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Will workers hired as Remote all be laid off in next wave?

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Will workers hired as Remote all be laid off in next wave?

#1
Apple, Meta, Amazon, and now even LinkedIn have asked workers to come back into the office. They’ve all made passing comments that they will continue to support remote workers, but from my perspective the writing is ultimately on the wall. Meta has even implemented limits on how often these workers hired as remote are allowed to come into the office, but have not divulged the reason for doing so. Given that many of these companies began hiring and marking certain employees with designated offices as far back as 2 years ago, would signify this has been a long tail deliberate plan.

What are the odds (0-100%) that these permanently remote workers will be heavily targeted in the next large wave of layoffs?

Re: Will workers hired as Remote all be laid off in next wave?

#3
Something you have to understand about being remote - at any time, this was true decades ago - is that you are not there when people talk and you can't correct them or defend yourself. People with commutes and requirements to be under the eyes of management resent those who don't have that problem and can all agree on that.

Remote gigs will always be more tenuous than prison-jobs.

Re: Will workers hired as Remote all be laid off in next wave?

#5
> Meta has even implemented limits on how often these workers hired as remote are allowed to come into the office, but have not divulged the reason for doing so.

The simplest answer is that they literally don't have enough space for all of the workers to be in the office at the same time, right? They probably didn't have enough space to begin with if a lot of the workforce was remote.

Re: Will workers hired as Remote all be laid off in next wave?

#8

Something you have to understand about being remote - at any time, this was true decades ago - is that you are not there when people talk and you can't correct them or defend yourself. People with commutes and requirements to be under the eyes of management resent those who don't have that problem and can all agree on that. Remote gigs will always be more tenuous than prison-jobs.

> is that you are not there when people talk and you can't correct them or defend yourself

You also can't correct things when you're in an office when meetings are had that exclude you. So even with that sweet commute you can still be reference while "in the office", just not in the room where Big Decisions are made.

Re: Will workers hired as Remote all be laid off in next wave?

#9
post #4

0% odds of something completely drastic, too many of the best went remote.

At the end of the day, companies don't really care that much if they lose some of "the best." A lot of "the best" are changing jobs on a fairly regular basis anyway.

Re: Will workers hired as Remote all be laid off in next wave?

#10

Something you have to understand about being remote - at any time, this was true decades ago - is that you are not there when people talk and you can't correct them or defend yourself. People with commutes and requirements to be under the eyes of management resent those who don't have that problem and can all agree on that. Remote gigs will always be more tenuous than prison-jobs.

Can you clarify your premise here?

When I worked in a building, I would go to meetings, and there I would see co-workers and people would talk to each other in meetings. When I work remotely, I join virtual meetings, and I see co-workers and people talk to each other.

In both cases, people can use chat to say things without me seeing. If I am physically in a building, but people are not in the same room as me, they can talk to each other without me hearing.

The only premise that could be true is that within one organization, people that cannot be remote may resent people that can.

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