Coming to a city near you.
Posted on 06/21/2020 7:34:01 AM PDT by CheshireTheCat
Slack, the online messaging company, will allow most of its employees to permanently switch to remote work. So will Twitter. Facebook envisions up to half of its workforce eventually working remotely. Nationwide will close offices around the country this fall, moving many employees to parament telework. “The notion of putting 7,000 people in a building may be a thing of the past,” according to the CEO of Barclays.
I’m skeptical.
The future of remote work is over-hyped. Companies that are rushing to move their workforces remote are making a mistake. There is some preliminary evidence and a widespread perception that remote work is working, but that evidence takes place in a context — a once-in-a-century global pandemic — that will not be enduring. Managers shouldn’t overlearn lessons from the pandemic...[P]eople — including me — who are surprised by how well remote work is working should remember that teleworkers mostly already know each other. That wouldn’t be true if the trend continues.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
Productivity will be a problem. Also, I disagree with those saying workplace harrassment will be a thing of the past. If you want evidence just look at the back-n-forth on Social Media. Imagine the workplace chat lines and forums clocked with that crap. Micromanagenent? The first thing they’ll do to your computer is put a keylogger on it and demand acess to your camera so that they can make sure you are engaged. People are people and managers are managers. Technology changes but human nature is pretty much static.
People often learn the "wrong" thing from a great crisis. I'm reminded of something Dennis Prager noted decades ago: The lesson that Europeans incorrectly learned from World War II is that "war is evil". The more powerful lesson Europe should have learned is that "evil is evil" (as sometimes wars are the only moral, honorable and effective thing to do to defeat a great evil). This explains much about post-WWII Europe that continues to the present (e.g.,their failure to defend themselves from the muslim invasion).
That reminds me of the words Churchill said in 1934, when Hitler was just consolidating his power in Germany:
Many people think that the best way to escape war is to dwell upon its horrors and to imprint them vividly upon the minds of the younger generation. They flaunt the grisly photograph before their eyes. They fill their ears with tales of carnage. They dilate upon the ineptitude of generals and admirals. They denounce the crime as insensate folly of human strife. Now, all this teaching ought to be very useful in preventing us from attacking or invading any other country, if anyone outside a madhouse wished to do so, but how would it help us if we were attacked or invaded ourselves that is the question we have to ask.
Would the invaders consent to hear Lord Beaverbrook’s exposition, or listen to the impassioned appeals of Mr. Lloyd George? Would they agree to meet that famous South African, General Smuts, and have their inferiority complex removed in friendly, reasonable debate? I doubt it. I have borne responsibility for the safety of this country in grievous times. I gravely doubt it.
But even if they did, I am not so sure we should convince them, and persuade them to go back quietly home. They might say, it seems to me, “you are rich; we are poor. You seem well fed; we are hungry. You have been victorious; we have been defeated. You have valuable colonies; we have none. You have your navy; where is ours? You have had the past; let us have the future.” Above all, I fear they would say, “you are weak and we are strong.”
Not this spouse, but I'm well-trained. ;-)
Can't say the same for the cat, however, who has already achieved legendary status at hubby's workplace.
Companies are taking a huge gamble on their support for blm. I believe many employees do not support this social justice.
I bet if companies set up anonymous chat pages they'd find out what their employees really think about their support for blm and other non-business related issues.
The author is a moron and obviously wrong.
Well done, dfw. It seems to me that Churchill's brilliant insight applies in some respects to how so many Americans "feel" about the Chinese virus viz-a-viz America's ever lengthening economic and social recovery.
Telecommuting exposes the incompetent managers.
Senior managers who oppose it are exposing themselves as useless.
Board of Directors should take note.
You have had the past; let us have the future.” Above all, I fear they would say, “you are weak and we are strong.”
This could apply to the BLM folks.
I have a geek nephew who worked the graveyard shift for a small tech company for many years.
He was the only one on site late at night.
He set us a software program that did all his work for him all night while he slept.
He was so productive the bosses tried to promote him to the day shift.
They couldn’t figure out why he didn’t want the promotion.
I think we’re ready for at least an internship at Stanford’s Hoover Institution. Cheers!
“Work from home” assumes that employees are disciplined, dependable, focused, have a strong work ethic...and are honest. I believe many businesses are in for a surprise if they continue the work-at-home philosophy. Now...if you are a government “worker”, there will not be a problem. Only a small percentage of government “workers” are disciplined, dependable, focused, have a strong work ethic...and are honest.
Good managers identify work outcomes that can be measured and tracked.
They should be able to catch slackers easily...
If they can’t catch the slackers, the managers need to be doing something else.
You are correct in every respect, hal. I know when I left heavy industry/agriculture after 35 years in a structured environment to pursue self-employment, it required creating a mental and physical structure so as not to fail. Nothing too difficult but nonetheless critical to success (e.g., setting up a dedicated office room in my home; developing a structured work schedule; establishing formal administrative systems). As for me, without doing these things at the outset self-employment issues that inevitably arise would have been much more challenging to resolve and success wouldn’t have been so much ... well ... fun! Cheers!
There are a lot of not-so-good managers...especially in government. Not to be a Luddite but this transition should be “interesting” for those involved.
“Education can be done from anywhere at a fraction of the cost.”
As more people figure this out, more articles will be written about the downsides of remote work.
It would be a beautiful thing if the CV19 protocols designed to bring down POTUS brought down the indoctrination factories instead.
Knowledge workers do just as well, if not better in “remote work”.
The author has no clue what he is talking about.
I’ve managed multi billion dollar international acquisitions “remotely”. And project teams all over the world from my home office.
Until someone chops their toes off mowing the grass during lunch...
I have never been able to work from home because I have to actually go out and get something done.
All these people who do nothing but sit at a computer all day are simply a support system for those who go out and dig the ditches.
Somebody needs to make something, build something, produce something, move something, dig something or the millions of keyboard workers would be unemployed.
I am am proud that what I do cannot be replaced by some kid at a computer sitting in Moms basement while wearing Batman jammies.
Coming to a city near you.
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