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Return to Office Enters the Desperation Phase

nytimes.com

51–60 of 116 posts

Re: Return to Office Enters the Desperation Phase

#51

I just don't know how you get the Genie back in the bottle. Will employees come back in eventually probably if forced to enough. will smaller companies see how much of a benefit WFH is and use it as a hiring advantage I would imagine. I wonder if people forced to come back into the office are working a ton of free hours for the company. I can't really stay late because I have that commute now. And every time someone…

There was an article in Salon or Slate last year where they asked people what it would take to get them back in the office, and the universal answer was on-site free day care for their kids.

Re: Return to Office Enters the Desperation Phase

#52
post #19

Another anecdote to throw in the bucket: they announced that we'll be returning to the office on July 10th, and also that we'll be pausing catered lunches on July 7th. (I know that it's the peak of privilege to complain about not getting free food delivered to work, but this feels like all-stick, and literally no carrots.)

One could consider a paycheck a carrot....

Giving people food is like the oldest trick for engendering loyalty in the book. It is cheap, but feels personal. “There’s no such thing as free lunch” is a two-way street.

Plus, if you don’t have food on campus, your engineers might go out to lunch, which always takes much longer. Add to that, since they are going out anyway they might go around the cubes and grab their friends for a group lunch trip (might as well carpool if you are leaving campus, right?), so hopefully nobody needs a disruption free stint of work between like 11:00 and 1:00.

Sure, the paycheck helps, it is just the most expensive way to buy somebody’s attention.

Re: Return to Office Enters the Desperation Phase

#53
I might entertain giving up remote if these clowns at the helm decided to get rid of crowded open office plans. I can’t stand open office plans and get anxiety thinking about being forced back into them. It’s one of the reasons I worked on getting a remote position even before the pandemic. I think I’ll leave the tech industry if it comes down to that being the only option.

Re: Return to Office Enters the Desperation Phase

#54
CEO and leadership need peons genuflecting to feel powerful. My wife took a job that promised 2 days wfh. First week they switched it to 1 day because leadership thinks it's easier to build relationships in office. Total bait and switch. Was a year ago and she is still there and enjoys the job. I'm still furious about it but let it go. It's frustrating because plans involving the kids were made and then the job changes the playing field and all kid duties are mine 4 days a week instead of 3. Figure for most people that have to go back it's way worse.

Re: Return to Office Enters the Desperation Phase

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meanwhile, those unflexible, union-backed jobs in Germany now come more often than not with 40% remote work included, and guaranteed by signed, collectively bargained agreements.

That sounds super interesting! Any source you can share to learn more about how that works in Germany?

No source, but in general it worls like this: each indiszry has a leading union and a coreespondong, leading epmployer association. Those two collectively bargain for all represented employees at represented employers, e.g. salaries, workinng hours and so forth, up to a certain salary range. In one case, the metal and electric industry in Bavaria, those salaries can go up to close to 120k Euro for a 40 hour contract in the highest wage bracket (those salary table are public).

In addition to those general agreements, worker councils and thwir individual employers can, and routinely do, negotiate supplental agreements, e.g. extended working hours, christmas and vacation bonuses, overtime (up to the possibility to save up for early retirememt or fully paid sabaticals).

And since Covid, those agreements include up to 40% of remote work where possible. Before Covid, working councils, and thus unions as the majority of council members are union members normally, where oppossed to that. Which kind of makes sense, since most union members tend to be blue collar folks with serious problems when it comes to taking work home. And those priviledged, like in no shift work, bettwr pay and less physical labour, office folks (I am one of those) already had enough benefits (which I get). Covid changed that, even if I have no idea how that came about, I wasn't working in collective bargaining environment during that time.

Overall so, unions turned out to be way more flexible and pragmatic, as were employers, that some people, certainly myself, expected.

Re: Return to Office Enters the Desperation Phase

#56

Another anecdote to throw in the bucket: they announced that we'll be returning to the office on July 10th, and also that we'll be pausing catered lunches on July 7th. (I know that it's the peak of privilege to complain about not getting free food delivered to work, but this feels like all-stick, and literally no carrots.)

Meanwhile, those unflexible, union-backed jobs in Germany now come more often than not with 40% remote work included, and guaranteed by signed, collectively bargained agreements.

I really hope this continued nonsense from our business leaders adds more fuel to the union fire.

Re: Return to Office Enters the Desperation Phase

#57
post #19

Another anecdote to throw in the bucket: they announced that we'll be returning to the office on July 10th, and also that we'll be pausing catered lunches on July 7th. (I know that it's the peak of privilege to complain about not getting free food delivered to work, but this feels like all-stick, and literally no carrots.)

One could consider a paycheck a carrot....

Given that my employer makes more money from me than they pay me in salary, that carrot is for them, not me.

Re: Return to Office Enters the Desperation Phase

#58
post #57
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One could consider a paycheck a carrot....

Given that my employer makes more money from me than they pay me in salary, that carrot is for them, not me.

This is what people always forget about work relationships. You need it for money. But if the employer doesn't also need it for money ... you don't have a job!

So you are almost always in a situation that your employer needs you more than you need your employer.

Re: Return to Office Enters the Desperation Phase

#59
It's funny how not one sentence mentioned corporate real estate, which I think is a far bigger driver of the push to in-person work than "you can't interrupt people on Zoom" or whatever inane reason these corporate types think justifies the huge (and patently unnecessary) expenditure in employee time and energy commuting represents.

Re: Return to Office Enters the Desperation Phase

#60

> “You can interrupt each other without being rude when you’re in person,” said Mr. Medina, whose company, Outreach, is now in the office on a hybrid basis. “In a Zoom conversation, you have to let somebody finish their thought.” How is this not admitting that WFH is superior? If it puts a damper on people like this who feel it's their right to interrupt your thoughts, it's only a good thing. This article title may s…

Typical NYT, pro-business pro-plutocracy all day everyday...
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