RTO is a class issue. It hit me the other day that one of the reasons I have such a negative reaction to RTO is because it’s about the power dynamics - not employer/employee but Elite vs Worker (look yourself up in workday ‘Worker’). The benefits of RTO are material to an Elite group of people who do not rely on a paycheck to live. The costs of RTO are fully borne by a group of people who need a paycheck to pay bills, support families, eat. An Elite group demanding Workers go to an office when there is 0 business reason is just a misappropriation of power. This Elite group will force Workers to do what they want because they know Workers actually need a paycheck. Maybe CS and his buddies giggle about the things they can make Workers do. I don’t have the luxury of leaving my job because it’s just not convenient anymore (like the CEO did at his last gig). This has nothing to do with actual work that needs to be done. Being forced to do something just because it makes someone else feel more powerful and benefits them exclusively leaves a bitter taste in your mouth.
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IT here ... We have too many reps at home that are not working. End of story. Go back to the office!! Kids are in school. I'm sure you go to bars, gyms, malls and movie theaters so take your azzes to the office!!
@2szt+1lfBF4oN, the guy asking about testing your hormone levels or whatever, is scared of girls.
I swear this staged alien invasion couldn’t come here soon enough. I am ready to be sent home to work from home for X number of years in the name of safety again!
How many of you have your glyphosate and atrazine levels tested recently? Seems like a very feminized place to work. Guess that’s what happens when you strategically put women in charge 🤷🏿
100% THIS!!
AND he has private security that goes with him everywhere during work and work travel. That position, which outright stated it was for the CEO, was posted about a month or so ago!
The is a psychological effect of being herded into a sea of bland cubicles, one exactly like the other. Nothing personal allowed anywhere. Row after row of workers badging one at a time to exit the building. It’s dehumanizing. The rebels will leave and the rest of us will get beaten down so we are cogs in a wheel. Yes master, I will do your bidding. I am my job.
The CEO of the enterprise doesn’t have to commute. HE IS PROVIDED HIS OWN DRIVER & CAR that transports him to and from the NYC office(not headquarters). I would have no qualms going into the office if I am picked up and dropped off on the companies dime. Don’t believe me? Just checked the SEC’s website and take a look at the offer letter yourself. So while he brags that he’s in the office 5 days a week. Just remember, that he didn’t drive himself there nor did he incur any commute cost or wear and tear on his vehicle. Parking is also free. The company is paying for his Commute/Car/driver etc. how can anyone talk equity and inclusion? Was a car and driver part of your RTO? How is this equitable? Oh yeah, he also has access to the private jet whatever he wants. Anyone know how to put an access request in for that? SMH!
AMEN!!!!!!!! That's everything in a nutshell. Wake up, execs!
The execs problem is that while sure, they can do 'anything' they want, they can't control a quarter million people's response to stupidity. A large majority will not literally rebel, if they would it'd be easy to get rid of them. No, what happens when you implement stupid ideas, treat people like children, and then wrap it all up in a pack of lies so obvious that it's insulting that they thought we'd buy it, is that people check out, get less engaged, demotivated to the point where they aren't even consciously slacking off, they just do. They spend all their time thinking some version of "this is so stupid, why am I here? I need a new gig...". Innovation is almost impossible in that environment and what's worse, so long as people are meeting their metrics how could you get rid of them? You can't, so the high talent folks that have options bolt, the old school retires rather than dealing with nonsense, and the rest muddle along doing exactly the opposite of the execs alleged objectives.
Then there's the location strategy, you know, where they shrink the talent pool as much as possible and tie current people to a given city for no reason. That'll help.
What WF should do, if they were smart, would be to tell every worker in finance in the country that WF values them as human beings and supports full-remote work for any role where it's possible. We would take talent from every big bank. Lots of talent, and we could pay less for it by hiring in lower cost of living areas. Get VDI running well so all those WFH employees provide their own tech, get rid of all those hardware/support expenses. Close about half the admin buildings because they are a yuuge waste of money. They say they want to cut costs and then waste zillions on things we don't need. It's 2023, for Pete's sake. We could lead this sector, or we can run around like a bunch of followers, doing whatever the other big banks do and pretending like we can do that successfully in spite of our scandals and brand issues.
It's incredible that this company is spending $30M/yr for a CEO who has no vision whatsoever.
this is sooo stupid, this whole thread
The OP nailed it. Some on this thread don't get it. The Elite vs Worker model is broken. When I started my career, CEOs were not disconnected and didn't make obscene amounts of $$$. They took significant pay cuts when times were lean. Spoke plain truths about hard times, painful outlooks, and the real reasons for layoffs. They had compassion for employees. And workers respected CEOs for all of those reasons.
Many of today's workers never experienced that type if leadership and don't understand the vantage point of people in my generation. We expect more, because we deserve more. And we know better leadership can exist.
Sadly, CEOs compensation and elitism is currently off the charts. We need to return to a better model. Corporate greed and resulting changes that began decades ago clearly only benefit the few.
(Stock market / shareholder / 401K breakdown saved for another day.)
I hate RTO. But I have asked myself - what is my next best alternative? I've been around long enough to know that every job and every company has its warts - so you'd better be really, really sure of what your priorities are if you need to work for a living.
In terms of alternatives, the job boards show pretty clearly that the trend is away from full time remote - there are fewer and fewer of those positions, and they are increasingly limited to very specific niche specializations. If you're in one of those specializations - more power to you. For most of us - the alternatives aren't really any better.
Why isn’t anyone also talking about that useless head of HR as well. Speaking about employees concerns with the CEO is part of her job - all of them need to go
@fhb+1lfBF4oN - I’m not interested in being at the top. I was hired to do a job, and I do work. I was not hired to drive 2 hours a day to sit in an empty office. That has nothing to do with my ability and willingness to actually work hard getting actual work done.
The emotional response and resistance to RTO is a symptom of a larger issue plaguing the company for decades. There simply are no incentives, no assistance, no trajectory for employees to grow and advance in their careers.
RTO feels awful because:
- Employees are held back for so long they have become bored and listless
- Merit increases are predictably low
- Toxic co-workers get the same rewards as you
- There is inconsistent, overly complex and changing perf reviews each year
- Teams aren't co-located (do I need to go into an office to video chat?)
WF has a culture built around sustaining this blandness to such a mind numbing degree that employees are winded even before logging into their computer each day.
It doesn't have to be this way.
HR needs to be enabled to up their game. Work harder at connecting with workers instead of simply posting billboards on internal sites.
Executives need to stop the corporate speak and be honest. Answer questions directly instead of talking around them. Acknowledge the trust issues. Acknowledge where WF is following and where WF is leading. Allow workers the dignity to be professionals. Stop painting with a broad brush and over reacting when "x" happens.
There is a new era of work beginning now. WF can either force feed RTO without making necessary changes that clearly we all need, or instead be an active participant in serving the social and economic needs of its workers and places of residence.
For some people, starting a company isn't an option. Yes, when you take a job, you expect to abide by the company's rules. The frustration comes in when said company changes job descriptions and responsibilities wi--y-nilly, moves people around, creates an unstable work environment, and then flat-out lies on top of it all. They voided telecommuting agreements for what purpose exactly? So people could go in, sit at a desk, and have no interaction with anyone else. They implemented the location strategy, which halted career progress for how many employees? Sure, we took jobs here, but what this company is, has changed over the years. For some of us, it isn't all that easy to just quit and find a new job, so while the idea is nice, we feel stuck in the meantime.
100% true. When Charlie talks about how wonderful his RTO experience is, he is experiencing something completely different from someone who sits at the long desk rows or other spaces with no privacy. His commute is different from the person who had no commute pre-Covid, and now commutes more than 1.5 hours each way. Parking isn't an issue for him.
These things have been brought to his attention, but they make no difference to him. On top of that, they are lying about the reasons for it, and they are saying we can't operate effectively as a company if we aren't in the office. We all know that is not true. Lately the messaging is starting to shift more towards us all needing to do our part to support local businesses. I'm not in a location where I am near a business to support, and I'm not interested in eating expired egg salad sandwiches from the vending machines.
Did it ever occur to you that you willingly took a job at a large corporation and you are, in fact, a "worker"? If you want to be at the top then start your own company, and then you can make the rules.