Why are companies so hot about having their employees back in the office? I'm perfectly happy with the "new normal," but GS is calling it an "aberration." [1] I was hoping that a wfh culture would be the silver lining of COVID. It looks like a win-win for employer and employee: EMPLOYER PERSPECTIVE: - Massive cost savings. Real estate is expensive! - Reduced cost for office space leases and real estate. - Reduced cost for utilities: electricity, water, heat, etc. - Reduced cost for services: bathroom, cleaning, etc. - Reduced insurance costs - Less hassle dealing with OSHA/COVID workplace guidelines - More productive workers Basically, instead of burning ca$h on office space, why can't the top brass just give themselves bigger bonuses? EMPLOYEE PERSPECTIVE: - No Commute! If I never spent another penny on commuting costs, I wouldn't shed a tear. - No more burning hours/gas on the road or on public transportation - More time to exercise - Healthier diet as Peeps cook at home - No waste of time and money commuting - Better work/life balance - Money saved on lunch, newsstands, , etc. I've asked some reasonably smart Peeps, and got these answers: A: The cost savings is exactly what's driving the move back to the office. Transportation is sitting idle, and offices are empty. Investors are losing money! They want the people back! B: Managers want to keep an eye on their employees--in the flesh. C: "Fannies in Chairs." Lower-level managers want their workers at work. D. City businesses want the people back. without the people, the cities are ghost towns, and there's massive tax losses. E. Tax revenue and political pressure. With people wfh, there's massive tax revenue losses. When I asked about the commuting time, stress, and cost, one said, "Well I did it for 40 years. That's part of work life." The classic, hard-headed, "That's the way we've always done things" answer. 1. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-56192048.amp
Im not sure about that. I started off more productive last year, but over time i think i am becoming less so, especially when the work is really mundane and boring, the fun stuff is no problem.
One worrying thing, is that full time remote workers are more easily off-shored. Luckily India and china are in different time zones. But north americans could be more easily replaced by cheaper remote workers in central and south America. This is going to put downward pressure on pay.
I think that mostly happened years ago. There was a huge move to offshoring, with associated problems. The talented people in the U.S. are paid accordingly.
Most offices are fully leased so it is a sunk cost...might as well have workers back in.. Workers who stay home don't go to local restaurants, coffee shops, stores etc... thousands of people are out of work because downtown food service places are not serving any one. laziness is not enough to keep all workers at home
The idea of remote workers just does not work. People are slacking off, they sleep, take frequent breaks, play around with family members, stroke their dick while working from home. Did you honestly expect that the mediocre work ethics of workers in offices will not drop much further by letting them work from home?
1. Because certain dickheads can't make friends outside the office so want people to go to the office so they can have friends there (for people below said dickheads, whether those people want anything to do with said dickheads or otherwise). 2. Because certain other dickheads feel its traditional, and thus feel compelled to go to the office, and, by gawd, if they are going to be there toughing it out your are going to be there toughing it out, too. Fucking dickheads, man, dickheads everywhere...
Has nothing to do with that at all. Those decisions are made all the way from the top down, not by some middle manager with too few friends.
i got a friend who works for Amazon AWS team. they want these guys back to "foster collaboration". Something about working remotely hinders innovation
Not for nothing but this work from home Situation really has workers doing less than more, most at home workers now want to stay home and work and get paid the same big bucks for doing alot lot lot lot lot less. I'm reading many articles now about how most at home workers now want to stay home and work, looks like they have gotten used to the easy life of getting paid for not doing too much. Looks like most got a taste of the easy work from home life and don't want to change that...its pretty much like a continued vacation if you think of it...