“With more people in the office, we are in a better position to use our own technologies”??? What? Do they actually know what their product is?
When you don’t have a good reason for something but you also don’t have to justify your actions, this is the kind of dumb shit you throw at the wall to just make the conversation end.
“Middle management are feeling fragile and insecure and solving that matters more than actual productivity, especially for a company who has a share price history that you could ride a sled down”. There’s a real reason if you want one.
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But the issue is the c suite has golden parachutes. They often come out better by tanking the company, but regardless, it’s the staff that feel the demise. They are the ones laid off, stressed, and put through the ringer.
Classic corporate doublespeak, IMO.
“This is bad, but bad is good.”
Execs are no doubt panicking because the infinite growth they’ve promised as a result of their 2020 finances is starting to look unlikely and they need excuses to cut down on employees
fuck infinite growth
Previously, they can’t test in production because if it cause an outage, zoom employees must use Google Meets to coordinate a fix. If their employees are all in the office, they can push directly to production without fear of being locked out, therefore increasing productivity. /s
Management doesn’t know how to deal with it. And instead of research something that would indubitably benefit everyone else, and in this case it includes not only workers, but also customers and even their fucking business model… They go back to a place of false comfort for themselves. That’s the sign of a sinking ship if I ever saw one.
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Can you provide any additional information on the “monitoring system”. Is it simple “check-ins” with your managers, or more technology dependent where everything is tracked as if someone is standing over your shoulder.
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A lot of them (Alphabet in particular) overinvested in commercial real estate and are now sitting on a huge sunk cost.
Wow that’s not a good look tbh. Pretty shitty leadership if they can’t even spin it.
That’s a good way to lose all your top talent.
Don’t let it fool you, they’ll make exceptions to the rule for the ones they want to keep. This is just a way to make their “worst” performers miserable so they quit instead of laying them off. All the
shittech companies are doing it.As a datapoint from the other side, my company (big tech) is holding the party line no matter what. Lower level engineer or director - if you don’t come in the requisite number of days a week, you’re out. It’s a bafflingly short-sighted move, but company culture is more important than anything apparently.
You don’t have to waste people’s time and burn gas in traffic to foster a meaningful company culture. This is just about management egos needing to feel important, and always has been.
It’s just sunk cost fallacy on office space.
Yeah, that’s my guess too. I assume there’s some nuance to it that I’m not privy to, but real estate has to be a huge factor.
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
At that time, Zoom chief financial officer Kelly Steckelberg cited an internal survey showing that about 85 percent of employees who work remotely “want it to stay that way.”
It’s still unclear why Zoom settled on a 50-mile radius as its requirement for returning to the office, whether employees can seek exemptions, or if performance reviews will depend on in-office attendance, ComputerWorld reported.
But Business Insider reported that market value has since dropped by at least $100 billion, mostly because so many companies over the past two years began requiring workers to return to the office.
Zoom’s spokesperson said that with more workers in the office, “as a company, we are in a better position to use our own technologies, continue to innovate, and support our global customers.”
Yuan said on an earnings call that building up Zoom’s AI capability is a priority, ComputerWorld reported, and it’s possible it has become an all-hands-on-deck situation.
The future will tell if pivoting to AI and requiring the majority of employees to return to the office are other mistakes for Zoom or necessary business moves.
I’m a bot and I’m open source!
The same BS my last employer was droning on and on about when he forced us all back because “collaboration”!
He spoke about “zoom fatigue”, which isn’t a real thing btw but that’s another matter entirely, and how being in the same building was better for us as a team.
The amount of collaboration it spark was exactly how many fucks I give about Zoom.
Microsoft took a lot from them IMO. I use Zoom or Teams even when I’m in the office. I don’t like being hindered by meetings.
Why even be in the office then? All this does is contribute pointlessly to burn out and invested carbon emission. I’d rather starve at this point than ever have to work in an office again.
They want that 50 mile radius salary market. Competing with the entire country is expensive.
My orgs secret is being based in Seattle
They’re just all going to be in the office and attending zoom meetings.
To be replaced by commute fatigue
Just before the new covid wave nobody is vaccinated against. Nice.
Is this news I’ve missed?
EG.5, variant of omicron
Zoom leadership and executives do not trust their own product.
I think they are just looking to reduce their headcount
