital-only subscribers. FT has had a digital paywall since 2002. It was one of the first publishers to introduce a metered paywall in 2007. (Axios)

Mike Consol (m.consol@irei.com) is editor of Real Assets Adviser. Follow him on Twitter (@mikeconsol) and LinkedIn (linkedIn.com/in/mikeconsol) to read his latest postings.