this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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People have been hailing WFH after COVID as a lasting change. But it has always been clear that non fundamentally remote companies will never accept this as a permanent solution.
Hybrid is a really bad in between, the advantages seem marginal (more flexible remote days, less needed office space) to the disadvantages (people will still be mostly remote in meetings, commute times still a factor, work environments need to be duplicated between home and office).
The real reason they want everyone back in the office.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/06/commercial-real-estate-crisis-empty-offices/674310/
Maybe for a small number of companies in a small number of industries, but most companies rent their office premises, even large companies.
I've worked at several multinational companies that sold their HQ buildings when they recognised that building management was not a core competence for them and tying up capital in real estate has a significant opportunity cost for them.
It's no skin off their noses if commercial real estate plummets in value - if anything, it would be in their favour as their rent would decrease.
Amazon owns a lot of their office buildings
Amazon is shitting money. They're not exactly a typical company.
Yeah. It doesn't make sense that CEO's would be ruthless in slashing labor and capital costs would fall in love with commercial leasing.
The companies that do this are generally more half hearted in their push for RTO. You get some that try to claw it back but especially the big ones mostly can’t care
To me, the biggest positive about remote work is that you don't have to live in a crazy expensive location. That advantage is mostly gone with hybrid where you still have to come in every week.
Also, companies benefit from having employees in less expensive locales having lower salaries but still being able to pay more than what the employee would otherwise make in that location. Good way to retain talent.
Im to chicken to move to a cheaper location but remote work is still massively valuable to me.
I hear ya. The problem with moving to a cheaper location with a remote job is that, if you lose that job, you'll probably have to move again because there may not be any other jobs in that location other than another remote job.
Especially risky if you buy your home and will have to sell quickly.
My work started """recommending""" that we come in 3 days a week. Not required, just recommended. They expect us to just carry all of our stuff back and forth between work and home every day. We don't have permanent desks. They are shared by design. We need to reserve them from a web page.
My team has been largely ignoring their """recommendation""" but I know it's only a matter of time before it's a requirement.
Ours switched to attesting in the hr system. You don’t do your 3 days? That’s a paddlin’
I come into the office three days a week (as required for me), but I have a dedicated office. Next year, we’re moving to a much smaller space that will require most of us to reserve a spot from the app. Color me not excited.
Amazon will discover what the rest of the market discovered, that unless they’re paying a big premium, employees will just go somewhere else. This is the real reason the VC types have been wishcasting a recession: with an unemployment rate that starts with “3” companies don’t have as much leverage as they’d like
Sounds like we're due for a bipartisan bill to solve this by bailing out the in-person companies with money from the remote companies.
Hybrid works, but you need to make sure that all relevant people are there to make it work. That usually means everyone in a department has to be in on a certain day and that people who interact with other departments are also in on certain days.
You have to maximize face time to make hybrid work.
@HobbitFoot @alcasa
full agree, I'm in a hybrid role right now where the customers I serve are remote to my building and my boss and tech leads are full-time remote. So what's the point of my commute
As much as I enjoy working hybrid remote, it is not helping the business in the long run. My coworkers complain that there is less accountability and collaboration. Some can’t do their job properly because team members do not show up. There is no mentoring happening as these individuals pick and choose their days and sometimes don’t come in.
Hybrid is a bad in between for us and it is showing.
Now I see my coworkers starting to quit and switching to jobs that demand their employees in every day. Money is one reason but also they miss feeling part of a team which is important in my industry. My position isn’t team based so I’m fine either way and do feel better going in a few days a week so I’m not outcasted!
I feel my company is the last one in the industry with 3 day a week in the office structure. Not to sure what will change but I do know for a fact more coworkers will be leaving. 😢