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Happy to see Elon making the push to get people back. Our group has become so much less valuable since WFH started. Everyone seems focused on "I'm getting my work done", which is fine for the low-level positions that we hired to produce work, but for the management levels from whom we expect the big ideas, they are receding back into "producing work".
We've been interviewing outsourcing firms to completely eliminate the group since we can get that work produced much more cheaply, and at the same or higher quality level, for much less by employing foreign firms. It's disappointing, because we never would have considered this in the past due to the high value add created by the team.
WFH believers discount the value of "drop by" meetings, impromptu whiteboard sessions, team lunches and otherwise unplanned interactions, but that just happens to be where the value lies in many of the "thought" fields. Sure, a robot can produce work from anywhere, but people who make >$200k/yr don't make that kind of money for simply producing work.
I'm a "both sides" on this.
I've worked at home since 2020, mostly fine. When we went home at the first job, we had the same team we went home with for about a year. On a team of about ten, one retired, then two left. The only candidates we could get were entry to associate level, or cannibalized from lower level teams in the organization.
The more turnover we and are internal customers had, the worse performance got. Communication dropped off. The departing staff didn't document enough, so there were always "Easter eggs" and "gotchas." The customers didn't know established processes because the people who knew and developed them left.
I changed jobs, and have ended up with many of the same communication gaps and knowledge problems. For IT workers, I don't think they need to be in the office. With that said, once or twice a week helps keep people on the same page and actually trying vs. mailing it in. I've mailed it in for two years now.
Because by objective measures, actual measured productivity was up. Not just for individuals, but for the organization as a whole.
In large part because we were actually doing productive work rather than sitting in never ending meetings where so many managers fail to communicate what the failed to communicate yesterday. Now that we've been dragged back into the office, productivity is going down because now we have to spend huge chunks of the day going to useless meetings again.
I think you all are missing the boat some. Musk really isn't that particular about where people work, he's using this guised threat to reduce headcount at Tesla and Twitter without actually laying people off. He's just trying to cut expenses without formally handing people pink slips.
Looks like you may be right. Tesla is in trouble and Musk is also worried about the economy. Posters have stated many times on these RTO threads, the bosses/managers are always looking out for themselves first. No surprise there.
Elon Musk is reportedly looking to cut the Tesla workforce by 10 percent
Tesla CEO Elon Musk wants to cut around 10 percent of jobs at Tesla, according to a report from Reuters. In an email to executives, he wrote that he has a "super bad feeling" about the economy.
Location: In a city within a state where politicians come to get their PHDs in Corruption
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tnff
Because by objective measures, actual measured productivity was up. Not just for individuals, but for the organization as a whole.
In large part because we were actually doing productive work rather than sitting in never ending meetings where so many managers fail to communicate what the failed to communicate yesterday. Now that we've been dragged back into the office, productivity is going down because now we have to spend huge chunks of the day going to useless meetings again.
Again, if you and everyone's so productive why is the end result so poor? On average, across the board?
If you can do your job remote, you can live anywhere.
Talent can live anywhere - including third world countries with low salaries.
If an employer can hire someone remote, why not hire someone from a third world country at a fraction of the cost instead of all the first world workers currently working at home?
Remember: Sociopaths will sociopath.
Returning to the office will become a survival tactic for first world workers, and "remote jobs" will disappear in the first world.
My employer for years resisted remote working it was allowed only after a lot of review by management typically one day per week. When Covid hit they were forced to go 100% remote for office workers. They told us we can stay remote, but every large department meeting I keep thinking they are going to reverse that decision.
According to this Elon Musk has demanded his workforce return to the office. Have any of you also be told to return to the office if so how many employees have resigned.
I was going to post when I read about it yesterday but didn't have time. Whatever article I saw had a link to a really good tweet where some of the replies were from spouses of people who work from home saying their person drops the kid at school, at 9am has yoga for an hour, then they do something else for an hour, log into do work, then pick the kid up from school at the end of their day. They were surprised they were able to have so much free time, their person said their boss didn't care as long as they got their work done.
There's a WFH thread in the retirement section Retirees, Do You Believe People are Really Working From Home? that is pretty long. It's very interesting to read comments, and to see the time of the day that those pro-WFH replies are being made, during regular working hours, obviously some are WFH but also have time to be on CD. Some also posted during the day before WFH and COVID, obviously they were on their cell at work, or on a work computer that doesn't have a key logger. I've read articles where there are companies who have installed key loggers to watch their WFH people, they know exactly how many hours they are actually working using the computer.
I've never had a desk job where I could WFH, I always did a man's job such as pumping gas and other things at the family business, I worked for a plant nursery cleaning, potting roses, running a fork lift. Nothing where I could WFH. I wouldn't even have time to log in here during the day like some CD members do while working. There just wasn't time. I had too much to fill my day.
I honestly do not know what type of jobs everyone has that is WFH and if they are legit working better at home than in office.
I'm not surprised to see Elon's email, it was just a matter of time because other big names have also tried to bring workers back. I'll be interested to see how many people decide to stop working for his companies. I honestly don't feel he cares because he has others who will gladly fill the vacant roles.
In the tweet I saw yesterday, people thought back in office only applied to supervisor positions, it was sent to senior staff.
Location: In a city within a state where politicians come to get their PHDs in Corruption
2,907 posts, read 2,067,166 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by k374
What exactly makes Elon Musk an expert in Employee management? He may be brilliant in other areas but I don't think he knows jack about this area...
He doesn't have to be. He is however a trend setter and this gives cover for all the other "leaders" to follow suit.
While there's no doubt there are professionals out there who thrive on working remotely, an average employee, even at top level companies has used these last two years not to necessarily improve themselves.
I've said this before, if it was in your employer's interest to have you working remotely they would have done so before the pandemic.
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