At the end of last year, I ran into a friend I hadn’t seen in a long time. We were chatting and this person mentioned that they were looking for a new job. They had been laid off and needed something. This is someone with a lot of experience and skill, so I wasn’t worried for their career or future. At the time, they mentioned they had gotten an introduction and interest from Amazon, but they weren’t interested in a position because of the return-to-the-office (RTO) mandate that Amazon was implementing.
I was recently chatting with another friend at a different company. This person manages a tech team, and was looking to hire another data engineer, but was told they could only hire in a certain city (City A) in the US. In this case, it was the city with their main office. They have offices in a few cities, and a large one in City B, but the organization has been thinking of their own RTO plans and has limited hiring. My friend is now wondering if they need to consider moving to City A (not likely) or find a new job. They don’t want to have to go to the office every day in City B.
Over the last five years, we went through a pandemic where many people moved to remote work. As we’ve come out of that ordeal, lots of organizations have questioned how to structure their workforce moving forward. Some want to have their staff in the office, some want to remain remote, and there are lots of reasons behind each approach. There is evidence that people can be productive remotely, and there is evidence that groups can be productive when they are co-located together. Inside most companies, there are wide-ranging opinions and desires on office work, from both management and workers, and there is no consensus on what works best.
Tech professionals certainly can work remotely. They can also see benefits from being in the same office. The efficiency of their work habits can vary depending on the day and situation, so it’s not easy to decide how remote or how in-person someone should be, even week to week. It might depend on the job and tasks. I enjoy my commute down the stairs each day, but I also find the office invigorating. I like going to the office, and I think I’d go every day if my job required it. I’d get less done for the company each week, but I’d do it.
How do you feel about remote work vs in office work vs hybrid? Do you have mandates? Would you look for another job? These are questions I see many people asking themselves these days as executives start to make new rules about their workforce. I don’t know there’s any good answer, but I am curious what many of you think. Leave a comment in the discussion below.
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Were I work, have gone thru this same process but in increments. We went from full remote work to 3 days, then 2 days and now 1. I fully expect within a year for us to lose the 1 day we have now. I personally have an issue with this not at my company but in general b/c of why I believe most non-public sector employers are opting to do this and it’s not always about productivity but control/power. Until IT/Software Development took off, corporations typically required a college degree for any job regardless if the job itself truly required a degree. This was due to what I call the Ivy League Old Boys Club mindset. Most medium to large corporations were run by Ivy league college graduates who view those w/o a degree as somehow lesser and thus unqualified to work at the office regardless of the job. I’ve seen mail room jobs that required a degree. The argument I hear for this, is that the degree means one has proved themselves and is more reliable/responsible but this is also outdated thinking. If anything, too many college graduates today are less responsible as is clear by their going into debt for a degree that will never allow them to earn that which they need to pay off their student loans. The internet/software boom forced employers, primarily boomers at the time, to hire non-college graduates b/c those were the people with the skills in these trades and NOT the college grads.
With this return to work I see a similar outdated mindset at play. Some of this return to the office is needed but much is not. It’s being done b/c those in charge believe that employees are goofing off simply because their supervisors/managers can’t watch over them in person. If you are having employees return b/c you believe they are not doing what is expected then you are a poor manager/supervisor. You should be replacing the ones not getting things done, not requiring all to return to the office. A battle between employers and employees over remote work is coming and it’s one the employers can not win. Do you know why? While not desirable it is still however possible to have a society w/o employers where everyone is their own independent employee as we had for most of human society. With few exceptions an employer can not exist without employees but the reverse is true. Once the balance of labor shifts such that it’s an employees market and not an employers, the employers will be forced to abandon these outdated mindsets or be replaced by one who has. The larger the employer the longer they will be able to hold on but the larger an employer is the more often than not, the slower they are to innovate and thus they either are replaced by a smaller more agile start-up or the acquire said start-up.A return to remote work, despite employers wishes, is coming, it’s just a matter of time so the smart employers will find a way to make remote work for employees work for their company.
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Not a bad view, and you might be right. I’d disagree in that the power often comes from those who have the resources (money) and while companies (employers) cannot exist without employees, in practice, the reverse is very true. Most people need a job to pay bills, and jobs can be in short supply. I’d say now, in the tech world, it is very much a demand-drive, corporations in power. More people looking for jobs than there are jobs.
A lot of people don’t know how to manage people remotely and hold them accountable. I’d argue they also don’t do this well in the office, but they can more easily see people and put pressure on them to do work. While some people goof off, I think far too many are just slower at getting things done, and they aren’t learning to improve what they do without some visible, other people in the room pressure. That isn’t likely the majority as I think most people do a good job remote or in office, but there’s enough that it’s a concern.
There are also challenges with hiring. I might have a below-average performer, but it’s hard to hire someone else and I might get another below-averate performer, so I’m
a) better off with the one I know, and
b) easy to just force them into the office
In the US (maybe elsewhere as well), the legal culture allows too many people to claim “this is unfair”, so companies are loathe to say the 10% of low performers need to RTO while the 90% can be flexible. The 10% ruin it for everyone else.
It’s also incredibly hard to change company culture or protocol easy. It’s a nice thought that anyone can be replaced and new companies will innovate and win. In reality, there’s way more friction to change, including the ability of larger companies to just buy smaller ones and then dissolve them and not change much
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I have been working from home since 2019. I have a job now as a developer/data analyst and i have to go in 2x week. I am not thrilled about it since I have a 45 min drive on a good day but overall, it is ok. I have heard talks in my office that we might go to 3x a week in the office with a goal of 4x week at some point. I am not happy but since I am over 50 years old, I am not as confident about securing another job that is full remote at my salary. I will likely accept it if it comes but 4 or 5 days in the office will inspire to keep my options open.
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I’m with you. Getting older and looking for new positions gets more scary all the time. Best of luck with them not moving too quickly back in the office too often
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