It is a clash over the meaning of work.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-04-25/workers-are-winning-the-return-to-office-war-because-they-re-right
7 replies (most recent on top)
CPG has been selling buildings and not renewing leases for years. I think they know what to do with unused space. It's really not rocket surgery.
Management is faced with an issue not often discussed. What to do with , once defined, extra office space. If employees don't show, they will lose their office space. Which of course, leads to other issues. No one has it easy, and it is not getting easier. Those who do not show 3 days per week are very likely to lose out in the long run. Just how long that run is tends to be the question. I am not taking sides.
Perfectly put @kxo!
Great article. Thanks for sharing.
Going in the office now is painful. I do not sit with anyone I work with, no one even makes eye contact (when you see someone) and I constantly have to remind my manager I cannot do all those early / late meetings because I have to commute.
Every day I walk in and my badge hits the door to let me in I feel untrusted - you force me in and then TRACK me. Want to know Chuckles why we do not trust you? Because you give us no reason to and you treat us like children.
Yes I am looking.
"The real reason why people don’t want to go back to the office fulltime is that they don’t see the point. Most knowledge workers think that they can do their job just as well from home — and they can point to endless figures that show that they are right. Why endure the hassle of a commute if you can get that report written in the home office?"
This times a trillion. I've been working from home for years before COVID came along, and I've been very successful at it. Then some twerp from NYC comes along and says sitting in a building with a few people in completely different businesses is going to make me more productive. It's demonstrably false, and frankly insulting that he thinks I "buy it". This is why a blanket RTO policy is a horrible idea. It makes sense for some workers and some types of work, but not others. I question the leadership skills and business acumen of anyone that suggests otherwise. If it's about forcing voluntary attrition, fine, just have the guts and candor to say it. But don't pi-s down my back and tell me it's raining. It's demeaning, and I've lost all respect I had for the executives pushing it in the way they have been pushing it. The mommy-state tactics should embarrass them. They have more important things to do. And yet, here we are.
Non-paywall link:
https://archive.ph/I12nC