I'm sure many of us are confused by the RTO given the personal and company benefits (increased productivity, reduced costs, better morale) of WFH. The reason we all have heard is real estate - commercial real estate needs to be propped up. But.... Given all of the changes in leadership and legal issues - the real issue is upper management needs to be babysat. RTO makes upper management visible, feel accountable, and feel watched. WFH is a risk for the firm at the higher leadership levels - if the leaders don't feel watched then we get legal issues, regulatory issues, and more unethical behavior (than normal).
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Yes, remember this during the next pulse survey…since the 2 week mandate was announced right after the last one so they dodged that. (Even though my department blamed the 2 week requirement for our low scores, and skimmed right over the heavily-weighted pay complaints because those happen on every survey.). Meanwhile you have employees living on frozen veggies and not having hot water, but they don’t know what that’s like, so who cares, right??
The fact that all of us have to speculate about the reason for the RTO is all we need to know about the leadership team and their culture. When senior leaders speak, what they say makes no sense and inspires no confidence. So, employees throw away those nonsense answers and go seeking for any other plausible reason to explain the stupidity of this productivity impacting, morale ki-ling, and culture poisoning leadership stance that will result -- at best -- in a Pyrrhic Defeat: the best talent gone, the able talent quiet quitting until something better comes along, and the average being propelled to the forefront not because of accomplishments but because of attendance. Just the kind of place you want to put your retirement into. We need to run for our lives.
Way more complicated, and agree with the real estate angle, but companies made pitches/promises to states/towns about revenues that would be generated by moving workers into the area, in exchange for tax breaks. Without workers in the office tax revenues are down, commuter rail, parking, etc. Companies need workers in the office for these reasons.
Folks if this is true …..
“I have personally heard form at least 15 people they have other offers and will be leaving. Good people. Fidelity has no idea what decent people management is.”
then why don’t they tell you AFTER they have formally accepted the “other offers” and have a scheduled end date.
The people who leave voluntarily stay quiet and just do it and tell you after they talk to their boss with the news they are leaving.
The people who are talking are complaining because they deep down don’t want to go anywhere this is where the “will be leaving” originates from.
People need to get off their high horse and leave.
Take your money with you.
Good riddance Fidelity, you sure ruined your company.
I appreciate your relationships with the three companies, but I prioritize my work for financial stability rather than focusing on building friendships. I value the relationships I currently have and prefer to keep my work and personal life separate. Mixing work and personal relationships can be complex and potentially problematic from my perspective..
The real reason for RTO is so that all of us (and our zoom call attendees) have to listen to that one phone rep that talks loud as f*** and acts like they’re the smartest person on the planet. And learn each others bathroom patterns.
Crusty or not, I did just fine at 3 other companies and if you don’t want to accept that for me, one of the best parts of my time here (and elsewhere) has been the in-person relationships I developed with co-workers over the years, that’s fine.
I think there is a real benefit for both employer and employee to being on site. That’s just my opinion and if you disagree I don’t care. I think by seizing on one word I used, culture, you missed my point, which was personal relationships developed in person were always a good part of working here. And, the current RTO push is being undermined by geographically diverse teams and so is a big issue for most of us.
One last thing - you mentioned management doesn’t doesn’t care who stays and who leaves. That’s true and always has been, here, and at every other company of this size.
Culture is such a we-ponized word here… Especially when people have no clue what it means.
Culture is (or should be) inherently organic. created by the people who make up the community. People change with time and companies should reflect that. Culture should change to reflect the people’s values as well as fidelity.
Being ‘told’ what culture is does not constitute true culture, but more a vapid form of employee control, thinly veiled as culture. If you have to tell people what your culture is, I’m sorry to tell you, you have no culture—NONE. Culture has never been, and will never be the pathetically vanilla offerings the office has.
I’m not the youngest person, and I’m definitely not crusty from 1996 (how in the world can you justifiably speak to culture when you have zero experience outside). At 30 years all you know is Fidelity and without a doubt could not make it in another company if you tried.
Fidelity is on the decline from a human stand point. No one here cares if you stay or leave. The mediocrity of the big green machine will continue with without you.
Management has been saying since Fall of 2020 that the RTO model would be full weeks in office (initially there wasn’t any details about how many) and the primary driver was in-person interactions.
I’m sure real estate utilization plays a role, but it’s not because management needs to be babysat or get visibility - having been here since 1996, I really do believe Abby and long-timers like Roger Stiles are being honest able that, it’s been part of the culture my whole time here.
I think the real issue is the move away from co-located teams starting around 2008/2009. Because our immediate teams are spread across so many sites, the rationale for being on-site to collaborate is gone. That seems to me what makes coming into the office only to sit on Zoom calls so annoying and is the blind spot for upper management. I’ve never liked geographically diverse teams, and the RTO policy just makes it worse.
I have personally heard form at least 15 people they have other offers and will be leaving. Good people. Fidelity has no idea what decent people management is.
The industry is racing to zero and we over payed and overloaded upper management with insane compensation packages. The meat off the bone as been eaten and now the rats will have to devour each other. I’ve broken out the popcorn and am here for all of it. Let the Hunger Games begin!
Let Upper management attend on site, they are the problem. A bunch of Wu-sies that don't manage or hold people accountable. MANAGEr
Found another position and will be leaving FIDO. BUH BYE!
"if the leaders don't feel watched then we get legal issues, regulatory issues"
say what?
RTO mandates are going to backfire. Top performers who have employment options will leave and go where they can work remote, leaving, well, people that have no choice but to su-k it up and drag their a-s into an office.
Bring on the pulse survey. Morale is decimated. There will probably be an HBS study on this in years to come. Actively looking to go to competitor. This company is no longer an innovator.
Fact is they over hired in past 4 years
Phase 1 step is to push everybody to office .. Some associates will naturally to leave due to travel / family etc. so cost saves.
Phase 2 is co located teams - majority of the feedback is -- associate go to office but attend all day zoom calls as their team is in different location so it is not worth coming to office. Again few associates will leave so additional cost saves.
As usual all this will be done saying -- " Oh! we heard you in round tables and associate feedback surveys" So it is your suggestion for better productivity/efficiency not coming from upper management.