Small-town and low cost of living WFH is unbeatable for those raising a family. It'd take me about a 100% pay increase to drag me back to the city.
Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office
221–230 of 838 posts
Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office
#222Earlier quoted context omitted.
My vaguely populist take is that the pandemic, WFH/remote and hybrid gave the mass white collar class a taste of what the C-suite has had for years.. flexibility. Sure, these guys might go into the office but they do so from their pied-a-terre / 3rd home / whatever within a 5 minute chauffeured drive. They do this while maintaining a nearby suburban/exurban estate and maybe a lake/beach/ski houses where they spend th…
> My vaguely populist take is that the pandemic, WFH/remote and hybrid gave the mass white collar class a taste of what the C-suite has had for years.. flexibility. That’s not populist at all. It’s just another example of the white collar class enjoying the benefits of technology and globalization while everyone else gets left behind: https://www.epi.org/blog/wage-inequality-continued-to-increa... . Before the pandem…
You could argue its not populist but we can say its like 10% vs 1%.
That said, some COVID era stats showed 50% of working population doing at least 1 day remote.. and 50% is pretty much right in the middle of middle class and fairly populist-ish?
Something like 30%+ are still remote/hybrid today in 2023, so this isn't precisely an elite-only thing ..
Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office
#223Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not only will those employers competing for the best get the best, they'll get it at a discount rate because remote workers are on average willing to accept an 18% pay cut to remain fully remote. Employees are literally willing to pay employers to stay at home. The middle manager who is awful at their job and so insecure they need to "see employees working" is costing the business not just in talent acquisition but w…
Once you factor in taxes and commute expenses, 18% is practically break-even for even a well compensated employee, and that doesn't include the QOL factor. Indeed, middle management is the plight of modern civilization. They'll probably get replaced by AI soon enough.
Middle management will only be replaced by AI if fewer employees can do the same job.
How many people do you think a VP-Eng or CTO can manage and still do the rest of the job?
Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office
#224Earlier quoted context omitted.
yep, i don't care if they give me an entire palace. unless it's attached to my home, i am not going there. if my job requires me to be at the office, i will say "no" and then get another job.
> unless it's attached to my home, i am not going there Why on Earth would you accept an office attached to your home?! Seems like the worst of all options...
In English, they're using that sentence as a figure of speech meaning that they just want to host their own office, inside of or attached to their house.
Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office
#225Lol people get hella spoiled. Hybrid is the way to go.
Spoiled? By providing more value to a corporation through productivity increases and work-life balance that allows people to have a better head-space?
Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office
#226The whole office culture thing is unnecessary and performative, and the pandemic proved it.
Any productivity gain/loss is negligible for most types of white collar work. Forcing people to go back to the office is about deliberately increasing attrition and the immiseration of employees because they were got too uppity during the labour crunch.
Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office
#227I think collaboration between software engineers is more effective if everyone works remotely because the screen-sharing and video chatting technology is so powerful and inexpensive. So it's a double win: more flexibility and more productivity.
Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office
#228> This will be awful for commercial landlords, their banks and their cities’ tax bases.
I especially like the last one. How about increasing a number of family houses in the city using that space, at least a little? That would get some tax back and improve the situation with housing at the same time.
Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office
#229People who like WFH will never want to return to the office unless perhaps the office is a 5 minute walk from home (they may be forced to, but they won't want to). For many people the time and cost savings of avoiding a daily commute cannot be offset by a nicer office. Those who are happy to return to the office in general are those who do not like WFH and prefer more contacts and a change of scenery. A nicer office…
Personally, the commute is secondary. I hate being at the office. The office could be right next door to me and I still wouldn't want to go. Offices are cold, sterile, mentally unstimulating environments of constant surveillance. I never want to go into another one ever again
Constant surveillance. It really is like that.
Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office
#230People who like WFH will never want to return to the office unless perhaps the office is a 5 minute walk from home (they may be forced to, but they won't want to). For many people the time and cost savings of avoiding a daily commute cannot be offset by a nicer office. Those who are happy to return to the office in general are those who do not like WFH and prefer more contacts and a change of scenery. A nicer office…
yep, i don't care if they give me an entire palace. unless it's attached to my home, i am not going there. if my job requires me to be at the office, i will say "no" and then get another job.
That was my take as well.
But I've been looking for work for 4 months, and it's a hard line to hold.
Fully remote jobs have gotten scarcer, and there's more competition for them thanks to this year's layoffs.