From CNN: https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/26/success/hot-desking-hoteling-dynamic-seating-hybrid/index.html?iid=fw_con-hp-3
Everything this article points out NOT to do is what WF is currently doing with unassigned workstations/cubicles. You can't reserve a regular desk, don't know who is sitting around you, no "acoustic privacy," and no rationale for why some offices have this and others don't, senior managers are "reserving" space with paper signs saying no one else can use, etc.
It’s all about cutting costs for this bank. I am meant to sit in a neighborhood where 6 people are supposed to share 4 seats - 1 of whom is a MD that gets choice on days he wants to come in. That does not work ! They talk a good game touting “we work better together “ “we need you back in to collaborate “ but sitting next to a different person every time you show up just to sit on Microsoft teams calls all day is the opposite of collaboration
Don't ever forget: Charlie was not picked because he was the right choice for Wells Fargo. Charlie was not picked because he had the experience or knowledge to lead Wells Fargo. Charlie was left standing on the playground after a long, exhaustive search where those actually sought after for the job turned down the offer when made. Have to assume Charlie was seen by the board as having found their puppet.
I believe a comment I heard from coworker nailed it: Charlie is preparing the company so it can be sold off/taken over. Charlie tells his Wall Street buddies what they want to hear, even though the stock price treads water, but anyone on the inside sees how poorly things are running, how many new problems come up, how poorly the networks are now running, and so on. Sell off the offices. Cram people into one site. Layoff people even though it causes more internal strife. Reduce benefits. Totally blow-off any sort of employee recognition and reward. Purposely crush employee morale so people will also want to leave on their own. Get the company to where it obviously needs a life jacket but still strong enough to make Charlie and his lackeys multi-millionaires over and over. Wells Fargo is just a toy to Charlie and his Wall Street office staff.
Wrong, because you can "cram" infinity employees into WFH for free. If saving money was their objective, going as close to 100% WFH as you can get and still have retail/operations functional would be what you'd do. RTO is costing this company a fortune. It's the opposite of efficiency.
These decisions have nothing to do with employee morale or productivity. It’s about cramming the most people into the least amount of space to increase profits. That’s all.
If you don’t like it you are not a team player and you can GTFO. Nobody cares. You are a peon. Your job is to suck it up and smile.
If you went to the OC and proposed a new project to spend $(CPG budget here) and what you'd get in return is demoralized workers, precesses grinding to a halt, increased HR issues and risk, and decreased production, they'd laugh you out of the room (and then downsize you at the first opportunity). And yet, Charlie proposes it and suddenly it's the greatest idea ever. Every single executive that has been a supporter of this should be fired.
Flex in our building works some of the time, most it's a sh-t show as cpg is the one managing the aio monitors, etc. You call IT, nope can't help, call cpg. CPG says to call TC cause they no longer want to pay the money to fix their issues. On top of it, if the floors were full, you have over 200 people stuffed into these floors that once housed no more that 105. Gross!
It’s a war of “experts”. Companies have their experts arguing for RTO (basically because they are upside down on toxic corporate real estate loans and investments), and the rest of us that live in the real world who have moved on with ourselves and how we choose to best live our lives while balancing work and life. Evolution is hard. The only thing I can say to big business is to evolve or die. Exploiting your workforce leads to zero motivation to add value and affects the bottom line significantly. Why do you think most banks saw record profits during COVID? We were all home living and working. It reduced stress and balanced our lives. This isn’t rocket science.🤷🏻
If the intent is to demoralize workers, drive attrition, and ensure that displaced workers are less likely to be "missed", then it's working. Flex seating helps us pretend that there's not a sla-ghter of downsizing and outsourcing happening.