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Take This Office and Shove It “You Want Me Back? I Quit”

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22 comments on Take This Office and Shove It “You Want Me Back? I Quit”

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The Boss Wants You Back in the Office. Like, Now.

The WSJ article The Boss Wants You Back in the Office. Like, Now is an interesting take about forced return to the office

Many CEOs say their companies function best when employees can interact in person. Workers have indicated in surveys they want greater flexibility about where and how they work.

Complicating return efforts is that many employees have gotten used to working at home, and have replaced time spent commuting with additional work or new personal routines. Some workers are juggling child-care duties, with vaccines still unavailable for younger children. 

“People are already saying: ‘You want me back? I quit,’ ” said Mark Ein, chairman of Kastle Systems, a security firm that works with companies across the U.S. and monitors how many workers are swiping into office buildings in major American cities each day. 

Some companies are demanding all workers return to the office now. Here are a few examples. 

  • Abbott Laboratories executives told corporate employees to return to the company’s headquarters near Chicago this month.
  • “I don’t need to be wishy-washy,” said Mat Ishbia, president and CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage, which went public as UWM Holdings Corp. earlier this year. “I have never wavered on this. We are better together. If you have an amazing culture, and great people that collaborate and work together, you want them in the office together.”
  • Office attendance at CenterPoint Energy Inc.,  a Houston company that delivers electric power in Texas, is back to pre-pandemic levels. The company told all corporate employees to return to its headquarters downtown in June after asking some senior-level employees to return last year.

Due to the Delta variant, Apple has delayed return to the office until September. But in general, return to the office demands are centered around Labor Day.

Average Commute Times

Resistance is easy to understand. Commute times can take a couple of hours out of every day for some workers. The average commute time is 26 minutes so that’s nearly an hour lost.

Child care also comes into play as does fear of Covid as kids don’t get vaccinated.

There is so much demand for labor that people can switch jobs to resist a demand to return to the office.

Requested Job Perks

Following health care benefits, flexible work hours, more vacation time, and work-from-home options are the most sought job perks.

There is so much demand for labor that people can switch jobs to resist a demand to return to the office.

Whether companies like it or not the 9-5 and 8-5 jobs are going to be increasingly hard to fill.

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Mike Shedlock

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Cocoa
Cocoa
2 years ago
Commuting totally limits the pool of workers available to your company…and in Bay Area the commute is/was horrible. It took me an hour on a %^$% Motorcycle. The state of CA doesn’t put enough into good roads and public transit options. One crash will stall the commute for hours. %$%^ That! Public transit is flat out pathetic. Your overall productivity may fall, but in many cases the work day starts early anyway. 
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jiminy
jiminy
2 years ago
Any day I didn’t see those sour faces in the office was a good day.  Now, I’m retired and loving it!
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Tina----
Tina—-
2 years ago
This is why I bought shares in a certain video communications company in April 2020. I notice ‘Team Bonding Events’ are at the bottom of the list. Not surprised! Just guessing – but one of the major attractions of working from home is escaping from the Team. 
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Doug78
Doug78
2 years ago
Reply to  Tina—-
With CRT we now have “Team Destroying Events”.
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Tina----
Tina—-
2 years ago
Reply to  Doug78
together we stand – divided we fall
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killben
killben
2 years ago
“There is so much demand for labor that people can switch jobs to resist a demand to return to the office”
But then if most companies demand return to office switching jobs cannot be the answer
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Felix_Mish
Felix_Mish
2 years ago
@Mish that commute time list is informative!
Notice how, if you want a short commute, move to Alaska, Wyoming, or the Dakotas. Long commute? DC, NJ, IL, CA, etc.
Wide open spaces where the next town is a 2 hour drive == short commute. Interesting.
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Zardoz
Zardoz
2 years ago
Reply to  Felix_Mish
Thats not how it worked when I was out there.  45min to an hour and a half to get out to the mines.  Alaska you have a flight up to the slope to make the big money.
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RonJ
RonJ
2 years ago
Considering the the political concerns about a “sustainable environment,” how long until governments begin to mandate that jobs which can be performed at home, must be performed at home, at least on a partial basis, to cut down on traffic, etc?
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Scooot
Scooot
2 years ago
I suspect many younger employees would like to return to an office for the social interaction.
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Doug78
Doug78
2 years ago
What we have now is a special environment and one that will not last. Employees are happy that they are in so much demand that they can bargain for better conditions and higher wages but some act as if this exceptional demand for their services is the new normal. It is not. Labor like materials can suffer bottlenecks that cause price inflation. Once that happens supply increases. The exceptions are those that have rare qualities or skills that usually are a result of very hard work above what most people are capable of but they are generally rare. Most people can be and are replaced when they no longer make economic sense for the employer. Many employees now seem to have the belief that they somehow have joined the ranks of those exceptional people with rare skills and that their employers have suddenly recognized their exceptionalism. I am afraid that they are going to have a rude awakening when they discover that even though their employer needs them desperately now, in the future when things settle out they might find out that they are indeed replaceable. I have seen it happen over and over in my industry and the results on the person can be devastating to them. Hubris kills. 
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Zardoz
Zardoz
2 years ago
Reply to  Doug78
I treat every job like a construction job… it could end at any instant.
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Doug78
Doug78
2 years ago
Reply to  Zardoz
Very true.
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dtj
dtj
2 years ago
Employers have had the upper hand for so long that it comes as a shock to them when employees push back. It remains to be seen whether workers are successful in gaining some bargaining power. I personally don’t believe the “huge demand for labor” story apart from the hospitality sector which laid off millions of workers and suddenly wants them back.
Let’s see how much of a pay increase workers get this year. Cost of living has increased over 5% the last year. Let’s see those 5%+ raises.
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Six000mileyear
Six000mileyear
2 years ago
When I was interviewed by my present employer early this spring, I was asked a series of questions about working from home. I replied there are times when a person for this position will have to be on site, and times when full concentration is needed. I showed flexibility and understanding. Once I started, I spent all my time on-site to get to know the people and operations. Now that my project is in the subject matter design phase; I’ve been able to work from home and still feel connected during online meetings. So I am one of the lucky ones because I can take some work home with me.
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Casual_Observer
Casual_Observer
2 years ago
By the way the work from home thing is not tenable in some jobs in tech. Primarily those jobs in hardware engineering or system engineering where you needs hands on equipment. Intel wants to hire a lot of people but they want many of them in the lab. The shortage in chips is slowing everything so companies in this space arent as desperate to hire remote workers and they don’t have a huge turnover problem because of it.  
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Casual_Observer
Casual_Observer
2 years ago
At some point it will be interpreted as not wanting to work. I think most people at a baseline don’t want to be productive given the FIRE economy pays more.  No one has much data but I suspect that and not unemployment benefits is the reason behind why people dont want to go back to the office. 
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Webej
Webej
2 years ago
It all depends much more on the job than some set of conditions/benefits.
If you can’t be missed, it always puts you in a good place, and generally you will find satisfaction in keeping the place afloat.
If there is a constructive atmosphere and good interactions and people each take responsibility, you will miss being there.
On the other hand, for many workers their jobs are barely a step up from slavery, and work is a demeaning, boring, stress, and humiliating.
It’s not just about employees, it’s also about employers and the actual work.
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Zardoz
Zardoz
2 years ago
Told my company exactly that on the survey they sent. They’re waffling about it, and I’m interviewing at 3 other companies.
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whirlaway
whirlaway
2 years ago
The “unlimited vacation” thing is BS.   What it turns out to be in reality is – no vacation.   If you have X days vacation, you know you are entitled to take it.   If you don’t take all of it, it is banked in your name and can be cashed out when you leave.   With “unlimited” vacation, employees are pitted against one another, and the one that takes the least vacation is the “champ”.    And when you leave a few years later (after taking little or none of that “unlimited” vacation time), you get nothing.   No wonder bosses love it.   
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Casual_Observer
Casual_Observer
2 years ago
Reply to  whirlaway
Yup. I take more vacation and dont look back. The people that dont take vacation are the chumps. Many of them dont realize the tortoise not the hare wins the race.
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whirlaway
whirlaway
2 years ago
Reply to  Casual_Observer
I told in a team meeting that “Unlimited vacation” = “Zero vacation”.   Many of my colleagues diligently avoided taking vacations for about 2 years after this new “perk” was introduced.   And then, the entire division of 5000+ people was closed and everyone was laid off.  End of story!
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