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Category: InsideOffice

InsideOffice

  • AT&T Employees Push Back Against Return-to-Office Plans

    AT&T Employees Push Back Against Return-to-Office Plans

    AT&T employees are pushing back against the company’s return-to-office (RTO) plans, saying they can do their work just fine from home.

    AT&T is the latest company to struggle with the new normal that has come about as a result of the pandemic. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and others have all struggled to navigate a changed workplace landscape. AT&T is the latest to face stiff opposition to its RTO plans.

    According to The Guardian, AT&T is accused of going back on an agreement it made with employees to allow them to work from home until at least March 2023. The company is now requiring many of its workers to come back to the office. Employees are pushing back, citing commute times, exorbitant childcare costs, and concerns over COVID as motivations for wanting to continue working from home. What’s more, many employees see tangible benefits they didn’t previously enjoy.

    “These are extremely stressful times over the last few years and being at home has allowed us to have less distractions, giving us better one-on-one time with our customers and our clients,” said James Bloch, an AT&T employee of over 21 years, regarding the mental health, physical health, productivity, and climate benefits of remote work. “With AT&T technology, they’re a communication company. We have some of the best stuff out there. Let’s use it. We can do the same job from home anywhere that we could do if we were all sitting there together.”

    Employees have signed a petition for AT&T to make work from home a permanent option.

    “Now is the time to make Work From Home (WFH) a permanent option for AT&T Call Center workers, Teleconference Specialists, Communications Technicians, and other eligible work titles,” the petition reads.

    “The WFH arrangement has proven extremely beneficial to the workers and the company. WFH provided a safer, more convenient work environment and minimized the spread of COVID-19 among the workforce. Production and attendance rates are both way up. WFH was a necessary adjustment that has proven tremendously popular in what continues to be uncertain times.”

  • Fridays Are the Latest Casualty of Hybrid Work

    Fridays Are the Latest Casualty of Hybrid Work

    As companies increasingly embrace hybrid work, Fridays appear to be the most recent casualty, with employees not coming in on the last workday.

    The global pandemic upended the workplace, leading to a massive adoption of remote and hybrid workflows. Even as many companies are bringing employees back more days during the week, very few want to be in the office on Friday.

    According to The Washington Post, Kastle Systems is collected swipe-in data from their security systems installed in 2,600 buildings. Tuesdays had the highest in-person attendance, coming in at 50%. Mondays only had 41%, but Fridays were the lowest of all, with only 30% in-person attendance in June.

    “It’s becoming a bit of cultural norm: You know nobody else is going to the office on Friday, so maybe you’ll work from home, too,” said Peter Cappelli, director of the Center for Human Resources at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, told the Post. “Even before the pandemic, people thought of Friday as a kind of blowoff day. And now there’s a growing expectation that you can work from home to jump-start your weekend.”

    Interestingly, employers have not yet settled on the best option going forward. Some are doubling down on their attempts to get people back in the office on Fridays, while others are at least trying to make Fridays a little easier with moves like “Zoom-free” Fridays.

    Still others, like tech company Bolt, are switching to a four-day work week after an overwhelmingly positive response from employees.

    “There was no hesitation: Everybody was like, ‘Sign me up,’ ” Angela Bagley, the company’s head of employee experience, told the Post. “And it was amazing: We kept getting the job done. Managers were onboard, people kept hitting their goals. And they come back on Mondays energized and more engaged.”

    One thing is clear: Companies still have much to figure out when it comes to optimizing their way forward in a post-pandemic “new normal.”

  • Microsoft: Too Much Collaboration Is Bad for Employee Happiness

    Microsoft: Too Much Collaboration Is Bad for Employee Happiness

    Two Microsoft executives have released the results of their research into what makes employees happy, and the results are surprising.

    Companies large and small have been trying to determine what contributes to happy, productive employees. Microsoft’s Dawn Klinghoffer and Elizabeth McCune set out to answer using an entirely different methodology than in past years and published their findings in the Harvard Business Review.

    Klinghoffer serves as Microsoft’s Head of People Analytics, while McCune serves as Director of Employee Listening Systems. Together, the two women believed there had to be a better way of gauging employee satisfaction than the lengthy, in-depth surveys normally used. Even when employee engagement appeared to be high in the surveys, a deeper dive into the results showed that many employees were still struggling.

    Klinghoffer and McCune opted for more focused and shorter surveys spaced six months apart. The pair also relied on numerous other data points rather than relying on the surveys alone. The results shed light on some of the biggest factors that contributed to employee happiness.

    Company culture appeared to play a big role:

    Thriving employees talked about a collaborative environment and teamwork with colleagues, an inclusive culture with autonomy and flexibility, and well-being support. These comments reference examples such as being able to have honest, non-judgmental conversations on difficult topics, with a focus on finding solutions.

    Interestingly, unhappy employees talked about company culture too, but in a completely different way:

    Employees who weren’t thriving talked about experiencing siloes, bureaucracy, and a lack of collaboration. In these comments we hear a lack of agency and a sense for being a cog in a machine. In other words, the opposite of being empowered and energized to do meaningful work.

    One of the biggest surprises came when analyzing work-life balance:

    By combining sentiment data with de-identified calendar and email metadata, we found that those with the best of both worlds had five fewer hours in their workweek span, five fewer collaboration hours, three more focus hours, and 17 fewer employees in their internal network size. This reinforces what we know from earlier work-life balance research and network size analysis, which showed us that increased collaboration does have a negative impact on employees’ perception of work-life balance. It also confirms that collaboration is not inherently bad — for many employees, those times of close teamwork and striving toward a common goal can fuel thriving. However, it is important to be mindful of how intense collaboration can impact work-life balance, and leaders and employees alike should guard against that intensity becoming 24/7.

    Klinghoffer and McCune’s full analysis is well worth a read and upends what many companies would consider established facts. Microsoft has been earning a reputation for putting its employees first, and the effort that went into this study is another testament to the company’s efforts.

  • Logitech Leases Large Office Space in San Jose

    Logitech Leases Large Office Space in San Jose

    The real estate market in San Jose, California, received a welcome boost as Logitech signed a lease for office space in the city.

    The real estate market in the US is struggling to cope with companies downsizing their office space footprint as a result of remote and hybrid work. According to The Mercury News, Logitech appears to be bucking that trend, leasing up to 86,000 square feet of office space in San Jose.

    The company is leasing the space in an office building at 3930 N. First St. The lease covers at least 75,000 square feet.

    “Logitech got a plum site,” San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said in an interview with the outlet. “This is a beautiful Gensler-designed project.”

    “The jobs provided by Logitech to many residents who may not need a college degree to work there will be a welcome addition to our city,” Liccardo added.

  • JPMorgan Circling the Wagons After Its Employee Monitoring Program Leaked

    JPMorgan Circling the Wagons After Its Employee Monitoring Program Leaked

    JPMorgan is circling the wagons, leaving employees feeling “disgusted” after the company’s employee monitoring program was leaked to the press.

    Like many large companies, JPMorgan has a complicated relationship with hybrid and remote work. CEO Jamie Dimon is not a fan of remote work despite the company finally adopting a hybrid remote policy.

    The company’s relationship with hybrid work, and its employees, became much more complicated after Business Insider reported on its employee monitoring system, called “Workplace Activity Data Utility,” or WADU for short. WADU is designed to track how employees spend their time, including their in-office time, Zoom usage, and much more.

    In response to the report, Insider is reporting that JPMorgan called an emergency meeting to try to prevent further leaks, even telling managers to communicate policy updates verbally to make it harder to leak documents and communication to the press.

    The company’s actions are not going over well with employees, many of whom are not happy about being monitored or JPMorgan’s opaque handling of the matter. According to one employee who was present at the meeting, “people felt disgusted. They just felt as if they were being betrayed, and that this was a way for the company to just instill fear into employees.”

    A JPMorgan spokesperson refuted Insider’s report, telling the outlet he was “not aware of any direction or meeting with ‘mid-level or senior-level executives’ to restrict access or knowledge of WADU, nor have we made any access changes to the system, as your anonymous source suggests.”

    If Insider’s reports are true, this certainly wouldn’t be the first time a major company has upset its employees with its handling of remote and hybrid work or by spying on employees.

  • Cisco Wants to Fix Hybrid Work With Webex

    Cisco Wants to Fix Hybrid Work With Webex

    Despite being a big supporter of hybrid and remote work, Cisco believes its current incarnation could use some work and is tackling the problem with new Webex features.

    While Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Slack often get the lion’s share of the press about remote work tools, Cisco’s Webex is a popular choice in the business and enterprise space. The company wants to tackle what it sees as some of the biggest issues with current solutions in an effort to help remote users feel more a part of company meetings.

    In an interview with ZDNet, Jeetu Patel, EVP & GM, Security and Collaboration Business Units, identified three main issues with the current state of remote and hybrid videoconferencing meetings:

    • Remote workers can’t always see presentations and whiteboards present in the meeting.
    • It can be difficult to pick up on non-verbal cues via a camera.
    • Technical issues can impact the audio and video and impair the overall experience.

    Cisco is working on some novel solutions, including Webex Whiteboard. The solution is a physical whiteboard that automatically integrates with Webex to display its contents to those connected remotely. As an added benefit, both in-person and remote attendees can interact with it.

    The company is also testing People Focus, a feature that can zoom in on a person and make it easier to pick up on non-verbal cues.

    Cisco is working on the audio aspect of meetings, improving noise cancellation, silencing background conversations, and removing echoes. The company’s Meraki routers can be used to seamlessly switch over to an LTE connection if the main internet connection drops.

    Patel made it clear in his interview with ZDNet that these innovations are designed to help make remote and hybrid work as successful as possible, something he and Cisco see as an important factor moving forward.

    “Wouldn’t it be sad if after the pandemic is over, we all said, ‘Let’s revert back and go 100% to the office?’ The beauty about what we learned in the past couple of years is that talent is available anywhere, globally. And they should be able to participate in the global economy.

    “We’ve made a lot of progress over the last couple of years, and we should take that forward,” Patel continued.

  • Microsoft Overhauls HR Policies, Will Conduct Civil Rights Audit

    Microsoft Overhauls HR Policies, Will Conduct Civil Rights Audit

    Microsoft is revamping its HR policies, introducing sweeping changes on a number of fronts as the company works to set itself apart from its fellow tech companies.

    In a blog post, Amy Pannoni, Deputy General Counsel, and Amy Coleman, VP of Human Resources, outlined four key areas where the company is making significant changes in its operations:

    • Non-competes
    • NDAs
    • Pay transparency
    • Civil rights audit

    One of the driving forces is Microsoft’s belief employees should be able to work where they want, rather than being locked into a job or company they don’t want to be in just because of a non-compete clause.

    We are announcing that we are removing noncompetition clauses from our U.S. employee agreements, and will not enforce existing noncompetition clauses in the U.S., with the exception of Microsoft’s most senior leadership (Partners and Executives), effective today.

    Similarly, NDAs are an important element for any tech company, as it’s often necessary to protect trade secrets. Unfortunately, NDAs are often abused as a way to silence employees’ concerns in various settlement and negotiation scenarios. Microsoft has vowed to address that.

    Microsoft’s U.S. settlement and separation agreements no longer include confidentiality language that prohibits workers from disclosing alleged conduct that they perceive is illegal discrimination, harassment, retaliation, sexual assault, or a wage and hour violation occurring in the workplace.

    Microsoft is also increasing its transparency regarding pay.

    Each year we conduct equal pay analyses and publicly post equal pay data to hold ourselves accountable and continue enhancing our reporting over time. We also actively seek to implement best practices to further strengthen our equal pay approach. This informed our decision to prohibit the practice of asking job applicants about their salary histories several years ago. And today we’re announcing another best practice with our commitment to publicly disclose salary ranges in all of our internal and external job postings across the U.S., beginning no later than January 2023.

    Perhaps most significantly, the company is having an external civil rights audit performed to ensure it is meeting its legal obligations, as well as to identify areas where it can improve.

    Microsoft’s commitment to diversity and inclusion is grounded in accountability and transparency, knowing there is always more we can and must do. Which is why today, Microsoft is committing to a civil rights audit of its workforce policies and practices. This audit, to be conducted by a third party, will be guided by U.S. civil rights law and Microsoft values with the purpose of identifying areas of opportunity for Microsoft to address. We commit to complete this audit in FY23 and to publish a summary report and follow-on actions.

    Microsoft’s announcement is the latest in a long line of initiatives the company has taken to separate itself from its peers in the tech industry. The company has recently charted a very enlightened approach to working with unions, has voluntarily made changes to its cloud business to be fairer in its dealings with smaller rivals, has increased pay, and has embraced open app store principles at a time when Apple and Google are coming under increased scrutiny.

    That’s not to say that Microsoft doesn’t still have challenges. The resignation of Alex Kipman highlighted the company still has work to do to root out the toxic culture Silicon Valley has long been known for. The situation also raised questions about why CEO Satya Nadella and other executives did not address Kipman sooner, instead of allowing him to continue in his position while racking up dozens of misconduct allegations.

    Nonetheless, despite that issue, it’s clear that Microsoft is taking a far more proactive stance than its rivals in addressing issues and meeting the needs of its employees.

  • Elon Musk Wants Employees to Come to the Office Full-Time or Quit

    Elon Musk Wants Employees to Come to the Office Full-Time or Quit

    Elon Musk is throwing down the gauntlet, demanding Tesla and SpaceX employees come in to the office at least 40 hours a week or quit.

    The return to the office has been a challenging issue for many companies since the pandemic forced employees to work from home. Some companies have embraced remote work on a permanent basis, others have embraced varying degrees of hybrid work, and others are taking a hardline approach, demanding employees return to the office full-time. Count Musk in the latter category.

    Internal Tech Emails tweeted copies of the emails Musk sent to employees.

    “Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean ‘minimum’) of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla,” Musk wrote to “ExecStaff,” with the subject line “Remote work is no longer acceptable.”

    Musk reportedly sent a similar email to SpaceX employees.

    Given how strongly many employees feel about continuing to work remotely, it’s a safe bet Tesla will be taking applications soon.

  • Apple Significantly Raises Starting Pay For Hourly Employees

    Apple Significantly Raises Starting Pay For Hourly Employees

    Apple is significantly raising its starting pay for hourly employees, some 45% over 2018 levels.

    Like many companies, Apple is working to retain its workforce and attract new talent amid a market that is being squeezed by rising costs, soaring inflation, and increased competition among rivals. In response, according to The Wall Street Journal, via Ars Technica, the company is raising the starting pay of hourly employees to $22, although it may be even higher in some markets.

    In addition, the company said it would move up some annual reviews by as much as several months in an effort to open the door for existing employees to get pay increases faster.

    “Supporting and retaining the best team members in the world enables us to deliver the best, most innovative, products and services for our customers,” a spokesperson told WSJ. “This year as part of our annual performance review process, we’re increasing our overall compensation budget.”

    Read more: Apple Delays Increased In-Person Work Indefinitely

    The move is not surprising, given the overall state of the market. Microsoft recently doubled its salary budget, following similar moves by Amazon.

    To complicate matters even further, Apple has been struggling more than some of its tech rivals with getting employees back to the office. After a couple of years of groundbreaking product releases and record-breaking quarters, many employees see no need to be forced back to the office an arbitrary number of days. Apple’s employees have already penned numerous letters in protest and some have quit, with the company’s AI chief being the most high-profile loss over its back-to-office policies.

    One thing is clear: Apple is pulling out the stops to keep employees happy, although it remains to be seen if it will pull out the stop most people want, and let employees continue to work remotely.

  • Salesforce Focused On ‘Driving Success From Anywhere’

    Salesforce Focused On ‘Driving Success From Anywhere’

    On the heels of a “phenomenal quarter,” Salesforce is doubling down on its hybrid work model and “driving success from anywhere.”

    Few companies have gone all in on remote and hybrid work as much as Salesforce. The company has been helping customers transition to the cloud, and has been rolling out tools aimed specifically at mobile workers. The company even purchased Slack, the poster-child of remote work, for a whopping $27.7 billion.

    According to Steve Brashear, Salesforce SVP, Global Real Estate, the company is continuing its “Success from Anywhere” approach, giving employees “the flexibility to work how, when, and where works best for them.”

    At the same time, despite being digital first, Brashear says the company is not digital only. In fact, the number one request from employees is to come in to the office for collaboration with teammates. In response, Salesforce has been reimagining its workspaces to make them more conducive to flexible work schedules and collaborative meetings.

    “Individual desks will still have a role, but we’re prioritizing more breakout and collaboration spaces,” writes Brashear. “We’re increasing our social space from 40% to 60% — adding more booths, cafes, communal tables, focus pods, and mobile audiovisual equipment to enhance the connection, camaraderie, and innovation that comes from gathering in person.

    “We are future-proofing our design with a flexible layout so we can adjust as we go.”

    Salesforce has been firing on all cylinders in its embrace of remote and flexible work, and could serve as a template for other companies looking to do the same.

  • Google Map Employees Push Back on In-Office, Citing Commuting Costs

    Google Map Employees Push Back on In-Office, Citing Commuting Costs

    Google is once again receiving pushback on its return-to-office plans, with contract employees in its Maps division saying they can’t afford the commute back.

    Google, along with Apple, has struggled to get its employees to come back to the office. The company has resorted to providing employees with electric scooters in an effort to make the commute easier. Unfortunately, that isn’t much of a solution for Maps employees at its Washington State location.

    According to The New York Times, 200 employees who work for Google via the Cognizant Technology Solutions outsourcing firm are saying they can’t afford to commute to the company’s Bothell office five days a week.

    “Gas is around $5 per gallon currently, and many of us in the office are not able to afford to live close to the office due to our low salaries and the high cost of housing in Bothell,” the Cognizant employees wrote in a petition.

    Interestingly, Google’s direct employees are only required to be back in the office three days a week. In contrast, Cognizant’s employees are required to come back five days a week and are therefore asking for the same consideration as direct employees.

    The Alphabet Workers Union is supporting the employees’ petition.

  • Apple Delays Increased In-Person Work Indefinitely

    Apple Delays Increased In-Person Work Indefinitely

    Apple has once again altered its efforts to bring employees back, delaying indefinitely plans for employees to work in-office at least three days a week.

    Like many large tech companies, Apple has repeatedly delayed its plans to return to the office as a result of the pandemic. It’s latest plans involved requiring employees to be in the office one day a week, starting in mid-April, and then two days a week from May 2 onward. Beginning May 23, Apple was going to require employees to be in the office at least three days a week. According to reports, however, Apple has suspended that last phase of the plan indefinitely.

    According to Bloomberg, Apple is citing a rise in COVID cases as the reason behind the change. The company is also requiring masks in all common areas in its Silicon Valley offices. Similarly, roughly 100 Apple retail stores were told that mask mandates were once again going into effect.

    Apple, more than many of its Silicon Valley counterparts, has struggled with the transition back to in-office work. Employees have repeatedly pushed back, sending no fewer than three letters to the company’s executives to protest its return-to-office policies. Many employees believe a return to the office is too restrictive and completely unnecessary. The latter point is hard to argue with given the record-breaking quarters Apple has turned in, not to mention the transition to its own custom silicon, all of which occurred during the pandemic when employees were working remotely.

    The company’s plans have already led to employees quiting in protest, most notably its top AI executive. In their last letter to company leadership, employees didn’t mince words, saying:

    “Here we are, the smart people that you hired, and we are telling you what to do: Please get out of our way, there is no one-size-fits-all solution, let us decide how we work best, and let us do the best work of our lives.”

    While the company is officially blaming the pandemic for this most recent change, it’s hard to believe the backlash it’s receiving didn’t play a part as well. It remains to be seen if the company will give in to employee demands.

    One thing is certain though: The longer the company’s employees work remotely, and the better the company continues to perform, the harder it will be to make the argument that employees need to be in the office.

  • PayPal Is Closing Shop in San Francisco

    PayPal Is Closing Shop in San Francisco

    PayPal is closing its offices in San Francisco, the latest indication of the changes brought about the global pandemic.

    PayPal’s San Francisco location is primarily use by its Xoom business unit, which it acquired in 2015. According to TechCrunch, the company is now looking to offload those offices as it reevaluates its office strategy worldwide.

    A company spokeperson told TechCrunch:

    At PayPal, we are continually looking at and evolving how we can work in the most collaborative and efficient ways possible, and we routinely evaluate our global office footprint and spaces to ensure that our company and our employees are best set up for success. The pandemic, in particular, has taught us there are many ways in which we can work effectively while providing our employees with flexibility. PayPal remains fully committed to the Bay Area and to California and we will continue to hire into and invest in our business and people working within the state.

    PayPal is not the first company to take advantage of the benefits pandemic-driven remote work have brought. Companies have increasingly been offloading expensive real estate in favor of a decentralized workforce, or moved to less expensive locations and let employees work remotely.

  • Hybrid Work Disparity Is Fueling the Great Resignation

    Hybrid Work Disparity Is Fueling the Great Resignation

    Disparity between hybrid work requirements for managers and employees is leading to near-record dissatisfaction, further fueling the Great Resignation.

    Despite many companies thriving during the pandemic, most large companies have fought to bring employees back to the office as soon as possible. Many employees, while wanting the option to go into the office, have pushed back against efforts to make them return five days a week. This hasn’t stopped many companies from moving forward with their plans, and now employee dissatisfaction is hitting near-record highs.

    In Slack’s latest Future Forum Pulse survey, the company found that 34% of knowledge workers have returned to the office five days a week. This represents the highest percentage since the surveys began in mi-2020. Interestingly, along with this shift in the workplace, “work-related stress and anxiety is at its worst since our surveying began.”

    One of the main issues many employees have is the unfair disparity between executives and employees. Non-executive employees are almost “twice as likely as executives to be working from the office five days a week,” while their “work-life balance scores are now 40% worse than their bosses, plummeting at five times the rate of executives over the last quarter.” Those same employees are experiencing more than twice the work-related stress and anxiety as their bosses.

    Unsurprisingly, this dissatisfaction is likely to start costing businesses in the form of higher turnover. The survey showed that “knowledge workers with little to no ability to set their own work hours are 2.6x as likely to look for a new job in the coming year, compared to those with schedule flexibility.” This trend could especially impact working parents, people of color, and women, all of whom are more likely to want flexible schedules.

    Slack’s latest survey should be a warning to companies large and small, and force them to reevaluate their in-office policies. At the very least, it should cause companies to focus more on implementing their policies fairly.

  • California Lawmaker Wants 4-Day Workweeks

    California Lawmaker Wants 4-Day Workweeks

    A California lawmaker has introduced a bill to mandate 4-day workweeks in the latest indication of how much the workspace has changed.

    The global pandemic forever changed the workplace, as companies the world over sent employees home to work remotely. Fast forward two years and many employees have resisted efforts to get them back in the office, having enjoyed the improved work-life balance that remote work has afforded.

    According to CBS News, California assembly member Cristina Garcia has introduced legislation that would mandate 32-hour, 4-day workweeks for all companies with 500 employees or more. Work past 32 hours would pay time-and-a-half.

    “After two years of being in the pandemic, we’ve had over 47 million employees leave their job looking for better opportunities,” Garcia said. “They’re sending a clear message they want a better work-life balance — they want better emotional and mental health, and this is part of that discussion.”

    While the proposed law would likely be welcomed by many employees, not everyone is a fan. The Chamber of Commerce has called it a “job killer.

    “Labor costs are often one of the highest costs a business faces,” Ashley Hoffman, the Chamber’s policy advocate, wrote to Evan Low, the bill’s cosponsor.

    “[B]usinesses often operate on thin profit margins and… the number of employees you have does not dictate financial success,” she wrote.

    Despite the reservations, as CBS News points out, 4-day workweeks have been adopted around the world, with many positive results. In fact, Dell is testing them in both the UK and the Netherlands.

  • Dell Is Testing 4-Day Workweeks in Europe

    Dell Is Testing 4-Day Workweeks in Europe

    Dell is aggressively investigating the viability of 4-day workweeks, launching a major trial in the UK and now the Netherlands.

    Companies large and small are facing challenges getting employees back to the office after more than two years of working remotely. In some cases, employers have offered various perks, or tried a hybrid approach to make in-office more appealing. According to The Register, Dell was already slated to test a 4-day workweek in the UK, but is now adding the Netherlands to its test-case.

    “On April 1 we welcomed our first starter, and we’re currently in the late phases of the interviewing process with [another],” said Isabel Moll, general manager Dell Netherlands. “We’re hoping to welcome many other candidates in the near future, once the word spreads more and more.”

    Should Dell’s test work out, it’s a safe bet other companies will take note and adopt similar strategies.

  • Apple Employees Must Be In the Office One Day a Week

    Apple Employees Must Be In the Office One Day a Week

    The days of fully remote work are over for Apple employees, with the company requiring at least one day a week in-office.

    Apple has struggled with its efforts to return to normal. While the company, like many others, wants employees to return to the office, many employees are perfectly happy working remotely. In addition, given Apple’s breakout last couple of years, many employees don’t see a practical reason to return, since the company is obviously innovating and delivering just fine with a remote workforce. Apple has even had to start giving large bonuses to keep top employees from quitting in protest.

    According to Cult of Mac, the company is now requiring employees be back in the office at least one day a week. That one day will increase to two May 2, and three days by May 23.

    It remains to be seen if Apple employees will quit en masse over the change.

  • What is Hot-Desking?

    What is Hot-Desking?

    Hot-desking is an organizational workspace system in which desks are used by different people at different times, on an ad hoc basis. Typically, the aim is to maximize space efficiency and lessen real estate risk by reducing redundant office space. Hot desks can be implemented in private offices as well as coworking spaces. The flexibility associated with hot-desking is often linked to an increase in employee innovation, while the social aspect is cited as a way to encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration.

    How Does Hot-Desking Work?

    Find a desk, plug in, and get to work: Hot desks provide space for professionals to work as needed, in both private and shared office spaces. That means that the particulars for hot-desking may vary depending on the environment, but here are the primary factors to consider. It’s very easy to use hot-desking when your workspace has coworking management software. With it, you can book your desk online just in one minute.

    Access to power outlets and phones

    Hot desks typically come with their own power outlets and WiFi connection. In shared coworking spaces like WeWork, there are dedicated spaces away from the desk for taking calls—phone booths or in shared lounges, for example. In private office environments, particularly in sales companies, a permanent phone is likely attached to the desk for different employees to use as needed.

    Bookable meeting rooms

    Most hot-desking arrangements in shared coworking spaces allow you to book meeting rooms through an app or a web log-in. Amenity-rich solutions like WeWork also afford you access to shared lounges, kitchens, brainstorming areas, conference rooms, and a global network of professionals.

    Printing facilities

    Similar to booking conference rooms, hot-desking spaces often have a central printer that workers can use through an app or web log-in. These printers are managed by the community team in shared workspaces and internally by office managers in private environments.

    Storing personal items

    A frequently touted concern associated with hot-desking is the absence of a dedicated “base” for users to store their bags, coats, and work accessories. The way this is addressed changes between workspaces: In some coworking spaces, users are permitted to leave their belongings at a hot desk for a certain amount of time as they attend meetings or have lunch. Other shared spaces provide cubby holes or lockers for their hot-desk clientele. In private offices, it’s more common for an employee to camp out at the same desk for the whole day, regardless of meetings or lunch breaks.

    Technology and internet

    Hot-desking wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for laptops, tablets, and smartphones—and all offices with hot-desking arrangements should provide WiFi to accommodate. Some users, however, need more than their laptop to work effectively. For this reason, some hot desks come with a monitor and a VGA, DVI, or HDMI connection, allowing users to plug-in and use a second screen temporarily.

    Bathrooms, kitchens, and other common areas

    As in most office environments, amenities like bathrooms and kitchens are included in hot-desking arrangements and are cleaned, stocked, and maintained by office management. In all-inclusive solutions like WeWork, hot-desk agreements also give you access to free-flowing coffee, quiet rooms for meditation, showers, bathroom necessities like lotion and hair products, as well as perks like community meals and frequent networking events.

    Private space when needed

    Most professions call for some privacy during the workday, whether it’s for attending meetings, strategic planning, or discussing finances. These conversations are likely too sensitive for a hot desk, especially when you’re surrounded by people from other teams or other companies, and require a more private space.

    Both private offices and coworking spaces provide bookable conference rooms for holding private meetings or taking sensitive calls; however, workspace solutions like WeWork also provide sound-proofed private phone booths. Plus, intentionally designed lounges offer private nooks for taking calls or having conversations.

    Benefits of Hot Desking

    1. Increase collaboration

    Hot desking encourages people to move around the office, and this leads employees to talk to team members they normally wouldn’t interact with. It allows staff from different parts of the office to collaborate on projects.

    2. Tidier workspaces

    Your office will likely be tidier if you use hot desking because staff is unable to leave their personal items, such as knick-knacks and stacks of papers, behind at the end of the workday. Hot desking forces employees to become minimalists. Although people are unable to add a personal touch to their workspaces, the result is a much cleaner and more organized office.

    3. Autonomy

    Hot desking gives employees autonomy because it allows them to change their day-to-day environment and remain mobile. This gives them a lot more flexibility and autonomy over what their daily work environment looks like and feels like. People are no longer tied to their desks.

    4. Lower costs

    Traditional offices provide employees a specific spot to work in, and that space remains unused if the worker is out of the office, traveling from work, or working from home. Hot desking cuts down on this type of wasted space by allowing organizations to downsize their space and optimize the use of existing space. Not all employees need to have their own permanent desks.

    5. Improve performance and the circulation of knowledge

    Static seating arrangements tend to lead to people working in silos, while flexible seating arrangements made possible via hot desking help to improve performance and encourage the circulation of knowledge. Hot desking improves communications by leading to more face-to-face interaction and accelerating decision making.

    You might be concerned that hot desking could hurt productivity since people may need a quiet workspace to concentrate and focus their work. This is why it’s important to maintain a flexible, easily reconfigurable space that can be used for different tasks, from concentration-heavy solo work to team huddles.

  • Leaked Survey: Google Employees Becoming Unhappy With Compensation

    Leaked Survey: Google Employees Becoming Unhappy With Compensation

    Google employees are increasingly unhappy with their compensation, according to a leaked internal survey the company conducts annually.

    Google conducts an annual survey, called Googlegeist, to gauge how well its employees are doing and how happy they are with their jobs. According to Business Insider, this year saw a decline in happiness over compensation. While 63% were happy last year, when compared to compensation offered by other companies for similar jobs, that number was down to 53% this year. Similarly, the number of unfavorable replies was up from 18% last year to 27% this year.

    “The numbers speak for themselves,” one California-based Google engineer told Insider anonymously. “I think everyone’s feeling better after working from home for so long. But the changes to the comp plans have been pretty divisive, so I’m not surprised there’s been a bit of a swing.”

    This year’s survey wasn’t all bad news for the search giant. Employees reported being more happy with Google’s efforts to be more inclusive, and about their own well-being at work. The positive responses regarding inclusion are especially notable, given the fallout the company faced in the aftermath of its firing of Dr. Timnit Gebru.

  • Slack Experiencing ‘Intermittent Issues’

    Slack Experiencing ‘Intermittent Issues’

    Slack has been experiencing “intermittent issues,” with users experiencing issues with calls, messages, and sending files.

    The issue began shortly before 6:00 AM, Wednesday morning. The company identified the issue around 10:00 AM, and began working on a fix. Slack is now reporting the fix has been applied, although some users may still have some issues as the fix rolls out.

    Thank you for sticking with us as we investigated! We have pushed a fix for this issue and while some affected features should be working as expected now, please note that other actions may take a bit longer to resolve as the fix takes effect. If you continue to have any problems, please reach out to feedback@slack.com.

    Slack’s issues come a day after Discord experienced a major outage as a result of a Google Cloud issue.

  • Apple Employees Will Return to the Office April 11

    Apple Employees Will Return to the Office April 11

    Apple has informed employees they will be required to return to the office by April 11, the first phase of a multi-stage transition to a hybrid workflow.

    According to AppleInsider, Apple plans to have employees back in the office at least one day a week by April 11. By May 2, the plan is for that to increase to two days a week, and three days by May 23.

    “For many of you, I know that returning to the office represents a long-awaited milestone and a positive sign that we can engage more fully with the colleagues who play such an important role in our lives,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook, in a memo to employees seen by Bloomberg,. “For others, it may also be an unsettling change.”

    Apple has a complicated relationship with remote and hybrid work. Like most tech companies, Apple sent its employees home at the outset of the pandemic, and has continually postponed return-to-office dates as the pandemic continued.

    Nonetheless, Cook and company have made it clear that the goal has always been to get employees back in the office as soon as it was safe to do so, despite many wanting fully remote work to continue as an option.