Or maybe Calzone Day.
Posted on 10/06/2022 8:15:53 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
When millions of office employees started working from home in 2020, the plan for most was eventually to return to work, not stay remote forever. But two and a half years later, many workers really don’t want to go back to the office, and companies are struggling to figure out how to convince them to return, offering enticements like free food, prizes, and even alcoholic beverages to draw workers back.
Some companies are getting more creative than that, as this person who wrote to me recounts:
"I have seen a lot of lures, and none of them are working. Free Coffee Day! Free Continental Breakfast Day! Free Pretzel Day! Then they upped their game to 'Free Red Bull and come see some adoptable puppies!' They literally had puppies in the office. They almost got me with that one. If it had been 'Free Wine and Kittens,' I would have burned rubber to get there.
"I have to go in one day a week but I don’t want to do more than that. It is a really nice building, with plenty of meeting space, cafeteria with good food, coffee shop, gym, etc. As nice as that is, I still prefer yoga pants and my cat as my only co-worker. I get my own bathroom, full kitchen, and no commute. They really can’t beat that."
Some of the incentives employers are offering the reluctant to return are rooted in a lack of understanding of what workers might actually find compelling, as this person’s office demonstrates:
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
Work advice form “Slate” LMAO seriously?
You either come back to the office or you don’t have a job. That sounds good to me.
You either come back to the office or you don’t have a job. That sounds good to me.
Report Monday or seek employment elsewhere.
You’re check is in the mail...
They’ll be begging to come back in about 6 months.
Fire them or don’t, but stop whining about it.
Or maybe Calzone Day.
During COVID, they had our department broken up. You’d be in for two weeks and work from home for two weeks. During the weeks I wasn’t supposed to be in office, I could come in during the evenings when no one was around and get OT as needed.
There was hardly anyone in the office during the two weeks I was in. the dress code was very casual. in the summer of 2020, I’d wear shorts and a tshirt to work. I was always showered and shaved. No one cared.
But I admit that I like working from home. Instead of getting up at 6AM, I sleep ‘til 8:15AM, get out of bed in my gym shorts and tshirt and walk into another room and turn on my laptop. Later on in the morning when the pressing work is done, I take a shower and then resume working.
The job market is still pretty hot. Employers having problems finding employees. And even more problems keeping up to speed trained employees.
An employee has proven they can do their job from home. for the past 2 years of covid and make $x.
Then having them come into the office, gas, drycleaning, parking, lunch, commute time etc.. Means their $X minus all of those extra expenses. So, essentially, come back to work for the same $, spend More time from leaving to returning and make less.
OR, Company B is willing to pay you the same, or MORE to do the same job you do now, except 100% remote.
It all depends how jobs are structured, and how much you need to work with others in person.
Not every job can be done from home on a laptop computer.
More employees working at home means less office space required that lowers the costs for the employer.
It’s a win/win
“You either come back to the office or you don’t have a job.”
Obviously you do not have your capital on the line if the business fails.
;-)
“2 dollars of free stuff to spend 2 extra hours a day commuting to the office.”
But really, if the company wants people at the office just fire those who refuse. It’s that easy. Being in manufacturing I don’t see how anything can really be done offsite outside of accounting and some engineering.
Evidently you missed the first sentence in my post: “Get work done you keep your job.” That obviously implies that some jobs require you be on location to get work done.
That would seem to be the best incentive. I’m no fan of working in the office in a job that I can do from home, but if the boss wants them back, he should just get on with it.
Just another indication of the demasculinization of our society, I guess.
In my last job, which ended in July, we started WFH because of COVID in March 2020. I didn’t really like it at first, but then I got used to it and learned to appreciate it. I eventually moved to Florida, continuing to seamlessly do my job across 900 miles of space and a 1-hour time zone difference.
But when the government called everybody back to the office, that was that. I was eventually let go, even though my own company (I was on a federal contract) did everything they could to keep me, and would still like me back in some capacity.
It seems the government agency where I worked has more balls than some of these bosses.
A few weeks ago I had lunch with a professional associate whose company tried that exact approach. They abandoned it within 24 hours when they got a flood of resignation notices from some of their top performers.
Word of advice to anyone in a corporate management role who is grappling with this "Work from Home" vs. "Return to Office" conundrum ...
Your company's WFH vs. RTO policy isn't going to be dictated by what you want, but by what your competitors are doing.
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