Thread regarding Honeywell International Inc. layoffs

Why on earth would I want to go back to the office when literally every single person I work with in my group with is based out of other offices. Very few if any people in the same group work out of the same office. We are all driving to boxes and closing our office doors to get on conference calls and write reports. The same way we could do at home. What a stupid waste of money to keep these offices open.

As a guy who has shown up ON SITE for all but 3 weeks (mandated leave) since WFH was mandated for most, I am sorely disappointed and somewhat resentful of many of my project engineering colleagues. Instead of standing up to do what they've needed to do to get their jobs done and milestones met, far too may have relied on those of us on site to get their menial tasks done. I'm not painting with a broad brush here, but there are far too many PEs who are too lazy to fill out the site access paperwork to get their butts on site to do what their jobs require. Hey, I'm all for helping get the football over the goal line, and I'm willing to sh–g parts to help out, but I'm not your permanent errand boy. And calling into 9 am meetings 15 minutes after business has been concluded because you're feeding your kids breakfast is a lame excuse. I understand the changes in domestic life due to the pandemic, but have some respect for your peers who don't have your exemption because we have to touch product.

Big D said we will be back in office by August if infection rates keep dropping. Enjoy your last few months of WFH.

Oh, I hope it is forced and requiring vaccinations. That will end my career with HI. Buh bye.

It's really pretty funny to think that some of you believe that threatening to leave if you don't get to continue to WFH is any kind of bargaining chip what so ever. You can be replaced in minutes within a global corporation. Go ahead and try to use your experience and (work ethic) to find a job with equal or better pay/benefits. You'll be starting at the bottom all over again. If they are considering a permanent move to WFH, you can bet they are considering options to offset the cost. And we all know what that first option always will be...
For those that actually will leave because of it... well, bye. Strangers are never missed.

Not a HON fan and left last fall for a new job. I advise others to do so as well.

BUT, I can say that by the time I left, the productivity and especially the creativity and involvement of my team there and many others I interacted had dropped considerably – very considerably. There was a bounce at first but by end of summer, there were bad signs everywhere. It was cheaper, but crossing the line into ineffectiveness.

Many companies are finding this to be the case, not just HON. The "we're remote from now on" bandwagon has shrunk notably and many companies are leaning to more hybrid policies, especially regarding employees who live too far away to feasibly come to the office several days a week or a month as needed. It really depends on the type of work.

Also, companies are starting to implement salary differentials for people who decided they could live like a prince on their city salary somewhere out in the boondocks. That, my friends, won't last. No one is going to pay you a salary out of alignment geographically for very much longer. HR and Legal departments all over are working on policies around this now as part of their new hybrid strategies, so... be forewarned.

Top talent can always dictate more of its own terms but the truth is, HON doesn't really recruit or certainly not keep top talent for very long on the off chance they actually convince (trick?) a top talent to go work for them. When they do, people deemed crucial (or boss favorites) have always had much more unwritten flexibility (much to the annoyance of everyone else, I am sure).

HON needs to change its stupid No WFH policy to be more flexible and like other companies evolve a hybrid strategy, but I wouldn't expect a strong bounce to complete WFH and personally I would not blame them if they don't.

Honeywell wants fewer employees on their payroll. The WFH policy is all about having Hon badged employees reduced and contractors increased on an as needed basis. Nothing makes sense at Hon, decision makers don't have a clue what work you do. They are not trying to come up with a way to accommodate employees or make you happier so you work more or figure out how much more work you do at home.

I enjoyed WFH for about 10 yrs prior to the policy change, then back to the office for a 3 years after the policy change. Resented the total inflexibility of the new WFH policy, but got over it. I was thrilled to return to WFH when covid hit. Soon they will call us back to the office and likely restrict WFH again, but this time I no longer care. 57 yrs old, w/32 yrs service. Had planned on doing 10 more years, but decided over the past year that I am not going back once they pull the plug and restrict WFH again. While there is still time, it is time to lower the stress and do something enjoyable before the 'elected' criminals in DC sell us out and eliminate what is left of our freedoms and liberties.

Some deadwood prefer an office environment – a forum for playing politics, socializing, or just bopping to the Beats all days in the cube.

Just got that message from the “Karen”.

Holy RIF rumors batman —– “we are looking at our policies on a regional basis _and by job function_ “

Sounds a lot like the villain scenario posted below.

Few are willing to put up with horrific commutes and sky–high real estate prices just for the privilege of rotting in a cube every day.

If honeywell wants to ignore that the world has changed then they will simply not have access to top talent. Well, actually i am one of those people that will be packing and i'm faster than my coworkers but only competent compared to my college friends. So ammend that –– honeywell will give up access to competent talent as we get better quality of life elsewhere.. well pretty much anywhere.
I would love for it to be true that working onsite put me close to my coworkers but that is simply not the reality in honeywell today. All my coworkers are scattered around the world and there is no way to change this structure.

Here is an idea...
BAN the use of TEAMS , SKYPE , and set all email to 4hr delay on send.
Do not allow cross site charging.
Force projects to put all workers in adjacent cubes. Then i will consider staying.
TEAMS and Onsite project benefits are mutually exclusive.
If you cant run a project without allowing cross site charging then what benefit to i have with onsite work?

I bet that if you have cool / smart / funny coworkers, you wouldn’t mind going to the office, even if you can do your work from home. It’s all about work environment. If the environment is hostile, or you simply don’t enjoy it, then why blame company policy?.

Another analogy: I prefer a happy hour in a bar, than in Zoom.

Consider this:
Work from home can be done by someone anywhere in the world. including China, India, Pakistan, Etc.
How important is it to you to WFH? Is it worth losing your job to cheaper labor??

Omg. Message from a karen just posted reiterating no work from home. They are monitoring this site ... @1yes+1asO7gea. You can put a check mark by the first step.

The latest info is that Honeywell will be 'flexible' on a case–by–case basis, but there will be no permanent WFH for any functional groups nor will there be WFH two days in a week for everyone. Essentially, we will be going back to the pre–covid policy with a little bit more tolerance around WFH if there is a justified reason for a limited period of time.

You Only Live Once.
I cannot imagine going back to pre covid work routines.
Apparently I'm not alone.
https:/dnyuz.com/2021/04/21/welcome-to-the-yolo-economy/

Honeywell will need to cough up cash and time off to compensate for a return to in-office work,
The in office commute 50 miles a day lifestyle has ended and corporations need to be given notice that we have better options.
Honestly there is no chance of that happening so, like many of my generation, i am saving and planning for what is next. September is my target.

@1tov+1asO7gea

Your tone–deaf attitude is part of why Honeywell is the coelacanth of technology: just another living fossil of the bygone 20th century Jack Welsh model of failed business. WFH has not only saved Honeywell a cubic boatload of cash in overhead, but has also increased efficiency and profitability. Everything has changed in the way business is done. If you don't adapt, you're history. Employees are headed for the exits already. This nonsense will only accelerate that trend.

Word from corporate is that Darius has seen that WFH works and that we can reduce our office costs. They are working on the policies but will soon be communicating a permanent WFH. They are even looking at a one time payment to cover costs of setting up home offices.

They won’t need to RIF, so many people will leave when they are forced to go sit in an office 5 days a week again like we are in 2019.

Are you kidding? It's irritating the ever living sh_t out of HW. You will go back, there will be no flexibility and to make the point– RIF's will follow. GET OUT NOW!

I think post pandemic it will be as it was pre pandemic. Everyone required to work in the office. For a company trying to be a "software company" they sure don't provide the benefits of what you find in other tech companies that will allow WFH flexibility.

When you agreed to work for Honeywell before the shutdown, was it not a condition of employment that you showed up to the office daily? Was gas, commute time, wear and tear considered then? Wouldn't all factors have been considered when accepting a job with an accepted salary? The only difference between then and now? You got even lazier. You have no real excuse not to work from an office, just like you did for how many years?

Most likely scenario? Easy , just pretend you are the villian in this movie.

Step 1––– a survey is created asking employees what they want internally and on various social media platforms. This is cover, no leader gives a rats ––––. Make it only sorta anonymous to find the loud mouths early. (GLINT!)
Step 2–– managers are asked which employees have been successful at working remote. Only the counts and job titles matter.
Step 3–– those census counts by department and job title are moved into the EM year over year growth target. Em goals now say specifically by department what work will move. All remote work flows to the cheapest labor. Read dave cote's book.
Step 4 –– Call up all my cronies from GE, Johnson, northrup, etc and announce simultaneously that work from home is over and invite media to the welcome back party. Make a UV robot that hands out "i survived covid tshirts" that thing is basically a towel rack anyway.
Step 5 –– the following month (Dec 2021) begin RIF of the entire domestic population of remoteable positions. Blame RIF on the wave of infection caused by the welcome back party. Claim that reducing site density is essential.

The fact that we cannot fill our existing work and that rigid work rules will hurt hiring is not relevant.
Leadership believes fill rate issues are a problem arising from:
1) site leaders who will not move work to EM teams (hence the 25% EM growth goal)
2) entrenched racism by managers who discard qualified diversity resumes