Technology

Because the best performing employees will leave for more money in other remote roles, dumping a ton of work on the remaining workers who are either a) mediocre, or b) incompetent extroverts who can't wait to spend all day talking about fantasy football with a captive audience.

Let me solve this apparently unsolvable mystery for them. You spent the last 40 years making offices soul crushing hellscapes that are grounds for psychological warfare while helping contribute to increasing commutes. People had Stockholm syndrome for a bit then they got shown a better way and they'd rather not give up a large part of their day to be tormented in a place they they don't need to be to do their job.

So when you try to force it the large majority are fighting back and you're surprised? No ping pong, pool, mandatory fun, free drinks don't offset the bullshit that is modern office design in-fact a lot of us would rather you keep all those give us a little padding in the ol paycheck and I can get my own soda and ping pong table

But if people don't go back to the office, commercial real estate will crash, they'll convert it all into affordable housing, and my curb appeal will lose its sweet, sweet premium value.

Let's not pretend there isn't a micromanaging control issue involved in this, but the core is all about real estate.

because nobody wants to return to the office.

there. mystery solved, Sherlock.

EDIT: WRT the article: because the reasons given are always bullshit unsupported by fact.

I'm in a position to have knowledge about multiple bargaining committees working on their first union contracts. The demand to RTO is literally entirely the ego of CEOs and other executives that believe their opinion is more valuable than research. They also know that employees will never accept "because we say so", so they cling to flimsy or highly biased data as evidence, without ever showing their sources or methods.

Another aspect that is likely overlooked: they're counting on people to quit. It's an opportunity to have a self-selecting layoff without massive payouts or running into the WARN act. Apple has made this more than apparent by mandating RTO at a location, and then relocating that office to Texas. They still have other labor laws to deal with, but they don't care about talent retention.

It doesn't help that the people mandating return to office are working from home when they demand it.

Working from home has its pros and cons. Fortunately, in my experience, the pros are all mine and the cons are all someone else's. That kind of colours my judgement.

It has become a fake discussion already.

It is not the question anymore whether work at home is better or work at the office. It is not the question whether you go back to the place where you have worked before.

It is big bosses fabricating excuses for laying off people.

How? They have closed your old office long ago. Now they tell you that another place in a different state is "your" office. Now go and "return" to there. Or they have hired you for WfH with no plans to ever work in an office, and now they tell you to "return" to somewhere.

And then you can watch them moaning and whining how so many of their employees people just do not want to "return", and therefore they need stronger policies...

We don't have the data, says the company that tracks their employees and customers relentlessly.

To be fair many companies who said you have to return to work did this as they knew they had to do lay offs. It is cheaper if people just leave and you don't have to pay a severance pay.

Im not gonna click the link. I am gonna live under the assumption that, because that thumbnail is next to the headline, that chick is to blame.

Fuck you old lady. Let us work from home.

If people can talk without being tracked they might unionize.