- I was already working from home two or three days a week before COVID.
- Dell had remote and hybrid work long before COVID.
- I was remote well before COVID.
- Gas, tolls, parking, and vehicle wear make RTO expensive.
- I was saving hundreds of dollars a month working from home.
- I am more productive without constant office interruptions.
- My home office has better equipment than the office.
- Most of my collaboration still happens on Teams even when I am in the office.
- There is not enough face-to-face collaboration to justify the commute.
- I reorganized my life around WFH.
- I invested in a dedicated home office.
- I have better control over my time working from home.
- I made major life decisions based on the previous remote-work policy.
- I bought a house based on being remote.
- I moved farther away because I was told remote work was permanent.
- I enrolled my kids in school based on where we moved.
- I sold a car because I no longer needed to commute.
- I can exercise at lunch instead of spending that time commuting.
- I have been fully remote for years. COVID had nothing to do with it.
- Dell previously encouraged remote work and then reversed the policy.
- Some remote employees do not even have an office to return to.
- I worked longer hours and was more available when I was remote.
- My commute is now two hours each way.
- I am not spending four hours a day commuting.
- Now I consider my commute part of my workday.
- The problem is not returning to how things were before COVID. Things were already hybrid or remote before COVID.
8 replies (most recent on top)
We all still work from home 2 to 3 days per week and no one has ever said anything since all of this started. I've been promoted and gotten RSUs in that time and when we do come in it is only for a few hours
@d4 I 10000% agree with everything you said. I don't have a family or Gf so never NEEDED to take PTO because why? I always had 3/4 of my PTO "saved" till Thanksgiving in which I'd then take every Monday and Friday off for the rest of the year. This year is the FIRST year in 8 years in which I am down to I think, 4 days left. Why? Because The only way to not get "dinged" for not going in is to take PTO...
I work better at home and I'm at the point in which, why go in? Promotions have been MIA for about a decade at this point - In the US anyways... raises are typically minimal and bonus's are always 100/100 anyways. So what is the incentive to actually go in?
Why? Why would it NOT be?
I can't speak for other orgs but when the SALES VP mandated all sales ppl must be in office 5 days/week, in my orgs All Hands, that was obviously asked about. According to our PRESIDENT... he said that he absolutely does not see us going back to office. So I'm thinking ok great! Not even 2 months later, the company wide RTO bs comes out. And here I am a solid hour from the office when I could have moved closer - as my lease at the time was almost up.
So, now I spend 2 hours a day in the car (not working) to go to an office in which NOBODY i work with goes to. I get to spend $75/gas per week plus another $100 or so in tolls/week. I put mileage and wear and tear on my car for no reason, all to go in and join the same VIRTUAL meetings i can do at home.
It’s time to shift the RTO dialogue to “RTO vs Remote” 2 separate and completely different groups living amongst us; They drop the “back to the office bo-b on all of us…but if you’re commute is over an hour away, we’ll turn a blind eye. We will of course punish you w/no promotions (oh no, not that!) zero impact. 2 people only team were promoted…
You think they use the same amount of PTO and vacation time that On-prem does? No chance. On-prem being stripped of wear and tear on vehicles, gas costs, no family/life balance. You know how easy it is to rip 9 holes on a Friday and not take that day for PTO or vacation, because your Manager has ZERO sight of your a**? I bet if they pull a report as to who has the most PTO and vacation time left over it will be remotes. No offense remotes - honestly, you guys won the Dell jackpot.
@aw not my parking lot that's for sure...
Before 2020, everyone was leaving Thursday afternoon around 2/3 and then it was WFH on Friday. Now the parking lot is full every Friday.
Why talk about it here. There is no one on this site that can make it go away.
Simple answer:
Because RTO has nothing to do with returning to the office. It has everything to do with targeting a group of people with draconian RTO mandates that will force more and more people to quit on their own so greedy Dell doesn't have to pay severance. That's it, simple as that. It's not complicated.