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Hey Everyone,
I am doing a part time MBA program and for one of the coursework I am trying to understand the challenges people faced while transitioning from WFH to Back to office model.
I've created a small questionnaire and will really appreciate if you can spare 10 minutes of your time for the same.
https://forms.gle/88RvEWMhGdbRN2ob9
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Hi Sharks, I have an offer from Pwc SDC bangalore and they are providing permanent wfh. But they have not given this in writing. can anyone whi is already working at pwc tell us ? Are they gonna cal to office next year or not ? Since i might need to shift location !!! Which will be hectic !! PwC PwC India Pwc AC
FIS India WFH extended till Dec 2022 ✌️
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Because most people actually weren’t more productive at home
Completely disagree. So much more productive and efficient at home without having to deal with the corporate B.S. and office politics.
I have a couple theories on the RTO mandates over the last year or so:
1. Executives / Upper Management people are invested in commercial real estate, and need people to return to the office to increase their ROI.
2. A few bad apples on the front lines. You know, the people you try to reach out to, and contact, during the normal business day and they are no where to be found, and not responding to IMs, phone calls, or emails.
3. Managerial control. Micromanagers can't micro manage a remote workforce as easily as people in an office.
4. Easy way to layoff people. I have heard that some companies will use RTO mandate to layoff the people that don't return to the office, and not have to pay unemployment.
Does anybody believe the reasoning given by the executives, and upper management? Better communication and collaboration, strengthening company culture.
So management would rather you RTO and "see" that you are "not" productive than allow you to WFH where you can enjoy a more productive environment. Those that are not productive WFH are also no productive in office. I work with a 20 something year old that shows up late every day, sleeps at her desk after having lunch delivered, and frequently laughs at whatever TV show she is watching on her phone. She is an accountant and I am a tax associate that struggle to focus because of her shenanigans. But, she is in the office. I'd rather WFH than deal with that daily.
Probably because of the false social media portrayal of remote workers.
On social media, I see people acting like people take mid day showers and are just pressing buttons to remain active- personally and from those I’ve talked to that is not the case- especially in accounting- maybe working at a call center or something, but not in public accounting when there is always work to do. I go in the office once a week and constantly see people playing on their phones when I do- it’s a shame that being a seat warmer is the preference of companies.
Maybe people learn from their superiors better when they are in the same location?
Thanks chatgpt
You know what? I buy that. I can't think of another reason why companies would be forcing us back to the office. I guess if the CEOs are miserable, we all have to be miserable.
My retired cousin loves to golf but the other three guys in his regular group will want to play every day even in the 40s with wind driven rain. He once asked them - how bad are your wives?
Because they want to have a presence somewhere, like downtown, and paying for an office no one uses is dumb, so they need to get people back in the office at least a few times a week.
Definitely this.
I work for a company that does outsourcing work, & in my prior process, our team did AR, doc management, & customer service for the client. The Doc Mgmt folks *did* have to go the office at least once a week to scan the paper correspondence we had received (which could then be processed from home once it was in an electronic format), but everything else we did for our client could absolutely be done from home, so the *only* reason anyone else in our team had to go back after Covid was to justify keeping the lease.
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Turnover is also extremely low given that most people work from home and get paid well. New associates start at big 4 close to 90K now. If that was my offer 10 years ago I’d also never leave and just sit at home and do the bare minimum. Pushing people back and having it as part of your evaluations gives the firm a reason to let people go for performance based metrics (I.e if you don’t get in X % on average you get no raise or bonus). People will also just leave voluntarily at that point for the next pay bump that’s shown to them
I read that this is a way of "quiet firing" to encourage staff to quit voluntarily in order to avoid severance and unemployment costs. Apparently a survey was taken and a lot of managers have admitted to this.
Another notion I have heard with some validity is that the WFH situation brought on by COVID inhibited people (mostly in middle management and above) from having affairs. People stayed together who didn't really want to be together. So now part of the push to return to work is so that management people can have affairs again. The Coldplay concert incident opened a window to what management people tend to do at the office.
Ridiculous take on this important issue.
I recently heard a theory that the moon isn't real, etc.
A lot of it is bc they signed a 10+ year contract at $100k+ a year for these offices and they can’t get out of the contract so let’s USE THE SPACE they say
Yeah I’m a manager. I would prefer to work from home too but young associates are not really productive at home and it’s hard to train them….. but the real reason is usually that the owners are stuck with a lease and need to justify having one
because they want to optimize the leasing expense
Personally, I feel more productive working from home.
1) I learn better with screenshare than sitting behind someone. I can take notes as needed without interruption, as well as screenshots to refer back to. Also, I have bad eyesight and wear glasses, it's hard to see certain things from a distance, vs I can adjust the size and the monitor is in front of my face.
2) I feel that when I go into the office most of my day is spent talking with others or it becomes interrupted due to easy access. I still have to come home and work the extra hours to catch up on the work I wasn't able to complete due to talking.
3) I use less energy to commute and can get up later and spend less time getting ready, which I can use to increase the quality of my work since my brain isn't as tired. I can feel the differences between the time when it was optional to work in the office to now where it's mandatory to be in the office.
Reasons why I feel like companies want us in person.
1) We forgot the understanding of teamwork. Of helping each other and remembering that there is a connection to someone else and to the team. I felt this when I joined a company as a senior. I didn't really have a network of people I could go and ask because that connection wasn't there. It can go back to touching the topic that people learned better because there was a community to teach and learn from. Limited company involvement in various activities.
2) It was glamorous as back in the day: I commuted to work and did my job. I worked harder and people who wfh don't work as hard since they don't have this aspect. Also, the company doesn't have the same level of control over the employee. You can physically see if people were leaving/logging off early or when they arrive at work. They can keep a better track of who logs in and out at what time. Before COVID, I had an employer who literally tracked all my movements. Ie. How many bathroom breaks did I take, when I took time to grab a coffee etc.
3) The value of real estate won't appreciate since the need isn't there. - This will impact the books whether as a purchased asset or a lease/ROU.
4) They are using this as an excuse to let people go and have fewer bodies in the US. And move that to offshoring and AI.
Now I'm not saying my work style is the same for everyone. This is from my perspective. I work in real estate assurance and everything I get is via email or portals, so there is limited need to go into the client's office.
Also, I don't buy it when they say people work more effectively in person. We have so many more tools and resources now than before COVID to the point where it's impossible to be less efficient than before COVID. They are also offshoring tons and tons of jobs, which are "remote" (meaning not in the country of the project). They are hiring less and less people. Also the new hires are having learning issues because the basic tasks are used to build a basis of learning are being offshored and so they don't have a chance to concrete basic topic.
There are arguments on both sides here. I believe that companies are encouraging or enforcing return to the office for a number of reasonable objectives, including the dissemination and maintenance of company and office culture, and enriching the development of younger staff members.
Not to sound old, although I am, when I was starting out, we would be in a staff audit room, and the partner would sit down with us and explained what his or her review notes meant, realizing that we would be in the position one day of supervising and teaching. We now have five years of remote work for a significant number of new entrants in the profession. It is very difficult to enculturate them and develop their interpersonal skills to deal with clients, especially when difficult conversations have to be had.
On the other hand, there are of course advantages to remote working for both the employee and the firm. Computation and time flexibility are, of course, benefits to employees. For firms, a small footprint of office facilities can be designed which, of course leads to lower cost operations.
On the other hand, there are of course advantages to remote working for both the employee and the firm. Computation and benefits to employees. For firms, a footprint of office facilities can be of course leads to lower cost operations.
In sum, there are advantages and disadvantages and benefits and detriments to whatever decision is made.