Here’s a rare sight: a CEO of a large company has spoken out in support of remote work for employees, slamming those firms that drag staff back into the office against their will. Dropbox boss Drew Houston compared RTO mandates to trying to force people back into malls and movie theaters.
Speaking on an episode of Fortune’s “Leadership Next” podcast, Houston said what most people have long thought: that returning to the office is a waste of time and money when employees can do exactly the same tasks at home.
“We can be a lot less dumb than forcing people back into a car three days a week or whatever, to literally be back on the same Zoom meeting they would have been at home,” he said. “There’s a better way to do this.”
As the election has shown us, these tech bros are not necessarily smart or thoughtful about their choices, and the real motivations tend to be related to personal financial gain. The level of push and coordination behind RTO and every company copying each other’s policy probably come down from “on high”, and i suspect that’s investors with business real estate interests putting their thumbs on the scale to avoid a collapse in their markets
Ed Zitron of the Better Offline podcast had a piece a few weeks ago that explains so much.
https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-era-of-the-business-idiot/
I just want to say thanks for sharing this link. That was amazing.
It is the single best explanation for what is going on. As someone raised around these types ypu grow up with so much smoke being blown up your ass about jow much “better” your schools are which isn’t always the case.
Yeah, definitely.