This leaked today from inside webmd, the most bullshit corpo HR video I think I’ve ever seen.
To break down the obvious ones:
- Employees who are obviously either drinking wayyy too much company koolaid or who know that their jobs will end if they aren’t in this video
- An extremely out of touch CEO who wants things back the old way without giving any concrete data proving that it’s better beyond conjecture
- A company with “internet” in the name who literally doesn’t understand the concept of the internet
- Threatening and bullying language to force people back in office.
- and just a nice touch, the office is of course not near mass transit or anything and requires driving in
- Did anyone notice they were all on green screen, kinda proving that there was no need for them to be in person?
There are plenty of benefits from remote working too, as well as drawbacks from office work, and it hasn’t been decisively shown that at-office work is always better. For some management styles, sure, I guess. The sort of work they do - website development, I’m guessing? - has been shown to be amenable to a remote work style. Advantages include being able to hire people from all over, not have to spend big money on an office, employees can save money on housing and cost of living (don’t have to live near a city center) and automobile (don’t have to pay for gas to drive in or maybe even have a car) and time of commute - rather than get up, shower, drive for an hour and park, they can just start work. If the employer makes tasks and time flexible, also child care, which can be crucial for some people (it can be very expensive). And if the employer really wants, they can pay people less and save those costs themselves.
Of course, some employees like it, some don’t - there are people who work better remote and some prefer being around colleagues. I agree the choice of offering remote work belongs to the employer.