... And then they came for WFH

[herzlos]

Are they allowed to deny reasonable accomodation requests? Or are they trying to claim it's not reasonable/viable?

[skyth]

Claim it's not reasonable/viable.

[pacific]

I would start looking for another place to work in that instance (depending on how much of an issue it is, of course).

Friend of mine was victim to some vicious office/playground politics, from someone trying to cause trouble for him, and ended up going from three days in the office to five. He told the owner that the commute was too much (three days had just about been OK) and he was looking for another job, the owner shrugged, he has found another job doing exactly the same thing for similar compensation and five days a week at home. One of the instances of a 'free' jobs market helping the employed find a place to work, and now the previous company has to go through all of that trouble to find another person skilled in that area.

[easye]

Billionaire CEO: People ‘didn’t work as hard’ when they were remote during Covid

www.cnn.com/2023/10/26/business/remote-work-covid-efficiency/index.html

New York
CNN
—
Private-equity billionaire Stephen Schwarzman doesn’t think office workers worked hard enough during Covid-19.

Schwarzman, the Blackstone CEO whose fortune is estimated at $32 billion, told a crowd of investors at a ritzy Saudi Arabia conference known as “Davos in the Desert” that people who worked remotely during the pandemic “didn’t work as hard – regardless of what they told you.”

Then the real story comes out later in the article.....

Schwarzman addressed remote work on Tuesday in the context of the impact on the commercial real estate market, where Blackstone has significant exposure as a major real estate investor.

LOL. No wonder he is so invested in discrediting WFH.

[herzlos]

Bizarre, we've had a few initiatives to get people to take a break and focus on work/life balance because WFH pushed them to be 'on call' all the time.

[easye]

Not that bizarre.

Billionaire who makes lots of money on office space says businesses need office space.

He's just looking out for number 1.

[easye]

Hot off the presses from CNBC....

[easye]

The latest company that is ordering a return to work..... IBM.

www.techradar.com/pro/ibm-consulting-is-the-latest-to-order-an-immediate-return-to-office

IBM Consulting is the latest to order an immediate return to office

IBM Consulting has become the latest big name to order a full return-to-office mandate for its workers, despite a widespread acceptance that hybrid working is here to stay.

According to a report by The Register, IBM Consulting told its US-based executives and people managers that they must work from a corporate office at least three days per week.

The mandate reportedly came into effect immediately, and workers failing to comply are believed to face consequences.

The mandate is believed to be a company-wide one, extending beyond the firm’s Consulting business. Moreover, IBM workers have been reasonably sheltered from the storm that has prevailed for more than a year. In January 2023, around 2% of the company’s workforce was laid off – a reasonably small percentage given that some tech firms were saying goodbye to up to 10% of their workers. Another, much smaller series of layoffs was announced in July, affecting Israeli workers.

An unnamed source told The Register that the move comes as IBM closes some regional hubs.

Those currently not complying with the newly pushed mandate have been given until August 1 to relocate. They are also believed to have just 30 days to commit to a move after having received the notice.

The WFH revolution is being postponed..... again.....

This after lay-offs in the tech world seems to indicate that the party is over for tech workers and their WFH life. Once the vanguard of WFH employees due to their highly desired skillset, even they are not immune to the return-to-the-office mandates from those who can not cope with leading remotely.

[mdgv2]

Well, I’ve hit something interesting.

I’m soon to start Mentoring some new recruits. Who have a “once in 8 weeks” office requirement. Whilst due to anxiety related to driving, I’m currently excused from our “two days a week”. Also, their office is a way aways in Cardiff.

I don’t have to go to Cardiff and there’s no expectation for me to do that. But it’s a curious juxtaposition where clearly my job can be done largely remotely. But I’m being held to what is now essentially an archaic contract.

If I was of a mind to make an employment law type issue of this, I do wonder how it would shake out,

[pacific]

I am guessing IBM are going to see a good percentage of their workforce looking for jobs elsewhere. One of the positives of the free market, unless everyone else in a given industry are doing something like that (which they are not) then you lose all of your skilled workforce to rivals. The caveat to that might be that from what I have heard IBM are not a particularly good company to work for anyway, at least from some consultants I know of that are often severely under-resourced and worked like dogs. So it might be that if you already work for that company then you know what to expect and this is just the latest kick in the nuts. 

What does your contract actually say MDG? I have a 'remote working' designated work location, so trips from me into the office are at my own discretion - I'm not required to do so.

[easye]

Well, according to the article, IBM has had less "restructuring" and lay-offs than the industry as a whole. Therefore, I have two thoughts:

1. This is a stealth lay-off strategy

2. People may do it in exchange for the stability IBM has offered

Interesting to see how it all shakes out.

[easye]

60 Minutes takes a look at the real reason WFH has to end.....

[herzlos]

Jan 19, 2024 20:25:29 GMT -5 mdgv2 said:

Well, I’ve hit something interesting.

I’m soon to start Mentoring some new recruits. Who have a “once in 8 weeks” office requirement. Whilst due to anxiety related to driving, I’m currently excused from our “two days a week”. Also, their office is a way aways in Cardiff.

I don’t have to go to Cardiff and there’s no expectation for me to do that. But it’s a curious juxtaposition where clearly my job can be done largely remotely. But I’m being held to what is now essentially an archaic contract.

If I was of a mind to make an employment law type issue of this, I do wonder how it would shake out,

I suspect it's just down to what's in your contract; whilst you can't contract away your rights, you can contract just about anything else, like only attending work in a Mr Blobby costume, though if you breached it you could always get a court to determine if it's fair or not.

So whilst new hires may get a 1 day in 8 weeks thing in the contract, you'd presumably need to re-negotiate a contract to do similar.

I was hired before working from home was possible so there's no mention of office/home time at all in my contract.

[pacific]

It was the same in my case, but I went to HR and asked for my contract to be changed once the lockdowns etc started to be lifted.
My current manager is fine and allows all of the team a lot of flexibility, but you don't know if a new manager will come in and say they want mandatory office attendance - so my contract change was a preparatory step for that possibility.

I think there is an element of devilry in want companies like IBM are doing. People in the IT industry generally worked flat-out during the early days of Covid, I have heard so many stories of people burning out as businesses tried to adapt to that period of time, and some genuinely herculean efforts from people to keep businesses operating. And yet now that has been done and that effort asked of employees, suddenly it's not acceptable for those same people to work from home any more, and for what reason exactly? Easy E might have a point about a stealth operation to reduce headcount, as my response to that would be tell them to f*** off.

[easye]

How empty office space became the new bogeyman on Wall Street

www.cnn.com/2024/02/09/business/commercial-real-estate-banks/index.html

The writing has been on the wall in the $20 trillion commercial real estate market for years — ever since Zoom calls and working in sweatpants became a way of life for many during the Covid-19 pandemic.

And yet Wall Street is suddenly freaking out about bad real estate loans and empty office buildings.

One regional lender — New York Community Bancorp — has seen its stock price implode and its credit rating slashed to junk in part because of its exposure to bad office loans. Japan’s Aozora Bank startled investors by blaming bad loans linked to US offices for a projected loss. And a German lender set aside a mountain of money to brace for the “greatest real estate crisis since the financial crisis.”