"The issue isnt the RTO. Its the inconsistency of the how it's applied. Some entire teams and some teammates remain remote despite the mandate. Others have assigned desks and don't show up at all? Yes this is still happening. Others coffee-swipe and are back at home by 9:00. Some leave (they don't even sneak out) at noon. MEANWHILE other teammates are required to RTO 5 full 8-5 days"
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@189 Even the oatmeal brained donkeys that run Truist know not enough talent lives in their footprint. Remote is forever.
@18a CHAMPION MINDSET
Why? F#ck you. That’s why.
@189 Please, enlighten me. What is working? In my bldg the only thing that changed was 4 day teammates are now 5 day teammates. Not one remote teammate has returned. Only thing I see is bitter unhappy teammates because the rules are not applied equally and no one can explain why.
Say what you want but RTO is working. Hopefully everyone will be required to RTO and there will be no more remote workers
@ys - I’m a people manager and I have no plans on enforcing RTO. As soon as it impacts me financially I’m on my way out there door.
@sn I’m gonna bet that your ‘accommodation’ is one great big pile of steaming horse hockey.
People managers will soon have their wallets affected by noncompliance with RTO, that will alleviate a lot of the inconsistencies.
As someone with a medical accommodation to not be in 5 days a week, I don’t think it’s anyone else’s business they I leave some days or don’t come in some times… let managers manage.
The nice thing about this cross referencing badge swipes with log in activity is that once everyone is sc--wed, we get to hear what the “it’s not fair crowd” complains and cries about next.
You are all right on target. At least we know now it’s not just happening in Wilson NC.
@ge not sure why you got downgraded,you’re absolutely correct, they can’t fire everyone.
If you people would just stay strong they can’t penalize everyone. Be smarter and don’t comply en masse.
Appears the reporting will be used in people manager reviews: your team adhering to the 5 days, you are fine, if your team is not then it will be reflected on your performance review starting 2027
This company can't even provide adequate equipment that works properly or applications that doesn't crash every other day. I'm sure EL is touting this new surveillance as a big step in increasing productivity, but we've all seen how this goes. They'll overpay a vendor, it won't work properly, reporting won't' be accurate, and after six months it'll be abandoned for the new shiny object. Also, I can waste time in the office just as good as I can at home.
Wouldn't ankle bracelets be cheaper? Shock collars? Automatic 9-4 door locks? I mean, if EL is willing to go to these extemes to get teammates to quit, why not? Joking of course, but you get my point. This is all an attrition play. Older, higher paid teammates won't quit, but younger teammates will, and should, to seek greener pastures.
I can confirm they are in the middle of designing a platform that will cross-reference the laptop connection to the Truist's wifi and the badge swipes. They can already see what time and date you've come into the office, but only captures the swipe-in from the entry door. I can also confirm that they have at one point considered mandatory amount of hours being in the office, but have tabled the discussion for now. So all of the concern about people "getting away with it" will be addressed very soon. Best to take advantage of the inconsistencies if you can...while you can. Or find another job.
@cb Your laptop should have access to connect to the Truist network once you enter the building. I don't recall VPN being needed in the office. That auto-connection is what they are counting on to generate the reports. So everyone that's coffee-badging will indeed show they made it into the office, but the laptop will show how long they stayed.
@ch I used the term “VPN” generically for this audience. In reality, we have very precise data that identifies login and device location, duration, and activity. We’ve been asked to correlate this information with teammate classifications and badge-swipe data, including timestamps.
This report will run on a rolling seven-day cadence and will provide management with clear visibility into which teams, groups, or individuals are not adhering to the RTO mandate.
This is not what I signed up for, I don’t like being “Big Brother” hence why I am actively looking for a new job.
@cb that is a business decision, I am just tasked with running the reports
In my opinion RTO is also not a one-size fits all approach nor does it address the underlying justification of collaboration.
While it may not be the case for everyone, most of the teammates I interact with conduct 75%+ of collaborative work via teams and web-based meetings. We’re all adults so as long as the work gets it really should not matter if it’s done in an office, at home, in a WeWork, etc.
It’s really not that complicated.
@by you should look into cross referencing with zscaler info instead of VPN. Far more accurate for in office compliance. Can track down to the minute of how long in a location,
Managers can't monitor it when they themselves don't go in. Start there.
You are preaching to the choir. Worse part is if you ask your manager about it they have no answer other than to "suggest without coming out and saying it" that you worry about your own job and look the other way.
@by As someone who can perform a solid chunk of my role without logging into the VPN, what’s their next move?
Even worse - manager teacher out telling us to take our laptops home every night despite policy stating otherwise.
They want it both ways.
We are in the process of setting up VPN monitoring and cross-referencing it with badge swipe data. This is a significant effort for a variety of reasons, but it will be rolled out over time. Just a heads-up from a teammate who isn’t a fan of RTO.
To every company going five days in office, the same two questions come up every time: how’s it going to be enforced and what will you do people who refuse? Especially if you don’t “swipe out”? Are we going to monitor calendars? Start asking people to “send me a photo of where you are right now”? One firm I know wrote “failure to (comply) will be considered resignation”. Really? Who’s watching me? Who’s watching YOU?
“We’re going back to normal”. Doing something different for 5+ years hardly qualifies as a mere divergence from normal. I think we kinda created a new one.
What a colossal failure of management. It’s evident that no serious thinking or planning was done before the RTO edict was first issued. Throw it out there, stir up confusion, and then scramble around to figure out how to make it work. Must be time to hire another consultant to come up with the plan… at least management will have someone to blame in the end.
You must work in the same building as me. Come 12 pm, no one is left in the office but our group. All of us are under the same umbrella as a department but different managers. There is definitely no ‘across the board’ rules.