I am the only late worker on my team, sitting in an empty, silent floor. This job is like a punishment, wish I would’ve been laid off. Absolutely out the door the second the bonus drops in March. RTO has been useless, provided no advantages, and is only because this company continues to overspend on real estate. Also apparently the rto rules don’t apply to everyone because there’s clearly some people that just wfh as they please anyway. What a joke!
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Collaboration is a joke
Start looking for your next job now.
It isn't uncommon from when you first apply for a job for the process to take a couple of months before your start date.
Indeed.com could be the answer to your problems. But let’s keep it real…you’re not gonna find a remote job. Quit whining and move on already it’s 3x a week
Every senior leader wants to ask that question... "How did we work before COVID?"
Hey dummies, we had 0 remote capabilities before COVID. That line of questioning is completely irrelevant. We don't live in the pre-COVID world
Honest question. How did everyone work before the pandemic when the cubes being full and everyone around you being on calls was the norm?
I’m not inviting a WFH vs RTO debate here, I’m genuinely curious about how these problems were minimal to nonexistent before the pandemic.
Fair question.
The problems weren’t minimal before Covid. We couldn’t get conference rooms, people struggled to work in dense cube/low wall areas and commutes were soul su-king.
But that was before 99% of the workforce adapted and proved that 1) they could succeed outside the office and 2) that outside the office was superior for many.
There are other issues, including the restacks and increased density in some locations. But, just as you wouldn’t go back to card catalogs, punch cards or dot matrix printers, folks learned there was a better way.
There’s no point to a wfh/rto debate. The data is plain. The issue here is the way rto was handled by Walt, including praising wfh while a multi-month plan was being composed, and the epic failure of October return. The message is we want to prune cheap and we don’t care about the product knowing that greater talent will leave sooner.
This is a headcount exercise. Culture? There were other ways to accomplish that.
A.) We've become acclimated to working in a quiet environment at home. A private office. Why do execs or managers have private offices other than to display their power? For peace, quiet, concentration and privacy. We may acclimate back to cube life after some time.
B.) I'm still able to work, but today spending 7 or 8 hours in the office I completed what could've been done in 1-2 hours WFH. And no I am not the employee that would put in the two hours and call it a day working from home. My productivity has plummeted. If that's what Schwab wants it's on them. My team is already missing sprint goals, commitments and project deadlines are slipping. After our retro we are convinced RTO is a major contributing factor.
- ) I worked on a completely different universe pre-covid. It was called TD Ameritrade. I have the same mapped title and the same responsibilities but have at at least 3-5x more meetings with Schwab's governance model, offshore model and red tape. Multiply that by the dozen or more people in earshot and distractions are sky high. For myself there weren't as many call distractions in the office pre-covid. Nowhere close.
If this is what Schwab wants I'll keep walking the walk. It will show up on surveys, reporting, and other avenues but I don't expect leadership to change anything. It may get slightly better as we become accustomed.
I think the difference between then and now is that the issues still existed but the majority of workers had never worked at home on an extended basis and assumed coming into the office was the only way to work. Now that most people admit that remote work works well, people are now questioning what value the office brings to the table. I’m all for collaboration but the reality is that it is infrequent, the 30-60 min commute each way, the fact that we are on Teams calls most of the day with limited conference rooms to support frequent in person meetings does not justify coming in on a regular basis. I am less productive, come home exhausted and can’t do this long term. For those that like coming into the office (I guarantee it’s a minority of workers), good for you. I just want the company to respect everyone’s preference assuming there are no performance issues. One more thing that I’ve seen some shills say on other threads is that people who have a problem with RTO should find somewhere else to work. My response is why are some people he-l bent on working the old way and closed off to new ways of working? It isn’t some untested new way of work - everyone knows that it has worked well the past 3-4 years.
Talk about toxic. You all need to find another job. Quit f’ing complaining.
I have eight people on my team in eight different locations. We're all going into the office to join the same teams meetings we did from home. All of us have about an hour commute each day. That's 40 hours per week wasted because of stale, outdated, obtuse leadership. I sit in a small cube surrounded by people taking calls all day. I can't hear myself think. Two weeks in this nonsense and I'm about to lose my mind. Started looking for a new job today
Thank you Walt and the toxic EC team
Umm, 24 hours, but the point is still valid.
And Walt and the EC don’t care. They stopped losing millions on commercial real estate and saved face in front of their peers.
I have eight people on my team in eight different locations. We're all going into the office to join the same teams meetings we did from home. All of us have about an hour commute each day. That's 40 hours per week wasted because of stale, outdated, obtuse leadership. I sit in a small cube surrounded by people taking calls all day. I can't hear myself think. Two weeks in this nonsense and I'm about to lose my mind. Started looking for a new job today
Thank you Walt and the toxic EC team