Thread regarding SAP layoffs

Legend has it the only reason this whole RTO cr-p happened is because Calvin Klown's ego got hurt when a stupid customer visited the HQ and asked him "Where's all your workers?"

I presume if CK and co decide to replace us with RPA/AI stuff, he'd want a representing robot to physically turn up 3 days a week also......

I am sure that within the RTO FAQ's they had explicitly written the following:

"2.8 Will office attendance be tracked? SAP has a longstanding approach to trust-based working time, and the overall office attendance is only monitored on an aggregated level (e.g., country/location, subject to local labor law and data privacy & protection regulations). There is no central attendance tracking on an individual level. Direct managers may oversee office attendance patterns of their teams in line with their standard managerial activities and along business requirements and individual circumstances as applicable."

If management do decide to surprise us with some sort of attendance tracking info sheet per individuals, can the company be taken to court for the deceitful contradiction? As long as I am delivering the goods, and given I don't have a single team member within the same country, they truly should not care where I work from.

I'm not travelling in 3 days a week to "Collaborate" with the coffee machine.

CK email clearly stated if you were hired home office that remains.

Not true, unless the guys I was crammed in with this week were lying. Both had been working remote for all of their 7- and 12-year employments and are now forced to come in to overpopulate our office.

@2ehn+1sl8IMrM

Activity keystrokes can be monitored by whom?

Only IT admin have access to the logs, and they have no reason to inspect logs of random employees.

Regarding "Additionally, productivity can be monitored through hourly keystroke logs", many roles in this org require mentoring, training, and endless online or in person meetings which cannot be tracked with electronic monitoring. People would be dropping those tasks if they thought that their productivity was tracked solely on keystrokes. And with labor laws depending on your country, electronic monitoring must be disclosed by the employer, it cannot be some covert tool that we're unaware of. Realistically the time involved in actually analyzing electronic monitor data can be counter productive, so bear that in mind. I can see it being used in a case where someone needed to prove that a particular person was being ineffective as opposed to using as a tool to further enforce rto. You can speculate on what jobs and where would actually use this level of 1984 surveillance, maybe look at data from other tech firms first

Attendance monitoring is not limited to badge swipes alone( because many offices dont have swipe out options) . Actually admin team tracks attendance and working hours through the office IP address when you connect to the LAN or WiFi network, thanks to the Global Connect software on your device. Additionally, productivity can be monitored through hourly keystroke logs using the latest tracking software installed on your machines.

PS: I am part of admin team

They will have the data if they want to use it against an employee when needed. If you have a manager that doesn’t like you too much, you can get fired in a heartbeat. They might be withholding the 25% layoffs for 2025 for people who don’t want to follow the RTO policy.

Legally, managers cannot ask for your address to make sure you aren’t lying. They don’t have access to badge swipes. So all they are doing is asking if you are within range and if not have you email them that. No system to verify. It’s a cr-p shot how they plan to actually verify all of this and it hasn’t been passed down to managers.

CK email clearly stated if you were hired home office that remains. So stay home and over perform as usual. Be productive no matter what. Also how are they tracking outside meetings this will soon fade as many smaller offices cannot accommodate due to space. I seriously doubt they are going to spend more on additional lease space.

rto has come from board level, but is only enforced on a team basis by managers.

if you're manager is being a pr--k about you not being in office, it is 100% their vendetta.

Has anyone’s manager already forced them to go in the office? I’ve got a valid exception to come in the office once a week for 4 months but I was told that I have to come in 3 days a week, “like the rest of my team” with a harsh tone btw, once my exception ends. This is BS as my situation will remain the same. If I continue going once a week will they even bother to give me repercussions? This just causes unnecessary stress and anxiety.

"Oh for heaven's sake... just go into the freaking office." -- thanks for the commandment there, Ned Flanders.

Try to make an effort even if it's not 3 days every week. Most managers I've talked to won't be too strict about it but don't play d-mb.

It's a numbers and optics game. Does the office look "full" on a Tuesday at 10 when a customer or investor drops by? What does full mean? 80% of the office? Think about pre pandemic and how many offices were 70 or 80 percent full while others had wfh privilege all along. That didn't seem to bother the suits up top, did it? At the same time, as the weeks pass, stats will be pulled on badge swipes. If the numbers are below whatever magic number that person-way-above-your-paygrade has in mind, you can count on repercussions. That is, until the economy turns around and the employee is once again in the drivers seat. Don't hold your breath though because that's not happening anytime soon. Employers know that they hold the power card right now and can pull this nonsensical justification of "collaboration".

And what would those repercussions be? a poke through reddit, random articles, or linkedin comments will tell you anything from financial punishment (byebye promotion, low or no raises, maybe budget allocation for an entire team), double-downing on office-wide repercussion, all the way to individual termination for insubordination. Your manager may agree that rto for the sake of appearances, real estate, whatever is bs and that you are far more productive from home, but there is always someone above them that may force them to force you to comply if you dont have a valid exception. Look at how rto is being handled in other tech companies. Monkey see monkey do. They are all working feverishly off the same script.

You can play roulette and decide not to come in, but you are making it worse for yourself and others in the long run. This has nothing to do with productivity or collaboration and everything to do with how things look. Make the office appear attractive and you've done your part. Utter bs, right? You thought you came here to work hard, be productive, or make a difference? Ha!

We have filled out surveys protesting the inefficiencies of physically coming in versus staying at home, but where money is concerned, this isnt about where you'll be most productive. They are not going to listen to you until you hold the power card. in the meantime, can you ease into the inconvenience of going in? Can't do three days right away? Start with 1 day and build up your tolerance. be one of the 80% that appeases the psychopaths until you can slip back into being in the 20% or find a place that sensible allows you to wfh at 100%. We just lost a few thousand people. I wonder how many of them would give their left nut to put up with comparatively minor RTO cr-p instead of worrying about how to pay their rent or inflated house payments in a few months if they cant get a job.

If I'm wrong and this has nothing to do with appearances, then it almost makes the situation even more volatile.

Did I say psychopath? "Completely lacking in conscience and in feelings for others, they selfishly take what they want and do as they please, violating social norms and expectations without the slightest sense of guilt or regret."

It’s already been mentioned that they have the data but are “not looking at it”. Given the recent trust track record, don’t count on it.

So they can't in Europe because of gdpr, the us is going to depend on state legislation if they can but it's more likely they could

Oh for heaven's sake... just go into the freaking office.