To wonder why companies are mandating RTO during cost of living crisis

[Roxinabox]

I don't understand the timing?

It's mor expensive than ever to live in cities. Rent and mortgage costs are way up, public transport prices are ridiculous, local places to eat lunch are more expensive, and salaries are down in real terms.

And now more companies are asking workers to spend more money returning to the office.

Why now? I half suspect it's a conspiracy to keep cities going as people are increasingly getting priced out of them!

Yes, and it's notable that our junior staff all seem to know this as they all choose to come into the office more often than they have to - so I have made sure I and my team leaders are all in more too

Train your colleagues then- make a workstream out of it and get a promotion out of it.

How are you measuring this?

We do it because there's a noticeable difference in the quality of work and team working between those who come in more often and those who do so rarely.

If you have been told to come into the office, and some are diligently doing so and others are not (or are coming in as seldom as they can get away with), it's not surprising you'd see better work from those coming into the office - that doesn't mean the diligent ones wouldn't work just as well from home, or the slack ones would work any better in the office.

I’m now hybrid, from this thread unusually would prefer fully in the office but due to shifts it needs to be wfh 2 days a week. I need work interaction with people in the same building. My productivity might be better at home my MH only works with hybrid.

*"Badbadbunny
I agree about the point re graduates. WFH is fine for people who are settled, experienced, etc., but new starters, trainees, etc really struggle without having people around them to train/support them. Having to email/team call constantly is not alternative to real face to face support."

Yes, and it's notable that our junior staff all seem to know this as they all choose to come into the office more often than they have to - so I have made sure I and my team leaders are all in more too*

Yes @WrongSwanson and in a labour shortage market like we have at the moment the Boss's know that graduates and trainees will go for the jobs which are office-based or hybrid. These companies where everyone is WFH are going to find it hard to compete in the job market for the next generation coming up.

Exactly, at my son's employer (he's just finished his first month), they offer pretty complete flexibility - whether WFH, office or hybrid. DS was excited and thought he'd probably WFH for 3/4 days and only go into the office 1/2 days.

First three weeks, son and his graduate/intern colleagues were all in the office as they had all kinds of induction jobs to do. This last week, they were allowed to WFH. DS did just one day and absolutely hated it, he says the other interns/graduates in his team felt the same, so they've all agreed to go fully into the office next week and beyond, and maybe only WFH for good reasons, i.e. bad weather or waiting at home for deliveries/workmen etc.

I think WFH "works" for older/experienced/settled workers, but for younger/new staff, being in the office is far better, in terms of gaining experience, meeting people, settling into their first workplace, etc. Of course, you need the experienced staff in the office, too, to train and support the newbies, so that puts a lot of pressure on them if most WFH as the burden falls on the shoulders of only a small number of experienced staff in the office.

SOME people take the piss.

Don't generalise.
You sound like a 'delightful' human being 🙄

However the government fiddles the figures to make it look like the economy has grown 0.2% for the last few months, we’re pretty much not growing or are in a recession.

The jobs market isn’t good and employers know this. Despite most on here claiming they are more productive from home, service levels have noticeably dropped in many areas.

I have an acquaintance who moved miles away during Covid, and when her employer went from their ‘promised’ fully remote to 1 then 2 days a week in office, she complained bitterly, insisting she wouldn’t come into the office. She was made redundant 3 months ago and still hasn’t found another job.

@Avenueofcherryblossom people don't have to do overtime to get promoted. However, logically speaking, if a promotion requires X, Y and Z experience that on average requires 3 years of working normal hours. Working overtime gets you that experience in 1.5 years, so you can get promoted quicker.

Of course this is simplistic, some people work many years without getting the level of responsibility (and hence skills) for the next step up, others do but never get adequately compensated. But it's so complex.

To WFH successfully in my industry you have to be "always on" and practice a certain amount of managing up.

We often have to turn around drafting in an hour or less or make changes to papers against the clock. Previously I would have sit with the team and gone though it together but now I often rely in team members picking stuff up in a shared document. If you get the Sharepoint notification you have to jump on it.

Experienced team members understand this but by god it had been hard with some younger and newer people.