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  • Google Bringing Back Employees Three Days a Week Starting April

    Google Bringing Back Employees Three Days a Week Starting April

    Google has told employees they should start coming into the office three days a week, beginning April 4, as the pandemic winds down.

    Like many companies, Google has changed its plans multiple times as the pandemic has continued. The company was preparing to bring employees back to the office months ago, before the Omicron variant gained traction.

    According to Geekwire, the company has notified employees in the Seattle and Kirkland, Washington area, that they will be required to be in the office at least three days a week.

    The company says employees should “aim to be fully functional in our hybrid working approach by April 4.”

  • Zoom Forecasts Lower Yearly Revenue Than Expected

    Zoom Forecasts Lower Yearly Revenue Than Expected

    Zoom disappointed analysts by forecasting lower fiscal 2023 revenue than Wall Street was expecting.

    Zoom became the poster child for remote work and videoconferencing. Once primarily a tool for the enterprise, the company and platform became a household name, as companies, churches, individuals, and families used it to stay connected.

    One of the biggest questions hanging over the company is how it would maintain its growth as things returned to normal. Zoom recently unveiled its Zoom Contact Center in an effort to get back to its enterprise roots and future-proof its growth.

    Unfortunately, according to Reuters, the company is still projecting it will miss Wall Street’s estimates for its fiscal 2023 revenue, causing the stock to slide roughly 12%. It remains to be seen if the company will be able to recapture its pandemic-fueled momentum.

  • Google Relaxing Vaccine and Mask Requirements

    Google Relaxing Vaccine and Mask Requirements

    Google is making major changes to its policies, relaxing its vaccine and mask requirements, as well as reinstating many office-based perks.

    Like many companies, Google has struggled to strike a balance between bringing people back to the office and keeping them safe. The company signaled in July 2021 that it would require vaccination for employees returning to the office. A few months later, in December, it said employees who refused to get vaccinated would be fired.

    The company is now changing its policies, according to CNBC, and will no longer require vaccination. In addition, Google is dropping its mask and social distancing requirement, and is relaxing its testing requirements as well. The news was shared with employees via an email from David Radcliffe, VP, Real Estate and Workplace Services.

    The company is also reinstating some of the perks it is well-known for, such as massage services, fitness centers, and the various “informal space,” including game rooms, lounges, music rooms, and more.

    “We’re at the beginning of a journey, so the office experience will feel pretty similar to what it was like pre-Covid,” Radcliffe said. “We’re designing and piloting options to support new ways of working together and we’ll gather insights, data and feedback to help us learn as we go.”

    According to CNBC, the change is the result of the current state of the pandemic, which appears to be waning significantly, for the first time since the onset.

  • Microsoft’s Headquarters Will Reopen the End of February

    Microsoft’s Headquarters Will Reopen the End of February

    Microsoft has signaled it is preparing to open its headquarters at the end of February, a major step in its return to normal.

    Like most companies, Microsoft sent its employees home early in the pandemic. As the pandemic continued, the company repeatedly postponed its return-to-office date. The most recent postponement occurred as a result of the Omicron surge. At the time, CEO Satya Nadella warned that companies must be careful “not to be overly dogmatic” with their plans.

    According to the company, its Washington offices will reopen on February 28. The sites will be open to employees and guests alike. Employees will have 30 days to adopt the work arrangements they have agreed to with their managers. At the same time, Microsoft is adopting the approach Nadella championed, affording employees the ability to retain the flexibility they have enjoyed working from home.

    “Throughout the pandemic, our employees have adapted to many new ways of working while helping our customers and partners navigate their own challenges,” writes Chris Capossela – Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. “We know there’s not a singular solution to how people work best, which is why we believe flexibility should be at the forefront of our evolving hybrid workplace. Our approach to hybrid embraces schedule flexibility as standard for most roles and provides employees with the opportunity to determine how and where they work best, while making sure an individual’s plans align to the team agreements set with their manager. We’ve committed to empowering our managers with tools and resources to provide employees with the level of care they need during this transition, which includes the ability to approve requests to adjust their work site, location or hours.”

    Excluding a new surge from another variant, Microsoft’s plans are a major step forward. At the same time, Microsoft’s willingness to be work with employees and maintain their flexibility is admirable, and an approach other companies would do well to imitate.

  • Microsoft Teams Surpasses 270 Million Monthly Active Users

    Microsoft Teams Surpasses 270 Million Monthly Active Users

    Microsoft Teams has firmly cemented its place as the leader in corporate messaging, boasting a whopping 270 million monthly active users.

    Microsoft and Slack are the primary competitors in the corporate messaging market, although Teams has been growing at a much faster rate. The service had 44 million users in March 2020, 115 million daily users by October 2020, and 250 million monthly active users by July 2021.

    According to Frank X. Shaw, Lead Communications for Microsoft, Teams has now surpassed 270 million users.

    @MicrosoftTeams surpassed 270 million monthly active users.

    — Frank X. Shaw (fxshaw), January 25, 2022

    While the new milestone is certainly good news for Microsoft and its Teams platform, it’s also readily apparent that growth is slowing. Early growth was driven by the onset of the global pandemic but, as the market has matured and stabilized, the platform’s growth has leveled off.

  • BlackRock CEO: ‘Where and How We Work Will Never Be the Same’

    BlackRock CEO: ‘Where and How We Work Will Never Be the Same’

    In his annual letter to CEOs, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink says businesses should be prepared for pandemic-fueled workplace changes to be permanent.

    As CEO of the world’s largest asset manager, Fink has valuable insights into the state of the worldwide market and workplace. In his letter to CEOs, Fink acknowledges how much change has occurred in the last couple of years, some of which he believes is permanent.

    One key area that Fink believes has permanently changed is the emphasis on employee well-being.

    “Creating that environment is more complex than ever and reaches beyond issues of pay and flexibility,” Fink writes. “In addition to upending our relationship with where we physically work, the pandemic also shone a light on issues like racial equity, childcare, and mental health – and revealed the gap between generational expectations at work. These themes are now center stage for CEOs, who must be thoughtful about how they use their voice and connect on social issues important to their employees. Those who show humility and stay grounded in their purpose are more likely to build the kind of bond that endures the span of someone’s career.”

    That “flexibility” Fink speaks of extends to the workplace itself, and how employees are now doing their jobs.

    “At BlackRock, we want to understand how this trend is impacting your industry and your company,” Fink continues. “What are you doing to deepen the bond with your employees? How are you ensuring that employees of all backgrounds feel safe enough to maximize their creativity, innovation, and productivity? How are you ensuring your board has the right oversight of these critical issues? Where and how we work will never be the same as it was. How is your company’s culture adapting to this new world?”

    Fink also makes it clear the companies that ignore these fundamental changes do so at their own peril.

    “Workers demanding more from their employers is an essential feature of effective capitalism,” Fink warns. “It drives prosperity and creates a more competitive landscape for talent, pushing companies to create better, more innovative environments for their employees – actions that will help them achieve greater profits for their shareholders. Companies that deliver are reaping the rewards. Our research shows that companies who forged strong bonds with their employees have seen lower levels of turnover and higher returns through the pandemic.

    “Companies not adjusting to this new reality and responding to their workers do so at their own peril.”

    The last year certainly supports the position Fink takes, with reckonings at Activision Blizzard, Microsoft, Better.com, and Google, to name just a few.

    It will be interesting to see how many companies take Fink’s advice, versus how many try to go back to business as usual.

  • COVID/WFH Has Broken Big Tech

    COVID/WFH Has Broken Big Tech

    In a huge Twitter thread, a big tech insider reveals that COVID and generous work from home privileges are destroying the morale of big tech employees.

    Top 10 Quotes:

    1. Obviously insanely radically leftwing.
    2. COVID/WFH has totally broken people.
    3. Everyone is demoralized.
    4. The Great Resignation is real.
    5. Software engineers which haven’t written code in a year.
    6. Slack bad-mouthing the higher-ups with no repercussions.
    7. It’s very easy to hide and not work with WFH.
    8. There’s no real accountability to anyone.
    9. Bombarded with anti-white, anti-male, woke propaganda.
    10. If Big Tech goes down, the world will probably be better off.

    Hazzard Harrington thread in full via Twitter:

    Obviously insanely radically leftwing. BLM/LGBTQ. Trans flags hanging in office. Pronouns stated before meetings. Special affiliation groups for everyone but white men. All that you’d expect. But COVID/WFH has totally broken people. They are fundamentally weak, often with no social support outside of work. They’re the people with no children, no spouse. Only a dog or cat for emotional support.

    There’s constant talk, even now, about how hard things are for everyone. Often meetings start with going around the room to ask “How is everyone feeling?” Literally, everyone else went on sad rants about their lives. “I’m so MAD a white supremacist shot 3 black men in Kenosha!”

    It’s toxic. When it got to me, I said “Good.” and then a (((lady engineer))) literally proposed that we should not be allowed to answer the question positively. I shit you not. I think it hurt her that I wasn’t as miserable as her. She made some arguments about “vulnerability”. These people not only want you weak, but they also want you to expose your vulnerabilities to them so they can exploit them. They may not intend this explicitly, but whatever twisted ideology they worship ends with this result.

    So back to morale. Everyone is demoralized. This may surprise you since Big Tech is extremely well paid and has been able to WFH throughout the past 2 years. They’ve been given extra days off, extra stipends, bonuses, etc. They never had to fear being laid off. I have some sympathy and can feel some of this myself. It’s normal and natural to work with people in person. WFH can make it easy to overwork. You take fewer breaks, often work past normal working hours. You don’t feel connected to customers or celebrate success in person.

    And as I mentioned, Big Tech is often the only social life for people. I fortunately never made it mine, but my company had all sorts of after-work activities. Sports leagues, game nights, different classes taught by employees. There was a rhythm and connectedness that’s gone. The Great Resignation is real. Many employees are leaving for better jobs. Remote work has (so far) resulted in more job opportunities for those working in Big Tech, especially outside of Silicon Valley. And so we backfill those positions or hire new people, all remote.

    We now have employees who have nearly 2 years of tenure who have never met another employee in person, and live alone in some city away from where the office was. This would be fine for a normal person, but again, we’re attracting the family-less urbanites scared of even meeting up with their friends at a restaurant. The churn in jobs also has the major effect of constantly dealing with the overhead of re-assigning projects from people leaving, and onboarding new people. The new employees don’t get enough attention to succeed.

    And the employees that stay end up with a load of work dumped by the former coworkers, plus the responsibility of onboarding the new ones. There are many software engineers who’ve not written a single line of code in the past year.

    While the Woke agitation has slowed due to the productive employees’ ability to simply log off, in addition to the tiredness of the agitators, there is more and more open rebellion regarding pay and profits. “Bring your whole self to work” was the Big Tech mantra. Tell people about your cool hobbies, share your politics (if you’re far left only), share your sex life. This plus the feeling of distance an online-only presence creates has made people braver in speaking their thoughts.

    You used to have the balls to knock on the CEO’s office door or schedule a meeting. Now you can fire off a nasty Slack message straight to her. People will openly write threads and comments throughout Slack bad-mouthing the higher-ups at the company. And they do nothing. It’s unreal what people will write, with no recourse. If it were anything remotely RW, I’m certain they’d be immediately fired, but so long as they’re sufficiently LW or minority (anything but straight white man), they can agitate, complain, do no work, and continue employment.

    And so the entire company has devolved. We’re running on the code written in years past. No major new product initiatives are being launched. Workers complain that they’re understaffed and demoralized. People take constant sick days or don’t show up at all without a record.

    It’s very easy to hide when WFH. With such a flux in employees/management and so much allowance for “mental health”, it’s easy to simply no-show without punishment. We hired a new employee and I pinged them at 1 pm to see if they’d join a meeting. They came 10 minutes later. Said they slept in because they didn’t have anything to work on.

    It’s got to be mind-boggling for someone not in software. On a given day, managers (there are several in weird matrix structure) will say things like “What can I do to support you?” “Do you have enough to work on? Too much?” It’s like emotional support. And you can simply say, “Oh, I’ve had a hard week. Barely slept. Felt sick. Don’t think I can handle much more this week.” There’s no real accountability to anyone. Record profits at the top, because of existing code and product-market fit cruising along, so leaders don’t notice.

    It’s utterly surreal to watch the deterioration. To see how quickly an organization can crumble. And I’m not productive either. I’m constantly bombarded with anti-white, anti-male, woke propaganda. We’ve even had explicit discussions of assigning less work to URMs (under-represented minorities), because “life is really hard for them right now.” This suggestion was from a lesbian white woman with cats. As productive as one person can be, you can’t add value when constantly thwarted. Nobody in IT doing tickets anymore to provision things for you large bureaucracy to gatekeep any actions (needs review by X number of committees including now DEI committees). It’s hard to feel unproductive. I’m not the type who feels great about getting paid to not work, but that’s essentially what I’ve been doing for the last year.

    This problem is the worst in Big Tech, so if Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Amazon Prime, or Netflix go down, the world will probably be better off. It’s not essential. I worry about this apathy spreading to companies that matter. Ones that write software for utilities.

    We had a woman who worked for us who was just awful at her job. Could not understand instructions at all. Could not do the job. Barely spoke English. She wasn’t just not productive, she actually dragged the team down. I worked with my Director to finally get her fired after failing her Performance Improvement Program (PIP). HR told us they can’t fire her because she’s Asian and female and in California, that it’s just simply too hard. This was over 5 years ago.

    You have a certain fire in your 20’s. Ready to reform and change everything. You get noticed when you perform. Promoted, bonuses, etc. But eventually, you keep hitting the same problems or gatekeepers over and over. I recall asking an older coworker (mid-thirties at the time) what drove him, and he said he just does it for the paycheck now. I’m at that point. Lost the fire for career and collecting my paycheck for other purposes in life where the fire has been rekindled.

    I worked remote for 5 years at a prior job and this was never the case. There’s something special about this combo of remote and “your feelings are valid”.

  • Yahoo Japan Employees Can Stay Remote, Fly to Work When Necessary

    Yahoo Japan Employees Can Stay Remote, Fly to Work When Necessary

    Yahoo Japan is upping the stakes in the remote work market, telling employees they can work from anywhere and be flown to work when needed.

    Companies seem to be breaking down into two camps as the pandemic drags on. There are those that keep trying to bring their employees back to the office, and those that are embracing remote work.

    Yahoo Japan seems to be firmly in the latter camp, with 90% of the company’s employees working remotely, according to The Japan Times. Company President Kentaro Kawabe, said the overwhelming majority of employees reported that their productivity had remained the same or improved while working remotely.

    “So we’re allowing Yahoo employees to live anywhere in Japan. This doesn’t mean we’re denying the benefits of the office — you’ll be able to fly in when needed,” he added.

    The company has set a monthly budget of $1,300 for commuting expenses.

  • Microsoft Orders Review of Harassment and Discrimination Policies, Including Bill Gates’ Case

    Microsoft Orders Review of Harassment and Discrimination Policies, Including Bill Gates’ Case

    Microsoft’s board has ordered a review of the company’s handling of sexual harassment and discrimination investigations, including one involving Bill Gates.

    Like many large companies, Microsoft has faced increased pressure in recent years to do more to combat sexual harassment and gender discrimination. These calls reached a crescendo after new details emerged about Bill Gates’ behavior with female subordinates.

    Microsoft’s board has ordered a third-party review of its policies, including how it handled the investigation into Gates’ conduct.

    Microsoft hopes the review will address a number of areas, including providing transparency about “the effectiveness of the company’s workplace sexual harassment and gender discrimination policies, training, and related policies.”

    The report will also shed light on the number of harassment cases that have been investigated, as well as how they were resolved. It will also summarize the results of any investigations into senior leadership, or the board of directors, and what action was taken, including the investigation into Gates. The report will also look at what action was taken to hold employees accountable for bad behavior.

    “Our culture remains our number one priority and the entire Board appreciates the critical importance of a safe and inclusive environment for all Microsoft employees,” said Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s Chairman and CEO. “We’re committed not just to reviewing the report but learning from the assessment so we can continue to improve the experiences of our employees. I embrace this comprehensive review as an opportunity to continue to get better”.

  • Project Vivian: Google’s Top-Secret Anti-Union Effort

    Project Vivian: Google’s Top-Secret Anti-Union Effort

    More information about Google’s anti-union efforts is coming out, thanks to a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

    Alphabet and Google employees formed a union in January 2021, but it wasn’t without some coordinated interference on the part of the company. According to Motherboard, an NLRB ruling revealed documents that disclosed the existence of Project Vivian.

    According to the documents, Michael Pfyl, Google’s director of employment law, said Project Vivian’s objective was “to engage employees more positively and convince them that unions suck.”

    The judge in the NLRB case also described evidence in which a Google attorney proposed using a “respected voice to publish an OpEd outlining what a unionized tech workplace would look like, and counseling employees of FB (Facebook), MSFT(Microsoft), Amazon, and google (sic) not to do it.”

    In response to the proposal, Google’s HR director, Kara Silverstein, said the company would need to be careful that “there would be no fingerprints and not Google specific.”

    According to the NLRB, in the US “it is unlawful for an employer to interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees in the exercise of their rights.”

    Even if Google didn’t technically break the law, it’s not helping its reputation any. The company has already refused to release 180 documents to the attorney representing four fired employees, employees that organized against the company. It appears Google is even going so far as to defy a judge’s order pertaining to the release of the documents.

  • Former McDonald’s CEO Sounds Alarm Over Retiring Baby Boomers

    Former McDonald’s CEO Ed Rensi has sounded the alarm about the large number of baby boomers retiring, and the “catastrophe” it will have on the labor market.

    Supply chains are struggling to return to normal as a result of the pandemic, and the labor market is under more pressure than it’s been in years. Many workers are reluctant to re-enter industries that put them at greater risk of contracting COVID, while others don’t want to return to the way things were after nearly two years of remote work. Virtually every industry, from retail to semiconductors, is under pressure.

    According to Rensi, in an interview with Fox News, the problem is about to get significantly worse as a result of baby boomers — and their children — retiring en masse.

    “If this continues the way it is, it’s going to be nothing but a greater and greater catastrophe,” Rensi said.

    Rensi goes on to point out that the oldest baby boomers are 76, with the youngest being 58. The real problem, however, is that the oldest children of the oldest baby boomers are closing in on 56.

    “So the retirement numbers are going to start to accelerate,” Rensi continued. “There’s going to be a lot of upward mobility because they are leaving the workforce, which is going to leave a shortage at the bottom end.”

  • Kentucky Is at the Center of the ‘Great Resignation’

    Kentucky Is at the Center of the ‘Great Resignation’

    The Bluegrass State is at the center of the Great Resignation, as pandemic-fueled changes disrupt the workplace.

    When employers sent their workers home in the early days of the pandemic, few could have imagined the long-term impacts that move would have on the workplace. With return-to-office dates being pushed back time and again in the face of new COVID surges, many employees have no desire to return to the status quo. There is also near-unprecedented demand for workers as many are quitting jobs that no longer serve their needs.

    As reported by WAVE 3 News, Kentucky is leading this “Great Resignation,” with a ‘quit rate’ of 4.5%, double that of New York or Pennsylvania.

    While some politicians are quick to blame COVID unemployment benefits, others are not convinced.

    “The challenges in our labor market are complex,” Gov. Andy Beshear said. “Some people wanted to say it was unemployment and the unemployment pay; you can’t get unemployment if you quit.”

    As WAVE 3 News points out, Kentucky has one of the highest hiring rates in the nation, which would seem to indicate many people are leaving jobs they’re not happy with in favor of jobs that suit them better.

    “I’m not going to stay somewhere that treats me badly just because it’s a consistent job. I’m not going to do it,” Cory Bosemer told WAVE 3 News. “I think a lot of people now, Kentucky or not, are starting to realize that.”

  • Amazon Required to Email 1 M Employees About Their Right to Organize

    Amazon Required to Email 1 M Employees About Their Right to Organize

    Amazon has reached a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) requiring the company to email employees about organizing.

    Amazon has drawn ongoing criticism for how it deals with employee efforts to unionize. The company has hired Pinkerton detectives to keep tabs on unionization efforts, and has been accused of bullying workers and violating labor laws at an Alabama warehouse in the lead-up to a vote on unionization.

    According to Business Insider, Amazon has reached a settlement with the NLRB, and one of the stipulations is that it must email approximately 1 million employees to inform them of their right to organize.

    The Teamsters had already created a division specifically tasked with helping Amazon workers successfully unionize. With the NLRB settlement, the tide may finally be turning against the e-commerce giant and its efforts to fight unionization.

  • GlobalData: Communication & Collaboration Market Worth $309 Billion by 2025

    GlobalData: Communication & Collaboration Market Worth $309 Billion by 2025

    The communication and collaboration (C&C) market will be worth $309 billion by 2025, driven largely by hybrid work and AI.

    The COVID-19 pandemic has fueled a massive change in the workplace as companies the world over sent their employees home to work remotely. Despite multiple attempts to return to the office, many companies have ended up postponing a return indefinitely as new COVID variants have risen.

    The shift to remote work has had a transformative impact on the C&C market, making platforms such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and others indispensable tools.

    According to GlobalData, that trend will continue, with communications platforms experiencing the highest growth rate, a CAGR of 15% between 2020 and 2025. Enterprise social networking and collaboration will grow at a CAGR of 14%.

    “Competition is raging in the communications platforms segment, which is already the fastest growing part of the C&C market, with many companies — from big tech companies such as Microsoft, Google and Cisco to cloud-native providers such as Zoom, RingCentral and Salesforce — all battling for dominance,” says Laura Petrone, Principal Analyst in Thematic Research at GlobalData.

    “The pandemic has made competition in the C&C market even fiercer,” Petrone continues. “Today, as we shift to a hybrid model of working, vendors are rushing to provide the appropriate collaboration tools to enable staff to work from their chosen location. Those companies operating in the C&C market who are building their artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR) capabilities will be the most successful, as such technologies will be critical in the emerging hybrid workplace.

    “Augmented versions of collaboration tools, where people can display digital files and whiteboards inside the virtual space, are increasingly becoming commonplace. The likes of Meta and Microsoft are also championing the metaverse as the ideal environment to support hybrid working. However, the metaverse space will likely be exposed to potential data privacy violations, as it will involve processing a significant amount of personal data, including biometrics. Also, it remains to be seen whether office workers, many of whom are already struggling with Zoom fatigue, will find it appealing to interact with digital avatars in the corporate metaverse.”

  • Zoom Exec Sees Growth Post-Pandemic Thanks to Hybrid Work

    Zoom Exec Sees Growth Post-Pandemic Thanks to Hybrid Work

    Zoom is one of the companies that has benefited most from pandemic-fueled workplace changes, and sees that continuing post-pandemic.

    Zoom was one of many videoconferencing platforms vying for customers before the pandemic, although with a focus primarily on the enterprise. Once COVID-19 swept the globe, however, the company became a household name as companies, schools, churches, and families turned to the platform to stay connected.

    Some experts have wondered how the company will sustain its meteoric growth post-pandemic, but at least one executive doesn’t think that’s an issue. 

    Ricky Kapur, head of Asia Pacific at Zoom, told CNBC that hybrid work will continue to drive growth.

    “I think there are three big shifts that are happening post-pandemic that businesses are investing in and that’s spurring our growth and relevance,” said Kapur.

    “Employees are demanding flexible work arrangements and the ability to work frictionless, irrespective of where they are,” Kapur added.

    “Whether it’s a retail experience, the ability to live feed into the store and speak with a live person — see a product, have a real conversation, and then make a purchase decision. Consumers are expecting that from companies,” he continued.

  • Apple Delays Return to Office Indefinitely, Gives Employees $1,000

    Apple Delays Return to Office Indefinitely, Gives Employees $1,000

    Apple has joined the list of companies pushing back its return-to-office date as the omicron variants threatens a new wave of infections.

    Apple was one of many companies looking to have employees return to the office early next year. Unfortunately, the omicron COVID variant is gaining traction and threatens to spark a new wave of cases. This latest turn in the fight against COVID has forced companies, including Apple, to rethink their previous plans.

    NBC News reporter Zoë Schiffer broke the news on Twitter.

    Schiffer also clarified that all retail employees will be receiving the $1,000 bonus. 

    Apple has been one of the companies most intent on getting employees back to the office. The fact that it is now changing course and leaving the return-to-office date open-ended speaks volumes about the state of the workplace and remote work.

  • Google Will Fire Employees Who Refuse to Get Vaccinated

    Google Will Fire Employees Who Refuse to Get Vaccinated

    Google is drawing a line in the sand, saying it will cut pay and eventually fire employees who refuse to get the COVID-19 vaccination.

    Companies and governments are racing to get as many people vaccinated as possible, with experts calling vaccination the single biggest aid to avoiding hospitalization or death. Especially with the omicron variant threatening to set off another wave of infections, efforts to vaccinate people have gone into high gear.

    According to a memo seen by CNBC, Google is telling employees that if they refuse to get vaccinated, their pay will be cut and they will eventually be fired.

    A Google spokesperson said that, “our vaccination requirements are one of the most important ways we can keep our workforce safe and keep our services running,” adding the company stands “behind our vaccination policy.”

  • Google Has No Plans to Adjust Employee Pay for Inflation

    Google Has No Plans to Adjust Employee Pay for Inflation

    Despite the highest inflation rate increase since 1982, Google has said it has no plans to adjust employee pay to compensate.

    US inflation is at near-record levels, hitting 6.8% in November, the highest jump since 1982. Some companies are responding accordingly, paying employees more to help them make ends meet.

    Google is not in that camp, according to Business Insider, telling employees it has no plans to adjust pay for inflation.

    “We don’t have any plans to do any type of across-the-board type adjustment,” said Frank Wagner, Google’s vice president of compensation, in response to a staff question that CEO Sundar Pichai read at a special meeting.

    That’s not to say that Google isn’t giving its employees bonuses. The company announced a $1,600 cash bonus after delaying its return-to-office date yet again.

  • No, Companies Have No Idea When They’ll Return to the Office

    No, Companies Have No Idea When They’ll Return to the Office

    After multiple return-to-office dates, COVID-19 surges and delayed expectations, one thing is clear: Companies have no idea when they’ll return.

    From the moment companies sent employees home to work remotely in the early phases of the pandemic, those same companies have been looking to return to the office, to a sense of “normal.” At every step, however, new COVID variants, spikes in cases and fresh government restrictions have pushed back return-to-office dates around the world.

    According to The New York Times, many companies are giving up altogether on trying to predict when their employees will be coming back. Apple, CNN, Ford and Google are just a few of the companies adopting a wait-and-see approach, and giving up on specific predictions.

    “The only companies being dishonest are the ones giving employees certainty,” Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford professor and advisor to dozens of CEOs told The Times. “As a parent you can hide stuff from your kids, but as a C.E.O. you can’t do that to adult employees who read the news.”

    “Folks have hedged appropriately this time around and they understand that it’s a dialogue with their employees, not a mandate,” Zach Dunn, co-founder of the office space management platform Robin, told The Times. “If that sounds a little kumbaya, maybe. But the reality is, folks are learning that sharing the intention of their return plan is more important than sharing the plan itself.”

    With the omicron variant now sweeping the globe, it’s a safe bet leaving the return-to-office open-ended — or just going all-in on remote work — is likely to be the “new normal” moving forward.

  • The Next Corporate Real Estate Trend: Climate-Proof Locales

    The Next Corporate Real Estate Trend: Climate-Proof Locales

    The global pandemic has significantly changed the corporate real estate scene, but climate change may be poised to have an even greater impact.

    According to Axios, multiple companies are beginning to change locations, move headquarters or acquire new real estate in areas believed to be insulated from the effects of climate change. Conversely, this has meant that some locations that have been home to iconic businesses for years are seeing them move out.

    For example, Charleston, SC has seen an iconic hospital moving from its downtown home of 165 years to higher ground, after multiple floods impacted it.

    Similarly, Hewlett Packard Enterprise is moving from hurricane-vulnerable Houston to Spring, TX after it experienced flooding in 2016 and 2017.

    Spirit Airlines is also adding a campus in Orlando, FL, to compliment its Miramar location. Not only will the new location be less vulnerable to hurricanes, but Axios says the new campus will be hardened specifically to resist any hurricanes that might hit it.

    With scientist warning that many of the effects of climate change may be unavoidable at this point, it’s a safe bet that climate change will increasingly factor into the corporate decision-making process. While this may come at a significant cost for coastal areas, inland locations may be poised for a real estate boom as companies move inland.

  • Do Better? Better.com CEO Apologizes for 900 Employee Zoom Layoff

    Do Better? Better.com CEO Apologizes for 900 Employee Zoom Layoff

    Better.com CEO Vishal Garg has learned firsthand how he can do better in the future: Don’t do a mass layoff of 900 employees in a Zoom meeting.

    Garg made headlines last week when he laid off 900 employees at once in a Zoom meeting, saying: “If you’re on this call, you are part of the unlucky group…Your employment here is terminated, effective immediately.”

    Needless to say, the complete and utter lack of finesse, the lack of respect for his employees, lack of people skills, not to mention lack of basic common sense, did not go over well with employees or the company’s other executives. In fact, CNET reports the company has experienced “mass resignations,” including its vice president of communications, head of PR and head of marketing.

    Garg has now written a letter (PDF) apologizing for his handling of the layoffs.

    I want to apologize for the way I handled the layoffs last week.

    I failed to show the appropriate amount of respect and appreciation for the individuals who were affected and for their contributions to Better.

    I own the decision to do the layoffs, but in communicating it I blundered the execution. In doing so, I embarrassed you.

    I realize that the way I communicated this news made a difficult situation worse. I am deeply sorry and am committed to learning from this situation and doing more to be the leader that you expect me to be.”

    This isn’t Garg’s first issue, when it comes to employee management, that has come to light. Forbes obtained an email last November in which Garg slammed his own employees.

    “You are TOO DAMN SLOW. You are a bunch of DUMB DOLPHINS and…DUMB DOLPHINS get caught in nets and eaten by sharks. SO STOP IT. STOP IT. STOP IT RIGHT NOW. YOU ARE EMBARRASSING ME,” Garg wrote. 

    It’s clear Better.com’s CEO needs to do far better himself, but only time will tell if he actually will. In the meantime, Garg provided a case study of how not to handle a layoff.