WaPo opinion piece from a CEO who wants people back in the office

[Anonymous]

It’s a dumb article but there are some valid points. The people who suffer most from telework are the more junior staff that just don’t get as much professional development. I’m a senior person and would love to continue to just work from home most of the time but it’s not really fair to the junior folks. I know they are struggling. Face time for face time’s sake is dumb but the truth is that most humans are better at developing connections in person. We are struggling with finding the balance, as an office.

I also think that many employers will just hire peoole in lower COLA locations rather than people around here, if they are going to be primarily remote. That happened years ago with customer service and then with IT support, when businesses realized how someone could do it from Ohio for 50K just as easily as someone in DC doing it for 80K.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, good work staff!

Think the pro-telework folks should actually thank this "CEO"--she has done a great job undercutting and making ridiculous her side of the argument.

Ha so true! I hope other executives are seeing this and learning a thing or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s a dumb article but there are some valid points. The people who suffer most from telework are the more junior staff that just don’t get as much professional development. I’m a senior person and would love to continue to just work from home most of the time but it’s not really fair to the junior folks. I know they are struggling. Face time for face time’s sake is dumb but the truth is that most humans are better at developing connections in person. We are struggling with finding the balance, as an office.

I also think that many employers will just hire peoole in lower COLA locations rather than people around here, if they are going to be primarily remote. That happened years ago with customer service and then with IT support, when businesses realized how someone could do it from Ohio for 50K just as easily as someone in DC doing it for 80K.

I would love to continue working from home full time, but of course there are valid reasons that being in an office, either full time or some of the time, is beneficial in certain ways. That’s not the issue here - this ceo is threatening illegal actions against her “valued” employees who want to continue teleworking.

There are important conversations to be had about telework and finding the right balance. This op-Ed is not that, and frankly, it was a step backwards for reasonable people who want to have that conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sh*t is going down

Merrill says she didn't make the title of the op-ed, so that's why the first one was changed.

Editors have final say over the titles of articles, not the authors.

What happened is that the WaPo Op-Ed editor created the first title. Then Merrill -being part of an "old money" white DC family - pulled strings and complained to Fred Hiatt that it's too threatening. Even though she directly threatens her employees in her article! They then swapped out with a new title, which clearly was meant to bury the lede.

The damage is already done from a legal perspective. That article was a dumpster fire of liability. I'm sure her attorneys will be getting paid good money to work all weekend.

I wouldn’t be shocked if DOL takes a hard look at their classification of employees / contractors, since this CEO just said, in writing, to the world, that she can change your employee status if you want to work from home.

How truly stupid is this woman?

Inherited wealth means you get to continually fail upward and hold others' lives in your hands, like pawns on a chessboard. This is what happens when people inherit their way into the C-suite.

Any smart, wealthy family turns over the reins to professional managers who can maximize growth and profitability. You think the Mars, Wrigley, or Walton family heirs are managing their respective companies? No, they are counting checks and leave the bean counting to professionals, all while maintaining control of their companies. Their heirs will do the same for generations so long as they are smart enough to not touch the principle.

[Miraclemomma]

Let's be honest, productivity at home is not even close to productivy in office.
She knows it, you know it, we all know it.
Enough BS people. Show up for work or expect to be fired, in not too far of a future.


This simply is not true. So you really want to sit in traffic all day? Sit through hours of small talk, waiting at a printer, looking for food in unsanitary work cafeterias?

So much of what we do at work is filler. Between commuting, meetings for people to brag about their vacations/kids/pets, and all kinds of office politics that usually start from silly or mindless unintentional comment.

Telework is the best thing for companies. They can cut real estate, overhead, and they already push these expenses off on to the employee. If a company cannot measure productivity, then they have a bad system to start with. Work has changed. Slavery used to be the norm, child labor and even certain dangerous jobs. Daily commuting into an office is just not something worth doing anymore.

[Anonymous]

Miraclemomma wrote:

Let's be honest, productivity at home is not even close to productivy in office.
She knows it, you know it, we all know it.
Enough BS people. Show up for work or expect to be fired, in not too far of a future.


This simply is not true. So you really want to sit in traffic all day? Sit through hours of small talk, waiting at a printer, looking for food in unsanitary work cafeterias?

So much of what we do at work is filler. Between commuting, meetings for people to brag about their vacations/kids/pets, and all kinds of office politics that usually start from silly or mindless unintentional comment?

Telework is the best thing for companies. They can cut real estate, overhead, and the already push it off on the employee. If a company cannot measure productivity, then they have a bad system to start with. Work has changed. Slavery used to be the norm, child labor and even certain dangerous jobs. Daily commuting into an office is just not something worth doing anymore.


But WHAT ABOUT THE BIRTHDAY CAKE?

[Anonymous]

I guess she is learning the hard way about measuring productivity.

It's not that difficult to do, especially with a published work product.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sh*t is going down

Merrill says she didn't make the title of the op-ed, so that's why the first one was changed.

Editors have final say over the titles of articles, not the authors.

What happened is that the WaPo Op-Ed editor created the first title. Then Merrill -being part of an "old money" white DC family - pulled strings and complained to Fred Hiatt that it's too threatening. Even though she directly threatens her employees in her article! They then swapped out with a new title, which clearly was meant to bury the lede.

The damage is already done from a legal perspective. That article was a dumpster fire of liability. I'm sure her attorneys will be getting paid good money to work all weekend.

I wouldn’t be shocked if DOL takes a hard look at their classification of employees / contractors, since this CEO just said, in writing, to the world, that she can change your employee status if you want to work from home.

How truly stupid is this woman?

Inherited wealth means you get to continually fail upward and hold others' lives in your hands, like pawns on a chessboard. This is what happens when people inherit their way into the C-suite.

Any smart, wealthy family turns over the reins to professional managers who can maximize growth and profitability. You think the Mars, Wrigley, or Walton family heirs are managing their respective companies? No, they are counting checks and leave the bean counting to professionals, all while maintaining control of their companies. Their heirs will do the same for generations so long as they are smart enough to not touch the principle.

she's a small niche magazine CEO, that's traditionally the kind of position the idle rich use to amuse themselves. For her sake, I hope she's in that category rather than needing the magazine to turn a profit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s a dumb article but there are some valid points. The people who suffer most from telework are the more junior staff that just don’t get as much professional development. I’m a senior person and would love to continue to just work from home most of the time but it’s not really fair to the junior folks. I know they are struggling. Face time for face time’s sake is dumb but the truth is that most humans are better at developing connections in person. We are struggling with finding the balance, as an office.

I also think that many employers will just hire peoole in lower COLA locations rather than people around here, if they are going to be primarily remote. That happened years ago with customer service and then with IT support, when businesses realized how someone could do it from Ohio for 50K just as easily as someone in DC doing it for 80K.

But Cathy's employees are likely not asking to "work from home forever." Sure, a few may want to but I doubt most want to do that.

The middle ground is more flexible policies that allow junior staff to be mentored in-person while also rewarding experienced staff who need less oversight with more telecommuting opportunities.

My ideal balance would be remote 3x per week and in the office 2x per week. And then allow me to work remotely for 2-4 weeks in the summer and 2 weeks around the holiday season, depending of course on my employer's needs and mindful of certain seasonal surges/deadlines.

Cathy says "it's all or nothing" and then threatens her employees' livelihoods. 'Eff that. What a bullying loser and a horrible leader.

[Anonymous]

Serious question: does anyone enjoy the birthday celebrations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Serious question: does anyone enjoy the birthday celebrations?

No. I don't want to sing to you, I don't want you to sing to me.

The best company I worked for gave birthdays off instead of cake or lunch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Miraclemomma wrote:

Let's be honest, productivity at home is not even close to productivy in office.
She knows it, you know it, we all know it.
Enough BS people. Show up for work or expect to be fired, in not too far of a future.

This simply is not true. So you really want to sit in traffic all day? Sit through hours of small talk, waiting at a printer, looking for food in unsanitary work cafeterias?

So much of what we do at work is filler. Between commuting, meetings for people to brag about their vacations/kids/pets, and all kinds of office politics that usually start from silly or mindless unintentional comment?

Telework is the best thing for companies. They can cut real estate, overhead, and the already push it off on the employee. If a company cannot measure productivity, then they have a bad system to start with. Work has changed. Slavery used to be the norm, child labor and even certain dangerous jobs. Daily commuting into an office is just not something worth doing anymore.


But WHAT ABOUT THE BIRTHDAY CAKE?

I can't believe I'm saying this - but the birthday cakes DO mean something! They fit in with an overall sense of cohesion as a team. I definitely knew my coworkers better, and had more productive relationships, when I worked in an office. Going out for lunch with people, getting to stop by their office to chat and share ideas, all that. Online can provide some of those same things but for sure not all of them.

That said there's tradeoffs! And for the most part I gladly give up those personal connections in order to be home all day with my pets. Personally I am not more productive in an office - I am equally unproductive in an office and at home; just give me benchmarks and projects and I will do them for pete's sake.

It's a really obnoxiously written op-ed even if there's some nuggets of value in there. I guess the biggest value is just hearing one CEO basically say out loud that employees have zero value to her and will be replaced or demoted when she likes. We all know that's how it works, it's helpful to hear it out loud. See how much loyalty she shows? That's how much loyalty we should show, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Miraclemomma wrote:

Let's be honest, productivity at home is not even close to productivy in office.
She knows it, you know it, we all know it.
Enough BS people. Show up for work or expect to be fired, in not too far of a future.

This simply is not true. So you really want to sit in traffic all day? Sit through hours of small talk, waiting at a printer, looking for food in unsanitary work cafeterias?

So much of what we do at work is filler. Between commuting, meetings for people to brag about their vacations/kids/pets, and all kinds of office politics that usually start from silly or mindless unintentional comment?

Telework is the best thing for companies. They can cut real estate, overhead, and the already push it off on the employee. If a company cannot measure productivity, then they have a bad system to start with. Work has changed. Slavery used to be the norm, child labor and even certain dangerous jobs. Daily commuting into an office is just not something worth doing anymore.

But WHAT ABOUT THE BIRTHDAY CAKE?

I can't believe I'm saying this - but the birthday cakes DO mean something! They fit in with an overall sense of cohesion as a team. I definitely knew my coworkers better, and had more productive relationships, when I worked in an office. Going out for lunch with people, getting to stop by their office to chat and share ideas, all that. Online can provide some of those same things but for sure not all of them.

That said there's tradeoffs! And for the most part I gladly give up those personal connections in order to be home all day with my pets. Personally I am not more productive in an office - I am equally unproductive in an office and at home; just give me benchmarks and projects and I will do them for pete's sake.

It's a really obnoxiously written op-ed even if there's some nuggets of value in there. I guess the biggest value is just hearing one CEO basically say out loud that employees have zero value to her and will be replaced or demoted when she likes. We all know that's how it works, it's helpful to hear it out loud. See how much loyalty she shows? That's how much loyalty we should show, too.

I agree that popping into offices means something. But I don’t miss the awkward lunches. Those were such a waste of time, especially when I need to worry about leaving on time to pick up kids from daycare. But yes, I miss popping in to coworker’s offices and catching up, and I even miss the occasional overly-sweet sheet cakes from giant

[Anonymous]

At the office, it's important that my birthday is acknowledged/celebrated and time is given to reflect on it. I also like to acknowledge the birthdays of my coworker and direct reports.

As a supervisor, I take note of enthusiasm and interest. It's hard to guage that over Teams, so I am asking higher management to have all workers back five days a week. I will not be allowing my employees to telework.

[Anonymous]

Cathy's response: no, I didn't mean MY EMPLOYEES. *awkward chuckle* This was directed at other companies.