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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

#261

Post by Joeboy »

DiggyJohnson wrote: post #245
Joeboy wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How specifically would I know that? Last time I gave somebody the benefit of the doubt I ended up doing their work myself over Christmas. I'm interested to know what I should've done to avoid that.

I'm sorry about your Christmas, but that seems like a poor reason to never give the benefit of the doubt going forwards. Situations are situational.

> Situations are situational

Indeed. I suspect a lot of people here work in situations where there's slack in the system and nothing particularly bad happens if the work doesn't get done.

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

#262

Post by yodsanklai »

hosteur wrote: post #191
spacemadness wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I only hear about this on HN and Blind and have never seen it. HN and Blind really want to prove that people working at home don’t work for whatever reason, probably as we have the managerial class performing their own PR.

What is Blind?

It's the anti-linkedin. An anonymous forum where users discuss how to get the highest paying jobs while doing as little work possible.

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

#263

Post by dpflan »

eschneider wrote: post #180
tonystubblebine wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there is something to this. We have a long term lease for what is now an empty floor at 799 Market in SF and our landlord will not let us buy our way out of the lease, even at 100% of remaining rent. There are about 120 seats on our floor and about 1000 in the building. I’ve heard only sixty people use the building in a given day. So the usage rate is much much lower than the occupancy rate, i.e. we count as…

Sunk cost. Making people come into the office doesn't somehow make that cost go away, although it might make MGMT feel better about the bad decision.

I'm sure it is a topic in many managerial meetings and hence a pressure point.

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

#265

Post by SantalBlush »

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #73

If you don't want RTO just leave and work somewhere where remote is the culture. I just don't get this whole thing where you're still trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Just better for everyone if the in office people work in office and the remote people go to remote companies.

There seems to be a common assumption that if workers don't like something, they have a moral obligation to keep their mouths shut and "just leave".

This assumption is, of course, wrong.

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

#266

Post by smoothjazz »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #54
smoothjazz wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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."

Oh wow that was a typo! Too late to edit it apparently. I meant to say WFH not RTO. Oh well, my downvotes are well deserved.

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

#267

Post by toomuchtodo »

smoothjazz wrote: post #266
toomuchtodo wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Oh wow that was a typo! Too late to edit it apparently. I meant to say WFH not RTO. Oh well, my downvotes are well deserved.

Happens, upvoted.

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

#269

Post by w4 »

mardifoufs wrote: post #249
w4 wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I feel like this is a cultural shift for hn, and I'm curious about where it comes from My gut feeling - without data to back it up - is that HN has shifted from a forum mostly for founders and hackers to a forum mostly for FAANG employees who would have gone into finance or consulting in the 2000s. This mirrors the shift in the tech industry at large.

Why do you think founders would prefer WFH? All the data seems to point to even small start ups pushing for rto

I was commenting on the broader cultural shift on HN over the past 15+ years, not on RTO vs WFH.

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

#270

Post by no_wizard »

shortrounddev2 wrote: post #108
melenaboija wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What tools are needed for better remote management?

I read an advice column in the Washington Post a couple weeks ago [1] in which the person writing in was asking for advice about implementing RTO mandates. They work for a non-profit and found it hard to manage people remotely. Their complaints were: > 1. They have daily check-in meetings with everyone on the team to make up for the lack of impromptu chats in the office > 2. Collaboration is harder over email than in…

Granted, the person who wrote in to the Washington Post is well meaning and all and I know her write in was edited down for brevity, but it seems like this lady is bringing on alot of the problems herself and not seeing that.

Also, is there an underlying problem with retention, re this comment:

>Developing a rapport with “Bob” could help me anticipate when the lack of promotion opportunity is about to make him jump so we can line up potential replacements.

In the vacuum that is reading the article, this reads like there are problems at the organization with people getting promotions and the person writing in is willing to let them leave and replace them than work out how to keep them.

Something about the write in doesn't sit well with me more generally, but I can't put my finger on it.

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