The data is in: RTO policies don't improve employee performance or company value, but controlling bosses don't care
www.businessinsider.com
Researchers studying RTO policies of S&P 500 companies found no improvement in the value of the businesses that brought workers back to the office.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/10481867

Billionaire CEOs were quick to sing the praises of working from home at the start of the pandemic, calling it the way of the future — but over the last three years, they’ve slowly changed their tune.

Late last year, Forbes reported that 90% of companies will return to the office in 2024, with 28% threatening to fire workers who don’t comply.

But it turns out that the motivations for calling workers back to the office may have less to do with employee productivity or profit margins and everything to do with catering to the egos of controlling managers who want their workers back, according to a recent study published by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh.

Mark Ma, an associate professor of business administration from Pitt’s Katz Graduate School of Business, who led the study, told BI he started the research hoping to understand why some S&P 500 firms want employees to return to the office while other firms avoid calling them back.

…

“One of the most common arguments management suggests is that they want to return to office because employee productivity is low at home, and they believe returns to office would help firms improve performance and ultimately improve the firm’s value,” Ma told BI. “That’s the reason they give — but our results actually do not support these arguments.”

  • 𝐘Ⓞz҉@lemmy.world
    1·
    9 months ago

    I change company every yeat and Often notice that the places I have worked where boss are really controlling they always seems to have a miserable life. Meaning no friends, they stay back after 5 in the name of “work” and don’t care about anything but them.

  • andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works
    1·
    9 months ago

    And now I wonder if covid misinformation campaigns were co-paid by the same Forbes companies intentionally, to make people ignore safety measures.

  • danielbln@lemmy.world
    1·
    9 months ago

    What is that article picture? A bunch of 4:3 monitors, people sitting on unpadded wooden chairs, shoulder to shoulder? What kind of office hellpit is that?

    • 800XL@lemmy.world
      1·
      9 months ago

      Open seating facilitating C o l l a b o r a t i o n, my friend. It’s the newest in a long line of corporate circle-jerk KPIs.

      Quarterly losses got the shareholders on your back?

      Mandate more collaborations!

      Employees realizing their worth got the shareholders on your back?

      Mandate more collaborations!

      Feeling insecure about your authority got the shareholders on your back?

      Mandate more collaborations!

      The high mount of time spent collaborating on Teams/Slack got the shareholders on your back?

      Mandate more collaborations!

      Some other company’s Exec bragging about their greater number of collaborations got the shareholders on your back?

      Mandate more collaborations!

      What’s the easiest most effortless method to generate more collaborations without having to use any brain power whatsoever?

      Copy what other CEOs who’ve failed have done and change nothing because you’re a lazy hack but tell yourself it’ll work perfectly because you’re a snowflake and smarter than everyone else! 🌹🌹Return to Office! 🌹🌹

      When it doesn’t work, what do you do?

      Blame the workers for not collaborating right! YAAAAAAAAAY!!!

  • BaldProphet@kbin.social
    1·
    9 months ago

    It’s annoying that I’ve seen essentially the opposite headline from Business Insider as well in the past few days. I feel like they’re not much of a “news” source with this kind of clickbait content.