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We’re now finding out the damaging results of the mandated return to the office–and it’s worse than we thought
Fortune ^ | Gleb Tsipursky

Posted on 08/03/2023 10:38:50 AM PDT by ShadowAce

click here to read article


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To: FLT-bird

True. And I live too far away from major cities for anything but 100% remote.


141 posted on 08/04/2023 12:21:06 AM PDT by Cronos
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To: rexthecat

If employees aren’t happy, their work is bad and they leave. The best ones disproportionately leave.


142 posted on 08/04/2023 12:21:53 AM PDT by Cronos
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To: ClearCase_guy

When I first started working in 1999 I was loyal to my company and it did “earn” that - during the 2001 slack period no one got fired, but the top management all took paycuts.

That changed in 2004 with new MBA management.

And my attitude changed when, in 2002-2004 I met folks from IBM who had that “company loyalty” - with 20 to 40 years invested in IBM, lower salaries than job jumpers, completely loyal to big blue — they were fired with no concern.

Being loyal to a company is just stupid - you can be loyal to a person, but the company is just there to pay you for your skills.

you need to remember you work for one company - the company of YOU. Train yourself, give yourself rest periods, upskill yourself and keep that CV constantly out there.


143 posted on 08/04/2023 2:27:04 AM PDT by Cronos
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To: old-ager

Your welsome.
But in the grand scheme of FR-things, I don’t GAF. 😂
Stay frosty!


144 posted on 08/04/2023 3:04:09 AM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel (Cracker...)
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To: Cletus.D.Yokel

Boomers take too many bathroom breaks. Hire an X-er.


145 posted on 08/04/2023 5:37:09 AM PDT by numberonepal ( )
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To: rexthecat; Cletus.D.Yokel
No one should give a crap about employees feelings.

I don't know so much about that. If you want to mitigate attrition you damn well better consider morale. With the young apathetic people running around with vaccine brain, it's in the employers interest to accommodate the folks that actually produce. I am specifically speaking of skilled white collar personnel, BTW. I am in software development and I'm here to tell you that the vaccine has damaged employee energy, focus, and accountability ethics. Apathy rules the day. I used to coach for continuous improvement, but now I mostly coach for sustainability.

146 posted on 08/04/2023 5:42:39 AM PDT by numberonepal ( )
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To: numberonepal

Bwaaaaaahahahaha!

Toosh-ayyy


147 posted on 08/04/2023 5:46:25 AM PDT by Cletus.D.Yokel (Cracker...)
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To: 4Runner
Have we now created an industry whose sole purpose is analyzing the behavior of a bunch of spoiled brats?

Yes, and it's out of necessity. Work from home can and has lead to greater productivity. It's in the interest of a company for folks to WFH on many levels. The most pertinent, of course, is monetarily. For instance, a large office building can save 6 figures a year on paper products alone. Think of the savings for not having to own and upkeep real estate.

Working with the "trophy generations" ain't easy let me tell you. Analyzing the behaviors of these people, especially since they all have vaccine brain now, is a full time endeavor. Attrition cost real money and intellectual capital. Avoiding it it tantamount.

148 posted on 08/04/2023 5:48:49 AM PDT by numberonepal ( )
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To: NWFree

Go ahead and fire them Good luck finding replacements for skilled individuals.


149 posted on 08/04/2023 5:49:29 AM PDT by numberonepal ( )
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To: mass55th
So basically, he's had more damage done to his cars over the years while they've been sitting outside his building.

Yep, parking in any city is dangerous. I knew someone that purposefully drove an old Volvo Wagon in Boston knowing it would be hit all the time.

150 posted on 08/04/2023 5:53:40 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: ConservativeWarrior
Any company that can’t manage a remote work force needs better managers.

That's right. There is a paradigm shift happening as we speak. Companies need to learn to manage their home work force. In fact, I'd say there should be more pressure for productivity. I have documented an increase in availability of employees that work from home. This leads to an increase in productivity. The quantifiable metrics, whatever they may be, should not have changed when the remote work situation became the norm.

151 posted on 08/04/2023 5:54:46 AM PDT by numberonepal ( )
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To: ShadowAce

There is a whole conversation about building spaces that needs to be worked out. For us, only the IT spaces are not in use. Management wants to create mega-offices for themselves and hotel everyone else. I’ll be gone long before that happens.


152 posted on 08/04/2023 6:03:30 AM PDT by AppyPappy (Biden told Al Roker "America is back". Unfortunately, he meant back to the 1970's)
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To: T.B. Yoits

Bob Slydell:
What you do at Initech is you take the specifications from the customer and bring them down to the software engineers?

Tom Smykowski:
Yes, yes that’s right.

Bob Porter:
Well then I just have to ask why can’t the customers take them directly to the software people?

Tom Smykowski:
Well, I’ll tell you why, because, engineers are not good at dealing with customers.

Bob Slydell:
So you physically take the specs from the customer?

Tom Smykowski:
Well... No. My secretary does that, or they’re faxed.

Bob Porter:
So then you must physically bring them to the software people?

Tom Smykowski:
Well. No. Ah sometimes.

Bob Slydell:
What would you say you do here?


153 posted on 08/04/2023 6:10:22 AM PDT by numberonepal ( )
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To: MinorityRepublican
... productivity is way down compared to what it was before when everyone worked in the office.

Not in my experience in the software industry. Productivity and availability have increased significantly. Being bothered by people "stopping by your cube" and "water cooler time" have been eliminated. Travel time between meetings - eliminated. Asynchronous communication has been a great success. Synchronous is still necessary, but not like it is in person.

154 posted on 08/04/2023 6:13:42 AM PDT by numberonepal ( )
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To: bort
Unfortunately, a large chunk of employees will not pull their weight.

Price's Law: the square root of the number of employees do half the work. If you have 100 employees, 10 of them accomplish half the productivity. This is true when it comes to just about anything. The square root of the total sum of stars in the galaxy contain half the total mass. The square of the number of painters in the world, create half the paintings. Etc etc. The Law will not change whether you WFH or not.

My other favorite law is Parkinson's Law: The more time someone has to do something, the more time doing it will take.

155 posted on 08/04/2023 6:18:28 AM PDT by numberonepal ( )
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To: ShadowAce

Mandating is a nice way of saying the government forcing people to do what they woulddn’t otherwise be able to make peole do.
Like the climate crisis mandates by the soon to be installed P.resident Newsome.


156 posted on 08/04/2023 6:22:50 AM PDT by Leep (What skill or service did the biden family have that netted them tens of millions of dollars?)
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To: numberonepal

157 posted on 08/04/2023 7:35:53 AM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: From The Deer Stand
One reason employers are complaining so bitterly is that the pandemic made many older employees decide to just retire, like my brother. He got sick of the abuse and overwork and when the company acted to take away their defined benefit plan and roll-over the pensions to 401K's my brother saw he would get far less than if he just took early retirement. So he took early retirement and now works for a startup with equity.

This has left many companies with a shortage of skilled employees and after being used to decades of underpaying and abusing employees, they have now discovered that won't fly anymore. In some instances this has re-created the earlier job market where good pay & benefits were the norm and not the exception.

158 posted on 08/04/2023 7:42:12 AM PDT by pierrem15 ("Massacrez-les, car le seigneur connait les siens" )
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To: numberonepal
The scene in 'Office Space' with Bob Slydell is funny but companies absolutely have to have someone interact with the customers who is NOT an engineer.

I deal with this regularly. We have engineers that can never deal with the clients without it becoming a fiasco.

We've had engineers and programmers build intricate and expensive programs that are useless because they miss the mark the client needs. Actually they're usually worse than useless because they handcuff the users to a terrible system.

The engineers are also guilty of building the perfect solution to the problem in front of them while at the same time screwing up several other systems in order to work. It's a mental block where they just can't grasp that other people and processes are in the universe and the other systems need to work as well.

159 posted on 08/04/2023 7:43:09 AM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: T.B. Yoits
I deal with this regularly.

Me too. It's my job as a Scrum Master. I am the interface between the suits and the nerds.

160 posted on 08/04/2023 8:02:05 AM PDT by numberonepal ( )
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