Thread regarding U.S. Bank layoffs

@1hb You are very, very wrong. I was hired as remote in 2016. I applied for a different remote position in 2023. In both cases, the positions were listed as REMOTE, the discussion was that this was to be the case for the duration of my employment, and my offer letters state REMOTE. So no, this is not "return" to office for many of us. It is arbitrary "GO to the office even though we promised you could always work remotely". And THAT is total complete bullsh-t on the part of Gunjan, Elcio, and anyone else involved in setting this sh---y policy. And I was blatantly lied to.

@1hb I was a hybrid employee before COVID and it was 2 days a week. Not tracked. It was flexible and nobody abused it. It was set by the business lines and handled that way. Not a fu--ing metric tied to our performance reviews.

I don't even want to be remote. I want my actual pre-covid hybrid arrangement back.

@1hb joke's on you. I was hired into a remote position in 2022. My offer letter said remote and it was not conditional. There was nothing in the offer that said my remote work position was subject to change.

AI is coming and job loss will ramp up. I suggest you stop complaining and start showing up. There will be a day when you look back on this and wish you had spent more time expanding your skills and less time worrying about RTO.
Side note - Nobody was promised that WFH was permanent. They’ve been trying to get us back in since 2021. It’s not new they want people in the office. Prior to COVID we all came in 4-5 days a week. There’s also a lot of employees that can’t work from home so try to be greatful.

@17w "@k5 Not the best metaphor. There are plenty of individuals who grow there own vegetables, raise chickens and have a job. I get what you are saying, but it illustrates a huge weakness on your part. Better work on that."

If you got what that poster was saying then it's considered as mission accomplished.

@k5 Not the best metaphor. There are plenty of individuals who grow there own vegetables, raise chickens and have a job. I get what you are saying, but it illustrates a huge weakness on your part. Better work on that.

Remember when we had to go to office because every thing had to be printed out and scanned and fax? Do you still print out, scan, and fax on a fax machine ? No one does.
Why are we going backward?

@a7 made this brain dead comment:
"People have been commuting to the office since the office chair was invented. People accept positions based on commute time and child care. Often move closer to the office to minimize traffic concerns. Work is for winning and teamwork. Home is for playing with puppies and infants in between Teams calls."

People have churned butter, grown their own vegetables, and raised chickens since before the office chair was invented also. But most of us evolved with the times and learned to shop at the grocery store. We also learned to work with technology such that we can very effectively communicate, collaborate, build effective teams, manage effective teams, and be highly productive without arbitrarily sitting in a chair in a corporate cubicle. The global workforce has evolved. It doesn't matter where you're physically located anymore as long as you know how to use all the technology and communication tools we have had for quite some time now. And for at least the last decade, USB staffed accordingly by hiring where the talent was located, so we ended up being geographically dispursed. Now arbitrarily it matters where someone sits? You must be very, very old and stuck in your ways if you still truly believe what you posted.

@k0 I hope the bank does go back to pre-COVID stance on work locations. I was permanently remote before COVID. I only had to start commuting in 2025, to a location where nobody I interact with is located. I work remotely from a corporate cubicle for zero reason. There is no R in my RTO situation. I was just required to go TO a corp location which I never had to do in the past. My written offer letter states remote. They lied.

@jm if they're so set on going back to what it was before COVID, then need to have the amenities and the actual flexibility that was then.

In-office expectations were managed at the business line level. Aka it was set by your department/area head. We didn't have to beg for hand soap in the bathrooms, paper towels in the kitchen, or basic things like plastic forks and spoons in the break room.

My hybrid schedule was amazing before. It was 2 days a week in-office. No tracking. No hourly reporting. We picked our days and managed around those. If we were sick, or if a kid was sick, we just stayed home. No percentage to meet, no stress. It worked. People went in because they felt respected. The way this has been handled has NO respect for employees.

I want my pre-covid arrangement back. If they want to go back to before they have to actually go back. But they won't do that because it's a better deal for the employees and that would make us happy and then we won't quit.

Speaking of Mufg union bank, in our area, we have 6 office buildings within 2 hours drive.
But Bank won’t let people work in an office that is 10 minutes away and instead force them to go to a building 1 and half hour away because of heavy traffic, so they can sit by themselves and talk on Team. Meanwhile, some employees are allowed to sit in buildings next to home because of the department or division they work in.

It makes no sense why some employees are forced to work in main hub when they are lone employee in that building.

Make no sense

I get the frustration with RTO. Yes, it's annoying to commute (who knows better than someone like me who stays in NJ and has to go in to NYC), it costs money, public infra is a mess in the entire northeast corridor in the US (and I'm sure elsewhere too) because we constantly fight wars we don't need to get into and spend billions there instead of at home....long story short, there are a hundred problems with commute but my question is, for the sake of being a devil's advocate, all of these problems, more or less, were also there pre-Covid. How come people used to go in to office then?

I used to be in MUFG in the data office back when Frank Burke was the ehief data officer. He used to always encourage work from home for all data office employees, so i was 1 or sometimes 2 days in office long before Civid hit. But, I also know people in other units thatg used to go in 4-5 days in the NY office. But somehow, post covid it seems that expectations have completely changed. I too work somewhere where, while I've assigned seat, many of my day to day meetings are on Zoom, so I could have skipped the commute for the day, but ever since JP and Dimon set the norm - the rest will always end up doing what JP does. It is just a matter of time that 3 days turns into 4 and 4 turns into 5 with some exceptions being made for doc appts, child care etc.

We’re spending money on gas, car depreciation/maintenance, meal prep, and some on child care. We’re not getting paid for the time that it takes to commute the office, time that could be spent working on work projects. All this to come into an office where we don’t have an assigned space and most of us don’t work with our own team members. It’s draining.

@e0 and this is why RTO in fact has nothing to do with "collaboration" or "productivity" as the worthless managing committee would love for us to believe.

When leadership focuses more on where employees sit and geographically where they are hiring from, not based on skillset but average wages based on geography, it's fair to question if the priority is "production" and "collaboration" or having more control over the workforce and saving money.

@b3 take your head out of GK’s a-s for a second. Studies have consistently shown that: (a) productivity is higher with WHF and people work more hours. (b) less stress and more sleep contributes to better quality of life, lower heath care needs and cost, and gasp shockingly enough, better productivity. (c) employees will accept a lower wage to WFH.

@b3 you type like you're not even from the US. If you're a contractor over in India, you guys really have no place to talk.

People had pulled kids out of daycare to KEEP THEM SAFE. And who fu--ing cares if someone sleeps late as long as their work gets done. If someone is going to slack they can just as easily do it in an office as they do at home. You're stereotyping. Grow up dude.

@b3 are you fu--ing stupid? Everyone here is more d-mb for having read your worthless comment.

Not only do you sound stupid, but the premise of your argument is factually incorrect. Go read a book, or maybe do some damn research before you open your mouth.

@b3 Also, they pull their kids out of daycare to save money and cut down to one car.

Breaking news! People want to cut unnecessary costs!!!

So it is okay if the bank cuts costs but not its employees?

Studies have proved that more work is done at the office vs home. People that WFH tend to sleep in late. Also, they pull their kids out of daycare to save money and cut down to one car. When RTO comes to roost, they can't afford to return.

RTO is sh-t but the people who work and do childcare at the same time ruin it for the rest of us. If you do that you are the perfect argument for implementing RTO.

@a7 FFS! I was hired well before Covid hit and was hired as a remote employee. Accepted a lower offer in return for the WFH flexibility. There are hundreds if not thousands of us. What's your lame a$$ excuse for people in my boat huh?

@a7 remote work existed before COVID you absolute knob.

Things changed. If they're so bent on things being like they were before COVID, then the need to buy back all of the buildings that people actually had jobs in that were close to their homes.

People accepted jobs based on the proximity, pay, and many things. The bank SHUT DOWN the locations that made it easier for people to be in an office, and they took a way literally all of the amenities that made coming into an office somewhat manageable.

If you're so bent on return to office to work for a company that's 5 days a week. We won't miss you.

People have been commuting to the office since the office chair was invented. People accept positions based on commute time and child care. Often move closer to the office to minimize traffic concerns. Work is for winning and teamwork. Home is for playing with puppies and infants in between Teams calls. Was cute during Covid but Covid is over and still hear them in the background and wonder why they are still home.