So I’ll just come out and admit it. I totally goofed off while working from home during the pandemic. I did figure out what work needs to get done and when I needed to be available throughout the day. Somehow or another, still got some recognition for my work. But to say I got more done at home versus work would simply not be telling the truth. And I have no guilt about. None.
Employee: Can I come to work in my flip flops, shorts and beach shirt? And can I use my same padded heel rest on the desk top when I recline?
Boss: Well, as you are a vice president we’ll think about it.
Late last summer they ordered everybody back to work, either at home base or the nearest satellite office, including folks they formerly told could work remotely and who had moved in the interim.
A bunch of long timers with decades of knowledge left or retired. The ones who were too far from even a satellite quit and got new jobs. Productivity went into the tank (which proved lucrative for me as having to come in and fix things now gives me much more leverage on the price tag).
Long story short, they've cancelled the second and third waves of return to work they had planned, and have even had to close some of the satellites due to operating expenses of trying to keep them open.
For those that returned already, it's gone from 5 days a week required to 3, and now to 2.
But the damage is already done. The smart folks are leaving or retiring, and I'm not at all impressed with the millennial and Gen Z types whose messes I'm cleaning up after now. (but thanks for the new boat!)
“research published earlier this week by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, remote work has no significant effect on productivity.”
Managers of the CRE portfolio at Blackstone were not available for comment.
Corporate started it with covid to it’s their own fault.
Different businesses, different cultures, different results from remote work.
My wife’s BF works for SafeLite. They went from a call center to all remote during COVID. After COVID they decided to sell the call center and stay all remote. Funny thing, once the employees knew they weren’t going to go back to an office, productivity plummeted.
Sandra (the wife’s friend) said that these threatening emails went out to everyone about productivity and number of times one can take a break while on the clock. At first they wanted permission to access the employee’s cameras on their computers. That didn’t go over well, so they went with software that just monitors their activity. Then the employees discovered that the software is basically never off so they switched to something that ONLY monitors the employees while they are logged onto the company system. The whole thing was a mess.
The latest word is that they really aren’t saving a whole lot of money with the remote employees and are once again looking for a physical location for a call center.
This is a way to get people to quit and/or a way to hide a glut of rented, expensive office space.
Remote workers can be pushed to deliver no differently than on-site. The main difference is making TEAMS gel, especially with new hires, and especially especially(!) with new hires that are fresh graduates. The latter often need some supervision, along with making sure they learn good, professional, practices and behaviors.
Seasoned pro’s can be given tasks and delivery dates, then be trusted to meet them. It usually becomes clear if one of them is a problem. We do lots of face to face webex style meetings. I’d argue the main instance where you need to be together is white-board brainstorming, when it isn’t clear what is needed to be done or how to go about it.
We had a policy of 3 days in the office, Wednesday required. It’s usually enough for such sessions to happen.
Coincides with a downturn in IT hiring. Smart move.
They're not making this decision from a position of strength. They likely found out that some of their remote workers were outsourcing their work to others.
I regularly work with an IBM support team. The good individuals don't stay long. The ones that stick around are mediocre to clueless. They have some systems training but zero grasp of what the client needs and how to stave off inevitable issues. They're very reactionary instead of proactive.
The only thing IBM consulting is qualified for is DEI and diversity and inclusion. Other than that; no employable skills.
>Just to sit with no one that is on my team because they’re all over the country to simply do what I’m doing right now.”
This is the reality. None of the teams I work with are local. All spread across 3 or 4 time zones because that’s where the talent lives at affordable cost (loaded cost rates).
Centralization and offices just add to that cost, if you could get people to fly about and stay local like of old and not jump to better firms.