Staff say Dell's return to office mandate is a stealth layoff, especially for women

[SerendipityJane]

https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/20/dell_rto_mandate

It’s good to see these return to office policies and the consequences of not being able to (.. and how can anyone possibly organise childcare when you don’t even know where the office is?) being explicitly described as anti- woman, because they are.

I feel like a lot of people shot themselves in the foot by slacking off whilst wfh, which is why we're now seeing a huge pushback. Despite the initial studies showing an improvement in productivity there's since been an about turn and the vast majority now show that people who wfh are a lot less productive.

I suspect the real reason WFH is hated is it exposed a useless layer of management. And shit falls down.

The fact it was a factor in equalising the workplace just added to reasons to hate it.

It's never a bad idea to consider who is saying what, as well as what they are saying. And adding that to how they behave. Can be quite revealing.

That explains it, I've been trying to buy a PC from Dell all week. It took 4 days for them to get back to me and that's when I want to spend money with them.

Yes I agree.

The company I work for has 500 ish staff in the UK, all working from home, although we can go in the office if we wish. I tend to go in once a month. We’ve not seen a drop in productivity, and it actually means we’re not restricted to a talent pool based on office location.

I do think it’s exposed the people who only manage to operate by presenteeism, so showing they were at the office first and working late and having elevator conversations - the fact they can’t back that up with quality output is showing in a WFH culture, and those that were just good are their jobs are excelling.

Whats also interesting is that presenteeism is often, but not always, a male trait.

https://workplaceinsight.net/prevailing-corporate-culture-prohibits-productivity-and-gender-equality/

People who take the piss WFH also take the piss in the office in my experience. My colleagues and I all get more work done from home. Except for the slacker in our team who does hardly anything whether she's in the office or at home. The problem is management being too rubbish to do anything about it because they're happen for the rest of us to pick up the slack.

Do you have any stats for that drop off in productivity as a result of WFH? Quite the claim.

Agree completely.

100% agree, I get far more done at home because its quiet. A colleague however openly states he couldnt WFH full time as he needs to be around people....and therefore spends his 3 days in the office going on hourly fag and/or coffee breaks as hes "catching up" with people...... he does sod all and ive yet to see any manager address it.

Indeed anti- WFH policies affect women, disabled people/people with long term health conditions and carers the most.

There is no evidence whatsoever that WFH makes people less productive in spite of the all the negative comments from people on this thread who 'feel' that some people are 'taking the piss'.

As someone has commented above people who do sod all at home also will do sod all in the office...

If individuals are slacking it is up to managers to do their job and address individual performance issues, not blame it on WFH in general. That's just lazy thinking.

Indeed anti- WFH policies affect women, disabled people/people with long term health conditions and carers the most

Yes I totally agree.