Surprising no one but the mgmt teams…
Unispace found that nearly half (42%) of companies with return-to-office mandates witnessed a higher level of employee attrition than they had anticipated. And almost a third (29%) of companies enforcing office returns are struggling with recruitment. In other words, employers knew the mandates would cause some attrition, but they weren’t ready for the serious problems that would result.
Meanwhile, a staggering 76% of employees stand ready to jump ship if their companies decide to pull the plug on flexible work schedules, according to the Greenhouse report. Moreover, employees from historically underrepresented groups are 22% more likely to consider other options if flexibility comes to an end.
In the SHED survey, the gravity of this situation becomes more evident. The survey equates the displeasure of shifting from a flexible work model to a traditional one to that of experiencing a 2% to 3% pay cut.
Then there’s my employer, who is giving us WFH for the foreseeable future. They might even sell our office building and move our datacenter.
We do a monthly small-team in person, and the occasional all-staff in-person, but otherwise it’s just “come in if you want, or don’t, lol.” Like, I technically have a desk. It’s just got a couple monitors on it collecting dust, though. I’m only really ever there (aside from the infrequent in-persons) when my rabbit has to go to the vet, which is closer to the office.
We actually showed more productivity after moving to WFH, so they said ‘let’s just keep it.’ So my only restriction is living in the state, since it’s a publically-funded org.
No picture of the rabbit, though? ☹️
Right? They didn’t pay the rabbit tax.
Shit, sorry, missed this earlier! This is one of them.
My company is the same way.
They realize many of us will leave, and they would lose a ton of money trying to replace us.
14% increase in productivity in my department yet they won’t get rid of our office, just in case…
My boss seems to start to understand that if they ask me to RTO then I’m gone because I don’t live anywhere close to where I did when they hired me.
The job I fled to as soon as the fuckwits at the old place revealed they’re too dumb to manage remote people whose butts they can’t count visually each day (and that’s not a creepy fixation) is publicly funded.
Soon as COVID hit, they went from ‘Office Space’ to ‘gtfo without paperwork to come onsite’. And they stayed that way. WFO-first is now in the union contract. They sold the desks and ditched the lease. 100% WFH except 2 hotel spots and one rotating freight-receiver post. A Sears kiosk has a bigger footprint.
It used to be “stay in this region,” but that’s changed: new hires coming online are from across the country. No barrier as long as it’s still within fed borders.
I need to move out East so I can take a ferry to France or cross the land border to Denmark; but also for the crazy cheap housing and beautiful scenery.
Anyway, public funding doesn’t preclude a Detroit mansion.
Public funding can definitely come with strings though and location can be one of the strings.
Also, the more locations you have folks, the more you have to deal with taxes in other states. They might just not have the funding to do that additional work.
Except I work for a state’s community college system. Working for a state org, they want you to pay taxes in that state.
FWIW, they let me work from Georgia for the first year and change during the pandemic.