Just Get Back to Work

Tweet

The whole "remote work" idea, inspired by the recent Covid pandemic, went too far. At the time it was a decision that was made in the interest of "health concerns." But study after study shows it has had a negative impact overall on business and productivity. It is part of the reason some major companies like Google, Apple and Disney, just to name a few, have made the decision that employees must return to the office for at least a defined number of days per week. Employees of course are not happy. But again, it went too far, and people made decisions during their remote work time that were made on the basis that remote work might simply become "how it is done." People leased cars with low mileage contracts expecting not to commute. People moved to other cities where housing was cheaper. People pulled kids out of day care. Now, as Amazon is making it mandatory that workers be in the office at least three days a week, employees are all up in arms. The problem is two-fold. One, it was never intended to be a permanent thing and two, it doesn't work. The decisions that the employees made when they could work remotely were bad decisions, and the onus is not on the employers to now accommodate employees for those bad decisions—nor to give a considering ear to them. It's not their problem, in other words. They have a business to run, and employees don't get to negotiate the terms of their employment to a large extent. There is something I used to warn employees about during good times. Never spend your overtime. It is a temporary extension of pay. Not a permanent one. In other words, overtime is not a guaranteed thing. If business slips and there is no need to offer overtime, none will be offered. So, don't plan your spending around the expectation of something that may not exist in the future. Likewise, employees should not have ever made decisions regarding their remote work status that might not be the case in the future. A business would have no more responsibility for the extra car payments, vacations homes, boats and RVs employees bought when they were making the extra money than they would now, to be concerned about hardships employees might now face having made decisions that were made on the basis of their remote work status. I say, suck it up, shut up, and get back to work. The party is over, and it is time to revisit reality. As one CEO learned a few years ago who made an arbitrary decision to pay all of his workers at least $75,000 a year regardless of what they did thinking it would increase productivity enough to pay the difference, it does not work that way. His company went bankrupt. What he learned is that you cannot run a business according to the employee's needs and succeed. You can only consider the business' needs, and everyone benefits, including the employees. Sure, the business does need people to keep the wheels turning. But not at any cost. I think the employees are going to learn a valuable lesson here, and I hope that companies do not cave to unreasonable demands—because if they do, they will do it at the detriment of their business. When the boss says "do X," it is up to the employee to figure out how he will do that. That is one of the trade-offs of being a worker and not an owner.