#worklifebalance

The only thing he should’ve been impressed with was the enormous number of calories I managed to consume worth of free food along with the excessively large amount of chips and cookies and candy and bagels and muffins that I managed to smuggle out out of the office in my backpack.

(and yes, for all the trolls who will inevitably jump in here… this means I am a slacker who has never had a “real” job and definitely not just a normal hard-working employee trying to maintain their sense of humor amidst an admittedly shi**y situation.)

Peace out and congratulations to everyone who survived their first week back with their sanity intact.

https://x.com/gothburz/status/2009386221521244406?s=46&t=8PYOIs_oDhf5yp9H30hhiw

Last September I announced mandatory return-to-office.

Five days a week.

I called it a "culture-first initiative."

Culture means presence.

Presence means badge swipes.

Badge swipes mean metrics.

Metrics mean I can prove something to the board.

I don't know what.

But I can prove it.

The announcement went out on a Tuesday.

I sent it from my home office.

In Aspen.

I have an exemption.

"Strategic leaders require location flexibility to maintain global perspective."

I wrote that policy.

HR approved it.

HR approves everything I write.

By Wednesday, 340 employees had updated their LinkedIn status to "Open to Work."

I called it "natural attrition."

Natural attrition means they quit before I had to pay severance.

Very natural.

We lost 47 engineers in the first month.

I told the board it was "alignment correction."

The people who left weren't aligned.

With coming to an office.

That I also don't come to.

But that's different.

I'm strategic.

The office costs $4.2 million per year.

Empty, it was a write-off.

Now it's a "collaboration hub."

I measured collaboration.

Average daily Zoom calls from the office: 7.4 per employee.

They commute 45 minutes.

To take calls they could take from home.

But now they're "present."

Presence is culture.

I've never been more certain of anything.

A senior engineer asked why we couldn't stay remote.

She had metrics.

Productivity was up 23% during remote work.

I said, "Productivity isn't everything."

She asked what else mattered.

I said, "Serendipitous collisions."

She asked how we measure serendipitous collisions.

I said, "You can't. That's what makes them serendipitous."

She stopped asking questions.

Then she stopped showing up.

Then LinkedIn said she's at a company that's "remote-first."

Good luck with that.

They'll learn.

We installed badge tracking software.

It cost $380,000.

It tells me exactly when people arrive.

And when they leave.

And how long they spend in each zone.

I check it every morning.

From home.

The data is fascinating.

Average arrival time: 9:47 AM.

Average departure time: 4:12 PM.

I sent a Slack message.

"Core hours are 9 to 6."

Arrival times shifted to 9:02 AM.

Departure times shifted to 6:01 PM.

Productivity did not change.

But the metrics look better.

Metrics are culture.

We have a "hybrid" option now.

Three days in office.

Mandatory Monday. Mandatory Wednesday. Mandatory Friday.

That's called "hybrid."

Because Tuesday and Thursday are optional.

But there are "anchor meetings" on Tuesday and Thursday.

Attendance is "strongly encouraged."

"Strongly encouraged" means mandatory without the liability.

I learned that from legal.

The head of product asked if he could work from home when his wife had surgery.

I said, "Of course. Family comes first."

Then I said, "But let's revisit your Q4 performance targets."

He came to the office.

His wife understood.

I assume.

I didn't ask.

That's personal.

The CFO asked about ROI on the RTO policy.

I showed him the badge data.

"Presence is up 340%."

He asked if revenue was up.

I said, "Revenue is a lagging indicator."

He asked what the leading indicator was.

I said, "Badge swipes."

He nodded.

The lease renews next year.

Seven more years.

$29 million committed.

We needed bodies in the building.

Now we have bodies.

Fewer than before.

But present.

Morale is down.

Glassdoor says we're "hostile to work-life balance."

I told HR to respond.

They wrote, "We're a high-performance culture that values in-person collaboration."

That's corporate for "the review is accurate."

But it sounds like a rebuttal.

The CEO asked if RTO was working.

I said, "Absolutely."

He asked for evidence.

I showed him a photo of the office.

Full desks. Glowing monitors. Bodies in chairs.

He smiled.

"This is what culture looks like."

It looked like a stock photo.

Because I got it from a stock photo website.

The real office has 40% occupancy on a good day.

But he doesn't know that.

He's also remote.

We're both strategic.

Next quarter I'm proposing a "collaboration bonus."

$2,000 for anyone with 95% badge-in compliance.

The bonus costs less than the turnover.

And it shifts the narrative.

We're not forcing people to come in.

We're "incentivizing presence."

Incentivizing means paying people to do something they don't want to do.

It's different from mandating.

Legally.

The employees who stayed are "loyal."

Loyalty means they have mortgages.

And kids in school districts.

And RSUs that haven't vested.

They're not loyal.

They're trapped.

But on paper, it looks like loyalty.

And paper is what the board sees.

I've been doing this for 22 years.

I know what culture looks like.

It looks like butts in seats.

Butts in seats mean control.

Control means management.

Management means me.

RTO isn't about productivity.

It never was.

It's about seeing people.

So I know they exist.

So I know they're working.

So I know I'm in charge.

That's culture.

As long as the badge swipes go up and to the right.

You can build all the offices you want. The workforce you’re trying to force into them doesn’t want them.

Five day RTO is not culture. It’s wasted time, wasted money, and wasted talent. People commute for hours just to sit on video calls they could do better from home. There is no productivity upside and no data to support it.

The market has already moved on. Over 80 percent of companies offer hybrid or remote work. Younger talent will not choose a dinosaur policy when better pay, flexibility, and trust exist everywhere else.

As older workers retire, you’re forcing out the next generation before they ever commit. That’s not strategy. It’s self sabotage. Keep spending billions on offices no one wants while the talent pipeline walks out the door.

Welp, looks like another ‘rules for thee, not for me.’

‘Select’ leaders will have assigned spaces for ‘business continuity’

It would be bad to give them a widdle inconvenience. Poor babies.

I talked to someone at UP on another platform and was told seniority with UP only determined your shift and off days. Management will line up individuals on any job they want to and seniority does not matter.

For workers in white-collar fields like tech, consulting, and media, it's an especially weird moment — fewer layoff headlines, but still difficult conditions when it comes to landing a new job. The larger companies may be done cutting for the moment, but they're not ready to rehire aggressively in the parts of the economy that tend to drive long-term productivity and wage growth.

https://qz.com/why-fewer-layoffs-dont-mean-healthier-job-market

Hard to believe how much things have changed. What used to be a busy, collaborative place now feels like a complete ghost town. Empty floors, no energy, barely anyone around. It honestly feels like The Walking Dead, people just showing up, wandering around, and ki-ling time.

There’s not much actual work happening here anymore. Teams are gone or spread out, roles eliminated, and a lot of the real work seems to have moved elsewhere or just disappeared. So what exactly is the point of RTO when you come in and there’s nothing to do?

Curious if others are seeing the same thing. Is this just a slow fade until the site eventually shuts down?

I’m really struggling to adjust to the no assigned seating. It’s really awful and a big downgrade to my quality of work life.

This + 4 days in office has me seeking new jobs away from Chevron.

But I guess that’s what the wanted

“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

• Desmond Tutu

Officially open to work

Workplace Excellence weeks have been removed from the calendar for 2026. That means you have to be in office 3 days a week even during holiday weeks.

To be ready for a layoff, I offer a few items. I expect more may come in the replies.

1. If you need income from a job, should should be trying NOW to find one. It’s way easier to get hired when you still have active employment on your resume.

2. Save contact information for co-workers. After you are gone, you will have difficulty connecting with them if you don’t get the contact info in advance.

3. Decide if severance is worth losing the option to sue Xerox. Since severance varies and may change soon, this one is up to individual circumstances. Before signing a general release, consider this.

4. Begin monitoring the HR policy regarding severance. It’s very likely that
   this may adjust downward. If you see it, it gives time to think before you are IRIFed. For example, #3.

5. If you used your Xerox.com (or Lex whatever) email address for personal use such as password recovery, change it. You don’t want to forget a password in the future and then realize you used a business email for recovery that you no longer have access to.

6. Take advantage of unused health insurance entitlements before they disappear.

7. Understand that health insurance continuance is an option, but WAY more expensive. For me in the US, cost was 5X.

8. Clean your desk so that is you are walked out, all your personal things are already gone or fit into a box you can take when you are escorted out.

9. Remember you may have employee discounts that may expire after you are gone.

Any more?

We made it through another year, but I hate what this company has become. Biweekly check-ins with inexperienced managers who now get to define your worth. Verint installed on our laptops, where five minutes of inactivity is enough to trigger a flag. Quality metrics attached to every single employee.

There was a time when working hard and being productive actually meant something. Now, every action is scrutinized. The good employees have become the problem, while inexperienced new hires are pushed through boot camps that teach them the wrong way to do the job. Then they’re sent to us with questions, and we’re expected to train them on top of everything else.

The place is a mess. At this point, I’m just counting the days until retirement—or a layoff.

Considering moving from Wells to BOFA. Is there any talk of going from 3 days in-office to 4 or 5? Or is there a required # of hours per day you need to be in office? What else should I know?

I’m doing a ok job. My boss thinks I’m not doing enough but I try my best. I make mistakes sometimes but nothing serious. I think my boss is trying to get me fired. Can I get fired for this?

Have been at Nike for 1 year only I beg you all please don't write anything negative on thisnpost.... Send me positive thoughts. OK, so it has been quite sometime that my higher manager has been casually discussing converting my role to an IC role paid by hour!!!! That means saying goodbye to my health insurance, and monthly stability as my income would be based on whatever number of hours I will be needed.....
I am freaking out! I am a single mom with3 kids.... Now all of a sudden I got an email that my manager wants to speak to me about this transition to IC tomorrow... It is decided... what if it is just for one or 2 months until I finish my current workload and then suddenly there will be no more hours????¿ please keep me in your prayers tonight and yes I am so lonely I did not have anyone else to turn to to vent...

To: My Valued Cost-Centers (Employees),

​Happy New Year! As I sit here in my climate-controlled, triple-glazed corner suite, watching the sunrise over the yacht club, I couldn't help but feel a fleeting sense of warmth—though that may have just been the heated massage function on my Italian leather chair.

​2026 is the year of Synergy, Sacrifice, and Shareholder Supremacy.

​The Triumph of the Office Return
I want to personally congratulate those of you who have successfully navigated the commute to join us in the office at least 3 days a week. Seeing you all hunched over your laptops, participating in Teams meetings with the person sitting three feet away, truly warms my heart. It’s that "water cooler magic" we talked about—even if the water cooler was removed to make room for another row of unassigned lockers.

​I’m aware that some of you have complained about the Hot-Desking Lottery. Look at it as a daily adventure! Will you find a desk with a working monitor today? Or will you spend your morning playing "musical chairs" with a tangled nest of broken HDMI cables? If you find yourself working from the broom closet again, just remember: it’s not a "broom closet," it’s a Cozy Collaboration Pod™.

​Efficiency: Our North Star
​While you are busy creating value for our institutional investors, I have been busy ideating. To ensure we are squeezing every drop of "lemonade" out of our human capital, I am thrilled to announce several Employee Wellness & Productivity Initiatives for Q1:
​Bio-Break Benchmarking: We’ve noticed a slight dip in keystrokes during mid-morning. To help you stay on track, we are installing "Smart-Flush" sensors. If a restroom visit exceeds the mandated 120-second "Standard Relief Window," an automated alert will be sent to your manager to discuss your time-management skills.

​The "Big Wael" Policy: In the spirit of your favorite office slang, we’re aiming for maximum efficiency in all... movements. If you’re going to "take a Big Wael," please ensure you’ve pre-filed a "Functional Downtime" request. We wouldn't want your lack of productivity to be as disappointing as a stagnant stock price.

​Oxygen Optimization: Studies show that humans exhale carbon dioxide, which is bad for the environment (and our ESG score). We are considering a "Breath-Per-Minute" tax to encourage calm, shallow, and highly efficient respiration while at your desks.

​Vertical Desking: Why sit or stand when you can lean? We are replacing chairs with 75-degree padded planks to ensure no one gets too comfortable. Comfort is the enemy of the 52-week high.

​Looking Ahead
​Remember, every time you struggle to find a functional mouse or spend 45 minutes looking for a stapler, a shareholder somewhere gets their wings (or a slightly larger dividend). You aren't just "employees"; you are the fuel we burn to reach the moon.

​Now, stop reading this and get back to your Teams call. I can see your "Active" status flickering from here.

​In Solidarity (With the Board),
​The CEO

“I hope you spent Christmas and New Year thinking about work and not enjoying yourselves.

It is your duty to work harder and longer hours for the company, we own you and you will obey.

Do not expect any acknowledgement for doing a good job or going beyond, it is the minimum requirement we expect from you.

There will be no raises in 2026, if you have a variable income we will find any way possible to minimise any bonus or commissions due to you.

Happy New Year ( although it won’t actually be happy, as we will be laying lots of you off ).”

Hybrid Creep ! We had WFH. We had RTO. Now, meet "hybrid creep," - The idea is that a combination of carrots and sticks will encourage people to gradually increase their in-office time without explicitly telling them to do so. That means tactics like basing promotions on office attendance, or increasing surveillance of employees or Increasing layoffs.
There’s a meaningful difference between saying “we believe we’re better together” and secretly counting phones in a building.

• One is a point of view, whether it’s right or wrong.
• The other is surveillance dressed up as management.
  Don’t be surprised if corporate culture collapses when leaders stop trusting adults to behave like adults.
  The combination of factors seems to be working: Office attendance rates are rising steadily, even as many firms take a step back from mandates.
  https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/workplace/hybrid-work-return-to-office-creep-af5a62b5

I am seeking clarification on several concerning rumors circulating internally.
It has been stated that Infinite employees are not required to work overtime. Is this accurate? If Professional Services Teams have been transitioned to Infinite, what teams are now expected to cover these additional hours?
There are also rumors that these employees who travel onsite to banks will have their corporate cards revoked, requiring them to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket and wait for reimbursement. This would create a significant financial burden regardless of how fast the reimbursement. How are these employees expected to operate under these conditions, given the realities of today’s economy?

Never not met my 40 hrs, wondering if this is really that serious?

Due to the huge losses on the Ford Lightening, Ford needs to cut office facilities expenses. Ford's turning the building heat off for the remainder of the Winter in the Train Station office.

The hybrid model was amazing. Assigned or unassigned offices the hybrid was still better. There is no logical reason to go more days than 3 per week. I find the change to be very disappointing. My days at home were days to get things done and I didn’t dread getting up before 5 am to go into the office. I could get up at 7 and go right into the office. Back to the dread on Sundays again. Ugggh!

The holiday break gave time for me to see how really bad it can be working at Boeing. I worked in three different Boeing groups last year and the common denominator was toxic.
Nobody in any of these groups I worked in, seemed happy to work at Boeing. There was zero trust among co-workers in all these groups. The older guys always had a target on their backs. Lots of people rather see others fail, thinking it benefitted them.
So, I'm putting in my one week notice on Monday.

That Brian gets another 28% raise. He really needs it. I'm cool with being overlooked for any merit increases or standard of living adjustment. Brian's well being means too much for me to accept anything less for him.

Can we still use a 1/2 day PTO to count as an 8 hour day in the office? Or do we have to go in for 4 hours? I am not complaining, asking a genuine question since my direct doesn’t know the answer.

I’m willing to take almost any other job, even one that pays less, just to be able to leave this place. Five years here have felt like ten anywhere else.

For the past decade, each year has been progressively worse than the previous one. And 2025 was already really, really bad. I don't dare think about what we might expect from this one. I've been praying for a new job, but having zero luck, so I guess I'll be forced to find out anyhow.

Crazy thing is it didn't used to be this way. In the days of yore when we were all happily remote little worker bees, we were content if not happy. Dell felt like a people-focused organization, at the very least. We were given latitude to do our own thing, expectations were normal and not overly ambitious, and the individual contributors had a certain degree of confidence in leadership.

Sure, Dell had the very-normal corporate issue of constant change, but the change was navigable. Then suddenly, everything began to change and the water began to boil. It started slowly-people being "encouraged" to use the office. The remote activities quietly disappeared. Does anybody remember the May the 4th Zoom AHOD in 2021 where a bunch of leadership dressed up as Star Wars characters? Stuff like that was objectively fun, and made work feel a bit less like work. That sort of fun just up and disappeared to be replaced with increased unreasonable expectations like suddenly everybody had to commute 10 hours a week to sit on zoom calls that they were perfectly content with and capable of sitting on at home.

Then, the layoffs began, as did a constant state of employment anxiety that has persisted to this day. Then we all received a total of 24 business-hours notice that hybrid was going away and we were all full-time onsite, or face the consequences. Except, there were none really. The layoffs continued to be completely random across the board, if anything affecting the in-office folks more than those that persisted with staying remote.

The result? Everybody who is left (and smart) has quiet quite HARD. I'm personally remote, and work maybe 2 hours a day and still get everything done. The rest of my workday is spent at the gym or with my laptop open while I play video games. And my numbers have never been better.

The thing that objectively takes the most of the time out of my day is trying to come up with 5 stupid questions to ask this stupid chat bot we're training to take over our jobs eventually, because if I don't that's the only thing that actually gets me in trouble with leadership. It's not my Teams' status being yellow for 5 hours a day, or my quote output, or my lack of desire to pursue cUlTuRe and CoLlAbOrAtIoN by driving 15 hours per week, it's my lack of desire to justify Dell's stupid investment into incompetent AI tools that add no objective value to anybody.

I know it sounds like hyperbole when you hear about folks talking about "Dell has changed." Though in reality, Dell actually has changed in a lot of ways, and every, single, one of those changes have been for the worse. And they get away with it because we flipped from an employee's market to an employer's market with the post-Covid tech crash in 2022ish that we still haven't recovered from.

It just really su-ks.

This needed a thread of its own. The OP is @ez+1kdne2h4c.

I am in my early thirties and have been here long enough to see how fast things shift. FIDO still opens doors when recruiters scan a resume, but that window feels smaller each year. I am focusing on learning what I can and staying realistic about how long the shine lasts.

I'm going to believe that we'll be spared layoffs at least for the first quarter of the year. It's better than being convinced otherwise and stressing over it nonstop. They'll most likely prove me wrong, but you never know. A little positivity never ki-led anybody.

2026 will be the last year of AT&T employment for many. Make the final weeks count.

Post below.

How do y'all deal with 5 day RTO, it must be brutal , no? I know qualcomm isn't the place for "work life balance" which is what I always hear from my peers at QCOM , but do y'all get extra holidays or something? Did they increase the leaves after the 5 day rto change ?

Curious about everyone’s New Years Work Resolutions.

You 4 day RTOers complained about not having enough parking and desk space. Well, all that is about to change. In the 1st quarter all of the inconsistents they've been handing out like candy will be used to cut thousands.

You heard that right. Thousands.

Then following that, the survivors will get the 5 day RTO or else threat. Those that violate the 5 day RTO will be PiP'd and fired.

The end game? As small of a SE Michigan salaried footprint as possible. And LCC replacements.

It's the new Ford. Where the vehicles will be assembled by American hourly workers, but designed by cheap foreign engineers. It's been moving that direction since 2019, and this will be the final blow to bring it all to reality.

Me? I'm retiring EOY after nearly 4 decades. I'm at a level that you can count on my knowing what I'm talking about.

GL2U all.

Work is supposed to be fun, but companies have made it so difficult that many Gen X and Gen Z employees hate going to the office and feel like they’re just following marching orders. The ’90s and early 2000s felt more enjoyable because we had people from other cultures who assimilated and didn’t treat the U.S. as merely an economic zone. People weren’t constantly worried about their jobs being outsourced to developing countries.