3 ms·

I think what everyone is missing is the timing of these RTO orders. There's a huge swath of tech playoffs right now. Tens or hundreds of thousands of devs are

I think what everyone is missing is the timing of these RTO orders. There's a huge swath of tech playoffs right now. Tens or hundreds of thousands of devs are out of work and looking. Many, many others are worried they are next on the chopping block. There's no better time for big corps to make unpopular decisions like this. Many employees will be scared to refuse the mandate, because they see the layoffs. They fear for their job. They see the market is tough for getting hired elsewhere. They'll go back to the office out of fear. If devs leave, it will be easier than ever to replace them.

pcan77 4y ago
This, and most of the recession was manufactured to take worker power away that was gained during WFH/pandemic times. It's not a coincidence that the FAANG companies were fined a combined 45M (chump change to them) when caught colluding to stagnant tech worker wages. I almost guarantee they colluded in layoffs/getting people to RTO.
- umeshunni 4y ago
  It's 415M, not 45M and it's technically not FAANG companies - it was Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe. If anything Facebook is responsible for the vast increase in tech comp over the last 12 years.
kcplate 4y ago
I find it remarkable the level of arrogance that the pandemic shift to WFH has given the tech community. Both my wife and I WFH and certainly want to continue it, but if our companies tomorrow told us they were doing RTO we’d be disappointed but would of course go. We spent decades of our careers in an office and only 3 short years outside of one. Some folks on HN do not realize yet that well paying WFH employment opportunities will become scarce in 2023, and if your default position is to demand WFH, companies will just move on to the next candidate of the 100k that are available that can do your job just as well as you can and are willing to show up at an office.

pcan77 4y ago

This, and most of the recession was manufactured to take worker power away that was gained during WFH/pandemic times. It's not a coincidence that the FAANG companies were fined a combined 45M (chump change to them) when caught colluding to stagnant tech worker wages. I almost guarantee they colluded in layoffs/getting people to RTO.

umeshunni 4y ago
It's 415M, not 45M and it's technically not FAANG companies - it was Apple, Google, Intel and Adobe. If anything Facebook is responsible for the vast increase in tech comp over the last 12 years.

kcplate 4y ago

I find it remarkable the level of arrogance that the pandemic shift to WFH has given the tech community. Both my wife and I WFH and certainly want to continue it, but if our companies tomorrow told us they were doing RTO we’d be disappointed but would of course go. We spent decades of our careers in an office and only 3 short years outside of one. Some folks on HN do not realize yet that well paying WFH employment opportunities will become scarce in 2023, and if your default position is to demand WFH, companies will just move on to the next candidate of the 100k that are available that can do your job just as well as you can and are willing to show up at an office.