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Who thought a video like this was a good idea? If you "aren't asking or negotiating at this point", why aren't first-level managers just telling employees to g

Who thought a video like this was a good idea? If you "aren't asking or negotiating at this point", why aren't first-level managers just telling employees to get back into the office or find another job?

jedberg 3y ago
> why aren't first-level managers just telling employees to get back into the office or find another job? Because if most of them just ignore you, what then? Fire most of your staff?
- danesparza 3y ago
  Yes. And then answer to your shareholders. Also: Good luck filling those positions (especially after that video)
- _vertigo 3y ago
  Amazon's approach to RTO seemed broadly effective at getting workers into the office even though it was largely bungled at level of fine details. 1. Track badging 2. Enforce RTO via chain-of-command. SVPs, VPs, and directors have aggregate RTO compliance metrics. SVPs crack the whip on VPs to get their numbers up, VPs crack the whip on their directors, and directors crack the whip on their reports, and so on, all the way down. The actual implementation of the policy was a mess and there was poor messaging especially at the beginning. I'm pretty sure it still doesn't take PTO or illnesses into account — if there's an issue with that, you're supposed to work it out with your manager — and from what I heard they simply handled the holidays by excluding the work weeks before and after Christmas from the metrics. But, ultimately, the chain of command approach appears to have worked very well in terms of actually getting people to come in. edit: Just noticed from your profile that you also work at Amazon, so I guess there's nothing new in my comment for you :)
  - jedberg 3y ago
    Having worked at Amazon through RTO I can tell you that it was effective at getting a lot of people to come in, but no one is happy about it and it has made work much less efficient and productive for everyone. Most people are maliciously complying. They will come in at 11:45, grab lunch, and then leave. The clever ones then come back late at night to badge in and out again after 6pm so it looks like they were there all day, just outside. So far they aren't counting total time on campus, but when they do those people will have good numbers. But it means they are now not working during those drive times. And they ones that are coming in all day waste a ton of everyone's time, including the remote people, looking for meeting rooms and setting up video calls, because every meeting still requires video, since all the teams are spread out over multiple offices. And they also had to resort to denying promotions and raises for anyone who didn't RTO.
    - _vertigo 3y ago
      Yep, that's all true. Like I said, bungled at the level of fine details, pretty questionable if it was a good decision, but largely effective at actually getting people to come in. People do work noticeably shorter days, a handful of people come in for less than 30 minutes (huge waste of resources and time), and yeah, there is a morale problem. One thing I have noticed is that the more co-located a team is, the more people behave like pre-Covid — in at 9:30, out at 5. Satellite workers who are coming in are the most unhappy (for obvious reasons) and are the most likely to badge in, grab a coffee and check their emails, and then leave and finish the day at home.
    - mynameisnoone 3y ago
      Amazon is moving from being a ruthlessly-efficient corporation to becoming a pennywise pound-foolish, stifling bureaucracy to make office workers miserable and drive away talent.* As Amazon's inability to do either WfH or RTO properly, it's footgunning itself with lower productivity, lower momentum, and lower competitiveness that the Target's, Costco's, and Walmart's of the world can and will exploit. If I were the Motley Fool, I would slap a "sell" rating on AMZN because the Bezos era has ended and the era of hyperdeep PHB MBA management pyramids has begun. * They already do their best to make delivery drivers' and warehouse workers jobs as inhuman and miserable as possible.
  - mynameisnoone 3y ago
    My (now former) neighbor worked as a manager at AWS. Their team was ~10 people who were largely remote around the world, their job role required extensive travel, and required much time in meetings with external parties. Nothing about it is conducive to RTO and it's more like an external sales position that was traditionally WfH in tech even before COVID to save on office costs. They received the RTO ultimatum from corporate and bought a house in another area. ]:
    - htss2013 3y ago
      You mean they bought a house assuming they could WFH and the RTO mandate forced them to quit since it was too far away? Or they said no to the ultimatum and bought a house elsewhere?
- LiquidSky 3y ago
  Well, yeah. Or rather, if they’re going to take this tough guy “obey or else” stance, what other choice do they leave themselves?
lainga 3y ago
I don't know... I'm conjecturing a lot here, but it seems like the video was made because Bob Brisco thought it was funny, and his company's performance reviews hew towards How Often Did You Agree With Bob Brisco
- danesparza 3y ago
  If he thought that was funny, that's even more reason to not work there.
- Turing_Machine 3y ago
  I'm always amazed when someone like Stalinist Barney Fife rises to head a significant company. I shouldn't be amazed, but somehow I still always am.
cdchn 3y ago
Thinking this video is a good idea, and the message it is attempting to convey, both seem to be "on brand" for "Internet Brands Inc."
artyom 3y ago
> Who thought a video like this was a good idea? Probably the 3 entry-level employees that still care to go to the office.

jedberg 3y ago

> why aren't first-level managers just telling employees to get back into the office or find another job? Because if most of them just ignore you, what then? Fire most of your staff?

danesparza 3y ago
Yes. And then answer to your shareholders. Also: Good luck filling those positions (especially after that video)
_vertigo 3y ago
Amazon's approach to RTO seemed broadly effective at getting workers into the office even though it was largely bungled at level of fine details. 1. Track badging 2. Enforce RTO via chain-of-command. SVPs, VPs, and directors have aggregate RTO compliance metrics. SVPs crack the whip on VPs to get their numbers up, VPs crack the whip on their directors, and directors crack the whip on their reports, and so on, all the way down. The actual implementation of the policy was a mess and there was poor messaging especially at the beginning. I'm pretty sure it still doesn't take PTO or illnesses into account — if there's an issue with that, you're supposed to work it out with your manager — and from what I heard they simply handled the holidays by excluding the work weeks before and after Christmas from the metrics. But, ultimately, the chain of command approach appears to have worked very well in terms of actually getting people to come in. edit: Just noticed from your profile that you also work at Amazon, so I guess there's nothing new in my comment for you :)
- jedberg 3y ago
  Having worked at Amazon through RTO I can tell you that it was effective at getting a lot of people to come in, but no one is happy about it and it has made work much less efficient and productive for everyone. Most people are maliciously complying. They will come in at 11:45, grab lunch, and then leave. The clever ones then come back late at night to badge in and out again after 6pm so it looks like they were there all day, just outside. So far they aren't counting total time on campus, but when they do those people will have good numbers. But it means they are now not working during those drive times. And they ones that are coming in all day waste a ton of everyone's time, including the remote people, looking for meeting rooms and setting up video calls, because every meeting still requires video, since all the teams are spread out over multiple offices. And they also had to resort to denying promotions and raises for anyone who didn't RTO.
  - _vertigo 3y ago
    Yep, that's all true. Like I said, bungled at the level of fine details, pretty questionable if it was a good decision, but largely effective at actually getting people to come in. People do work noticeably shorter days, a handful of people come in for less than 30 minutes (huge waste of resources and time), and yeah, there is a morale problem. One thing I have noticed is that the more co-located a team is, the more people behave like pre-Covid — in at 9:30, out at 5. Satellite workers who are coming in are the most unhappy (for obvious reasons) and are the most likely to badge in, grab a coffee and check their emails, and then leave and finish the day at home.
  - mynameisnoone 3y ago
    Amazon is moving from being a ruthlessly-efficient corporation to becoming a pennywise pound-foolish, stifling bureaucracy to make office workers miserable and drive away talent.* As Amazon's inability to do either WfH or RTO properly, it's footgunning itself with lower productivity, lower momentum, and lower competitiveness that the Target's, Costco's, and Walmart's of the world can and will exploit. If I were the Motley Fool, I would slap a "sell" rating on AMZN because the Bezos era has ended and the era of hyperdeep PHB MBA management pyramids has begun. * They already do their best to make delivery drivers' and warehouse workers jobs as inhuman and miserable as possible.
- mynameisnoone 3y ago
  My (now former) neighbor worked as a manager at AWS. Their team was ~10 people who were largely remote around the world, their job role required extensive travel, and required much time in meetings with external parties. Nothing about it is conducive to RTO and it's more like an external sales position that was traditionally WfH in tech even before COVID to save on office costs. They received the RTO ultimatum from corporate and bought a house in another area. ]:
  - htss2013 3y ago
    You mean they bought a house assuming they could WFH and the RTO mandate forced them to quit since it was too far away? Or they said no to the ultimatum and bought a house elsewhere?
LiquidSky 3y ago
Well, yeah. Or rather, if they’re going to take this tough guy “obey or else” stance, what other choice do they leave themselves?

lainga 3y ago

I don't know... I'm conjecturing a lot here, but it seems like the video was made because Bob Brisco thought it was funny, and his company's performance reviews hew towards How Often Did You Agree With Bob Brisco

danesparza 3y ago
If he thought that was funny, that's even more reason to not work there.
Turing_Machine 3y ago
I'm always amazed when someone like Stalinist Barney Fife rises to head a significant company. I shouldn't be amazed, but somehow I still always am.

cdchn 3y ago

Thinking this video is a good idea, and the message it is attempting to convey, both seem to be "on brand" for "Internet Brands Inc."

artyom 3y ago

> Who thought a video like this was a good idea? Probably the 3 entry-level employees that still care to go to the office.