KEY POINTS

  • Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, whom President-elect Donald Trump appointed to lead a new government efficiency team, said they intend to call federal employees back to the office five days a week.
  • Companies such as Amazon and The Washington Post are adopting a similar policy in 2025.
  • But many companies will keep remote or hybrid work arrangements, largely because they boost profits, economists said.
  • Some view return-to-office mandates as a stealthy way to reduce employee head count.
  • mint_tamas@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    21
    ·
    7 days ago

    I’ve been working remotely long before the pandemic and I will continue to do so - I’m far from being alone in that. Also, we are still in the “covid-era”, we just collectively decided to pretend we aren’t.

    • leisesprecher@feddit.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      7 days ago

      I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised if they re-invent Aktion T4 and kill all the undesirables. It’s just much more efficient, you know?

  • Blackmist@feddit.uk
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    7 days ago

    You mean the “privilege” of working from home so tech CEOs could make billions of dollars?

    Obviously billions of dollars is just the result of hard work and not a privilege at all.

  • lightnsfw@reddthat.com
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    7 days ago

    The company I work for is pushing almost all of IT to WFH so they can get rid of all the office space they’re renting. It actually kind of sucks for me because I don’t like working from home.

  • nexusband@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    7 days ago

    What i don’t get in all of this: There are already companies that did go out of business because too many people just left, due to them not being able to do WFH. Personally, I do like going to the office 1-2 times a week, but even I would leave the company if the got rid of WFH completely. There’s near full employment everywhere, especially tech companies already have to go the extra mile to get people to work for them. Why would anyone stay at a company that does not do WFH, if that’s one thing they got to enjoy?

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      7 days ago

      This is why they’re also fighting for those visas. They want to hire people but don’t want to pay US wages. And when your residency depends on your employment, you’re going to be much less likely to call out bullshit or whatever

    • ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      7 days ago

      These large tech companies are relying upon their brand to keep talent. Amazon and the rest all believe people will put up with shit to have their company listed on someone’s CV.

      Or it’s all about quiet layoffs.

  • Norgoroth@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    6 days ago

    Musk and ramoswamy are foreign invader trash and they should go back to exploiting their own shitty countries. Fucking scum. Deport these counts or throw them in a detention center with no toilet. MAGA

  • WalnutLum@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    7 days ago

    I like the freedom to watch the kids remote work brings, but I hate the loss of concentration that having kids “at the office” (home) brings.

    • sik0fewl@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      7 days ago

      He’s a terrible human being, but I don’t think he deserves to be sent back to Ohio.

  • gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    7 days ago

    I believe most jobs that can be done from home can be automated by AI within the next 5 years.

    It doesn’t matter whether AI can do the jobs of humans, it only matters whether management believes that AI can do the job of a human.

  • Brkdncr@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    151
    ·
    7 days ago

    Neither of these assholes have ever had a real job. Not even a high paying real job.

    Billionaires are a problem.

    • floofloof@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      87
      ·
      7 days ago

      Clearly you’re living a life of luxury and privilege unlike ordinary hard-working folk like… (tries to keep straight face)… Elon Musk.

    • Curious Canid@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      27
      ·
      7 days ago

      Me too. Musk can’t actually manage people, but he can pretend more convincingly if he can see them in person and yell at them. There are a lot of managers like that and there are far more executives.

      My company looked at the actual business results from the period of COVID remote work. Productivity went up, so they decided to keep things that way. It also allowed them to get rid of all their office space, except for a sparsely populated headquarters building, which is saving them a lot of money.

      Most studies have shown that workers were more efficient when working remotely. Why would any executive want to reduce efficiency and increase infrastructure costs? The Return-To-Office push is not rational. It represents an inability to adapt to changing conditions. If boards were doing their jobs, they would be quietly showing those executives the door and looking for better people to run their companies.

      • bitchkat@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        7 days ago

        The owner of a previous company is a lot like that. He is way more comfortable walking around and seeing people toiling away. I told him I’m perfectly capable of sitting in the office and looking busy for 8 hours.

        He treats the place like a convenience store and assumes everyone is stealing from the till.

      • krashmo@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        7 days ago

        It’s not irrational it just has more to do with corporate real estate and control than productivity or employee satisfaction. Large companies don’t do anything solely for the benefit of their employees.

        • Curious Canid@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          7 days ago

          I think it is irrational, in the sense that executives’ sole legal responsibility, at least in the US, is to make as much money as possible for their shareholders. Favoring control over productivity is a violation of that. They are gratifying their egos instead of doing their jobs.

          Of course, in a sane world, how they treat their employees would be an issue, not just profitability.

        • Mirshe@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          7 days ago

          Especially with land prices trending upwards. You don’t want to be the exec who has to explain that yes, productivity is up 15%, but you’re sitting on a skyscraper that nobody wants to buy because it’s worth $60mil or whatever.

      • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        7 days ago

        The Return-To-Office push is not rational.

        Like most stupid things in our world, it’s about emotions.

        This topic is funny to me because I worked for a place that was all about data. Data driven decisions. They had tshirts made that said like “Data > Feelings”.

        And yet when people brought up to the CEO stuff like studies showing WFH or 4-day-workweeks were effective, he just said “Nah, we’re not doing that.”. No discussion. No looking at the data. Just no.

        To his credit, that CEO did run a profitable startup with barely any funding, so he wasn’t a total fool. But on that kind of stuff he was a total gutfeel asshole.

        • Curious Canid@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          7 days ago

          People who run startups, even the successful ones, tend to be awful to their employees. I should say, especially the successful ones.

    • undefined@lemmy.hogru.ch
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      7 days ago

      Me too (exact same year)! It weirds me out when people are like “you never went back to the office?” Back? Why would I go in the first place? 🤣

  • macniel@feddit.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    73
    ·
    edit-2
    7 days ago

    stupid control freaks. Because controlling of their employees is what RTO is about, control and paranoia.

    They are stupid paranoid control freaks who fear that their neat buildings stand empty and they cant just throw work at their wage slaves. So this is actually about control, paranoia, and vanity.

      • foggy@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        22
        ·
        7 days ago

        Almost all desk work should be ad hoc.

        Get your shit done. Then do what ever until there’s more work to do.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        14
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        7 days ago

        Many people do for the sole reason that you’re more productive when you’re comfortable and you’re probably going to be more comfortable at home.

        • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          7 days ago

          pretty much every office I’ve had to work in was either too cold or too hot. Hoodies in the summer and t-shirts in the winter. I don’t have that problem at home.

          • Saleh@feddit.org
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            7 days ago

            Most mixed gender offices will have that issue. But also among the same gender one person is comfy at 19°C and another needs 23°C to not be cold.

            • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              7 days ago

              One of the offices I worked in the HVAC was bizarre. The thermostat was by sales, but the cold air came out of a vent by eng on the other side of the building. Sales was hot, so they’d set a lower temperature. Eng would then get blasted by cold air, and sales would still be hot.

              “Nothing to be done about it. Wear a hoodie” said management. Fuck that.

      • floofloof@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        30
        ·
        edit-2
        7 days ago

        One of the benefits of working from home has been that my manager can no longer use standing staring at me as his main means of judging whether I’m doing work. The whole business of needing to see people working just smacks of shitty management.

      • macniel@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        7 days ago

        So their reasons is control, paranoia, vanity, incompetence when it comes to remote management and their undivided devotion to the American Dollar.

        something something spanish inquisition

        • jordanlund@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          7 days ago

          Largely also true. In my office, my manager is remote anyway, so it doesn’t matter if I’m in my local office or home office.

    • pezhore@infosec.pub
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      7 days ago

      Don’t forget sweetheart tax breaks from local municipalities on real estate!

      Sure you can have this huge complex company, because we know the 1500 people who work from the office will frequent the local Subway for lunch and that’s sales tax!