Fidelity Ends Hybrid Work, Requires US Staff in Office Five Days a Week

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They’ll soon realize it’s a mistake. 5 days a week isn’t sustainable for most families today, unless you’re making gobs of money and can outsource everything your family needs. People will just call out and be less available. I’ve seen it in real time. As a manager who is short staffed, I prefer a hybrid (3 days in office) approach.

I agree that it's shortsighted and not the best policy. That said, what makes full time in the office unsustainable in 2026 that wasn't a factor in 1999, or January 2020? What changed?

The need for 2 jobs to maintain the same level of living as the 1990s. DH and I both had a SAHM so our dads just commuted, worked, came home and all the house/family stuff was as managed. Now it takes 2 working parents with grad degrees for a similar standard of living.

Also the rise in real estate costs. My boomer coworkers bought their N Arlington homes for peanuts in the 90s while my younger coworkers have to super commute from where they can afford to live.

Plus increased work expectations. Employers want the benefit of remote work with everyone always on and reachable. This isn’t sustainable if employees are also in office 5 days per week. People have lives beyond their jobs

Not to mention I think we know more today about unhealthy the workaholic lifestyle is and people are realizing they don’t want to devote their lives to a company that no longer offers loyalty or a pension.

Don’t bother, the PP won’t acknowledge that average Americans are way worse off now than the were in 1999, and even 2020. Doesn’t fit the narrative. Draconian in-person rules for office workers isn’t good for workers, only good for cutting heads. It is shortsighted though. The people you’re losing with this aren’t necessarily the ones you want to lose. I’ve got GREAT people burning out and becoming less productive I t he same of this, while the people who were never any good are even worse but hang on just barely because they have no other options. It’s brutal. And to the PP that talks about service jobs… remember that May of those jobs are extremely high turnover, or well compensated, or unionized.

I say people at work have not worked a real workweek since around the mid 1990s. My company at that time rolled out Casual Fridays. We even had Levi company come in and do a presentation on what to wear to work on Fridays. Of course they plugged their Docker pants. Anyhow we rolled it out. Next thing I know I am in Docker pants, boat shoes, wearing a polo shirt and Friday felt like a day off. My dept used to go out to a two hour liquid lunch some days. We do paperwork catch up and go to coffee and head out door 430pm Was begining of end it slowly moved to five days a week, then flex hours, then paternity leave, then work from home snow days untill 2020 when we stopped going to work at all, or even bathing or shaving and were drunk watching pornhub and netlix in covid doing nothing.

I say we need to go back and restart.

Yes let’s all go back to the efficiency and productivity of 1995. That makes so much sense.

[Anonymous]

They have a lot of expensive real estate so this makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They’ll soon realize it’s a mistake. 5 days a week isn’t sustainable for most families today, unless you’re making gobs of money and can outsource everything your family needs. People will just call out and be less available. I’ve seen it in real time. As a manager who is short staffed, I prefer a hybrid (3 days in office) approach.

I agree that it's shortsighted and not the best policy. That said, what makes full time in the office unsustainable in 2026 that wasn't a factor in 1999, or January 2020? What changed?

The need for 2 jobs to maintain the same level of living as the 1990s. DH and I both had a SAHM so our dads just commuted, worked, came home and all the house/family stuff was as managed. Now it takes 2 working parents with grad degrees for a similar standard of living.

Also the rise in real estate costs. My boomer coworkers bought their N Arlington homes for peanuts in the 90s while my younger coworkers have to super commute from where they can afford to live.

Plus increased work expectations. Employers want the benefit of remote work with everyone always on and reachable. This isn’t sustainable if employees are also in office 5 days per week. People have lives beyond their jobs

Not to mention I think we know more today about unhealthy the workaholic lifestyle is and people are realizing they don’t want to devote their lives to a company that no longer offers loyalty or a pension.

Don’t bother, the PP won’t acknowledge that average Americans are way worse off now than the were in 1999, and even 2020. Doesn’t fit the narrative. Draconian in-person rules for office workers isn’t good for workers, only good for cutting heads. It is shortsighted though. The people you’re losing with this aren’t necessarily the ones you want to lose. I’ve got GREAT people burning out and becoming less productive I t he same of this, while the people who were never any good are even worse but hang on just barely because they have no other options. It’s brutal. And to the PP that talks about service jobs… remember that May of those jobs are extremely high turnover, or well compensated, or unionized.

I say people at work have not worked a real workweek since around the mid 1990s. My company at that time rolled out Casual Fridays. We even had Levi company come in and do a presentation on what to wear to work on Fridays. Of course they plugged their Docker pants. Anyhow we rolled it out. Next thing I know I am in Docker pants, boat shoes, wearing a polo shirt and Friday felt like a day off. My dept used to go out to a two hour liquid lunch some days. We do paperwork catch up and go to coffee and head out door 430pm Was begining of end it slowly moved to five days a week, then flex hours, then paternity leave, then work from home snow days untill 2020 when we stopped going to work at all, or even bathing or shaving and were drunk watching pornhub and netlix in covid doing nothing.

I say we need to go back and restart.

Yes let’s all go back to the efficiency and productivity of 1995. That makes so much sense.

My old company in 1995 had 40 people in my old dept. I know person in charge of dept today. He has 120 people doing the work of 40 today. My other dept I ran in 2019 had 5 people I left right before Covid now has 13 people. And company has less work today.

Too many companies have lazy non self motivated employees who in renote do terrible. They were built to be in person with boss cracking the whip

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They’ll soon realize it’s a mistake. 5 days a week isn’t sustainable for most families today, unless you’re making gobs of money and can outsource everything your family needs. People will just call out and be less available. I’ve seen it in real time. As a manager who is short staffed, I prefer a hybrid (3 days in office) approach.

I agree that it's shortsighted and not the best policy. That said, what makes full time in the office unsustainable in 2026 that wasn't a factor in 1999, or January 2020? What changed?

The need for 2 jobs to maintain the same level of living as the 1990s. DH and I both had a SAHM so our dads just commuted, worked, came home and all the house/family stuff was as managed. Now it takes 2 working parents with grad degrees for a similar standard of living.

Also the rise in real estate costs. My boomer coworkers bought their N Arlington homes for peanuts in the 90s while my younger coworkers have to super commute from where they can afford to live.

Plus increased work expectations. Employers want the benefit of remote work with everyone always on and reachable. This isn’t sustainable if employees are also in office 5 days per week. People have lives beyond their jobs

Not to mention I think we know more today about unhealthy the workaholic lifestyle is and people are realizing they don’t want to devote their lives to a company that no longer offers loyalty or a pension.

Don’t bother, the PP won’t acknowledge that average Americans are way worse off now than the were in 1999, and even 2020. Doesn’t fit the narrative. Draconian in-person rules for office workers isn’t good for workers, only good for cutting heads. It is shortsighted though. The people you’re losing with this aren’t necessarily the ones you want to lose. I’ve got GREAT people burning out and becoming less productive I t he same of this, while the people who were never any good are even worse but hang on just barely because they have no other options. It’s brutal. And to the PP that talks about service jobs… remember that May of those jobs are extremely high turnover, or well compensated, or unionized.

I say people at work have not worked a real workweek since around the mid 1990s. My company at that time rolled out Casual Fridays. We even had Levi company come in and do a presentation on what to wear to work on Fridays. Of course they plugged their Docker pants. Anyhow we rolled it out. Next thing I know I am in Docker pants, boat shoes, wearing a polo shirt and Friday felt like a day off. My dept used to go out to a two hour liquid lunch some days. We do paperwork catch up and go to coffee and head out door 430pm Was begining of end it slowly moved to five days a week, then flex hours, then paternity leave, then work from home snow days untill 2020 when we stopped going to work at all, or even bathing or shaving and were drunk watching pornhub and netlix in covid doing nothing.

I say we need to go back and restart.

Yes let’s all go back to the efficiency and productivity of 1995. That makes so much sense.

My old company in 1995 had 40 people in my old dept. I know person in charge of dept today. He has 120 people doing the work of 40 today. My other dept I ran in 2019 had 5 people I left right before Covid now has 13 people. And company has less work today.

Too many companies have lazy non self motivated employees who in renote do terrible. They were built to be in person with boss cracking the whip

Why do you care about a company you no longer work for? If they’re getting paid to do less work and the company doesn’t see a problem, good on them.

If you care about the company because you have stock in them and think they’re bankrupting themselves, sell your shares and start shorting it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They’ll soon realize it’s a mistake. 5 days a week isn’t sustainable for most families today, unless you’re making gobs of money and can outsource everything your family needs. People will just call out and be less available. I’ve seen it in real time. As a manager who is short staffed, I prefer a hybrid (3 days in office) approach.

I agree that it's shortsighted and not the best policy. That said, what makes full time in the office unsustainable in 2026 that wasn't a factor in 1999, or January 2020? What changed?

The need for 2 jobs to maintain the same level of living as the 1990s. DH and I both had a SAHM so our dads just commuted, worked, came home and all the house/family stuff was as managed. Now it takes 2 working parents with grad degrees for a similar standard of living.

Also the rise in real estate costs. My boomer coworkers bought their N Arlington homes for peanuts in the 90s while my younger coworkers have to super commute from where they can afford to live.

Plus increased work expectations. Employers want the benefit of remote work with everyone always on and reachable. This isn’t sustainable if employees are also in office 5 days per week. People have lives beyond their jobs

Not to mention I think we know more today about unhealthy the workaholic lifestyle is and people are realizing they don’t want to devote their lives to a company that no longer offers loyalty or a pension.

Don’t bother, the PP won’t acknowledge that average Americans are way worse off now than the were in 1999, and even 2020. Doesn’t fit the narrative. Draconian in-person rules for office workers isn’t good for workers, only good for cutting heads. It is shortsighted though. The people you’re losing with this aren’t necessarily the ones you want to lose. I’ve got GREAT people burning out and becoming less productive I t he same of this, while the people who were never any good are even worse but hang on just barely because they have no other options. It’s brutal. And to the PP that talks about service jobs… remember that May of those jobs are extremely high turnover, or well compensated, or unionized.

I say people at work have not worked a real workweek since around the mid 1990s. My company at that time rolled out Casual Fridays. We even had Levi company come in and do a presentation on what to wear to work on Fridays. Of course they plugged their Docker pants. Anyhow we rolled it out. Next thing I know I am in Docker pants, boat shoes, wearing a polo shirt and Friday felt like a day off. My dept used to go out to a two hour liquid lunch some days. We do paperwork catch up and go to coffee and head out door 430pm Was begining of end it slowly moved to five days a week, then flex hours, then paternity leave, then work from home snow days untill 2020 when we stopped going to work at all, or even bathing or shaving and were drunk watching pornhub and netlix in covid doing nothing.

I say we need to go back and restart.

Yes let’s all go back to the efficiency and productivity of 1995. That makes so much sense.

My old company in 1995 had 40 people in my old dept. I know person in charge of dept today. He has 120 people doing the work of 40 today. My other dept I ran in 2019 had 5 people I left right before Covid now has 13 people. And company has less work today.

Too many companies have lazy non self motivated employees who in renote do terrible. They were built to be in person with boss cracking the whip

You can be lazy in the office or at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They’ll soon realize it’s a mistake. 5 days a week isn’t sustainable for most families today, unless you’re making gobs of money and can outsource everything your family needs. People will just call out and be less available. I’ve seen it in real time. As a manager who is short staffed, I prefer a hybrid (3 days in office) approach.

I agree that it's shortsighted and not the best policy. That said, what makes full time in the office unsustainable in 2026 that wasn't a factor in 1999, or January 2020? What changed?

The need for 2 jobs to maintain the same level of living as the 1990s. DH and I both had a SAHM so our dads just commuted, worked, came home and all the house/family stuff was as managed. Now it takes 2 working parents with grad degrees for a similar standard of living.

Also the rise in real estate costs. My boomer coworkers bought their N Arlington homes for peanuts in the 90s while my younger coworkers have to super commute from where they can afford to live.

Plus increased work expectations. Employers want the benefit of remote work with everyone always on and reachable. This isn’t sustainable if employees are also in office 5 days per week. People have lives beyond their jobs

Not to mention I think we know more today about unhealthy the workaholic lifestyle is and people are realizing they don’t want to devote their lives to a company that no longer offers loyalty or a pension.

Don’t bother, the PP won’t acknowledge that average Americans are way worse off now than the were in 1999, and even 2020. Doesn’t fit the narrative. Draconian in-person rules for office workers isn’t good for workers, only good for cutting heads. It is shortsighted though. The people you’re losing with this aren’t necessarily the ones you want to lose. I’ve got GREAT people burning out and becoming less productive I t he same of this, while the people who were never any good are even worse but hang on just barely because they have no other options. It’s brutal. And to the PP that talks about service jobs… remember that May of those jobs are extremely high turnover, or well compensated, or unionized.

I say people at work have not worked a real workweek since around the mid 1990s. My company at that time rolled out Casual Fridays. We even had Levi company come in and do a presentation on what to wear to work on Fridays. Of course they plugged their Docker pants. Anyhow we rolled it out. Next thing I know I am in Docker pants, boat shoes, wearing a polo shirt and Friday felt like a day off. My dept used to go out to a two hour liquid lunch some days. We do paperwork catch up and go to coffee and head out door 430pm Was begining of end it slowly moved to five days a week, then flex hours, then paternity leave, then work from home snow days untill 2020 when we stopped going to work at all, or even bathing or shaving and were drunk watching pornhub and netlix in covid doing nothing.

I say we need to go back and restart.

Yes let’s all go back to the efficiency and productivity of 1995. That makes so much sense.

My old company in 1995 had 40 people in my old dept. I know person in charge of dept today. He has 120 people doing the work of 40 today. My other dept I ran in 2019 had 5 people I left right before Covid now has 13 people. And company has less work today.

Too many companies have lazy non self motivated employees who in renote do terrible. They were built to be in person with boss cracking the whip

I regret to inform you that productivity across the whole economy is measurable and it is not lower today than it was in 1995.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have friends in financial services, and they're supposed to be back five days per week. In practice, however, they tell me that no one is actually coming in five days per week.

Im an auditor at a firm with a 3 day RTO mandate but in reality, it’s up to the Managers to decide how many days per week our teams go in. I know some teams had to be in Monday - Saturday while others worked fully remote.

Hybrid/Remote work isn’t going anywhere - Fidelity just wants some increased voluntary attrition.

This. It’s just to move the goal post, make life harder for those who commute an hour each way and get them to throw up their hands and quit. My employer allows hybrid but fully scrapped remote work so they lost a few people who could afford to go. I think our leadership really has no idea how to lead and implement great ideas and innovate so they focus on managing bullshit like work location because it’s easy, low hanging fruit. For the staff, reporting onsite is purely performative. As a result, a bunch of us who need to hang on for at least a few more years are wasting time in traffic to report to hoteling stations (very few have their own desk/offices they decorate with personal items), and put on headphones to join calls. At lunchtime, we head to the break room to fetch yogurt or heat up leftovers and take everything back to our desks. No one has the time/money/interest in going out to lunch to collaborate super awesome projects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have friends in financial services, and they're supposed to be back five days per week. In practice, however, they tell me that no one is actually coming in five days per week.

Im an auditor at a firm with a 3 day RTO mandate but in reality, it’s up to the Managers to decide how many days per week our teams go in. I know some teams had to be in Monday - Saturday while others worked fully remote.

Hybrid/Remote work isn’t going anywhere - Fidelity just wants some increased voluntary attrition.

This. It’s just to move the goal post, make life harder for those who commute an hour each way and get them to throw up their hands and quit. My employer allows hybrid but fully scrapped remote work so they lost a few people who could afford to go. I think our leadership really has no idea how to lead and implement great ideas and innovate so they focus on managing bullshit like work location because it’s easy, low hanging fruit. For the staff, reporting onsite is purely performative. As a result, a bunch of us who need to hang on for at least a few more years are wasting time in traffic to report to hoteling stations (very few have their own desk/offices they decorate with personal items), and put on headphones to join calls. At lunchtime, we head to the break room to fetch yogurt or heat up leftovers and take everything back to our desks. No one has the time/money/interest in going out to lunch to collaborate super awesome projects.

Sounds very familiar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have friends in financial services, and they're supposed to be back five days per week. In practice, however, they tell me that no one is actually coming in five days per week.

Im an auditor at a firm with a 3 day RTO mandate but in reality, it’s up to the Managers to decide how many days per week our teams go in. I know some teams had to be in Monday - Saturday while others worked fully remote.

Hybrid/Remote work isn’t going anywhere - Fidelity just wants some increased voluntary attrition.

This. It’s just to move the goal post, make life harder for those who commute an hour each way and get them to throw up their hands and quit. My employer allows hybrid but fully scrapped remote work so they lost a few people who could afford to go. I think our leadership really has no idea how to lead and implement great ideas and innovate so they focus on managing bullshit like work location because it’s easy, low hanging fruit. For the staff, reporting onsite is purely performative. As a result, a bunch of us who need to hang on for at least a few more years are wasting time in traffic to report to hoteling stations (very few have their own desk/offices they decorate with personal items), and put on headphones to join calls. At lunchtime, we head to the break room to fetch yogurt or heat up leftovers and take everything back to our desks. No one has the time/money/interest in going out to lunch to collaborate super awesome projects.

Sounds very familiar.

PP here. And then factor in the cost of gas and we’re pretty much just paying more from our own wallets to play dance monkey. The best part is when you have to get on a call that requires some privacy and you need to drag your laptop, headset and camera around— maybe your charger, too!— trying find an empty conference room because there aren’t enough offices or rooms with doors to take a call away from other people. Would’ve been so much easier to stay home. And then you’re walking around the hallway with equipment like a hospital patient with an IV pole.

[Anonymous]

The office did not move further from your house you did.

Back when I worked at a large company, think 100,000 people when we all worked long hours always in person with average work day 830 am to 630 pm five days a week in person nearly everyone lived close to office.

Many like me lived in small shoebox sized fixxer upper homes even in second or third tier areas so we could get back and forth to work and still see our family.

Then remote, hibrid, flex time came and people said let me buy a big huge house furthr out. I only go to office a few times a year. Well now in RTO people are literally living in a cabin in West Virginia, Down at Beach, Heck Florida or Germantown or WoodBridge in McMansions. That is not feasible to come back 5 days a week.

But office did not move the people did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The office did not move further from your house you did.

Back when I worked at a large company, think 100,000 people when we all worked long hours always in person with average work day 830 am to 630 pm five days a week in person nearly everyone lived close to office.

Many like me lived in small shoebox sized fixxer upper homes even in second or third tier areas so we could get back and forth to work and still see our family.

Then remote, hibrid, flex time came and people said let me buy a big huge house furthr out. I only go to office a few times a year. Well now in RTO people are literally living in a cabin in West Virginia, Down at Beach, Heck Florida or Germantown or WoodBridge in McMansions. That is not feasible to come back 5 days a week.

But office did not move the people did.

And why are houses close in so expensive? Because they people from back when dont sell or move and hold onto their properties thus decreasing available supply of said "close to office" homes. But do go on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The office did not move further from your house you did.

Back when I worked at a large company, think 100,000 people when we all worked long hours always in person with average work day 830 am to 630 pm five days a week in person nearly everyone lived close to office.

Many like me lived in small shoebox sized fixxer upper homes even in second or third tier areas so we could get back and forth to work and still see our family.

Then remote, hibrid, flex time came and people said let me buy a big huge house furthr out. I only go to office a few times a year. Well now in RTO people are literally living in a cabin in West Virginia, Down at Beach, Heck Florida or Germantown or WoodBridge in McMansions. That is not feasible to come back 5 days a week.

But office did not move the people did.

I live an hour from DC during morning rush hour and an actual drug den duplex is 600k.