Millions more workers have been called back to the office, even at traditionally remote companies such as Zoom and Amazon

  • Godort@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    These people are adults. You can trust them to do their jobs, and if for some reason you don’t want to, there are hundreds of metrics you can track to see if people are getting their work done.

    Just let people work where they are happiest.

    • Serinus@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Yeah, just put software on all the machines that tracks mouse clicks or keyboard presses every 20 seconds. Watch hardware devices for mouse jigglers. You can track every time they take a shit.

      Plus you get to layoff employees without calling it layoffs. Wall street loves that.

      • Godort@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        I mean, you could do that. Or you could just track the work they are doing by seeing it show up in whatever business tracking software you’re already using to keep track of whatever KPMs you’ve deemed important.

    • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      Just let people work where they are happiest.

      Happy people stick up for themselves, know their worth, and buy less products to compensate for misery. porky-scared

  • Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    This article sounds like it was written by a corporate boot licker. They can write whatever nonsense they want. Come Monday I’ll be working from a couch with a laptop and maybe clothes.

  • MisterD@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Then why does the boss only shows up in meeting via teams?

    This is bs

    • phario@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      As much as I love these arguments, they don’t solve anything and can make things a lot worse.

      A lot of companies have bosses who are putting in significant hours. They sometimes do this because they have the income and familial situation to support it. Sometimes the bosses have no families, or have nannies, or are not the main caretaker. Sometimes they just have “no life”.

      Japan is a good example. Incredibly long working hours and incredibly work-centric culture at all levels.

      The way to argue better working conditions isn’t to point fingers at other people and ask “well why aren’t they also having to suffer like me?”.

      • Psaldorn@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        It’s “why is the person asking me to suffer not also having to suffer”

        In a situation where no suffering is required at all.

      • gramathy@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Japan is a terrible example as it’s all about being “in the office” regardless of productivity

        • possessedfaxmachine@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          I can confirm. It’s not about actually doing something, it’s about being seen. And it’s best when you look tired. A pat on the back, a few お疲れ様でした. And it’s certainly not about efficiency or outcome. Efficiency is virtually non-existent here, except in Western companies here. Working テレワーク pretty much equals to not working.

      • orcrist@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        The boss has the power to fix things, to some degree. You don’t get to say “I’m the boss and I’m working myself to death, so my employees should, too.” and expect to be respected. Bosses should know better, it’s literally their job to know better, and they have the power to make people’s lives better.

        And of course many bosses and CEOs and presidents are hypocrites. How often are they on TV remotely talking about how bad remote work is?

        Also, in Japan, low level employees are often expected to arrive before the boss and leave after the boss.

        • phario@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          I think people really missed my point, and thought I was somehow arguing in favour of poor working conditions.

          My point was that the Lemmy response that “well why doesn’t the boss do this?” is not the right negotiation tactic.

          The right negotiation tactic is, for example, to argue that it’s in the benefit of the company and society to improve working conditions. For example, you argue that by allowing remote working, you are encouraging not only a happier and more productive environment, but you are widening access and better able to recruit the top people.

          There are lots of ways to argue for better conditions. The reaction of “well the boss doesn’t do it so I won’t either” is not a great tactic. If the boss does put in crazy hours, where does that leave your negotiation stance?

          • orcrist@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Ah. It is because your first comment was vague. You didn’t actually say what you disagreed with. If you had said, “Pointing out hypocrisy on its own is not a great way to negotiate. Let’s try these other approaches instead or as well.” then I think people would have agreed with you more.

            Of course it was still peculiar that you brought up Japan, since it doesn’t actually show what you wanted it to show, for reasons previously mentioned.

  • MooseBoys@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    There’s a good chance those who complain the loudest are among the underperformers anyway, so losing them will not affect productivity.

    At first, I thought this was bullshit. But then I realized it’s probably true. Because the most talented performers, when pressed to RTO, don’t complain at all - they just quit and live off their dividends.

    • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      It’s frustrating when you realise that all the people who write these opinion pieces have been working from home for a very long time before the pandemic. The hypocrisy is too real…

    • BobKerman3999@feddit.it
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      1 year ago

      Not to mention all the stuff around it like restaurants bars etc that wouldn’t survive without the office workers’ money

      • Uncle_Bagel@midwest.social
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        1 year ago

        People love to live around those things. If lower office space is affecting landlords, they could always convert their properties into affordable housing

        • Staple_Diet@aussie.zone
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          Yes, but the building codes differ massively between commercial and residential. In most cases the entire building would need to be torn down and rebuilt.

          Plus the financial models are very different. Commercial properties like office towers are bought on the basis of their lease values, whereas residential buildings are based off of individual sale values. This can mean commercial property can diminish massively in the face of reduced demand.

          The best demonstration is the St Louis AT&T Tower story

  • undercrust@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    “US-based columnist for the Globe & Mail”

    So, definitely showing up to those local Canadian offices daily.

    Eat shit and die, Gus, ya corporate toad. As if the PostMedia Group wasn’t capable of being a big enough shill for billionaire interests on its own.

  • UlyssesT [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    Time to grow up

    The most immature adults I’ve ever known, consistently, are the ones that are preoccupied with some performative pretense of maturity.

  • orcrist@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    My god, they seriously wrote that WFH is bad because … cough cough … most of the work is done by a select few. They really believe in-office work makes that problem any better? And anyway, if the bosses are relying on performance metrics that are easy to game, of course people will do so, regardless of where they are.

  • explodicle@local106.com
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    1 year ago

    There’s a good chance those who complain the loudest are among the underperformers anyway, so losing them will not affect productivity.

    So Jamie Dimon, then.

    • JokeDeity@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Left Chase in February and even though it was terrible, literally evil, and run by the devil Jamie Dimon, I fucking wish I had that paycheck right about now. 😭

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Millions of white-collar workers grumbled their way back to offices this week under various on-site attendance mandates, lamenting the fact that Mr. Hyde, not his softer alter ego, is alive and well and setting HR strategy at their companies.

    In their backpacks and totes, they lugged with them a sense of entitlement and activism that has shaped workplaces since before the pandemic enabled widespread remote work, often putting them at odds with leaders and begging the question: Who’s in charge?

    Remote-work boosters counter that productivity among the work-at-home set is higher because they work longer hours and can maintain a better work-life balance, though many of the studies supporting this claim are based on self-reporting.

    At the same time, many companies have become soft – even cowardly – fearful that mandating in-office work or saying no to their employees will exacerbate an already tight talent market.

    These happy places have quiet spaces for contemplation, collaboration stations, sitting and lounging areas, food courts – basically, replicas of home environments that effectively separate a worker’s nose from any grindstone.

    In an effort to attract and retain young, creative talent, the corporate suits created office environments that were more playgrounds than workspaces.


    The original article contains 752 words, the summary contains 199 words. Saved 74%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

    • PizzasDontWearCapes@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Calling companies “soft” lamenting employee perks (that were actually meant to keep people at the office longer than just 8hrs a day), and using Jamie Dimon (bailout king) as an expert reference - this is all tough guy corporate bullshit

    • TheWoozy@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The word “entitlement” is do over-used and abused, it needs to be stricken from the language.