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There's also a direct threat to the jobs of a lot of middle managers from telework. The company's upper level management may realize a lot of these high salary
by api 5y ago
There's also a direct threat to the jobs of a lot of middle managers from telework. The company's upper level management may realize a lot of these high salary managers are not necessary or that they obviously aren't doing their jobs well since the same value gets created with people out of the office.
The push to get butts back in seats is 100% about job security for middle management and maintaining the value of commercial real estate. I've seen evidence of CRE leaning on the media and politicians to push a "return to work" narrative.
- outsidetheparty 5y agoMaybe it’s just because I’m a teleworking middle manager, but I’ve never understood this argument that telework threatens middle management. Middle management doesn’t magically become unnecessary when employees are working from home instead of the office — if anything it’s _more_ important when everyone isn’t in the same physical location picking up their direction by osmosis.
- jayd16 5y agoNot every manager is Dilbert's Pointy Haired Boss but some people just have that impression.
- marcosdumay 5y agoNot every manager is Dilbert's PHB, but some are. And you can bet the pressure to go back to the office for tasks that don't require an office mostly comes from those.
- jonathankoren 5y agoBut middle management doesn’t make these decisions. Decisions that effect the whole company come from the C-Suite.
- greedo 5y agoOur CSO and CFO are the epitome of PHBs.
- api 5y agoI wasn't clear. Telework doesn't threaten all middle management, just superfluous middle management.
- outsidetheparty 5y agoI still don't get it. Yes, certainly some managers (at every level!) add no real value, but I don't see what about remote work is supposed to reveal those managers as useless.
- n4r9 5y agoMy ~80 person company is pushing hard for return to office despite only a few middle managers / team leads. If anything the leads are the ones happily wfh whilst the senior management are doing the pushing. The reasoning is ostensibly that the business works better due to lots of little in-person interactions. It does make some sense when a lot of the staff are junior (which they are).