A Cloudy Dimon
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Clouding up and raining on people...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14394383/jp-morgan-jamie-dimon-call-work-home-staff.html
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I know we have had a number of threads on working from home vs. being in the office. Since this is the most recent forum thread, I will post this article here;
The four reasons work from home is bad
No. 1: Remote work is bad for new hires and junior employees
No. 2: Workers admit that remote work (sometimes) causes more problems than in-person work
When executed incorrectly, hybrid work plans can create discordant, unproductive teamwork. That’s especially true when teams don’t make an effort to align their in-office days.
Also, remote work has its fair share of downsides. Drum linked back to McKinsey research that found that remote workers are much more likely to report mental and physical health issues and hostile work environments. That’s not the worst of it: 60% of bosses admitted that if they had to make job cuts, they’d come for their remote workers first.
No. 3: Remote workers put in 3.5 hours less per day of work compared to in-person workers
No. 4: Productivity plummets on days when everyone is working remotely (anecdotally)
Workers themselves certainly beg to differ on this point. According to a Pew Research survey, pro-remote workers (especially parents and caregivers) have a better work-life balance and are more productive and focused. According to an October 2022 survey of white-collar workers from Slack’s think tank, Future Forum, those with full schedule flexibility showed 29% higher productivity scores than employees with no flexibility at all, and remote and hybrid workers reported 4% higher productivity than their fully in-office counterparts.
Bottom line
But the tide is turning for many reasons, and whether workers believe they’re more productive remotely or actually are, they may not have much of a choice in the matter.
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It's a good litmus test for the level of understanding people like Dimon have about their employees' jobs and how they work. Which is to say he has no understanding whatsoever.
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This is a temporary RTO wave, in my opinion. Employers will once again realize they can attract the best talent by offering flexible work location options. If not, the talent will go to the next employer that allows it. It'll be a competition, as it always is, to attract talent.
It's also a job by job decision, really. It's far more expensive for the company to have an employee working out of a building (we've covered all of the costs involved), so if the employee can perform the same duties without that overhead cost, the company will be motivated to cut that overhead cost and allow remote work. I know for my job, specifically, I open a virtual desktop window each day from my home office and do my job as if I was sitting in the cube. Same phone calls, same Teams chats, same work... without the overhead cost and without the requirement to wear pants.
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Yup. There are far more contractor positions than there are cleared folks to work them, so folks shouldn't have much trouble finding work. Salaries of contractors might go down a bit if the "supply" of workers increases, but the bill rate to the government will be the same.
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FERS is a drop in the bucket for most employees, unless you've been there for 30+ years. Plus contractor rates are like 2-3x that of staff rates, since the contractor has to cover all of those fringe benefits. I read somewhere that the average federal staff salary is $106k whereas the average annual cost to the government of a contractor is about $350k (the contractor individual doesn't even see half of that usually).
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I lean towards return to office and I think that @jolly is of the same mind. In the article above, I think that #1 is a big problem. I have seen it myself. New people who start remote always seem to be a step behind. I think that having a new person be fully remote is a mistake, no matter what industry. But, if you are going to bring new people into the office during their initial period, then you need to have experienced people there also. LOL
For me, (I know it is only a single data point), but I work better in the office (though I do like it better working from home. LOL). For example, if I need to talk to legal about about a contract or negotiation, it better for me to go down to the office, sit with them at a table and discuss. Easier than back and forth DM's, emails, or setting up a on line meeting. And realistically, me being there in person increases the odds that I will be able to meet with them and talk with them.
And the comment about managers more likely to layoff remote workers before in person workers, I think is true also. Human nature.
Of course WFH vs RTO is job specific, and also depends on the personality of the person doing the work. I get that. But, overall and in general terms, I think that there are more benefits to being in the office than being home.
