Mastodawn

Aaron D Borden Feb 21, 2024

“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.”

Great piece from @MikeElgan https://www.computerworld.com/article/3712843/the-hidden-high-cost-of-return-to-office-mandates.html

The hidden high cost of return-to-office mandates

If you force employees to commute and work in an office every day, you can expect to lose your best employees.

Computerworld

Doug Bostrom Feb 21, 2024

@darkuncle @MikeElgan

Taxation without representation. Where are all the tax-frothers, on this?

Excellent article

Big Head Tales Feb 21, 2024

@darkuncle @MikeElgan
The benefit isn't to the companies, they benefit is to the commercial real estate investments that many of these filthy rich executives made. If they don't keep office buildings full, they lose money in their portfolio.

Zorro Notorious MEB 😡Feb 21, 2024

@darkuncle @MikeElgan It's almost as if this isn't about money, but about enforcing the hierarchical structure rules.

Insurgo Formica Feb 21, 2024

@AlgoCompSynth @darkuncle @MikeElgan I think this is closest, and managers trying to prove to other managers they're one of the cool managers

Texty the Bard Feb 21, 2024

@darkuncle @MikeElgan There are only two reasons for RTO:

1. Commercial real estate investors are panicking.
2. Middle-management dictators and people with zero non-work social lives want their captive victims back.

Group 1 can go fuck themselves. Group 2 can go fuck each other and leave everyone else to do the actual work.

➴➴➴Æ🜔Ɲ.Ƈꭚ⍴𝔥єɼ👩🏻‍💻Feb 21, 2024

@darkuncle @MikeElgan RTO is about dominance and power. It is about feeding the egos of managers and "leadership".
There is nothing rational about it.

Emile Snyder Feb 21, 2024

@darkuncle @MikeElgan my cynical but unresearched take is that the benefit to companies is in having labor in a weaker position overall. It's harder to switch jobs if fewer jobs are remote. (But I haven't read the linked article; maybe they addressed this benefit to companies?)

Insurgo Formica Feb 21, 2024

@esnyder @darkuncle @MikeElgan as someone who doesn't live near a CBD for family reasons, the last few years have been the sweet spot for employment opportunities for me.
As roles once again become "conveniently located in the CBD - 3 days in the office", those opportunities for me are quickly sliding away, with little gain for the employer imho

Emile Snyder Feb 21, 2024

@InsurgoFormica @darkuncle @MikeElgan isn't the gain for the employer that you are under pressure to accept lower pay and fewer benefits with the reduced number of positions open to you?

Insurgo Formica Feb 21, 2024

@esnyder @darkuncle @MikeElgan probably a bit too cunning for my management, but in theory yes, I'd say you're right

Insurgo Formica Feb 21, 2024

@esnyder @darkuncle @MikeElgan thinking more about it, they also restrict their pool of workers with the opposite affect

Toadman628 Feb 21, 2024

@darkuncle @MikeElgan My personal experience is that mandated policies can't forgive them breaking accommodations from the past either. Many corporations have them spelled out in their publications. Just like the laws are published.

✅🎯🙄Feb 21, 2024

@darkuncle @MikeElgan "But... but we pay all this money for office space and they are not using it".

Ditch the real estate and get something smaller. We do not exist to prop up their market value.

If i start a company I will keep things as flexible as possible.

Office space/real estate is a utility and need to be as replaceable as toilet paper. If I don't like it - Woosh, I'm gone.

Erwin Rossen 🔸Feb 21, 2024

@darkuncle @MikeElgan Besides monetary benefits, there are other benefits, like company culture. In our company, the way colleagues interact with each other and help each other is one of the main reasons people like to work here. Most colleagues say they enjoy going to the office, but only when there are also other colleagues. Therefore, the policy to come at least twice a week to the office is there to protect the company culture.

Matt Palmer May 2, 2024

@erwinrossen if "company culture" is improved by co-location, and is of benefit to the company, that should show up in financial performance.

@darkuncle @MikeElgan

Alan Hicks Feb 21, 2024

@darkuncle @MikeElgan
Managing by observation instead of outcomes is a sad reflection on management:
Companies with RTO policies were more likely to have had poor prior stock performance, and more likely to be led by “male and powerful CEOs” seeking to “grab power back from employees through RTO.”

Alan Hicks Feb 21, 2024

@darkuncle @MikeElgan
UK government has enshrined in law
Flexible Working - Help to Grow
https://helptogrow.campaign.gov.uk/flexible-working/?utm_source=fsb&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=flexible-working

Make Flexible Working Your Business

Did you know that flexible working laws are changing? Here’s how businesses should prepare. Flexible Working - Help to Grow

Help to Grow

fly-Ing Feb 21, 2024

@darkuncle @MikeElgan "companies with RTO mandate are likely to have poor prior stock performance, and more likely to be led by “male and powerful CEOs" "

RTO policy is also kind of sexistic and it is a disadvantage for POC and women and ... RTO policies prefer the white male, I think.

Frances Larina Feb 21, 2024

@darkuncle @MikeElgan

That leaves...oh, let's see...a display of power, to let workers know who calls the shots in the relationship?

Alan Bristow Feb 21, 2024

@darkuncle @MikeElgan absolutely agree.

Tim Ward ⭐🇪🇺🔶 #FBPE Feb 21, 2024

@darkuncle @MikeElgan It costs me 0p to cycle to work (and I'd then get enough exercise that I wouldn't have to go out cycling at weekends). I would be happy to return to the office if the employer were to guarantee a zero covid environment.

That's the "hidden cost" of RTO - the risk of death or disability from an avoidable disease.

Jeff Grigg Feb 21, 2024

@TimWardCam @darkuncle @MikeElgan

Yes, isn't it strange that the very real risk of being killed or disabled by diseases in the office environment is basically unmentionable?

(And the risk of bringing it home and killing or disabling loved ones.)

Chris Wu 🪐Feb 21, 2024

@JeffGrigg @TimWardCam @darkuncle @MikeElgan yep, this never comes up in those communications and people who are obviously sick are coming into the office.

John Maxwell Feb 21, 2024

@darkuncle @MikeElgan The notion that businesses are finance-driven is self-flattery by businesses. Businesses are driven by egos and social domination.

James K Feb 21, 2024

@jmax @darkuncle @MikeElgan

There are two kinds of people who represent the interest of a business. For shareholders, business are about profit maximisation, but while mangers are theoretically supposed to be safeguarding the shareholders' interests they have their own desires, and that is where ego and control come in.

Jaycie Feb 21, 2024

@darkuncle @MikeElgan Hoping that this research leads to some shareholder suits if nothing else. (Ideally actual legislation and unionization even more than that.)

Nenluen Feb 21, 2024

@darkuncle @MikeElgan

As a white collar worker living in a suburb but working downtown in a major US City, returning to the office for me would be a $250/month raw cost (monthly train ticket) as well as an unpaid time cost of about 2-3 hours per day for commute to and from the office.

I interviewed with another company that was offering a hybrid office/WFH position and calculated that I would need a salary boost of about 20% to compensate for the additional costs to go work in an office.

teledyn 𓂀 Feb 23, 2024

@darkuncle @dyckron @MikeElgan

I was certain I'd read about this somewhere before 😅

https://www.jalahq.com/flemingltd/commentary/Gary%20Murphy.htm