Return-to-office mandates are more than "backdoor layoffs"

Decoder with Nilay Patel

Vox Media Podcast Network

Technology, Business

4.3 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2024

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today, we’re talking about work. Specifically, where we work, how our expectations of working remotely were radically changed by the pandemic, and how those expectations feel like they’re on the verge of changing yet again. For many people, the pendulum has swung wildly between working fully remote and now a push to return to the office from their bosses, and there are a lot of theories about what might really be motivating big companies to try and bring everyone back. To explain it, I caught up with two experts on the subject: Stephan Meier, a professor of business strategy at Columbia Business School, and Jessica Kriegel, the chief strategy officer at workplace culture consultancy Culture Partners. We dive into what’s been happening to the nature of work today, and whether Amazon, which just announced a major return to the office five days a week, is part of a bigger trend. Links: Amazon is making its employees come back to the office five days a week | The Verge Amazon CEO denies 5-day office mandate is a ‘backdoor layoff’ | CNBC Bob Iger tells Disney employees they must return to the office four days a week | CNBC A quarter of bosses admit return-to-office mandates meant to make staff quit | Fortune More Americans now prefer hybrid over fully remote work, survey finds | Axios Google tells staff: stay productive and we’ll stay flexible | BI The list of major companies requiring employees to return to the office | BI Thinking Inside the Box: Why Virtual Meetings Generate Fewer Ideas | Columbia Duolingo CEO Luis von Ahn wants you addicted to learning | Decoder Sundar Pichai on managing Google through the pandemic | Vergecast Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James. The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	With an Intel AI PC, AI assistance helps you save time.
0:06.0	With AI powered text to image tools, you can unleash your creativity with fewer clicks,
0:12.0	or let AI draft your emails.
0:16.0	It's possible on an Intel AI PC.
0:20.0	Additional purchase may be required.
0:22.3	Learn more at intel.co.uk slash aipc.
0:31.6	Hello and welcome to Decoder.
0:33.1	I'm Nilai Patel, editor-in-chief of The Verge, and Decoder is my show about big ideas and other problems.
0:43.0	Today, we're talking about work, specifically where we work, how our expectations of working remotely were radically changed by the pandemic, and how those expectations feel
0:47.4	like they're on the verge of changing yet again. For many people, the pendulum has swung wildly
0:52.2	between working fully remote and now a push
0:55.2	to return to office from their bosses.
0:57.9	And there are a lot of theories about what might be motivating big companies to try and
1:01.5	bring everyone back.
1:03.3	Here in Decoder, I've talked to lots of CEOs about the benefits of working fully remote
1:07.2	versus hybrid or having everyone back in the office over the past several years. And I've
1:11.5	heard the full spectrum of responses. Some executives are adamant that people need to be in the office,
1:17.5	and others are equally adamant that fully remote is the way to go. We'll play some of those
1:22.0	answers for you in this episode so you can get a sense of the enormous range of opinions here.
1:26.2	If you look at the surveys, it's basically
1:28.1	50-50. Quite a lot of people want to work remotely, and they can be pretty loud online.
1:33.9	But there are a lot of people, who are often quieter, who want to go back to the office for
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Vox Media Podcast Network, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Vox Media Podcast Network and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.