Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Posted
15 minutes ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

Isn't that mindset the same one employees are using against companies asking them to return to offices.

Idk about you, but I don't think of my relationship to an employer as them being a customer of mine. Maybe if I'm on contract, sure. But as an exclusively employed salary earning dude, they fuckin control my family's healthcare. And most Americans/workers are in a similar position. 

That's not a normal market interaction as you are trying to frame it dismissively

  • Hook 'Em 2
Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Captainant said:

What a unique mindset: the market should adjust to your business's needs, not the other way around

Agreed.  people staying home are more supportive of their direct local markets/ businesses.

I have worked in office/ in market for my whole career until 3 weeks ago.  Now I am 50-50 wfh/ travel.  It's a big adjustment, but the single biggest thing i like is minimized disruption.  I feel way the hell more productive with my "office time."  With communications these days, you can still interact easily and collaborate.  I don't have to see someone in person to get their input/ evaluation on something.

The return to office calls seem to be much more of a manipulative control mechanism than actual synergy or productivity, IMHO.  One thing that differentiates things for us is that we have some very direct measures of results/ productivity.  It's like "Bitch, count the money.  My team is kicking ass, so move the fuck along..."

Edited by slorch
Posted
2 hours ago, NotActuallyALonghorn said:

Yeah, but you can take work calls on the shifter if you WFH. You can do it at the office too, it's just a bit awkward when the stall next to you flushes.

Or plays "We are the Champions" on his phone.

  • Haha 1
Posted
Bingo.   There are two main reasons all of this has happened and real estate is one of them.   The other is good old fashioned "we've always done it this way (worked in the office)" bullshit.   C suite people don't trust worker bees to do their jobs unless they know where the physically sit.  Even though I physically sit in my home office, someone in the ivory tower can't stroll through our office building and see me. 
And the really fucking funny/sad thing about that is I can count on one hand the number of times I saw anyone from the C suite on my floor in the 9 years I worked in the office.  I never saw the CEO (who sat 9 floors above me) on my floor in those 9 years.   Being in the office the majority or all of the time is an antiquated mindset.   I still can't wrap my head around why more companies don't see remote work as a net boon.  It drastically increases the talent pool you can draw from.    Yes, reneogiating or terminating leases/owned buildings is a pain in the ass but it's not like they have to eliminate all of their floor space.  And how much of that space was sitting open/available pre-Covid anyway.  NYC and SF might have been full up but was Houston?   Dallas?   Seattle?   What about Kansas City, Salt Lake City or Charlotte?   
Companies that are adjusting to this and thinking big picture are going to win in the long run.  

You’re missing the third big reason, which is a not-so-subtle way to have force reductions without layoffs.
  • Hook 'Em 6
Posted
1 hour ago, Captainant said:

Idk about you, but I don't think of my relationship to an employer as them being a customer of mine. Maybe if I'm on contract, sure. But as an exclusively employed salary earning dude, they fuckin control my family's healthcare. And most Americans/workers are in a similar position. 

That's not a normal market interaction as you are trying to frame it dismissively

My perspective has always been the one with the money, the one that is paying is the ultimate customer. Only reason I work at my current employer is that they are paying me. (W2 or 1099 doesn't really change that to me)

Posted
1 hour ago, MonkeyDoughnut said:

My perspective has always been the one with the money, the one that is paying is the ultimate customer. Only reason I work at my current employer is that they are paying me. (W2 or 1099 doesn't really change that to me)

This is fucked up man

  • Hook 'Em 1
  • Like 1
  • 2 years later...
Posted

https://www.fastcompany.com/91440457/600-employees-took-paramount-skydance-buyouts-following-rto-mandate

 

Quote

While employees leaving in large numbers due to such mandates seems like a major upheaval, some research says that is the point (at least in part). According to a 2024 Bamboo HR report, back-to-office mandates can help companies avoid layoffs. Per the report, nearly 2 in 5 managers, directors, and executives (37%) say their company enacted layoffs in the last year because fewer employees than they expected quit during their RTO. Likewise, 25% of VP and C-suite executives and nearly 1 in 5 HR pros (18%) say they actually hoped employees would voluntarily leave amid mandates.

 

  • Rage+1 1
Posted

I’ll munch some crow in this thread.  2.5 years ago I predicted companies’ calling employees back into the office would suffer and that the backlash against wfh would be temporary.  I still think companies doing away with wfh will perform poorly over the long term, but I overestimated workers’ leverage.  I underestimated the odds of worsening economic conditions contributing to companies’ motivation to use forcing folks back into the office as a way to reduce headcount without doing layoffs.  I also underestimated how quickly companies would lean on AI as a way to reduce headcount (doing away with wfh employees first).

I still think that long term, wfh will be common and companies that embrace it will be better off.  But in the short term, remote employees seem to be proper fucked.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted

https://www.apollotechnical.com/working-from-home-productivity-statistics/#:~:text=A study by Standford of,home increase productivity by 13%.

Much of the international literature is the same, productivity increases in the industries well suited to work from home.

But, this isn't about productivity or employee well being. It is about control and, par for the course, those that can not work from home by nature of their job are happily standing against their fellow workers.

  • Hook 'Em 2
Posted
6 hours ago, Im_smarter_then_you said:

I commute about 30-45 minutes each way daily.   They’re thinking about moving to a new office that is 1.5 hours further.   Yea.  Not gonna work

The new office is now 5 minutes away from the boss' house.

  • Hook 'Em 1
Posted

My company is starting RTO in January. 3 days a week for employees that live within 50 miles of the office. Luckily I live 65 miles away but they'll come for me eventually. People are PISSED. 

  • Rage+1 1
Posted (edited)

We did RTO today, barely a full day's notice. We used to have people exempt over 50 miles, not anymore. People hired under full time remote work policy from Temple got up super early today, felt terrible for them.

Edited by pacman
Posted
37 minutes ago, pacman said:

We did RTO today, barely a full day's notice. We used to have people exempt over 50 miles, not anymore. People hired under full time remote work policy from Temple got up super early today, felt terrible for them.

Surely the company is just doing a soft layoff of those long range workers.  No other logic makes sense.

Posted (edited)
53 minutes ago, pacman said:

We did RTO today, barely a full day's notice. We used to have people exempt over 50 miles, not anymore. People hired under full time remote work policy from Temple got up super early today, felt terrible for them.

i'm 44 miles away from proposed new office. That is a 2 hour drive each way in LA

Edited by Im_smarter_then_you
Posted
1 hour ago, pacman said:

We did RTO today, barely a full day's notice. We used to have people exempt over 50 miles, not anymore. People hired under full time remote work policy from Temple got up super early today, felt terrible for them.

 

22 minutes ago, Snake Diggity said:

Surely the company is just doing a soft layoff of those long range workers.  No other logic makes sense.

I'm wondering if that's the play at my company too. We've had a hiring freeze for over a year though so lots of depts are bare bones - losing more people who quit over RTO could be very bad for them. We got a new CEO this year so likely this is just some bullshit "I'm the new boss so I'm gonna shake things up" type of thing. 

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...