as a scapegoat for
bad firm performance,’ new research findspoor leadershipWe need to call it as it is. If managers, owners, CEOs, and other leadership haven’t been able to make remote work positive and productive for their workers, then they can’t do their jobs and should be replaced.
FFS, it’s been nearly four years that remote work has been common place, and before that, companies were still using remote work with none of these problems.
Honestly this is peak feels and vibes based management. Buncha dipshits throwing all the data out the window because they’re lonely and want someone to lord it over.
I’ve been WFH since 2019 and in the last 2 months they’re trying to get me back in. I’ve had 3 different calls about it, each time it’s escalated to a higher manager.
The calls basically go the same way each time, they’d like me back in the office, I ask if I’m not meeting targets and in told I am. Next I ask if there is anything I’m doing wrong, there isn’t. They go on to say it’s for team morale, cohesion etc and I ask if there has been an complaints and I’m told no, I say I’m having no problems with everybody I need to communicate with. Then I say I don’t understand why I can’t continue WFH if there isn’t a problem as I’m saving about 10-15k a year in fuel & childcare. Then they just say they’re happy to leave it like it is…
I haven’t looked into it too hard but as an Aussie I think it’s gonna be pretty hard for them to force me back in
Funny they actually admitted it, when they wanted to bring me back into office in mid 2020 they just lied and said everyone wanted to come back but me. A quick off the record chat with my coworkers said otherwise.
So this stuff is covered under Individual Flexibility Arrangements (IFA) in Australia. Providing childcare actually potentially protects you more under the law. It at least requires them to provide “reasonable business grounds” for requiring you to return, and your productivity being unaffected means that would be hard for them. As well, it puts you in a powerful position to negotiate from. If you feel like they aren’t going to back down, you’re probably better off not refusing entirely, as they can use that against you with FairWork if they can prove “reasonable business grounds”. Rather, next time they ask, counter by asking for a $20k raise so you can cover childcare & commuting costs. Or that you’ll only do a certain number of days each week/fortnight/month (plus costs). They’re asking to create a new IFA, and they can’t coerce you to sign it by law. They’re trying to put the pressure on because they want you to just agree to something that only benefits them. You have the right to negotiate, and FairWork won’t be happy with them if they fire you for asking.
When the layoffs start, it will also be because of the employees.
I mean, have they not started? Pretty sure I lost my job earlier this week in a mass tech layoff, more to come next week.
The kicker is we saw the bad decision coming, we told them, we protested with all we had. They admitted that is was their fault, but now need layoffs.
100% of the executive team was kept on board, the.CEO saying that they have been punished enough with the stock price. So yeah, doesn’t matter who is to blame and if you caught them red handed, it would still be your fault. Theyre laughing at us.
My company has done 6 layoffs in the past 18 months, all because of a bad bet the previous CEO made. It’s amazing how one person can tank a company, cost 100s of people their livelihoods, and walk away with a golden parachute and a new job of equal level at another larger company.
I’ve only ever seen an executive be punished for one thing: bad mouthing the company. Anything else they skate on. Accountability and consequences are for the peons.
“New research finds what we knew all along”
The problem I’m dealing with is that there are real benefits to having people in situations where chance interactions occur and forced socialization at the expense of work productivity, but upper management doesn’t focus on that. They are focused on pushing the RTO agenda without explaining their desired goals.
The big thing is that while there are benefits to shared spaces for most people, it is rare that it is something that is important enough to justify everyone making a daily commute. Especially when the vast majority of their jobs are done independently, with a small portion of their time benefiting from collaboration or chance interactions.
I have a hybrid schedule which works great because on the days I am in the office I interact with others most of the time and the days at home are spent getting the work done as a result of that interaction. I’m not being constantly interrupted or annoyed by the ‘chance interactions’ of everyone else in the wide open office environment for most of my week.
Non-paywall link?
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