Posted on 02/01/2025 5:59:24 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Dell workers are being called back to the office full-time. The company’s CEO, Michael Dell, wrote that they are “retiring hybrid policy,” starting March 3rd for all employees that live near the office—according to a memo as obtained by Business Insider.
The email, sent Friday morning, lauds in-person human collaboration as the most efficient form of working, an interesting argument for a tech company. “What we're finding is that for all the technology in the world, nothing is faster than the speed of human interaction,” wrote Dell, claiming that a “thirty second conversation can replace an email back-and-forth that goes on for hours or even days.”
Adding that other teams such as sales, manufacturing, and engineers, are already in person , Dell adds that they’d like to see that attendance and the “same sense of urgency and drive everywhere.” He asks employees to hold questions as the company is “still working through details,” but claims he wanted to share the news earlier so workers “have time to process and plan.”
The door isn’t fully shut for remote work though, as Dell notes that the company “remains committed to flexibility,” and tells employees to work with their bosses to meet their needs. Those who are “remote and live a long distance from a Dell office,” will stay remote.
“We continually evolve our business so we're set up to deliver the best innovation, value and service to our customers and partners,” a Dell Technologies spokesperson told Fortune in a written statement. “That includes more in-person connections to drive market leadership.”
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
The office is here to stay.
Teams provides the means for instant and real time human interaction even though the participants are down the hall or on different continents in different time zones
So he’ll also be ending all emails between associates as well then? In person meetings for every single thing, just like the good old days? Right Michael?
Also a recently-minted ‘acceptable’ way to downsize a work force.
Claiming a time saving with ‘direct interaction’ doesn’t recognize all the same OLD factors of meeting scheduling that apply.
If Mr Dell CEO is only using email to communicate with his team(s), then he’s not the right guy for the job.
Agree....We have a No Need To Respond....nntr...memo in our family emails...They can indeed go on and on....
From the article:
“Those who are “remote and live a long distance from a Dell office,” will stay remote.”
That statement is going to be a major hassle for bosses trying to determine the definition of “long distance”.
“What we’re finding is that for all the technology in the world, nothing is faster than the speed of human interaction,” wrote Dell, claiming that a “thirty second conversation can replace an email back-and-forth that goes on for hours or even days.”
I fully agree. Also, face to face conversation stops the people, who have a propensity to hit ‘reply to all’, when they send an email.
It has been shown that face-to-face communication is the most efficient and effective way to communicate.
It’s like there’s an event horizon associated with the Dell CEO’s supermassive black hole.
Those within it can’t escape.
Those outside it can retain self-determination.
Things are getting WEI-R-D!
I don’t know. I’ve been in many hour-long meetings that could have been covered in a 30 second email.
Some white collar employees think they’re better than the rest of us. I don’t believe for a second they get more done at home.
Add Michael Dell to the growing list of CEOs whose credibility as a business leader has been completely destroyed.
”What we're finding is that for all the technology in the world, nothing is faster than the speed of human interaction,” wrote Dell, claiming that a “thirty second conversation can replace an email back-and-forth that goes on for hours or even days.”
You should have said this loud and clear in March 2020. Instead, you were fully complicit in an outrageous and abusive overreach of power when you allowed some government bureaucrat @sshole to designate these employees as ”non-essential” and forced them to work from home in the first place.
One obvious downside on the rigid insistence of an office only organization is that you automatically restrict yourself to a talent pool in a limited geographic area and those willing to relocate. May not be an issue for some types of businesses, but can put others at a serious disadvantage.
See Buzz: face-to-face contact and the urban economy
Michael Storper, Anthony J. Venables
I have the advantage of not having to work, just for clarification.
We have a ticketing system. Too often, people write cryptic requests because “we already talked about this” but they didn’t talk to the person working on the request. This is a constant complaint. Also, a functional person will know a problem is coming but only react when it happens, often demanding solutions that take large amount of time that I don’t have because I am part-time.
None of this would be solved by being in the office. It would be solved by using proper communication.
He is right but the solution is a mix of technology and in-person. The solution definitely is NOT to go back to endless in person meetings, which are the biggest waste of time in the history of office work.
I maintain a “Legendary Emails” folder, which contains a subfolder for “Reply All” greatest hits.
It is cathartic to re-read every now and then. Most of the senders have PhDs.
On the other hand, face to face conversation also encourages them to interrupt every time a question pops in their mind. As they open my door and ask if I’m busy (”No, I am paid to close my door and just sit here!”), I’m often thinking, “Could you have not just sent a SHORT email with the question? I could then answer when I’m available.” They never see the 15 other people who try to do this throughout the day.
But it is true, answering the email often doesn’t capture tone or other contextual cues. Follow up questions are met with more emails instead of immediate, in-person responses.
Evan before COVID when I was working in an office, we met by computer, and in-person meetings were declining..
If I was a Dell employee I think I'd show up my first day in a horse and buggy.
And, email is a fine means of communication for a good percentage of work-related communication.
In the case of a company that produces physical hardware, however, a stronger case can be made.
If you work remotely, your job can generally be done in Ukraine for about a 1/10th the cost.
I have a neighbor that manages teams around the world.
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