There was no hybrid or remote work pre-COVID? On what planet was that?
I respect the desire to have an in-office company. He’s right, there’s nothing wrong with that. I have much less respect for hiring hundreds of people and then suddenly changing the rules, or for implying remote workers won’t “go the full mile” (whatever that is).
Pre-Covid, a quarter of my team was phoning in via zoom everyday. There was always someone that was sick, kid was sick, waiting for a plumber, didn’t want to deal with commute etc. There was always something. No one batted an eye.
Post-Covid, people act like remote work is some strange new thing.
Only thing that really brought people into the office was the free food. But I know that has been scaled back dramatically post Covid.
Companies have always picked the venue where their employees work. It’s really only in the last couple of years that certain employees have adopted the attitude that their company cannot tell them where to work for their company. You can certainly exercise your right to quit (at least in the US which is at will…even in Montana for the employees)
At the start of my career nearly 4 decades ago, I worked for a company that was 10 mins from my home. A year in they moved the location to a building almost 50 mins away. They literally asked no one in the company if this was ok by them…they basically said “The office is here now” and expected you to show up there. Reality is for some it was probably closer, but for others like me it was a worse commute.
“Companies have always had this and that power therefore it’s justified” is a poor argument and has absolutely no justification power for the present.
Picture this, a bit further in the past, during feudalism, workers aka serfs were bound to the land owned by a lord. They were required to work the land, pay rents, and provide other services to their lord. Serfs needed permission to marry, could not leave the land without consent, and had to submit to the lord’s court for any legal disputes.
So why arbitrarily draw the line 20 years in the past and not 400 years? Only. Because something used to be in a certainty way gives us no guidance if it should be in such a way.
That’s plain false. For the last 10 years of my dads career he was remote full time because the technology was finally available. Your experience wasn’t universal and some people have grown up where it’s normal and expected for a parents office to be at home.
"Do more with less" is an admission that the current costs aren't sustained by the income generated, and that the executives have no idea how to fix that.
I wish that this simple truth would be mentioned more often, so less executives would make fools of themselves by saying such nonsense in public.
The difference being startups start that way. The parent appears to be talking about established companies downsizing and expecting the remaining employees to shoulder extra work. The stock market may tend to temporarily love it, but more realistically it's usually an indicator of bad leadership or a downward turn or both for a company.
> Nothing was effectively remote when the company started operations
> It’s also unknown how many of Nothing’s 450 employees live close to the office. Many professional workers bought homes outside London during the pandemic.
Wow, harsh. I hope they pay well enough to compensate for that crazy policy.
Well in a way yes. In most countries in Europe you're entitled to a significant lump sum when let go unless it's your fault e.g. negligence. Based on years worked.
Time to short Nothing. If company starts to be fussy about where it's employees do the job it means there are much more important issues lacking attention.
Readit News
There was no hybrid or remote work pre-COVID? On what planet was that?
I respect the desire to have an in-office company. He’s right, there’s nothing wrong with that. I have much less respect for hiring hundreds of people and then suddenly changing the rules, or for implying remote workers won’t “go the full mile” (whatever that is).
Post-Covid, people act like remote work is some strange new thing.
Only thing that really brought people into the office was the free food. But I know that has been scaled back dramatically post Covid.
Deleted Comment
At the start of my career nearly 4 decades ago, I worked for a company that was 10 mins from my home. A year in they moved the location to a building almost 50 mins away. They literally asked no one in the company if this was ok by them…they basically said “The office is here now” and expected you to show up there. Reality is for some it was probably closer, but for others like me it was a worse commute.
So why arbitrarily draw the line 20 years in the past and not 400 years? Only. Because something used to be in a certainty way gives us no guidance if it should be in such a way.
Deleted Comment
What if WFH is the best way for a company to operate?
The "Do more with less" thing is usually an indicator a company is on track to become Nothing.
I wish that this simple truth would be mentioned more often, so less executives would make fools of themselves by saying such nonsense in public.
We have done so much with so little for so long, that now we can do anything with nothing.
> It’s also unknown how many of Nothing’s 450 employees live close to the office. Many professional workers bought homes outside London during the pandemic.
Wow, harsh. I hope they pay well enough to compensate for that crazy policy.
If so, that’s not how any job has ever worked; they don’t pay for your house if you get let go
Deleted Comment
Dead Comment