Why Companies NEED People Back In The Office

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Edited By: Andrew Gonzales

Music Courtesy of: Epidemic Sound

Select Footage Courtesy of: Getty Images

All materials in these videos are for educational purposes only and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. This video does not provide investment or financial advice of any kind.

#career #business #workfromhome

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According to study after study, working from home leads to more efficient workers, less staff turnover, higher quality work, it’s cheaper for workers AND it’s cheaper for the business.
Before Covid-19 high tech companies were already experimenting with the advantages of remote work.

A peer reviewed report from an unidentified NASDAQ listed company ran a trial where half of their call center workforce was randomly selected to work from home and the other half would remain in the office. The group given the opportunity to work from home had higher customer satisfaction, took thirteen percent more calls and suffered fifty percent less staff attrition which is a big issue for call centers which typically struggle with high staff turnover. A follow up study done on workers in a wider selection of roles including finance, marketing and software development had similar results. They compared staff working full time from the office with staff working hybrid schedules from home and the office. That study found that hybrid workers were eight percent more efficient at their jobs and had turnover rates thirty five percent lower than staff working in the office full time. If businesses want to get the most out of their workers the results are clear, more work from home is more better… Working from home is also cheaper for the business.

Office space is expensive to rent or buy. Companies that want all their workers in the office will pay more for utilities like electricity, maintenance, security and internet that workers would happily pay for themselves if they were allowed to work from home. It’s rare that companies turn down better results for less money but in this case there are four reasons that more are demanding their staff come back to the office.

The first reason is that a lot of companies are not doing so well right now, interest rates are high, investors are not throwing money around like they were in 2020 and companies need to make cuts. The easiest and largest ongoing expense for most companies are their employees. If a business is getting less work that usual laying off staff is a prudent business decision.

If a business can cut expenses at the same rate as lost revenue then it may be able to maintain profits to keep shareholders happy. If a business is making less revenue then it also means there’s less work to do so it just won’t need as many staff. The problem is that laying off staff signals to the market that the company is struggling which can affect the share price, make it harder to generate new business, and make it harder to hire new staff in the future. Nobody wants to work for a company that lays off a lot of people on a whim and customers don’t want to work with a company that looks like it might go out of business. What companies really need is a way to get rid of staff without formally laying them off… Business leaders have already seen the studies and they know that forcing people to work from the office leads to higher staff turnover which in this case is exactly what they want.

Investment banks like J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs which have seen declining revenues from less corporate deal activity are forcing all of their staff to return to the office full time. Their official communications stressed the importance of face to face interactions with clients and co-workers. Senior investment bankers from both firms (who love to talk about how much harder they worked when they were analysts) accidentally said the quiet part out loud when journalists contacted them about their firms decision to bring everybody back. A senior manager at Goldman declared to the Financial times that “Goldman does not want to hire people for whom the most important thing is how many days they have to spend in the office.”

At the moment this plan could backfire for businesses. Unemployment is still low and it’s easy for high performing employees to find a new job so managers using this tactic need to be careful or they will be left with nothing but their worst employees… An easy way to get rid of staff without the bad publicity is just the first reason.

So it’s time to learn How Money Works to find why you are going to be forced back into the office even if it makes no business sense.

[lonelychameleon]

It's not about productivity, it's about control.

[leooel]

I love how all the interviews with executives about forcing people back to the office, have them in calling in from home.

[anniford]

My last company wanted us back in the office after the pandemic even though they knew we were more productive at home. When I asked several times why, the answer always was "we are an office based company". They didn't even try to justify it. Found a job where the company actually asked the employees if they want to continue working from home. Full time remote worker now and couldn't be happier. ❤

[maxmotivationchannel]

It's like a bird that flies out of the cage into the garden or the forest. It never wants to come back to the cage again. The truth is, people hate commuting, gas costs, parking, being late due to traffic, flat tires, bad A/C in the summer, road rage, driving, they want to grab a snack when they are hungry and they enjoy just waking up, working and getting paid without all the other annoyances found in offices.

[thetaingsto]

So basically, managers with the fear of being exposed as being redundant have ruined something good.

[avatar]

The main reason is that if we keep working from home the shareholders will finally realize that 70% of all managers are useless waste of company resources.

[zibbitybibbitybop]

I work for a major insurance company, and we're definitely not being forced to go back to the office. Not only have the top execs repeatedly said that they're fully committed to in-person work being optional for like 99% of people, but they've actually sold some of their former office real estate and consolidated the remaining buildings into unassigned seating. Nice to be in a company that has its head screwed on straight.

[mykamcgane]

Working from home has completely changed my life for the better. If my company, which I truly enjoy and appreciate, forced a return to office I would immediately start looking for a remote job, even if it meant a pay cut.

[kevuseth]

Underrated aspect of WFH is less lawsuits for the company. For example, sexual harassment goes down since all online chat is easily tracked by writing.

[KingUnKaged]

My company is located in an expensive city that no one but the partners can afford to live in. We used to commute in every day, but during the pandemic we stopped and our lease ran out. The partners rented a new office deeper in the core so that they could walk to work, but now it's 90 minutes commuting for the closest non-partner to come in. The money could've paid a raise to everyone, but instead it's being spent on a tree fort with a 'no poors allowed' sign on the front. Sometimes it all comes down to ego.

[teethnclaws]

I love not having the unnecessary commute. I love being able to control the temperature in my space. I'm introverted and extremely productive when I'm not interrupted for idle non-work related chit-chat.

[Jenesis]

A lot of managers are extrovert who get energized by being with people. They go nuts sitting at home alone. If they don’t have life outside of corporate ladder climbing. Introverts get inner peace being home alone. Covid really highlighted this polar difference. I loved not going to work so much that so retired early. It has been 2 years and I still don’t do much daily.

[hteacave]

I think one of the reasons is psychological. Managers want to feel respected and in a more powerful position than everyone else and when people are at home, they can't really see the subordinates step on egg shells around them, or see the look of distress, fear, and uncomfortableness in their eyes, so managers wanted the workers back on site to give them that ego boost

[getnohappy]

Given various comments made by CEOs and politicians, I'm pretty sure #1 is managers feeling they're not successful if they can't wander the halls lording over employees like a 19th century mill owner

[quixadhal]

It's pretty simple. Middle management has to justify their existence. If you got your assignments and did your work, cheaply and effectively from home, why would they need to have people who specialize in roaming around the cubical farms asking "So, that thing we had you working on, how's it coming?" all day long?

[rabbit]

I'm an American living in Japan and this explains exactly what is happening here; companies requiring employees to return to the offices. And a lot of it is that the managers wanting to be important. When I worked at Toyota the required their contractors to be close their factories or their headquarters. One exception to this was Hitachi. It has an automotive department that is located on the east side of Tokyo even though none of the car companies are located there. When Suburu people have to meet with them, they have to travel to Suburu's offices in western Tokyo. Toyota people have to take a 4 hour train trip and usually end spending the night there. They could disperse their offices to be near their clients, but then the managers wouldn't have less control. Japan is the master of managers being in control!

(It really is sad. My co-workers were so happy during pandemic. Before they would have to get up at 6 am to get on the train and get to work before 8 am and couldn't leave before their manager so they ended up staying in the office often until 9 or 10 pm. Working at home, they got up around 7:30, we on the computer at 8, and stopped working at 5 or 6 pm. No commuting, crowded trains, and more freedom to do what they wanted to do. Some signed up for online classes. All that is gone now).

[SyntheticFuture]

Working from home = working

Working at the office = spending 50% of my time talking to colleagues and management and being dragged into random conversations that don't benefit the company.

In the end that's their loss so I'm fine with that.

However.

When I work from home I am more productive and I can do chores in between work effectively giving me more free time when I'm done working meaning I experience more freedom and less stress. That's a big win for me. So I much prefer working from home.

[ayrasimmons]

I used to spend at least 2 hrs a day in traffic. Work from home has been life changing. Wasting so much of my time was seriously depressing that the week before COVID hit and our offices were forced to be WFH I contemplated ending it. Now I actually feel happy about my life.

[mashopotatomashopotato]

At one point, people were afraid of incorporating email into the work force. They were afraid emails could get tapped into and have information stolen. Its the same thing here. Companies are afraid to modernize.

[Gunthrek]

Never underestimate the need for people to make themselves feel important by looking out at a sea of people who have to do what you tell them to do...especially when one of your purposes for hiring them was to have someone to do all the menial tasks you've decided you're too important for. Really hard to get someone to run an errand for you when they're far away.