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> "Employers believe offering remote work... hurts team building, communication, and workplace culture" * team building = observation & control, attendance &

> "Employers believe offering remote work... hurts team building, communication, and workplace culture" * team building = observation & control, attendance & attention monitoring i.e presenteeism. * communication = verbal. i dont want to put myself at liability [because i often am] by putting things in writing * workplace culture = lmao. the bs we use to justify paying you less and/or guilting you into working above your compensation. also remember all those zoom recordings that got shared online of people being fired by some sociopath ceo. yeah we dont want that to happen again.

friend_and_foe 3y ago
Think about the fact that office space and it's maintenance are the second largest overhead after personell, and these companies want that overhead back. What is it worth to them? I'd say a big part of it is inertia, they have leases and procedures presuming physical presence and what not, I'd be willing to bet some governments are leaning on the biggest ones to prevent a collapse of the commercial real estate market (this is big business, pensions rely on it, this is a systemic risk) and then there's the control. All in all I'd say if you let the first 2 shake out by staying the course, the third one won't seem as appealing, but shaking them out is a very painful process.
- wil421 3y ago
  State, county, and city tax breaks. Here’s an article about a company I used to work for and the associated tax breaks from the City of Atlanta government. I don’t believe the article includes any sort of state tax breaks they were given when they moved the HQ from Dayton to Metro Atlanta. Not to mention being in the office is more about Management controlling and observing. https://www.ajc.com/business/incentive-package-for-ncr-could-rise-45m/yZbxoMF5pAwdP14dUcEmxI/ https://www.ajc.com/business/incentive-package-for-ncr-could...
BadCookie 3y ago
In addition to liability concerns, most people have really poor writing skills. Half the time, in my experience, management has only the vaguest notion of a plan or strategy, and writing it down would reveal how poorly thought-out their ideas are. I have had a VP tell me that it’s “too much work” to write down their thoughts, and that they would “never” do such a thing. Maybe it’s just my employer … but I doubt it.
HDThoreaun 3y ago
It's easy to make fun of executives but in my experience this is absolutely true. I've now had 3 remote jobs, 2 were in office and then transitioned remote. The culture is not good at any of the jobs, with the 2 that transitioned becoming obviously much worse a year or so after the transition. Is it possible to keep your culture in a full remote environment? Yes of course, but in my experience it requires leadership that most companies do not have. Forcing everyone back to the office is much easier for most companies than firing leadership and replacing them with people who have experience scaling remote work while keeping a strong culture.
chrismcb 3y ago
Team building means, well team building. It is difficult to turn a comaraderie with your fellow workers when you never meet them face to face. While I believe that upper management likes working on the office to make it easier for them to manage, not everything they say is double speak. This is coming from someone who has worked from home for 12 of the last 15 years. There are definitely advantages of working from the office, that you can't really get working remotely. But I think the advantages of working remotely, at least for me, outweighs the in person advantages.

friend_and_foe 3y ago

Think about the fact that office space and it's maintenance are the second largest overhead after personell, and these companies want that overhead back. What is it worth to them? I'd say a big part of it is inertia, they have leases and procedures presuming physical presence and what not, I'd be willing to bet some governments are leaning on the biggest ones to prevent a collapse of the commercial real estate market (this is big business, pensions rely on it, this is a systemic risk) and then there's the control. All in all I'd say if you let the first 2 shake out by staying the course, the third one won't seem as appealing, but shaking them out is a very painful process.

wil421 3y ago
State, county, and city tax breaks. Here’s an article about a company I used to work for and the associated tax breaks from the City of Atlanta government. I don’t believe the article includes any sort of state tax breaks they were given when they moved the HQ from Dayton to Metro Atlanta. Not to mention being in the office is more about Management controlling and observing. https://www.ajc.com/business/incentive-package-for-ncr-could-rise-45m/yZbxoMF5pAwdP14dUcEmxI/ https://www.ajc.com/business/incentive-package-for-ncr-could...

BadCookie 3y ago

In addition to liability concerns, most people have really poor writing skills. Half the time, in my experience, management has only the vaguest notion of a plan or strategy, and writing it down would reveal how poorly thought-out their ideas are. I have had a VP tell me that it’s “too much work” to write down their thoughts, and that they would “never” do such a thing. Maybe it’s just my employer … but I doubt it.

HDThoreaun 3y ago

It's easy to make fun of executives but in my experience this is absolutely true. I've now had 3 remote jobs, 2 were in office and then transitioned remote. The culture is not good at any of the jobs, with the 2 that transitioned becoming obviously much worse a year or so after the transition. Is it possible to keep your culture in a full remote environment? Yes of course, but in my experience it requires leadership that most companies do not have. Forcing everyone back to the office is much easier for most companies than firing leadership and replacing them with people who have experience scaling remote work while keeping a strong culture.

chrismcb 3y ago

Team building means, well team building. It is difficult to turn a comaraderie with your fellow workers when you never meet them face to face. While I believe that upper management likes working on the office to make it easier for them to manage, not everything they say is double speak. This is coming from someone who has worked from home for 12 of the last 15 years. There are definitely advantages of working from the office, that you can't really get working remotely. But I think the advantages of working remotely, at least for me, outweighs the in person advantages.