Great article, OP. Thanks for sharing.
This quote sums it up nicely…
“The future of work shouldn't be a return to the past. It should be a leap forward, embracing the lessons we've learned during the pandemic and using them to create a work culture that fuels productivity, not hinders it.”
RTO as it stands today feels like 1) a ploy to get people to quit so they don’t have to pay severance and 2) result of external pressure to save the tanking commercial real-estate market since we have large, underused, expensive assets on the balance sheet.
They say RTO is for “culture” and “grooming leadership” which is (in their eyes) impossible to do without being physically together in a building….. but that’s so old school and not reflective of the way work actually gets done in a modern workforce. Plus it is over-prescriptive and disadvantages mainly women and minorities who are already underrepresented in financial services.
It they truly wanted to improve culture and build leaders, they should’ve been working WITH employees to understand what would help us collaborate, improve efficiency, build trust, and improve autonomy, increase loyalty and satisfaction…… but sadly this top-down mandate doesn’t prioritize any of that.
Now go put your head down and work to make the rich even richer.