Earlier quoted context omitted.
This might be evidence of a belief, but that's no evidence that be belief is rational.
Would you sit in an airplane designed and built by a full remote workforce?
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Microsoft is officially sending employees back to the office
951–960 of 969 posts
Re: Microsoft is officially sending employees back to the office
#952Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you quit (because of, say, RTO) then you quit. It's a fairly standard deal between you and your employer. If you get laid-off, employer has to give you a severance package for any number of reasons (local labor laws, agreement with the union, corporate PR). This is not a standard deal and is, simply put, more expensive than if the employee just quit of their own accord. In both cases, employer gets the benefit of…
Pretty much every big tech company was still providing severance for those who decline RTO. Maybe they don't have to but there's sufficient murkiness that it's probably cheaper to just give the severance than go to court.
Which big tech companies provide severance for those who decide to leave because of RTO? It's not normally framed as "declining", either - you're simply expected to be there starting at a specific date, and if you're not then you're basically not performing your assigned work duties. You don't get to "decline".
Re: Microsoft is officially sending employees back to the office
#953Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s just another tool in the downsizing toolbox. Also traditional layoffs and RTO “layoffs” don’t have to be mutually exclusive, both can easily occur at the same time
you're still avoiding the question. Why does Microsoft decide RTO "layoffs" are the right tool for 2025, but not 2022-2024? Many companies used both tools at the same time. Why did Microsoft wait until 2025?
Microsoft compensates less than other top tech companies and remote work aligns with their lifestyle-first approach to compensation. Being on the early end of RTO would have worked against the perception that Microsoft is "the tech company with good work life balance," but now that most other companies have done it first they can get away with it as just them following the industry trend.
Re: Microsoft is officially sending employees back to the office
#954I have worked for 7 years in the office and 7 years remote, and for me the 7 years remote were not as enjoyable. I like the routines and processes that I adhere to more when I have a separate work location; I find it more difficult to adhere to those same processes when I can roll out of bed and walk to my computer half asleep and zone in on work. For example, I find it much more likely I’ll consistently shower, get…
Great, then you don't have to work remote. Your preferences are orthogonal to the freedom other people have or don't have to make the choices that are appropriate for them.
Re: Microsoft is officially sending employees back to the office
#955At $org, we too are undertaking a mandatory RTO order, enforced with door access logs. People are up in arms, particularly those in our smaller locales, where the offices we have are perfunctory at best. The rationale is the usual one: collaboration, watercooler chat, unspecific evidence / "research" about productivity (that we are told definitely exists, but is yet to be shared). I remain baffled by executives' obse…
“collective wisdom” is basically a polite euphemism for groupthink and given that c level folks are all taking the same mba/sigma/cthulu worship courses it’s not surprising.
Re: Microsoft is officially sending employees back to the office
#956Earlier quoted context omitted.
Unionization will never work, since immigrants would want protections no union would provide.
Such as?
Lobby for immigration support from companies, and against any politician/party that espouses any rhetoric (anti-H1B for eg) against legal immigration.
Re: Microsoft is officially sending employees back to the office
#957Earlier quoted context omitted.
Such as?
Lobby for immigration support from companies, and against any politician/party that espouses any rhetoric (anti-H1B for eg) against legal immigration.
Speaking as an immigrant who is now a US citizen, I don't think this is particularly relevant. As far as immigration support from companies goes, Big Tech already offers it, so the real beef is with the federal government - and a trade or company union is hardly the best venue to have that fight. I would first and foremost want a union that protects my interests as a worker against my employer's encroachment, and it was no different when I wasn't a citizen yet.
Re: Microsoft is officially sending employees back to the office
#958Earlier quoted context omitted.
MS Teams for video teleconferencing...good. On a Windows PC, and using MS365, by far the easiest to set up ( or change ) a meeting and fewest issues with cameras across multiple devices. (Webex and Zoom are close seconds, Google Meet is a distant last due to constant camera issues.) MS Teams for IM...okay. Too much white space and too hard to find conversations that I know I've had recently. Very much prefer Slack. M…
Does MS Teams support dual video inputs yet? I refuse to do the whole "click through a powerpoint clumsily while in edit mode with private DM notifications popping off in the background" thing I see too damn often so I use the OBS Virtual Cam. Zoom picks this up easily. Last I ran Teams (admittedly two years ago), if I tried to do the same, it would just set my camera feed to the virtual cam.
If you're on a Mac, you can use BetterDisplay to create a virtual screen that can be used exclusively for sharing stuff on Teams. Make that your secondary display, and problem solved. Best part about this is that you don't need multiple monitors to make this work!
Re: Microsoft is officially sending employees back to the office
#959I believe a purpose of this is to discriminate against older workers with families. This is also a reason to put your facility in a high cost of living area: young single people who don't need as much floor space can live there more easily.
How so? People with families worked in the office for decades
Re: Microsoft is officially sending employees back to the office
#960Earlier quoted context omitted.
When I solve problems, I need text, I need diagrams, I need demos (i.e. screen sharing). I don’t need faces, unless I’m interrogating somebody.
> I .. I .. I.. I.. I.. In all seriousness: you've outlined what you need. Perhaps you should reflect on what any collaborator needs.
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