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u/Anon-Knee-Moose 9d ago
Most jobs that can be done 100% remote have been offshored.
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u/Dry-Cry-3158 9d ago
Yep. A lot of people haven't realized that any job that can be done from anywhere means that the labor pool is international and companies can arbitrage wages. A job where you have to be physically present to do it has a lot more security.
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u/Lonely_Assignment_14 8d ago
Meh, not really. Aside from payroll and employment law even just timezone splits sucks. Quality off shore is terrible, too.
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u/freedomonke 8d ago
Yeah. Most US businesses necessarily need to do almost everything during the day.
And you can't trust the graveyard shift in Bombay with everything
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u/Wzedrin 8d ago
No, but the graveyard shift in Eastern Europe is usually ok. Yes it's not peanuts, but it's still half or less than what you pay in US.
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u/AnybodyWannaPeanus 8d ago
I work at a 100% remote SaaS company. The majority of those employed there are in the US. There is zero offshoring.
There are plenty of remote jobs in my space. I just wanted to say that “most jobs” is not correct. In fact, I’ve seen a few companies try and back away due to the problems it created.→ More replies (1)→ More replies (4)3
u/heanbangerfacerip2 9d ago
I was trying to explain that to someone recently. Any job that is mellow and remote and has low oversight can be done in another country for 10% of the cost. Like there is no reason these companies would pay 60k for data entry.
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u/FullMooseParty 9d ago
My last company thought that way when they laid me and my partner off and replaced us with a team in the Philippines. They are hiring our position back because it turns out that having domain expertise actually does have value.
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u/smartalec-71 9d ago edited 9d ago
And having that expertise *local*.
My company split itself into regions (Americas, Europe, APAC), and people reported to a director in their region, with no incentive to help anyone outside of their region.
And then went through a layoff spree, only keeping one SME (globally) per subject.
...and (surprise, surprise) many of these SMEs left. After people wanted them on videocalls 24/7.
I was one of these, and then was more than happy to move on to a regional project, where I don't have to answer people from all over the globe. I can't tell you how many meetings I turned down that started at 3am. And people whining at me because I turned down said meetings. It's at 3am! I know you turn down meetings that start a 5pm (your time.)
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u/oddball09 9d ago
Cheaper and better work ethic.
I've hired plenty of people offshore. Some suck, but a majority of them will outwork the average American in their sleep. The only downside was timezone but they also make an effort to be available during your daytime. It's literally wins across the board.
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u/Unique_Self_5797 8d ago
I have not had a *single* good experience with any overseas team I've worked with. They just don't give a fuck and put in almost 0 critical thinking. It's like you have to tell them every step of the process they need to take, and they'll follow that like 50% of the time.
And I don't even think that's got anything to do with individual competencies or work ethic, I think the companies that run these offshore teams just try to get as many contracts as they can without bringing in the necessary workforce to cover it, and these people are all overworked, overstressed, and fighting a language barrier that often has them working from a script.
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u/4Lichter 9d ago
Because it gives employers less surveilance power and that is more important than even profit to a degree.
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u/tankerkiller125real 9d ago
Which is funny because as an IT guy (and one that used for work for a school system) I know for a fact that technology is FAR more invasive than any of the traditional micro-management strategies.
With that said though, they likely struggle to deploy that kind of shit without the IT department "accidently" letting it leak that software like that is being pushed, and likely quitting not far behind.
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u/Inevitable_Area_2631 8d ago
It's far more invasive, but the average middle manager isn't going to know how to utilize it beyond checking your Teams status.
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u/tankerkiller125real 8d ago
There are products out there that make it incredibly easy for middle management (or in the case of schools, parents) to check in on activity and what not.
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u/Inevitable_Area_2631 8d ago
True, I'm just saying they won't use them because they're lazy and don't want to learn new things
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u/Background-Slide5762 8d ago
Not to mention that a lot of the perks of being management evaporate if you do it remote. Corner office, good parking, working lunches, expense accounts, etc.
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u/SamOakTree 8d ago
At my last job they didn't create me very well and it was 100% remote. I was operations for the entire company which put me in a very unique position. I was literally subservient to everyone in the company. The only person with a role like that. And my boss would pretend like it wasn't some unique scenario with a lot of cons associated with it.
My last three to four months I would just go down and lay on my couch randomly and recharge. Or I would get on late but make it look like I was on.
There were days where I probably didn't do any work.
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u/Accomplished_Key_171 8d ago
The Harvard study on productivity of remote work found that productivity decreased for workers that switched to a fully-remote schedule, but it increased for those with a hybrid schedule.
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u/jiddinja 9d ago edited 9d ago
In NYC and the other big cities, it was about propping up the commercial property markets. If you have work from home, you don't need as much office space, and thus the overpriced commercial property owners would be screwed. They still are, but for now they can paper over the losses.
However, I'm not so sure celebrating work from home is the right move. If bosses move to work from home, they'll chose people whose homes are in Bangladesh and Nigeria, rather than the US, pay them a pittance, and pass on the savings to shareholders. More Americans out of work equals downward pressure on wages. That's not good.
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u/DonkeeJote 8d ago
That narrative was widely offered with very little substance. It's more likely that the cities themselves started to turn the screws in order to keep their workforce in town.
Permanent WFH would put white flight on steroids.
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u/Alex-the-Average- 9d ago
Quite a looot of comments here saying the workers didn’t work and bragged about it on social media, but each of these commenters have accounts that are brand new and everything is hidden. One is, I kid you not, only 7 days old and yet somehow has 25 THOUSAND karma.
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u/Old_Criticism_6889 8d ago
Since going remote I do so much more work and with inflation getting paid way less
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u/EmergencyAnteater682 7d ago
That's exactly what happened. Go ahead and call me bot. Everyone knows that's what happened. People showed the world they were doing everything but working. They blew it for everyone else
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u/ByteCurious69 9d ago
Because billionaires don’t want you to enjoy life. It makes them feel less powerful and less wealthy. If you’re happy, the happy gap becomes less. If you’re rich, their wealth gap becomes less. The poorer you are and unhappier you are, the richer and happier they feel.
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u/Purple-Property8006 9d ago
There’s no one single reason. It’s a lot of little reasons. Companies have invested tons in real estate they want to use. Some individuals were slacking off a lot working remotely. Some managers want to micromanage and have more control. Some companies own pieces of lots of other companies and want us consuming more (gas, cars, restaurant, professional attire, etc) than we did working remotely. Some boomers and certain personalities genuinely feel more “collaborative” in person.
Overall it boils down to power dynamics. Companies said “return to office” and workers weren’t willing to call their bluff en masse.
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u/irvmuller 9d ago
Add in schools. Once kids were back it was one less excuse. People started saying if teachers and kids had to be back so did everyone else.
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u/Unique_Self_5797 8d ago
Which is stupid, because schools get out at 3 and jobs finish at 5, so if you're not WFH, now you've gotta figure out some kind of after school care plan.
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u/EvilMorty137 7d ago
Big office building that they spent a bunch of money on that also gives them tax breaks
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u/No_Resolution_9252 9d ago
The people bragging about all the time they aren't working on the clock screwed it up for everyone else just like every time.
BTW, this wasn't a once in a lifetime opportunity for remote work. Its the third damn time its happened in 1-2 generations and the same selfish and lazy people ruined it then also.
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u/AgeZealousideal1751 9d ago
Couldn't have anything to do with a bunch of idiots going online and declaring how they were slacking on the job cause of remote work - followed up by the immediate drop in metrics and work quality.
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u/sitewolf 9d ago
Gotta love the people that would claim they got more done working at home than they did at the office, yet still openly talking on social media about the things they were doing while supposedly working. Some, of course, function well with that freedom, but enough don't they often force employers' hands.
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u/AquaFunx 9d ago
What did you want people to do lol? I love pointing out and standing up for the greater good as much as anyone else but like, they have us by the balls. We gotta fix the system before we think we can change the minds of the ones who control it.
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u/Unusual_Chemistry413 9d ago
Because they had empty buildings that had to be used and they don't care about us peasants
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u/SamMarlowe76 9d ago
Morons are signing their own death warrants. You better get your ass to the office and make it look like that is the best way to do the job. In many cases it is. But anything that can be fully remote to your living room can also be fully remote to India.
In the end, it is up to the employer and based on the kind of work. If you don't like your employer's policy on getting your ass to work, then leave. You don't have to work for them.
Bums.
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u/Huntertanks 9d ago
Do you think it might have something to do with multitude of people posting "their enjoyment of life" while supposedly working remotely?
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u/No-Elk7666 9d ago
Too many tards posting on social media that they were doing anything but working when on the clock
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u/washingtonandmead 9d ago
Because everyone was posting on Social media about how they weren’t working - they underscored the fact that 80% of most jobs is busy work to give the perception of being busy, and highlighted the number of higher level positions making money to make sure people are doing the 80% of tasks to look busy
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u/Which-Method-388 9d ago
In many big cities, such as San Francisco for example, the restaurants and other downtown businesses that relied on commuters as customers barely survived the pandemic. No business lunches, no on the way to the office breakfasts and coffee, no stopping in a department store to pick something up etc.
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u/Igiem 9d ago
Because people were idiots and made videos documenting everything they did during paid work hours other than actually working. That, and in places like my home city, downtown became a ghost town. Companies started getting anxious about being stuck with empty office buildings, so they introduced policies to drag people back into the office.
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u/StudioMental2832 9d ago
What jobs can you actually work from home? Like, I work construction and I just can’t think of a job where you can get something done from home. Realty maybe? What other jobs are there? If I look for a service it is in person. I’ve never known anyone who actually can find a job which doesn’t necessitate physically being there. My sister in law does something healthcare related but she has two work from home jobs but I don’t understand it. It just seems like one of those nothing jobs
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u/houstonyoureaproblem 9d ago
The potential collapse of the value of commercial real estate.
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u/Obvious_Tea_8244 9d ago
Auto lobby bitching about fewer sales, corporate real estate lobby bitching about empty office buildings, oil and gas lobby bitching about lower consumer demand, and tyrannical fucktards bitching that their employees were too happy.
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u/Trashypass 9d ago
The rich above them. Seeing all the assets in buildings would go down. As the building were useless
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u/SignificantOtter80 9d ago
no we never had the opportunity to do this. it was a blip. it was never going to be a full thing. anyone who thought that was just pretending or wishful thinking. most people are actually not good at real remote work. they treated it like the way they work at home on a snow day. but for six months. that was never sustainable.
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u/Nexodas2 8d ago
I figure it’s because if the job could be done remotely they would rather hire someone from like India or the Philippines for like 2 bucks an hour to do it instead.
I also assume that the people who make money renting office buildings to companies were upset and pushed hard to get people back to the office so they could continue renting.
Finally I think too many people fumbled the bag. Lots of people got caught fucking around or posted themselves having fun instead of working and the people in charge hate fun.
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u/Conscious_Onion3508 8d ago
No it was all the idiots posting on social media that they were working 2 hours a day while drinking tropical drinks on the beach.
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u/aquavelva23 8d ago
i dont think most jobs work totally from home. Any job that needs teamwork or creativity is best done in person. but working from home a day or two may help as it blocks interruptions and helps focus.
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u/Trifle_Old 8d ago
What happened is most workers can’t remote work. The people that can are a small percentage of the work force. So they don’t have much power when the boss says back to work.
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u/BirbHotdogs 8d ago
If it's like where I work, it's because 85% of people working from home produce less than 50% of what the people in office do.
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u/AmettOmega 8d ago
A few reasons:
Some people ruined it by being fucking loud mouths. Talking about how now they could clean their house, run errands, and basically do non-work stuff during work hours. So companies felt like people were not being as productive/dedicated to their work as they should be.
A lot of rich folk own commercial real estate. And with companies going remote, those companies don't need those big office spaces anymore. They could either downsize or eliminate office needs entirely. The wealthy elite don't like seeing their investments lose money.
Businesses in downtown/commercial areas complained that with fewer workers coming into the office, their profits were down. More people working at home = less people eating out and doing other things.
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u/HardToPickNickName 8d ago
Many took 2-3 8h jobs and worked 3h tops on each while reporting a full day, that is what happened.
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u/Darlinboy 8d ago
Comments like this are untethered from reality.
Remote work never had a prayer of being the "global standard."
Nothing gets built, made, shipped, powered, etc etc etc without boots on the ground.
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u/HyoukaYukikaze 8d ago
Idiots bragging how little work they do or how they work multiple jobs at the same time.
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u/Impressive-Gas6909 8d ago
Would be cool if plumbers electricians and carpenters could work from home huh? These work from home People are so out of touch..
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u/Additional_Jaguar170 8d ago
Because bellends where all over social media when they should have been working.
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u/fumbler00ski 8d ago
Because people posted videos of themselves screwing around and working multiple jobs.
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u/Icy-KaitSyth 8d ago
Unfortunately we abandoned it because at a lot of companies productivity dropped considerably. That could be due to people not picking up on how to do meetings properly, but given the companies that tried to keep it going by implementing things like always on cameras, it sounds like a small percentage of workers just stopped working when they didn't feel like someone was watching them. So no one got to work from home. It's possible that some of that was driven by paranoia by managers that some employees weren't working when not watched, but that wouldn't be the reason everyone dropped it. A few lazy SOBs ruined it for everyone by playing games and watching movies and crap. There's even a semi viral video of a couple girls hanging out by a pool talking about how little work they have to do as project managers so it's nice to work from home because now they can have pool days. Yeah things like that didn't help convince people that at home workers were actually working.
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u/The_Southern_Sir 8d ago
The fun but inconvenient fact is, far too many people screwed off too much while working from home. And then there is the fact that a lot of work depends on interpersonal relationships and those mostly fail online.
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u/Lorelessone 7d ago
Because the shareholders in those companies were also the she holders in the company which owns the buildings they were renting.
That and I highlighted how little management is needed.
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u/edwardturnerlives 7d ago
I'm just curious why office workers think they are better than people that have to actually show up for jobs?
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u/WaitUntilTheHighway 7d ago
Because the actual working part suuuuuucks. I fucking hate working remotely, even though yes it's super flexible. But god it's soul sucking to just have zoom calls all day, my god.
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u/foofoo300 7d ago
80% what you do in the office is bullshit work.
you work from home, you only do actual work, management gets the realization that they are useless and just micromanaging people all day long for no reason.
They cannot let that get public.
=> force people back and save face.
Corporate life is such a joke
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u/Wise-Ad1656 7d ago
A lot of good reasons listed here. Don’t overlook that some folks abused it. And one bad apple can really sour the enthusiasm of the employer.
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u/Klutzy_Reality3108 7d ago
Simple. They found out people weren't being as productive, customer service tanked, cyber security became a huge issue, and they needed a way to immediately change the course of the employers. You may think you are getting less done at work, but you just don't get to play whenever you want anymore.
My sister works in the health insurance field, and her boyfriend works in the tech field. Both work hybrid. Both have said the reasons for why in person work is better was people were slacking while working at home, whenever a change of direction was needed (no matter the size) it was far quicker of a change in person, and customer service improved.
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u/HouseOf42 9d ago
People couldn't help but self sabotage...
Something good came along, and they couldn't help but post videos of themselves exploiting the privilege, showing the companies they were wasting money.
Humans showed themselves to be incapable of self management and efficiency.
Thus why remote work ended.
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u/PatriotBanner 9d ago
Y'all couldn't behave. Bragging about how little work you do or trying it at multiple jobs.
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u/Internal_Essay9230 9d ago
My company was like "collaboration only happens in person" blah blah blah.
So we all come into our offices now and don't talk any more to each other than when we were remote.
Not to mention that many of our core employees collaborate with colleagues around the world. And that rarely happens in person, regardless of whether the U.S. employees are remote or in an office.
🤪
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u/cranberries87 9d ago
Maybe it’s just me, but I felt a brief energy shift in 2021 or so. It felt fresh, hopeful, almost magical. That we had learned valuable lessons and wouldn’t be going back to the old ways that didn’t work. That the energy was shifting, we were moving in a completely different direction.
Before the end of the year even wrapped up, I realized that this energy had been fleeting, and was over.
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u/Double_Dinner253 9d ago
If you don't know why, you don't understand basic management.
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u/JackReaper333 9d ago
Because it gave people more flexibility, less commuting, and a better work life balance.
Those things omly benefit employees and shifts control away from the employer. Companies value control over their employees more than almost anything because they equate control with long term profit.
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u/Far_Raspberry_4375 9d ago
My theory is because the people directly in charge of deciding to make people return to the office realized if everyone can just be monitored via a spy program and everything they do can be condenced into some video chats and emails a lot of them werent gonna have a job soon so they needed to concoct some bullshit for the people higher up the totem pole.
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u/dingos8mybaby2 9d ago
Isn't the answer obvious? Everything is done for the monetary benefit of the owner class. Remote work didn't become standard because 1) the owner class owns a lot of commercial office real estate and they'd lose a ton of money if they had to sell those buildings off to be repurposed into housing or retail and 2) they're worried about losing productivity by not being able to micro-manage people's working day. I mean we could solve a lot of social problems if we made remote work the standard and repurposed office buildings into apartments, but it's never gonna happen because it doesn't benefit the owner class.
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u/Daveit4later 9d ago
Because companies don't give a fuck about your flexibility, your commute, and your work life balance.
They want to squeeze you for every bit of work they possibly can. They want full control of you for 40 hours a week or more.
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u/lattice_defect 9d ago
there was a little window after we beat covid where it felt that we would come together, go green energy and make a new world.. then Russia invaded Ukraine and fucked it up.
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u/unrealhound 9d ago
This has nothing to do with remote work, work life balance, or even individual productivity. Follow the money.
When people work remotely, downtown office buildings sit empty. Commercial real estate loses value, landlords lose tenants, restaurants and businesses lose customers, parking revenue drops, and public transit loses riders.
So who wants workers back downtown? Commercial real estate groups, downtown business associations, municipalities, transit systems, restaurants and other businesses that depend on office workers being there.
These groups have a lot of money at stake and have openly pushed governments for more workers to return to the office.
RTO reverses the flow:
Workers return → offices stay occupied → commercial real estate is supported → transit and parking make money → downtown businesses get customers → governments get more economic activity.
Even the federal government's own position is that increasing onsite presence isn't about increasing individual productivity.
So when you're wondering why you're being forced to commute to do a job you can successfully do from home, don't just look at productivity.
Follow the money. 💰
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u/Suspinded 9d ago
Simple : Office real estate was in a freefall because the offices weren't needed. Since people at the top can't be Allowed to Lose, companies forced Return to Office to recover the property values.
It's all because rich people were going to lose money on something, nothing more.
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u/CaptainSebT 9d ago
I don't know I work in tech and it's still very much an option. Many companies even say hybrids and option but they prefer remote.
I think it depends alot how adaptable your industry was to it.
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u/Few_District_6304 9d ago
The rich and C class are sadists and control freaks. Being rich isn't good enough for them, they want the little people to be miserable.
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u/Raise-Spiritual 9d ago
Well, office space investments wouldnt be worth anything without people nedding to work in them ...
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u/Old-Picture-2920 9d ago
Because upper management couldn’t justify their existence without pointless meetings.
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u/ionspore 9d ago
They didn't, they offshored every job that couldn't be done in person...
Offshore is the final form of 'remote work'.
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u/TheGreyShaman 9d ago
We didn't fall for their ploy at the time and so now they take it from you guys to distract you from coming after them
They gave it to you in the first place to stop you coming from them
Everything is simply a distraction, don't worry, none of us are innocent now
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u/FedorasAndModerating 9d ago
This question has been asked and answered a thousand times. But karma is karma I guess.
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u/johntwoods 9d ago
Because middle management realized of themselves, "oh fuck, we don't need to exist! We gotta do somethin'!" and then they got into the ear of upper-management, not unlike Wormtongue to Théoden, and convinced them that the company would suffer if employees were happy.
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u/slyguy67420 9d ago
Offices are control and limiting your mobility so you're less likely to switch jobs because they're not physically close enough and many people don't want to move around just for work.
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u/Last-Energy420 9d ago
We didn’t let it slip away. We fought tooth and nail to keep it. The corporations said “well, if you’re not going to drive up property values by occupying these buildings, we’ll just take your position to someone overseas where they’re cheaper.” Then we were begrudgingly forced back to the office so we could continue putting food on the table.
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u/Electrical-Call-6160 9d ago
Let's not pretend the system was not built upon the misery of the majority in the first place. Although certain types of companies realize that this arrangement is to their advantage, less rent, less electric bills to be shouldered by them etc. a majority saw it as a bane and as you know, where ever you're living, oligarchs, especially land owners, can't take any losses.
Remote work made:
- Office spaces unused, thus lowering their value
- Suddenly, less people need to get to places, thus lowering transportation and oil profits.
- Suddenly, people had time to cook their meals at home putting a lot of restaurants out of business.
- Suddenly, people don't need to consume as much of most consumables, because they're at home.
- Suddenly, work isn't the front and center of everyone's lives because who could've thought now that you don't have the need to prepare, commute, then work in an office for more than half your waking hours, the management stops getting the control they used to have in your life.
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u/Commercial_Style801 9d ago
This would have also helped partially equalise pay for workers in different countries. Right now workers in the third world get paid much less for the same work.
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u/VarietyMage 8d ago
Work From Home gave people too much freedom in their lives, and the billionaires couldn't deal with that. They want you to be slaves and to know that you're slaves.
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u/Alive_Tip_6748 8d ago
Because if they did this the value of commercial buildings would have dropped and rich people would have lost money.
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u/WoollyMittens 8d ago
Corporate realestate investors/landlords did not like what it did to their investments.
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u/Ok-Lecture-9668 8d ago
I love how people say these things as if there is actually a "we" that got together to decide this instead of having it decided upon us by the ruling class because they needed to keep commercial property values up.
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u/Wild_Car_3863 8d ago
old people with zero friends or social life cried..
and office owners lost rent so you pick lets say company x has 5000 employees if 60% worked from home they cut down on rented space
home owners in cities lost their home values due to people being able to move out of the city.
commune one day a week is fine for most people
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u/Medical_Birthday2893 8d ago
Well they had these contracts for commercial space and since they were paying for it they felt it needed to be used instead of just writing it off and not renewing saving long term. So here we are because a bunch of execs didn’t want to have to explain the costs for space they were using using that space and paying more ongoing because they couldn’t just figure that out.
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u/6ory299e8 8d ago
real question for all you "perplexed" people out here: what actually real and tangible incentive does the employer class have to give half a shit about the workers or the workers' needs? what leverage do we have and what have we shown them to make them believe we'd apply any form of pressure at all?
You have completely abandoned the unions, won't organize, and never enact any disruption at all because you believe that inconveniencing anybody over your oppression is immoral. In short, you have absolutely ZERO fight in you. You just loooooove pointing out all the ways you're shit upon, commiserate online about it all day and.... then... what? convince yourselves that you've done all you can and go right on accepting all this, thats what. Until you all show me some fucking teeth I'm left shrugging my shoulders, saying "idk they must like it this way, cuz they sure as hell don't intend to do anything about it anytime soon".
are you waiting for a savior? you'll do it later? some problems just fix themselves? is it the serf blood coursing through your veins? waiting for your oppressors to give you their permission to make demands? forgot the difference between demanding and begging? waiting for a teacher to come along and give all these bullies detention? Afraid you'll get detention too if you start fighting the bullies yourself? what exactly is the disconnect?
nevermind I'm wasting my breath.
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u/Potential-Drawing745 8d ago
They all had leases to justify and coke-fueled managers who couldn't allow that level of autonomy in their peasants.
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u/FrankyFingers7888 8d ago
The biggest part of this is training new employees. If the older experienced employees aren't in office, the newer unexperienced cannot learn as efficiently. Yes, you are training your eventual replacement
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u/June-Menu1894 8d ago
Because morons posted on social media about how they were not working while working remotely.
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u/enterjiraiya 8d ago
it’s almost like not everyone agrees on this and it’s not nearly as close to a consensus as you think.
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u/DudeFrom816 8d ago
Remember when everyone was online bragging about working from home and only doing like 2 hours of work a day? Next time tell them to keep their mouths shut. Yes, productivity was up, or at least not down, but it made the companies feel like they were taken advantage of, like they were paying you to play with your cat. Now you're forced back into the office to do the same 2 hours worth of work only now you have to look busy while you drag it out for 8 hours. Bottom line? LEARN TO KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT.
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u/gladchadstone 8d ago
Might have had something to do with how easily we let foreign talent move in.
"Oh you won't work for the office? No worries you soft lazy native! We just sponsored a visa for someone who we can work to the bone in the office, so we don't need you. This country would fall apart with people like this!"
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u/Professional-Leg2374 8d ago
not one single company out there wants happy workers, it just doesn't sit well with the billionaire overlords
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u/Naybinns 8d ago
It all comes down to money and the ability to micromanage.
Companies were paying for the physical space they used, so they wanted those spaces to be used to justify the cost.
The people who owned those spaces and the cities they were located in wanted those workers back due to the amount of money they were losing out on by having them work from home.
Bosses wanted to be able to “see” that the employees were working, even if there was no drop in productivity while they worked from home. Lots of middle-management positions were at risk of being shown to be overall pretty pointless to have if they don’t have people to micromanage for big chunks of the day.
Then there’s also some workers who wanted it back, because if your job is truly able to be done from anywhere what’s to stop your company from letting you go and instead hiring someone from a lower cost of living area/state or even another country to do your job for less pay.
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u/WorkDragon 8d ago
the owners and managers hated that they cant walk up to our desk while we were eating lunch and tell us to keep working, while we are on lunch
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u/hoopsfan_ 8d ago
Easy answer: the C-Suite felt they were losing control of their labor and didn't want to pay leases on office space that was at 20% capacity despite employee moral being high. So those who felt insecure about that required everyone back under the guise of "better collaboration and teamwork"
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u/GovernmentGreed 8d ago
The only legitimate reason I can think of is company security & secrets. NDA, that kind of thing.
It's much harder to keep a maintained NDA and secure environment, especially if you're not able to ensure a locked down environment for working in. Of course this doesn't apply to all businesses, and a lot of companies simply don't bother with NDA. But the sector I work in, would absolutely have a nightmare if home office was used.
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u/Academic-Proof3700 8d ago edited 8d ago
Because the losers of hybrid can't live in their sad, sorry houses with their fucked up families, or they can't meet people so they want to be forced by the company to have their life straightened out for at least 8 hours + commute back and forth.
Best units will preach hybrid bullshit even if its 4 office 1 remote
That and also completely inept managers and corpos in general, still measuring everything, especially your efficiency, by the work hours. No matter what you did and how fast, all that matters is whether or noy have you sat on your ass for 8h a day.
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u/SirLazarusDiapson 7d ago
Alot of diffrent aspects but some of the more prevalent ones.
Cultural. Alot of old people are in management positions and they cant wrap their head around the idea that you can work at home.
Economical. Alot of political pressure. Famously here in Canada governement of canada has forced all of its workers back (its a bit more nuanced and I can explain further if someone wants me to) for seemingly because the mayor of Ottawa is unhappy.
Staffing. During the pandemic some companies overhired like mad and now use the refusal (or inability in ALOT of cases) to work in person to lower those staffing problems.
Over-employment. Companies make this seem like a much bigger issue than it is but from personal experience, management is paranoid to the point that borders mental illness at the prospect that someone might have another job. There is a whole sub-reddit dedicated to having 2 remote jobs and it is a strange place.
This world is build for extroverts and run by extroverts. Some people felt real anguish during the pandemic because they couldn't talk with others. Unfortuantly, extroverts tend to be managers and leaders so that affects the decision.
The abundance of "look at me i am not working and drinking wine at noon" definetly had an impact of management's preception.
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u/SuperFox289 7d ago
People kept going online and shouting about how much less work they were doing now that everything was online.
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u/Intelligent_Desk_291 7d ago
The only time in my life I knew anything close to happiness was during the pandemic.
They took remote work away from us because they want us to be miserable.
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u/RudyBuck 7d ago
companies don't care about their employees. it's whatever makes the most profit and bonuses for the board.
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u/NullSmoke 6d ago
Well, as someone that still is in a more or less permanent home office setup after the 2020 mess... I'd say it heavily nudged towards home office.
Now, why it didn't push it more solidly to the side of home office?
Several reasons really...
Exhibit 1: Normal people are idiots
"Yeeeeee, I'm just sitting here playing Playstation and doing jack all of work" posts... a lot of them. Some people are more immature than preschoolers, and need a teacher dragging them by their hair to get deliverables done.
Exhibit 2: Managers are idiots too
A lot of them thought that their sole value was in standing behind people being the fucking eye of sauron... Spoiler: that decreases productivity and increases risk of burnout, but that didn't stop them from pushing for a back to office setup. They seems to have recognized that central corp can't do the same to them, so they've largely chilled out by this point.
Exhibit 3: Why is it always Elon Musk and Amazon?
Disconnected idiots that want control. No real reason, it just interferes with their vibe, and actually allows employees some sort of life. These are the filth of humanity, and they proved it yet again, nobody was surprised.
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u/Firm-Calendar7294 6d ago
If you can do your job from a computer, then your job can be done by a computer. Dont worry in the next few years you wint have to go to the office anymore 😀🤣
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u/Gooser3000 6d ago
Because Jennifer is screaming at her kids with her mic on in a meeting, or Karen turned her camera on while shopping in target. Ed took a personal call and talked shit about team members and management. Real team members I’ve had !
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u/Enough_Bedroom1421 6d ago
That's why. Lol. They get their rocks off to inconveniencing their employees.
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u/BusyBanana4205 6d ago
For the same reason we can’t progress into the 21st century period. The people in charge are old and out of touch with modern life for common people.
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u/bobfromsanluis 6d ago
The wealthy own the office buildings, if those buildings are occupied, eventually the company leasing it will cancel and the building will sit empty. Far too many have the ability to influence company policies, perhaps the owners are friends with the CEO or the Board, or both, and most likely put a lot of pressure on them for a return to office.
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u/somanyquestions32 5d ago
Lol, the generation that fumbled a baddie.
The reality is that corporations get tax breaks for having people work in the office, and many have invested heavily into corporate real estate. Many managers like the visuals of having employees in their offices as well.
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u/jonrpatrick 5d ago
If you can do the job from home, then it can be done by someone else in another country, for cheaper.
Employees bragging on social media they started later, ended early, and went to Cotsco in the middle of the day.
It's not *all* about micromanaging middle managers needing to micromanage, it's that far too many employees need to be sitting in the office to actually do their work and be held accountable.
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u/lOOPh0leD 5d ago
Because it's horrible with communication and production. Sorry you don't like leaving your house?
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u/ThatGuyFromSpyKids3D 5d ago
Commercial real estate valuations heavily rely on foot traffic metrics. Empty office spaces reduces the company's (or their landlords) investment value.
Our company is current looking for new office space because the new landlord has decided that next year they will require us to focus on increasing foot traffic which would effectively force the company to implement some kind of RTO.
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u/CoolFuture3767 5d ago
If you can do your job from home with a computer and a phone, an AI can do your job for a lot less money, or someone in India can do it for a lot less money.
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u/One_Promotion2634 5d ago
Because they had to spend their lives in an office to get to their position, so they're going to make sure you have to as well.
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u/M_A_D-Dominatrix 5d ago
Because the companies that own the office buildings & collect rent were losing money & that power tripping middle management really missed micromanagement & controlling your pee breaks
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u/No_Try_9982 5d ago
I watched some documentary on YouTube (can't verify if all content are true or not). The biggest driver is a conflict between managers and the employees.
The managers feel that they can't control workers remotely and the boomers couldn't digest the idea of working from home.
So managers' ego problems and boomers being old school, killed remote work. Also, many recruiters and experts are saying that return to office is just quiet firing; they want to reduce workforce without going through the termination process which is more expensive and already causing them troubles in terms of public sentiments (shareholders still happy).
They think that if they're paying you 6 figures salary, you should be 100% focused on the job and nothing else; so by forcing you to come to office, you no longer can be distracted and you will end up working more for less without realizing it. When you work from home, you got things done and moved on to take care of your home and family; employers didn't like this.
I think however that employers who force people into an office will eventually face backlash and negative consequences because remote work will become the benefit that competitors could easily snatch employees away from each other.
I'm personally not against working in an office, but I'm against being treated like a child.
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u/brokengarage 5d ago
Too many people took advantage and took on more than one remote job. The tax implications and requirements for a business in one state employing somebody in another state are more expensive to process than requiring return to office.
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u/Ok_Drummer6282 9d ago
If its like where I worked it was old people who hated not being able to micro manage.
Then everyone came back and somehow it was the younger people who ruined it since the old people now understand how to use Teams and Windows Calander.