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CEOs Are Using Return to Office Mandates to Mask Poor Management

forbes.com

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Re: CEOs Are Using Return to Office Mandates to Mask Poor Management

#51

Post by the_gastropod »

crowcroft wrote: post #26

Is it possible for someone to 1. Be a really good 'in person' manager (able to foster a good in-office culture, motivate and coach people effectively in real time). 2. Be a really bad 'remote' manager. Not saying RTO mandates are a good idea, but to say it's masking poor management as a black and white statement lacks nuance.

It's absolutely possible. But if you're a really great "in-person" manager managing a remote team, calling that "poor management" is totally fair game, as far as I see it. That they're good at a completely different set of skills is pretty much irrelevant. I don't think there's much more nuance needed here.

Re: CEOs Are Using Return to Office Mandates to Mask Poor Management

#52

Post by cajuncosier »

cdchn wrote: post #16
2c2c2c wrote: post #13

does anyone really find RTO surprising? I know several people personally who just blatantly don't work. it's more obvious in roles where the work is less quantifiable, but even in engineering roles everyone hears stories the alternative seems to be aggressively metricize and cut-- but that seems bad for different reasons

I know plenty of people who go into offices and blatantly don't work.

Yeah... CEOs. Most of them don't work.

Re: CEOs Are Using Return to Office Mandates to Mask Poor Management

#53

Post by youerbt »

2c2c2c wrote: post #13

does anyone really find RTO surprising? I know several people personally who just blatantly don't work. it's more obvious in roles where the work is less quantifiable, but even in engineering roles everyone hears stories the alternative seems to be aggressively metricize and cut-- but that seems bad for different reasons

> the alternative seems to be aggressively metricize and cut

This is, for me, the funny part about it. If all those metrics, meetings, tickets and what have you, pushed mostly by the management btw, can't help them, then I'm afraid nothing can. ROT is as much of an excuse as the above.

Re: CEOs Are Using Return to Office Mandates to Mask Poor Management

#54

Post by toomuchtodo »

smoothjazz wrote: post #23
potatolicious wrote: post #3

In a lot of ways RTO has put working conditions in a worse spot than they were pre-pandemic. In the Before Times occasional remoting was informal and casual - if you had a doctor's appointment at an odd time, you'd remote for the day, with no formal approval nor teeth-gnashing. Now even small everyday things like this are fraught. There are often formal approval chains now for what used to be entirely between you and…

Honestly it sounds like you work at a very poorly run company. There's plenty of companies thriving with RTO and cultures of trust.

Please provide examples and metrics used to evaluate as "thriving."

Re: CEOs Are Using Return to Office Mandates to Mask Poor Management

#55

Post by paulcole »

I mean, so what?

It's hard to be a good manager and if it's easier and more consistent for these companies to extract acceptable performance in office vs. remote, why wouldn't they do it?

People act like remote is right and in-office is wrong (or vice versa), but they're just choices with consequences. There's no objective right or wrong here.

Re: CEOs Are Using Return to Office Mandates to Mask Poor Management

#56

Post by rwaksmunski »

HumblyTossed wrote: post #44

I think it is retaliation. Employees started pushing for WFH, raises, better work/life balance. Employers (especially bad ones) like to have control and so this is to get employees back in line.

Yep, it's all about power.

Re: CEOs Are Using Return to Office Mandates to Mask Poor Management

#57

Post by tock »

2c2c2c wrote: post #13

does anyone really find RTO surprising? I know several people personally who just blatantly don't work. it's more obvious in roles where the work is less quantifiable, but even in engineering roles everyone hears stories the alternative seems to be aggressively metricize and cut-- but that seems bad for different reasons

> I know several people personally who just blatantly don't work.

I'm confused. If you cant figure out people aren't working remotely then how do you figure out they aren't working in the office? Randomly check their screens? Check the check-in/out time?

Re: CEOs Are Using Return to Office Mandates to Mask Poor Management

#58

Post by DanAtC »

2c2c2c wrote: post #13

does anyone really find RTO surprising? I know several people personally who just blatantly don't work. it's more obvious in roles where the work is less quantifiable, but even in engineering roles everyone hears stories the alternative seems to be aggressively metricize and cut-- but that seems bad for different reasons

> I know several people personally who just blatantly don't work.

Good for them. If this upsets you, then it sounds like you're working too hard.

Re: CEOs Are Using Return to Office Mandates to Mask Poor Management

#59

Post by mrweasel »

So research is finally coming to the same conclusion that a lot of people, myself included came to over a year ago.

Well managed companies don't care where you work, it simply doesn't matter. The problem is that management is a lot harder than many thought, but you could sort of hide the fact that you're bad at it when everyone is at the office. There simply isn't enough talented managers around. We're not solving that by requiring everyone to return to the office, the terrible managers are still terrible.

If anything companies could use this opportunity to identify people with poor management skills. If a team under-performed during the work-from-home period, then it's probably time get their manager some training.

Re: CEOs Are Using Return to Office Mandates to Mask Poor Management

#60

Post by melenaboija »

alberth wrote: post #45
crowcroft wrote: post #26

Is it possible for someone to 1. Be a really good 'in person' manager (able to foster a good in-office culture, motivate and coach people effectively in real time). 2. Be a really bad 'remote' manager. Not saying RTO mandates are a good idea, but to say it's masking poor management as a black and white statement lacks nuance.

100% Also, the tools a manager needs for 'remote management' is very different than what's needed for in-person. It's also very possible managers are not given the tools needed to manage a remote workforce.

What tools are needed for better remote management?
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