Dell risks employee retention by forcing all teams back into offices full-time

"Dell may be missing out on some great talent..."

See full article...

 

[afidel]

We'll address the overcrowding once we figure out how many people have turned in their resignation letters (aka how much our 'stealth' layoffs have worked).

 

[case_ratchet]

They're risking nothing. This is just layoffs by another name.

 

[Linux-Is-Best]

It is not about productivity, it is about control.

The company likely could save millions, keeping their employees working from home. They would not need to pay for internet, phone, electric, heating, cooling, general maintenance, and the list goes on and on.

But your boss, and their boss, are not looking over your shoulder and micromanaging you while you are at home. Nothing will ever convince me this is about productivity and better business management.

 

[stormcrash]

Eat shit dell. Your PCs may be better quality than HP but your management is just as trash as theirs

 

[Edgar Allan Esquire]

At least Google's doing voluntary buyouts in specific divisions (and will actually pay).

 

[Celery Man]

Corpos gonna corpo.

 

[Old_Fogie_Late_Bloomer]

inb4 bootlickers

Your masters will treat you as poorly as you allow them. It's sport to them. These are the kinds of people that read Nineteen Eighty Four and think to themselves, "That boot stamping forever thing sounds great, how do I get in on that."

You can lie there and accept the boot or you can stand up. Your choice.

 

[Celery Man]

At least Google's doing voluntary buyouts in specific divisions (and will actually pay).

Except, as Google may or may not learn, you can’t buy out institutional knowledge.

 

[afidel]

It is not about productivity, it is about control.

The company likely could save millions, keeping their employees working from home. They would not need to pay for internet, phone, electric, heating, cooling, general maintenance, and the list goes on and on.

But your boss, and their boss, are not looking over your shoulder and micromanaging you while you are at home. Nothing will ever convince me this is about productivity and better business management.

No it's about rich people's commercial real estate holdings and reducing headcount. These decisions are being made in the C suite and by boards, not by middle managers who like to micromanage their underlings.

 

[SixDegrees]

They're risking nothing. This is just layoffs by another name.

Yes. Exactly. Unlike layoffs, though, employees who quit over this will do so voluntarily and be ineligible for unemployment benefits, which saves the company money on their unemployment insurance premiums.

The goal, just like the Federal RTO mandate, is to be overtly cruel to employees and hope they leave.

 

[Linux-Is-Best]

No it's about rich people's commercial real estate holdings and reducing headcount. These decisions are being made in the C suite and by boards, not by middle managers who like to micromanage their underlings.

Bold of you to presume the board of directors and the CEO does not micromanage.

For example, have you seen Elon Musk?

 

[randomcat]

"What we're finding is that for all the technology in the world, nothing is faster than the speed of human interaction,” Dell wrote, per Business Insider. "A thirty-second conversation can replace an email back-and-forth that goes on for hours or even days."

In a followup with BI, Dell wrote, "By the way, what business are we in again? Honestly I completely forgot. We make toasters or something, right?"

 

[Celery Man]

Bold of you to presume the board of directors and the CEO does not micromanage.

For example, have you seen Elon Musk?

Worst of all, these people see Musk as someone to emulate.

 

[foobarian]

Most of the folks without visa restrictions who have in-demand positions and prefer remote work probably already noped out when they saw the writing on the wall.

 

[kyleblue]

Thats right, back into your dictatorship boxes you plebs.

 

[Excvbgi89765]

Deleted

 

[bruindrummer]

My approach is this: if I'm 100% exactly as effective working from home as I am at the office, and you can't provide a concrete answer as to why I'm being forced back to the office, then my commute time is on the clock.

 

[fenris_uy]

Dell wrote, per Business Insider. "A thirty-second conversation can replace an email back-and-forth that goes on for hours or even days."

Ok, then call me on Slack, Zoom, Meets or whatever you are using in your company.

 

[swbail]

No it's about rich people's commercial real estate holdings and reducing headcount. These decisions are being made in the C suite and by boards, not by middle managers who like to micromanage their underlings.

I would tend to agree. Micromanaging is such hard work. Reducing headcount and justifying real estate is the driver.

Honestly, I grow weary of return to work drama and the associated reporting. I'd be much more interested in an analysis of why Dell laptops have been complete s**t since the pandemic.

 

[Zacharot]

I wish to address the argument, rather than the misdirection.

Seemingly no CEO, has ever heard of a phone call. A 30 second conversation can be had over Cell, Slack, Skype, Facetime, etc. Pick your option.

There is also text messaging. Maybe these companies should invest in technology more advanced than email? Perhaps the problem is a complete and utter disregard for their employees?

Oh, wait.

 

[Celery Man]

Ok, then call me on Slack, Zoom, Meets or whatever you are using in your company.

For a tech company, they’re woefully behind the times. Have they tried telephony?

 

[Linux-Is-Best]

Worst of all, these people see Musk as someone to emulate.

Only that he does not hide the fact. Upper management has always been this way, but passive-aggressive. Someone like Elon Musk inspires them not to hide their true nature.

 

[Emon]

They know that and don't care. They have such disdain for workers that this is on purpose. This is all "punishment" for daring to ask for higher wagers in a free market that would bear it.

Their plan is to augment or replace programmers with AI. It doesn't matter if it won't work, they've convinced themselves it will. If they allowed themselves to think AI won't pan out and that they've just culled an irreplaceable part of their workforce, well, they'd feel pretty dumb, wouldn't they?

And execs are ASTONISHINGLY insecure and HAAAAATE feeling stupid. They will destroy destroy destroy and pull everything around down into the fire with them just to avoid anything that makes them feel not like a big supersmart executive man.*

Never forget how much these people are driven by childish feelings. Do not let them convince you they're making some scientific, data driven decisions.

Remember Amazon, one of the most data driven companies in the world, flat out saying, "we don't have data to show RTO is better, but we know it's true."

ALWAYS push back on "data driven" corporate drivel. Their "data" is either hilariously low quality or doesn't exist at all. There's a reason it never gets shared with the rest of the company.


* there was a P&T Bullshit episode years ago covering this woo woo crystal lady that gave "seminars" about "mind body spirit" shit and many of her clients were executives. Executives tend to be under immense stress not from working hours but from personal insecurity, imposter syndrome is huuuuge. This has been backed up over the years by numerous studies. Like 80% of American execs worry daily that they aren't actually qualified.

This crystal lady, I laughed at her at the time. Now I'm like, what a fucking brilliant grift...invite executives into your hippydippy LA crystal home, tell them they're not incompetent, they're not weak, they are big strong manly men, yes! And they paid her a LOOOT of money. It's the corporate equivalent of a second grade teacher pulling little Timmy aside and telling him it's okay, don't cry, you're a special little boy! Fucking genius.

 

[Celery Man]

You know there are a bunch of CEOs watching Severance and taking away the entirely wrong message.

 

[ubercurmudgeon]

"A thirty-second conversation can replace an email back-and-forth that goes on for hours or even days."

Says a man who has never been stuck in a meeting for hours with a preening egotist who is also his boss. Who can demand thirty-second answers from everyone else, and expects them to sort out all the details that cannot be conveyed in such a short amount of time. And who probably doesn't want certain things recorded in writing for plausible-deniability reasons.

 

[sfbiker]

Is that an hour with traffic or without? And is it driving hour, transit hour, biking hour, or walking hour?

I used to live about 40 minutes from the office with no traffic, but during commute times it was a little over an hour whether driving or taking transit. And 75 minutes by bike, which was how I normally commuted.

When my company did force us back to the office, instead of spending my days in my home office on zoom meetings, I spent my days searching for conference rooms and phone rooms to have those same zoom meetings since our team was dispersed over 3 offices. And when I was at my desk I kept headphones on since people around me were also talking in zoom meetings.

They tried to tell us how great the office was because they had free coffee and great snacks and free lunch, but 15 minutes of commuting erased any dollar value those "perks" had and my home office had better coffee (roasted myself) and better and healthier food.

 

[Celery Man]

They know that and don't care. They have such disdain for workers that this is on purpose. This is all "punishment" for daring to ask for higher wagers in a free market that would bear it.

Their plan is to augment or replace programmers with AI. It doesn't matter if it won't work, they've convinced themselves it will. If they allowed themselves to think AI won't pan out and that they've just culled an irreplaceable part of their workforce, well, they'd feel pretty dumb, wouldn't they?

And execs are ASTONISHINGLY insecure and HAAAAATE feeling stupid. They will destroy destroy destroy and pull everything around down into the fire with them just to avoid anything that makes them feel not like a big supersmart executive man.

Never forget how much these people are driven by childish feelings. Do not let them convince you they're making some scientific, data driven decisions.

Remember Amazon, one of the most data driven companies in the world, flat out saying, "we don't have data to show RTO is better, but we know it's true."

ALWAYS push back on "data driven" corporate drivel. Their "data" is either hilariously low quality or doesn't exist at all. There's a reason it never gets shared with the rest of the company.

Insecure men: the cause of 99.99% of the world’s problems throughout history.

 

[woffle99]

How many meetings do you sit in at home, doing actual work in the background while someone drones on and on about something that doesn't even have anything to do with you?

Say goodbye to all of that.

 

[Legatum_of_Kain]

This is all about plausible deniability on what they say and do (and therefore no e-discovery) and the realization of the higher ups and managers that they're miserable if they're not making other's lives, especially lower hierarchy workers' lives miserable.

 

[first_citazen]

anything to replicate your call centers here in the homeland eh?

 

[fenris_uy]

I wish to address the argument, rather than the misdirection.

Seemingly no CEO, has ever heard of a phone call. A 30 second conversation can be had over Cell, Slack, Skype, Facetime, etc. Pick your option.

There is also text messaging. Maybe these companies should invest in technology more advanced than email? Perhaps the problem is a complete and utter disregard for their employees?

Oh, wait.

That 30 seconds conversation, is going to be done over the phone when they are in the office, because people from the same group aren't going to be in the same office if the order is to report to the office closer to your home.

 

[first_citazen]

How many meetings do you sit in at home, doing actual work in the background while someone drones on and on about something that doesn't even have anything to do with you?

Say goodbye to all of that.

If I had a dollar for every meeting I have to sit through, but it's my most productive time, so let them drone on and on, while I do some real work.

 

[murty]

Filed under “D” for Duh.

Fuck I hate how the bean counters and dudes with massive golden parachutes strapped to their backs have been using RTO policies as soft layoffs, seemingly in part to dance around rules that were put in place to protect workers against mass layoffs.

Definitely not going to get any traction on legislation to correct for this type of behavior either, especially with the current administration doing the same thing with our federal work force.

 

[narf_poit]

RTO is one thing I will not compromise on. I have been working remote since 2016. I go into the office 2-3 times a year for department-wide meetings and that's it.

My team is understaffed and has been for 3 years. Because of this, we're all working 50-55 hours a week to keep up with our workload. I will not tolerate arbitrarily adding 10-12 hours / week of commute time.

 

[first_citazen]

Filed under “D” for Duh.

Fuck I hate how the bean counters and dudes with massive golden parachutes strapped to their backs have been using RTO policies as soft layoffs, seemingly in part to dance around rules that were put in place to protect workers against mass layoffs.

Definitely not going to get any traction on legislation to correct for this type of behavior either, especially with the current administration doing the same thing with our federal work force.

why weren't legislators working on this for the past 4 years when they had the opportunity? Seems no one is fighting for the worker anymore

 

[MrMorden]

Worst of all, these people see Musk as someone to emulate.

Musk is a Johnny-come-lately; the main influencer on bigco CEOs is still Jack Welch.

 

[alterationbrick]

Oh boy, time to go back to the office so I can sit on Teams meetings all day!