2y ago

Companies knew the mandated return to the office would cause some attrition, however, they were not prepared for the serious problems that would present.

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The Damaging Results of The Mandated Return to Office is Worse Than We Thought | Entrepreneur

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BrikoX @vlemmy.net

2y ago

We're Now Finding Out The Damaging Results of The Mandated Return to Office — And It's Worse Than We Thought

www.entrepreneur.com /growing-a-business/the-damaging-results-of-the-mandated-return-to-office-is/454043

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BrikoX @vlemmy.net

2y ago

We're Now Finding Out The Damaging Results of The Mandated Return to Office — And It's Worse Than We Thought

www.entrepreneur.com /growing-a-business/the-damaging-results-of-the-mandated-return-to-office-is/454043

16 comments

Good. Keep it up, everyone. Flexibility in working from home is golden. The vast majority of office work does not need to be in person.
- Indeed, you couldn't pay me enough to go back to the office at this point. Also, imagine the amount of cars this removes from the road each and every day.
  
  Funny enough, I'm sure as a net you're absolutely right but for my family personally it actually means we have to drive more. We have to make two round trips into town each day for my son's daycare, as opposed to just dropping him off on the way to work and picking him up, so we went from about 30 miles a day driven to about 60. But on the days that my wife's in the office she can do exactly that.
  But yeah, I agree, I would need a MASSIVE raise to consider going back to an office full time. Enough to pay a housekeeper, eat out every day, and cover the added wear and tear on the car, plus parking, etc. I'm saving a fortune by staying home every day, and it's done wonders for my mental health.
  I do miss the collaboration aspect, but I can charge my social batteries on weekly lunch zoom calls with my friends
  
  I’ve been working remotely since 2013. Occasionally I will ponder what it would take for me to commute to an office again. The current price is $2m+/yr and I’m gone and retired for good, as in not answering any phones for any price, after a year or two.
  I’d work a year or two, pay off my house, cover the roof in enough solar panels to provide 200% of my current energy use with battery backup for 2-3 days at full usage and probably try to buy some land in a place unlikely to be affected by climate change where I could build a farmstead myself at my own pace.
  If my current job said I had to come into the office with no pay raise then I would quit on the spot and shut off all communication.
I was one of those people who turned over thanks to return to office. In the two years between the start of the pandemic and when RTO happened at my company, I bought a house (which requires upkeep), moved farther away from the office (from 5 miles away to 20), and had a kid.
Once you taste the freedom of being able to do laundry, wash the dishes, mow the lawn, etc., with the free time you're saving by not having to commute, it's really hard to give it up.
Likewise, my wife switched from a full time in-person job to a full remote job which eventually turned into a 2 days per week in office, then 3, job, and it's getting harder and harder to manage. We're hoping she can change departments within the company to a team that's full remote.
I genuinely don't know how people made it work with kids before. If I was spending an extra 3 hours a day "on the clock" (but not getting paid for those) commuting, taking an unpaid lunch, etc., I literally wouldn't have a single minute to engage with my hobbies or hang out with my wife, my house would be a mess, and more.
My company got rid of their main office and we are never going back to full in-office. And it’s one of the reasons I’m not looking at offers from other companies. I’m happy, and my team is happy.
- We haven't gotten rid of our main office quite yet (we just signed a 5 year lease in October '19, talk about timing), but we got rid of the satellite office and are absolutely recruiting in remote-first fashion. I fully expect us to just not have an office (or, at least, significantly downsize) once that lease is up.
  It's a pity. That office was such a huge upgrade from the old one, but given the events of the last 3.25 years, I'm not going to miss it that much.
And almost a third (29%) of companies enforcing office returns are struggling with recruitment. Imagine that — nearly half!
29% is almost a third, which is nearly half, which if we round up from there is 100%!
Don't disagree with the article's sentiment, this statement was just absurd to me lol. 29% is definitely not "nearly half"
- The "nearly half" remark is referring to the previous sentence regarding 42% attrition. The paragraph could have been structured better, and I wouldn't say "nearly half" until the 46% mark or so, but it isn't as bad as "29% == half".
- I have a hard time believing stats like these ever since I learned about "ghost jobs".
  A full 2/3rds of jobs posted to hiring boards are "ghost jobs", i.e. postings where the employer does not actually intend to ever hire an applicant.
  Why do they do this? To appease overworked employees in understaffed departments. They can say "We're looking for someone, but no-one wants to work these days!", when the reality is they're keeping the department short-staffed to maximize profits.
  This happens in the department where I work. My direct supervisor would always complain that HR "wasn't really looking" for people to fill vacancies and the only way I, and everyone else, in the department got hired is because she recruited us manually.
Although I lead a team of 20 whose job requires them to physically attend, I agree that WfH is here to stay and only will expand. Smarter companies and investors should divest themselves of real estate holdings.

16 comments