Workers stayed remote even when told they could no longer be promoted.
Big tech companies are still trying to rally workers back into physical offices, and many workers are still not having it. Based on a recent report, computer-maker Dell has stumbled even more than most.
Dell announced a new return-to-office initiative earlier this year. In the new plan, workers had to classify themselves as remote or hybrid.
Those who classified themselves as hybrid are subject to a tracking system that ensures they are in a physical office 39 days a quarter, which works out to close to three days per work week.
Alternatively, by classifying themselves as remote, workers agree they can no longer be promoted or hired into new roles within the company.
Business Insider claims it has seen internal Dell tracking data that reveals nearly 50 percent of the workforce opted to accept the consequences of staying remote, undermining Dell's plan to restore its in-office culture.
They didn’t opt to accept the consequences. They opted to look for another job once the salary expectations a jump make sense. Perhaps it’s what dell wanted in order to avoid headlines about layoffs.
They've got plenty of time to make the jump since they can just coast along with their Dell salary until them. Quitting starts a clock until you have to just accept whatever is available, but staying employed and knowing you have to leave eventually let's you start looking without the pressure.
Atlassian have proven (along with a load of other companies and academic studies) that forcing people to work in an office is an anchor on productivity.
CEOs that are forcing their employees to come back into the office are willfully pissing away productivity.
That is arguably negligent from an investment perspective
I suspect that this has nothing to do with productivity for most companies. I'm not smart enough or really concerned enough with why CEOs are massive assholes to look into this - but I figured it has to do with other stuff like property.
If you own a building and rent out space to cafes and gyms or you charge for parking etc there's a lot of incentives to get your little cash cows back in the building.
Right but the company that owns them likely owns the property or is its self owned by another company that also owns a company that owns the properties these people work in so it's super important for their overall profits to keep these buildings filled.
The problem is that the layoff isn’t targeted. Talented people can more easily find another job that will still let them work from home. That leaves Dell with a higher percentage of untalented employees than competitors.
A few jobs back, my employer promoted me once within a year of starting from a new college graduate position to a junior position, then strung me along for three years with "you're just not quite ready for a mid level position but you will be. Any day now!" This was all in spite of me doing the work of a senior position within the company for the last two years.
So I got a job at a different employer and went from a junior position to a senior position, like magic, nearly doubling my total income in the process. My coworker did the same, hopping from a senior position to a management position at my current employer. I've increasingly observed how corporate United States is painfully stupid and inefficient and it continues to boggle my mind
This is not just the US, it is the norm world wide.
It’s also not limited to job relations either. “New customer? Let me show you this sweet deal.” - “Oh, you’re already a customer? Then it’s full price I’m afraid”
Going to use this chance to vent about the fact that when the senior guy on my team left for another company it was basically all but confirmed I would take over his role I had been there the longest, was already doing a lot of senior work, and was the giy people on the team came to when they needed help, to the point we spent the month or so after he handed in his notice to train me on what he did and give me access to the systems he managed.
Then a week after he left my boss announced that the guy that had been there 3 months would be taking on the senior role.
Yeah, idk of people actually just get promoted to a new job. I always have to apply to av internally posted position. If I get it I guess I technically get promoted.
So the workers opted to continue remote work at the convenience of not getting promoted, and I bet my top dollar they lost any motivation they had and are all now looking for new gigs 😂
Looking for new gigs is currently the new normal regarding promotions anyway, according to HMW. Since companies have long shown that have no loyalty to their workforce and will lay them off as soon as they need their numbers to go up for shareholders.
And new hires to positions get paid better than promotions from within to the same positions. So it's better just to routinely keep sending out résumés to openings.
So the no promotions threat is mostly a paper tiger.
It's true, whenever I'm done with my salary I go for a new gig. Huge percentage of increase every time instead of this corp-speak "1-3%" bullshit. With job change I typically see around 30%
It's not that the middle class has no power, it simply has too much to lose if they choose to revolt.
What if your revolution fails and you lose your money and your house? What if it succeeds and your new government decides you have too much?
That is why the middle class is a stabilising force in country's politics. And if they lose their stuff, and feel like they have nothing to lose but their chains, then some higher ups lose their heads.
Their intent is to lay off workers without any of the trappings of laying off workers. If some of them happen to stick around despite the reduced benefits, dell’s happy. IBM’s been doing it to rob people of their pension for like 60 years now.
I mean... yeah. a lot of us have realized that office jobs tend to be dead end. you're great at what you do? awesome, the company views that as free labor. why promote you when they can just suck every ounce of work out of you for less?
I am familiar with that principle, yeah. it seems to me like it's become more of a thing of the past. I definitely think that happened in the 60s and 70s (and we're still dealing with the ramifications today) but I haven't heard of any of my friends getting promoted at office jobs in years. it's a younger and smaller sample size though so definitely possible both are at play