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I have to laugh at this question... at my last company they instituted RTO requirements, but the problem was that 95% of the Directors, the C-Suite, and the E-Suite were remote. So, they designated the homes of those in leadership as "Centers of Excellence" (a fancy way of saying, 'a company office') so they were excluded from the RTO requirements. It was hilarious watching our CEO - who worked from home - tell us how WE all needed to come back to the office to improve collaboration and productivity.
Wow! Sounds like horse sh1t to me. Don’t mandate it to others but leadership can do what they want.
Everyone should be in the office 100%. If you don't want to be in the office, there are plenty of people who need a job who are more than happy to go to the office.
You seem like anawesome coworker
If someone could explain to me the business justification without some bs about “workplace culture” or just the callous concern about commercial real estate valuations, then sure. But otherwise I’m really struggling to see the point.
Well I want to see my banker in person, I don’t want to talk to you over the telephone
Why? My team is almost entirely remote. Can't see any good reason to be in the office full time. I'd resign, thanks for all the shares, I no longer need to work.
Hah, sure you would. That’s good because you wouldn’t have an easy time finding a new job.
I believe to get the best out of the team people should work where they are most productive. Introverts may add more value from home, extroverts may need to be around people face to face.
I have a manager currently who is trying to enforce on site working and socials because he is an extrovert. I mentioned that some single Mums don't have an option to travel for 2-4 hours a day just to socialise, and he said "it's their kids, it's not our job to look after them, it's up to them to figure out childcare".
You know what they say...to see a person's true character, give them power!
I’d rather it be like what CGI is doing, make the leaders making all the big bucks come in.
Let the ICs be remote
RTO is backwards thinking and steeped in ulterior motives. Some companies are stuck in the past and it shows, other use it as a way to reduce headcount and trim budgets.
Has very little to do with leadership and productivity. Study after study has shown this and we've had years of data to rely on.
Theee are benefits to going back to the office. I don’t really think it’s necessary all week but to each their own. Management should be there with their team, keeps up moral and if done right can make the team stronger. Management is key and if they’re asking for a RTO the 1st that should be there is management. I do want to say they need to be with their team all day as there may/ are responsibilities outside of their team but a commitment and showing up is a must.
What if your team is dispersed globally?
I do believe onsite days are important, but some days you need to focus and complete tasks and imperatives. The act of driving into work so you can be in the office with the door closed most of the day makes little sense. A Hybrid work schedule with at least one day a week to work remotely makes the most sense for leaders to be at their most efficient
If the team i'm on is functioning smoothly, and everybody is doing what they need to do, I dont think it makes a lot of sense.
If my team isn't functioning, there is probably something else broken that needs fixing, and it's not about being remote.
As others have said, this is probably just a clandestine way of getting everyone back to the office. I'm increasingly losing respect for management types who seem to be stuck in the distant past. If my managers actually did their jobs and tracked workflow and set up sprints and whatnot, productivity wouldn't be a concern whether or not employees were remote. But instead they are endlessly in meetings and neglecting the primary thing they should be doing which is oversite of the team. Fortunately for my current manager, I like to make my own lists and track my own progress and I set him as a watcher on my projects, so he gets regular updates. You'd think companies would be jumping at the opportunity to shed huge leases and downsize and increase profit margins. It would also cut way down on traffic which is a real negative in big cities where quality of life is declining. I really don't get this knee jerk reaction to force a return to the office. This isn't Madmen in the 1950s. We have the technology to do a lot of work remotely. I am generally staring at terminals all day and connect by Zoom for meetings. I come into the office a couple of times a month to touch base with people, but I really see no reason for these mandates.
How about when you have individuals in office, in their cubicles, who are remoting into the conference room meetings 50 feet away and was doing it for awhile until the upper management realized it and had to tell people, "if you are in the office, you have to come in person to the meetings."
lol, this will only lead to a full staff RTO eventually. My company sort of did the same thing and then like 6 months later made everyone come in.
Work from home requires metrics and discipline that many companies lack. As a tech CEO, we measure everything. If an employee isn't performing, we see it in the numbers - it doesn't matter where they are poorly performing. Likewise, when someone is knocking it out of the park we see it in the numbers. Companies that demand knowledge workers return to the office just have lazy managers.
If the team being managed is not "fully" remote then the manager should be in the office.
Also, I don't know when everyone became entitled to work at home. I used to fully support wfh but the truth is that most people are not effective at home. This should all be based on the individuals needs, abilities and accountability and between that person and the manager and up. The truth is it should be based on the job you've accepted, where you're at now and what leadership determines is best for the company.
Also, if you're not senior level as in and IC or fully self-sufficient then you need to be in the office more often than not so you can take full advantage of mentorship. I hate to tell everyone but you're team is not as engaged using zoom as they would be if they were working together more often.
So yeah managers should be in the office unless the team is fully remote and kids out of college should jot be looking for remote work.
The data simply does not support your claims. Workers are more productive from home, not less. It's really not hard to understand why, either - lazy people are just as lazy in the office, they just hide it with busywork. No one becomes lazy because they no longer have to sit in traffic for 3 hours a day or listen to Carol talk to Tim about her terrible parenting techniques while they're trying to get something done.
I believe if an RTO is mandated, all employees must return to office, no exceptions. You live in X state but the office is 4 states away? Time for you to move. I am harsh on this subject because it seems that the excuses they come up with RTO mandates are for better collaboration and some other miscellaneous reason. If I can't come interrupt my boss in their office every 30 minutes like people do to me, I guess they aren't very collaborative. If there is a return to office, everyone must return. "If i can't see you working, you're not working," same should go for C-Suite and below. If I can't see my CEO working in his office, he's not working. This all stems from me being asked to return to office and while on a meeting, the director was sitting at a beach with a hotspot throwing down how important on site work really was...
Why do leaders need to be in the office? With today's technology and various platforms to run virtual meetings, chats, etc as well as picking up the phone, there is really no valid reason "a leader has to be in the office".
If you've taken on a position as a people leader then I think you have taken on a whole separate lane of responsibility. I think people think they've worked hard enough their whole career and now they're manager so it's time to attend meetings and just manage the work. If you approach it this way then I think most times you'll end up with a disgruntled team because when you accepted the People manager role and the bonus and whatever else goes along with it then I think you've also taken on the responsibility of the individuals on the team. Meaning prioritizing a full understanding of where they are and want to go and enabling the team to do that, writing reviews and defending that position to get the team promotions or whatever they deserve and maintaining morale and motivation. This is what keeps your team producing and ultimately employed and now that should be your primary objective.
It shouldn't be making your job as cush as it can be because you're the manager. And you should be fully aware and confident that if you're chilling at home and you have team members in the office then they are talking about it and they aren't happy about it. And good luck when you need them to go out of their way with emergency work at night or weekend and whatever you need to be successful.
In experience, leadership that is mandated to work from the office in any non-in-person industry leads more poorly if others are permitted to work remotely. There's never any hard and fast 'rule' about remote versus on-site. Edge cases and common sense apply in all situations. However mandating In Office for anybody who can reasonably achieve their work more efficiently and productively from a remote location is entirely counterproductive.
My thoughts are that it's a backwards mindset, and that I'd rather find remote work.
Oh nobody told me that. I’ll be right in.