RTO Mandates: Hard Truths for Leaders

[@MITSMR]

What are your experiences with RTO mandates? What's the hardest truth you've learned? Let us know in the comments, we'd love to hear your thoughts.

[@theartofwar1750]

Dinosaur CEO's don't understand that their "creative watercooler conversations" never happened in the first place. If the work ever got done that way, then scheduled meetings would never exist. However, they do. Work doesn't get done impropmptu. It gets done as a result of strategy, planning, and execution. None of those things require being in an office. Its insanity, inefficient, and a complete waste of resources to require people who do all their work on a computer to sit in an office. When I worked in an office, due to my commute, I didnt' mentally start "working" until an hour or two after I arrived and I mentally signed off at 4pm. So how was that more efficient than me working from home and giving the company 3 more additional hours? Just because a CEO can't get his work done without a face to face conversation doesn't mean everyone else can't. Unless you're operating physical machinery or serving customers face to face, then you should be able to do your work at home. And if you can't, then you just suck and need to be fired for sucking. Let's stop covering for dinosaurs who can't adapt.

[@timgibney5590]

Collaboration is code word for micro monitoring. Collaborate = making sure they are not goofing off and working eye of sight. When layoffs happen there is a push to do more with less and focus on effeciency. Many assume to squeeze effeciency you need people in the office since working at home is slacking and slower and can't micro manage as easily to get the productivity up. I am not saying this is true but what managers think with that mindset

[@theartofwar1750]

@@timgibney5590 yeh like what was everyone doing during covid. Making money not "collaborating" lol

[@MITSMR]

You make some great points @theartofwar1750. Commuting can really eat into your productive time. It's true, the remote work debate is complex - what works for one person might not work for another. Finding that balance between structure and flexibility is key, and successful remote work takes good communication and discipline.

[@nikn2020]

Great talk. Another aspect to this conversation, in the post-Covid world, is that many teams are now geographically dispersed because WFH allowed companies to hire across geographies. With the recent RTO mandates / hybrid-3-day-a-week policies, many people drive to the office but still attend all meetings via Zoom / MS Teams / Slack. Several employees may be the only ones form their team in a specific office. Thus, requiring them to drive to work to attend meetings remotely anyways is a total waste of time, fuel and resources.

[@MITSMR]

Thank you, @nikn2020, glad you enjoyed the interview, and it's a very valid point. Forcing employees who are already participating virtually in meetings to commute simply adds unnecessary expense (both financial and environmental) without any real benefit.

[@ivan-to2zy]

Wow! I'm soooo shocked at these completely unexpected findings! Who'd have thought?!?

[@theartofwar1750]

@@ivan-to2zy 🤣

[@MITSMR]

Thanks for your comment, @ @ivan-to2zy - It is surprising to us as well that many CEOs still think RTO mandates are going to improve productivity when in fact they're likely to prove damaging to the bottom line in the near future.

[@nikn2020]

By requiring people to be in offices, without considering if they really need to be, you are simply adding to traffic congestion in cities and making the commute harder for people who actually need to be in the office. Many of the famous CEOs who have implemented such policies talk a lot about carbon footprint. Well, letting people WFH is a low-hanging fruit when it comes to reducing emissions. If these 'leaders' really were interested in reducing carbon footprint, they could easily do this TODAY rather than proposing convoluted plans which take effect 5-10 years into the future.

[@MITSMR]

You make a valid point about the inconsistency between promoting sustainability and requiring commutes when remote work is equally viable. Mandating office presence directly contradicts efforts to reduce carbon emissions, especially considering WFH offers an immediate way to lessen our environmental impact. It's crucial for leaders who champion sustainability to align their actions with their words and prioritize genuine solutions over empty promises.