First they require in-person #returnToOffice, then they relocate business units from one location to another, and force those who can’t uproot their lives to leave.
The Apple location in #SanDiego isn’t going away. But they intentionally forced 121 people to choose between moving to #Austin, or lose their jobs. Make no mistake, this is a layoff.
Never mind the fact that #Texas is hostile to anyone with a uterus, or is not cishet—why the hell anyone would move to that state? If anything, Apple should be shutting down their Austin office, and paying for people to relocate to a state that better ensures their safety.
“Apple to Shutter 121-Person San Diego AI Team in Reorganization”
WebMD’s parent company, Internet Brands, released a cringey and abusive internal video threatening their employees to #returnToOffice. “We aren’t asking or negotiating at this point”, the CEO says. “Don’t mess with us”, the video reads at the end. The video features employees dancing and celebrating RTO (at gunpoint? or at least under threat of firing by HR?).
I know corporate videos are all kinda crappy, but this one is…spouse-beating levels of terrible.
“Fully remote workers could produce less than half the climate-warming emissions of people who spend their days in offices, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”
“Working from home now has another powerful benefit”
Employers that are open to remote can get top talent from anywhere.
Employers that require time in the office are stuck with whoever is in the area, and don't even have access to all the best talent in said area (many of whom will go remote for smarter firms elsewhere).
Remember that this is not the first time IBM pulled this trick. They did the same thing in 2017, when they were being hailed as an innovative company for reducing cost by not having physical offices. They forced people to RTO and caused a bunch of people to quit without severance.
“IBM to managers: Move close to an office or quit”
An observation re. #ReturnToOffice: I sense that there is a huge disconnect even within the C-suite about #RTO in large corporations. In most BigCorps, I think the number of people in executive management who are truly invested in having everyone return to a daily commute can be counted on one hand.
There seems to be a pretty sharp drop-off even across the CEO, SVP, and VP levels. By the time it gets to VPs and Directors, support for #RTO is at most lukewarm (when they’re not being forced to be a public cheerleader for the ever-tightening the company policy, that is).
I think everyone can smell the bullshit. The wasted hours. The expense. The pollution. The traffic. The crappy office environment. The fact that you have to be on video call to talk to anyone anyway.
NOBODY likes this, not even senior management.
Only CEOs seem to want it. Why? I don’t actually know.
My employer, quarterly for the past three years: "We would like to congratulate everyone for increased effectiveness and productivity year-over-year despite the transition to working from home due to the pandemic."
My employer, this week: "In order to allow our resources¹ to work more productively and effectively, and in order to foster an environment of collaboration, all employees will be required to work from the office a minimum of three days a week starting 2 Jan 2024. Oh and by the way, all workspaces will be shared hot seats in an open-air office plan. we will not be recommending masking or providing sanitizer, and if you get sick, just use sick time, don't work from home or that will count against your attendance numbers."
Sigh.
¹: I hate this usage of this word. Humans are not resources. We are not interchangeable commodities to be bought, sold, imported, exported, and exchanged wholesale. Humans are resourceful, we use company resources in order to do things which the company finds to be profitable.
Yep. #ReturnToOffice was never about productivity. #RemoteWork#FlexibleWork has obvious benefits that don’t affect work productivity; there never was a cogent argument about which arrangement is better for workers’ well-being while preserving or even increasing work output.
#RTO is about #CommercialRealEstate and the preservation of capital, and it is about satisfying the bosses’ lust for CONTROL. Not just control over workers’ productivity our output, but control over where they are, how they behave, where they can live, and what opportunities they can seek outside of their office. https://tech.lgbt/@deilann/110884985364053944
“The best data to date shows that the reasons and justifications for RTO mandates are largely misguided. Such mandates do not generally lead to higher productivity, better performance or improved corporate values in the short term.
It also shows that the reasons and justifications for WFH are largely real and serious. Remote work does improve schedule flexibility and work-life balance, and it saves employees a lot of time and money.
In other words: Forcing employees to work in an office doesn’t benefit companies, but does harm the lives of employees — at least in the short term.
More to the point: Most companies cannot show actual monetary benefits from RTO mandates. But most employees can show actual and significant monetary costs from RTO mandates.
In essence, these kinds of mandates represent a transfer of wealth from employees that their employers don’t even benefit from.”
Some of you who like working in an office, but have a 90-minute commute to get there, would have a shorter and easier commute if the people who don't like working in that same office didn't have to.
Support remote work, even if you want to be on-site.