Category: RemoteWorkingTrends

How Microsoft Is Outmaneuvering Google

Microsoft and Google are two of the biggest tech companies in the world, competing on multiple fronts, but the older company is coming out ahead where it matters.

Microsoft and Google are the number two and three cloud providers in the world, behind market leader AWS. The companies operate the two largest search engines, and both companies have their own adverting platforms. In addition, the companies compete on computer operating systems, as well as office suites.

With so many points of competition, it’s hard not to compare the two companies, and it would be easy to believe Google is the more innovative, nimble, and forward-thinking of the two. When looking at multiple factors, however, it quickly becomes clear that Microsoft is continuing to outpace its younger rival.

Betting Big and Acting Entrepreneurial

Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent a memo to employees saying the company needed to “be more entrepreneurial working with greater urgency, sharper focus, and more hunger than we’ve shown on sunnier days” in the face of an economic downturn.

Despite Pichai’s desire to see Google be more aggressive, the company was outmaneuvered by Microsoft in scoring Netflix as an advertising customer, in spite of Google being considered a front-runner for the contract. One of the prime reasons Google lost out was because it was too conservative in its offer, fearing it could eventually lose Netflix as a customer if the company ever decided to take its ad endeavors in-house.

The result? Netflix found Google’s offer “underwhelming.”

To be clear: Google lost out on one of the biggest advertising deals because its leadership was afraid of something that might happen at some unknown point in the future.

In contrast, Microsoft approached the deal with a much more optimistic outlook. Rather than focus on something negative that might happen down the road, the company’s executives looked at the Netflix deal as an opportunity to get their foot in the door and possibly score much more business from the streaming company down the line.

“What I see is Netflix is testing the Azure/Microsoft waters with a feature or two first,” a Microsoft employee said.

Of these two approaches, which one seems more entrepreneurial? Which one has a greater sense of urgency? Which company is acting like a nimble startup versus a stodgy, risk-averse corporate entity?

Human Resources

Another area where Microsoft is outpacing Google, and much of the tech industry at large, is how it handles human resources.

In the past couple of years, Google has stumbled from one HR disaster to another. The company infamously fired one of the world’s most respected AI ethics researchers, leading to widespread condemnation from across the industry, AI researchers rejecting the company’s funding, and a high-profile conference rescinding Google’s sponsorship. Rather than learn from its actions, Google has continued firing AI researchers under controversial circumstances, even appearing to go against its own guidelines for handling such matters.

The company has also suffered a number of recent legal setbacks, including settling a wage and gender discrimination case for $118 million. That case followed another one in 2021, where the company settled for $2.6 million over claims it discriminated against women and Asian contractors.

Google has also refused to raise pay to combat inflation and is increasingly dealing with employees that are unhappy over their compensation.

A National Labor Relations Board ruling also shed light on Google’s Project Vivian, a top-secret anti-union effort within the company.

In contrast, Microsoft has proactively revamped its HR processes, implementing some of the industry’s most progressive policies. For example, Microsoft is now one of the most transparent companies in the business when it comes to employee and executive compensation.

The company has removed noncompetition clauses and lifted NDAs that prohibit “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 also hired an outside entity to perform an independent civil rights audit of the company’s practices. Company President Brad Smith says Microsoft is so focused on treating its employees well and addressing their concerns that “employees will never need to organize to have a dialogue with Microsoft’s leaders.” In spite of that sentiment, Smith says the company is committed to an open dialogue with unions, should its employees choose that option.

Company executives have engaged in exhaustive and innovative research to better identify what makes for happy employees in an effort to better serve its workers.

Microsoft has also doubled its salary budget in an effort to pay its employees more, in addition to awarding more stock options.

Again, which company is acting more entrepreneurial? Which company is more progressive and forward-thinking in its outlook?

Hybrid and Remote Work

Closely related to the second point, hybrid and remote is another area where the two companies are diverging.

Google has repeatedly angered employees over its return-to-office (RTO) policies.

In contrast, Microsoft has taken a much more open-minded approach to remote work, with CEO Satya Nadella saying companies shouldn’t be dogmatic about in-office versus remote work.

Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President for Modern Work, has even said that “going forward, the digital employee experience is the employee experience.”

Google’s response to such an enlightened approach? The company has opted to reimburse employees for electric scooter rentals to make the required commute to the office easier.

Again, which company is more nimble? Which company adapting to the times and changing circumstances?

Conclusion

While Microsoft and Google are both massive companies, with neither going anywhere anytime soon, one company is clearly firing on all cylinders. The other company, in contrast, seems to be stumbling from one troublesome issue to another, many of its own making.

In the end, Microsoft is running laps around Google in many of the ways that matter most, continually reinventing itself despite being far older and more established than its rival.

July 19, 2022
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.”

July 17, 2022
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.

July 7, 2022
Marc Andreessen: Remote Work Is ‘Potentially an Earthquake…Turning Point for Society’

Famed tech icon Marc Andreessen has once again weighed in on the shift to remote work, underscoring the major cultural and societal shift it represents.

Companies and executives are grappling with changes to the workforce as a result of the pandemic. Many companies have embraced remote and hybrid work, while others are determined to return to the old ways. Count Andreessen — co-creator of the original Netscape and current VC — as a major supporter of the change to remote work, with the tech pioneer heaping praise on the possible benefits.

“For thousands of years, if you were a sharp, ambitious young person — and this is true of the Medici, and it’s true with the Greeks — you had to go to the city to basically get opportunity,” Andreessen said in a podcast with Tylor Cowen, via Business Insider.

Talking about how the shift to remote work turns that paradigm on its head, Andreessen emphasized just how big a shift it could be.

“It’s potentially an earthquake,” Andreessen told Cowen. “It’s potentially one of those things that in a hundred years, people could look back and say, ‘That was a real turning point for how society developed.’”

Andreessen clearly believes remote work could potentially be a major benefit to workers and the workplace at large, saying, “if everybody could still have access to great knowledge-work jobs online, maybe that’s a fundamentally better way to live.”

Andreessen’s take on remote work stands in stark contrast to some other tech moguls, such as Elon Musk. His view is also far more progressive than some of the biggest names in the industry, including Apple and Google.

Only time will tell if Andreessen is right. However, given his long history in the tech industry, it may be unwise to bet against him.

July 6, 2022
Marc Benioff: ‘Office Mandates Are Never Going to Work’

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff has weighed in on return-to-office mandates, proclaiming they “are never going to work.”

Companies large and small are struggling to adapt to the workplace changes brought by the pandemic. Some have embraced remote and hybrid work, while others are insisting employees return to the office (RTO). Benioff has made no secret of his belief that remote and hybrid workflows are here to stay, and he reiterated that at a company event Thursday, according to AOL.

“Office mandates are never going to work,” Benioff said.

See also: Hybrid Work Disparity Is Fueling the Great Resignation

Although many companies are working hard to return to the pre-pandemic status quo, the evidence has so far supported Benioff’s assertion. The more companies have demanded employees return to the office the more those employees have pushed back.

Even high-profile companies like Apple and Google have not been immune, with both companies receiving significant pushback from their employees. In fact, Apple even lost its top AI executive over its RTO policies. Google has similarly had to push back RTO deadlines in response to employee demands.

In contrast, Salesforce has focused on its “Success from Anywhere” approach, giving employees “the flexibility to work how, when, and where works best for them.” The company’s acquisition of Slack has dovetailed perfectly with its efforts, helping round out its suite of tools and services to enable remote and hybrid workflows.

June 24, 2022
5 Ways to Maintain Connection for Remote and Hybrid Teams
Some teams have always used a remote or hybrid work model, but the Covid-19 pandemic forced more than ever to work from home. Now, 70 percent of workers want to stay at least partly remote. But loneliness is a real problem, with a Cigna report revealing that 61 percent of Americans felt lonely even back in 2019. So it’s more important than ever for supervisors to create connection among dispersed team members. Here are some tips for how to do that.

1. Eat Together

There’s a reason we all connect over food: research shows that eating together makes people feel more bonded, connected, and happy. Taking time for meals together as a team—not just for working lunches—provides time and space for personal conversations. Food can be used to celebrate holidays, reward accomplishments, honor cultural traditions, and create breaks in the day. Consider sharing a discussion question in advance of meals to get the conversation flowing.

One way to set up meals together is to have everyone log on to the team video conference with their own food at a certain time. This is a simple solution, but you may need to create an expectation that folks turn off their email notifications and enjoy the time together.

You can also have meal packages sent to your team members’ homes. You can order from a local restaurant or use a company such as Spoonful of Comfort, which ships soups, rolls, cookies, and fun extras. Sending food shows your employees that you value them and their time. It removes the tasks of grocery shopping and making lunch. By sending meals, you gift your employees time to destress as a team.

2. Leverage Technology for Connection

Early in the Covid-19 pandemic, the video messaging app Marco Polo saw a 745 percent increase in downloads. “Zoom” replaced “Skype” as a verb for video calling someone. The early days of the pandemic taught us to make the most of available technology to stay in touch with our family, friends, and coworkers.

Your office likely has messaging and video calling solutions already in place. But check to see if you could use other technologies to keep your team connected day-to-day. If you use Slack, that might look like various personal interest channels within Slack. If you have several team members who enjoy video games, Discord could be a way to connect.

A word of caution: If you add a technology, you’ll probably need to commit in order to get buy-in. It shouldn’t be redundant to something you already use. Set up guidelines (for example, “No work-related Marco Polos after hours, and don’t use your work Marco Polo account to send personal messages”). Remember: if it feels like a chore, it will become one. But if done right, it can open up a new channel for your team to relate and communicate.

3. Set Boundaries Around Your Team’s Time

To help build trust, your team members need to know you respect their time and energy. One of the best ways you can do that is by creating clear boundaries around their work. In fact, the Cigna report found that communicating more than preferred can actually increase loneliness.

More than half of remote workers say they work more hours remotely than from the office. Rather than taking advantage of that and risking burnout, encourage breaks, limit email-sending hours, and ask for feedback on workloads. Your team members might be saving time on commutes, and you can encourage them to use that time for themselves. By doing so, you create more opportunities to connect when folks are on-the-clock—because they’re not burned out.

4. Support Your Team’s Mental and Physical Health

Just because employees maybe can’t hit the gym together doesn’t mean they can’t work on their health together. Consider scheduling Peloton rides together, using a fitness or run-tracking app such as Strava, or sponsoring workout challenges among your employees. Ensure that employees have access to mental health services through insurance, or share free and online resources for counseling and personal growth.

You may also consider encouraging folks to take breaks, especially if your team members spend the bulk of their time on calls. It can be hard to take breaks during a work-from-home day. Help your team members understand that breaks are expected.

5. Set Up Structures for Recognizing Big Moments

Setting up structures and habits can help you remember to connect with your teammates when big moments happen. Having these structures in place gives team members confidence that they’ll receive care and appreciation when warranted. This security can help people feel more connected.

A few ideas for structures that foster connection:
- Schedule time for shout-outs at the beginning of regular all-team meetings. This is also a good time to ask for life updates from those who would like to share.
- Set up a birthday and holiday calendar, then have the team subscribe. If you have someone who can be in charge of sending birthday cards and gifts, even better.
- Make a habit of celebrating big wins as a team. For example, you could send Starbucks gift cards and enjoy coffee together virtually when a team closes a big sale.
- Send care packages when one of your team members endures an illness, undergoes surgery, or loses a loved one. Spoonful of Comfort, mentioned above, offers care package options with cookies and fuzzy blankets, plus many other options.
Remote and hybrid work has many benefits. With a little thoughtfulness, you can help your team stay connected and foster happier, more productive employees.
June 22, 2022
DocuSign CEO Is Out, Stock Rebounds

DocuSign CEO Dan Springer is out as the company’s stock has tanked while the company struggles to return to its pandemic-fueled highs.

Like many companies, DocuSign reached all-new highs during the early days of the pandemic as businesses turned to cloud-based tools to stay productive as employees worked from home. Unfortunately for DocuSign, the company has struggled to maintain its pandemic-level growth rate, and its stock has reflected that. After posting disappointing quarterly results, the company announced that Springer would resign as CEO.

The company struck a positive tone about its future prospects.

“DocuSign has the people, the products and the brand to transform the way the world agrees, making us a leader in our Anywhere Economy,” said chairman Pete Solvik, according to TheStreet.

In the meantime, board member Maggie Wilderotter will serve as interim CEO while the company looks for a permanent replacement. The company’s stock had rebounded 4.1% in early Tuesday trading before settling back down.

June 21, 2022
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.
June 15, 2022
Unique Job Market Is Hampering Companies’ RTO Plans

Despite companies’ best efforts, few have been able to successfully enforce their return-to-office (RTO) policies, thanks in large part to the state of the job market.

Companies large and small are working to enforce RTO, but many employees are pushing back. Apple recently had to suspend its RTO escalation, and Google paused its plans for workers in its Maps division. According to a report by NPR, this is a growing trend, with companies having little recourse when employees refuse to come back to the office.

See also: A Guide to Cybersecurity for Remote Work

With as many as 11.5 million job openings, much of the cause lies in the current state of the economy. In many cases, employers are hesitant to enforce issues that could lead to employees resigning with little hope of being able to fill those positions. Even Apple is not immune from this challenge, with its top AI executive resigning over the companies RTO policies.

In addition to the job market, the pandemic led to newfound realizations about what is possible.

“Could I have worked from home four days a week before the pandemic? I think I easily could have. It just wasn’t the environment,” Jason Carrier, a senior associate at Eagle Hill Consulting, told NPR.

When asked about the possibility of going back to the office full-time, his view was clear-cut:

“Probably very close to a deal breaker at this point,” he says.

Many companies, such as Eagle Hill, are adapting to the changes and altering their view of in-office work.

“I view the office changing,” said Eagle Hill’s chief marketing officer Susan Nealon. “It’ll be less about the individual work getting done, and more about the group work getting done.”

June 6, 2022
Atlassian CEO Fires Back at Elon Musk Over RTO Policy

Atlassian CEO Scott Farquhar fired back at Tesla CEO Elon Musk over the latter’s email to employees demanding they return to office (RTO) or quit.

Elon Musk made waves when he sent an email to Tesla and SpaceX employees demanding they return to the office at least 40 hours a week or quit. After a couple of years of employees working remotely, and being as productive as ever, many critics called Musk’s stance out-of-date and out-of-touch.

Farquhar took to Twitter to call out Musk’s stance, saying it was something out of the 1950s:

“News from @elonmusk & @tesla today feels like something out of the 1950s: “Everyone at Tesla is required to spend a minimum of 40 hours in the office per week”. Very different approach to what we are taking at Atlassian and here’s why.

“Atlassian employees choose everyday where and how they want to work – we call it Team Anywhere. This has been key for our continued growth.“

Farquhar even offered any disenfranchised Tesla employees the opportunity to work for Atlassian.

“We’re setting our sights on growing Atlassian to 25K employees by FY26. Any Tesla employees interested?“

Farquhar and Musk represent polar opposites in the debate about RTO. Companies large and small are struggling to find the best path forward, but here’s to hoping Farquhar’s vision is the one that prevails.

June 3, 2022
Google Map Workers Given 90-Day RTO Extension

Contractors working for Google Maps have received a 90-day extension on their return-to-office (RTO) deadline.

Cognizant Technology Solutions employs some 200 workers on behalf of Google’s Maps division. The employees were previously told they had to be back in the office five days a week, unlike direct Google employees who are only required in the office three days a week. The employees pushed back, even threatening a strike, forcing Google to acquiesce.

The Alphabet Workers Union backed the employees, despite their being outside contractors, and tweeted the news of the RTO extension:

BREAKING:Google Maps Worker Victory! Today, the Google Maps contract workers informed management that they planned to go on strike due to the unsafe working conditions imposed by the 6/6 RTO date. In less than 3hrs workers won a 90 day extension—this is the power of organizing. — Alphabet Workers Union (@AlphabetWorkers), June 2, 2022

The employees at the Bothell, WA location initially resisted Google’s RTO terms for a variety of reasons, including concern over COVID and rising gas prices.

It remains to be seen what action Google will take long-term, but at least the employees in question gained a significant reprieve.

June 2, 2022
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.

June 1, 2022
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.

May 27, 2022
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.

May 25, 2022
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.

May 23, 2022
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.

May 18, 2022
Apple’s Top AI Exec Leaves Over Remote Work

Apple’s top AI exec, Ian Goodfellow, has reportedly left the company over its remote work policy.

Ian Goodfellow came to Apple by way of Google in March 2019. Goodfellow was appointed Director of Machine Learning in the Special Projects Group, a position he has served in since joining the company. According to The Verge’s Zoë Schiffer, Goodfellow has left his position because of Apple’s lack of flexibility with its remote work policy.

According to Schiffer, Goodfellow wrote a note to staff explaining his view:

“I believe strongly that more flexibility would have been the best policy for my team.”

Apple has been struggling with employee dissatisfaction over its efforts to return to normal. The company is coming off of numerous record-breaking quarters, during which its employees were working remotely. This has led many employees to question why a return to the office is necessary, since the company is clearly firing on all cylinders. The company has even resorted to giving bonuses up to $180,000 in an effort to stem defections.

The most recent escalation involved employees sending a third letter to company executives, this time telling them to “get out of our way.”

“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.”

If the reports are true, losing Goodfellow is a painful loss for Apple, and likely won’t be the last.

May 9, 2022
Employees Tell Apple to ‘Get Out of Our Way’ Over Hybrid Work Plans

Apple employees are once again pushing back against the company’s hybrid work plans.

Apple’s efforts to bring employees back to the office have been fraught with challenges, with the company repeatedly pushing its return date back as a result of surges in the pandemic. The company finally began requiring employees to come back at least one day a week, starting in mid-April, and increased it to two days a week on May 2. By May 23, employees will be required to be in-person at least three days a week. In response, employees have sent the company an open letter voicing their objections.

Seen by Gizmodo, the letter calls out in-person office work as an outdated technology:

“Office-bound work is a technology from the last century, from the era before ubiquitous video-call-capable internet and everyone being on the same internal chat application. But the future is about connecting when it makes sense, with people who have relevant input, no matter where they are based.”

The letter also took aim at Apple’s reasons for wanting employees back in the office, “serendipity” and “in-person collaboration.” The letter pointed out how Apple’s secretive, siloed culture already didn’t lend itself to serendipity, while many roles within the company don’t require as much in-person collaboration as Apple is claiming, and could be accomplished on an as-needed basis.

Apple’s employees clearly want the freedom to make sensible decisions about where they work from, rather than a one-size-fits-all policy from management:

“We are not asking for everyone to be forced to work from home. We are asking to decide for ourselves, together with our teams and direct manager, what kind of arrangement works best for each one of us, be that in an office, work from home, or a hybrid approach. Stop treating us like school kids who need to be told when to be where and what homework to do.”

In case the point wasn’t clear enough, the letter drove it home even further:

“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.”

The employees’ arguments are further reinforced by the fact that Apple has been turning in stellar, record-breaking quarters, an indication that its employees have clearly been doing the best work of their lives…remotely.

Given that Apple’s engineers and other employees are prime targets for corporate poaching, Apple would do well to take the letter seriously. If it doesn’t, it may find itself experiencing a substantial brain-drain as its top talent quits in favor of other companies that “think different.”

May 3, 2022
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.

April 27, 2022
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.

April 20, 2022
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.

April 14, 2022