RTO mandates tend to follow poor results

ALSO: is Who Moved My Cheese 'layoff propaganda'?

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• A number of studies into the real work impact of RTO policies were published:

  • Office usage had no impact on future profits or stock returns

  • RTO mandates tended to be implented as a reaction to bad corporate results

  • RTO mandates were more likely in firms run by older, male CEOs

  • RTO mandates led to resignation of longer tenured employees

  • RTO mandates led to employee sentiment falling (eg Glassdoor ratings)

    Read more here

• Professor Nick Bloom shared his slides from his recent talk about the ‘The Future of WFH’. Key points:

  • Despite RTO mandates and attention grabbing headlines WFH days have been broadly unchanged in 2 years

  • Office occupancy has flatlined at 50% of 2019 levels. (It is inevitable that this will change and firms will downsize)

  • Employees value 2 or 3 days hybrid working to be worth around 8% more pay

  • Productivity seems to have zero impact on productivity but does increase employee happiness (quit rates fall by about a third)

  • Employees are living further from work, pushing suburban house prices higher

• Two weeks ago I shared Annabelle Black’s LinkedIn post about how her burnout from a career in advertising led her to dark thoughts about whether she wanted to carry on living. This week she posted a longer piece reflecting on why we’re reluctant to discuss themes of suicidal ideation and the role that work can play in creating such destructive thinking. In fact Annabelle cites a 2023 academic paper which find that ‘Exhaustion is linked with risk of suicidal ideation in employees regardless of depression status’

• Survey data suggests that companies are paying higher salaries for in-person jobs (up 20% more)

• In Boston, MA the high office vacancy rates have left a huge fiscal blackhole in state finances which means tax bills on individuals are set to increase by 28%

• The BBC has begun a review into its workplace culture to prevent hierarchial abuses of power

• Slightly off topic but fascinating, playing Tetris protects against the invasive thoughts of PTSD - more brilliance from Elspeth Kirkman

• The CIPD published a full guideline to the new Employment Rights Bill

• Guess the profile of the person who made this decision: Dell gave employees 2 days’ notice that they need to be back in the office 5 days a week leaving staff scrambling to find childcare to cover them while they go for interviews

• Utterly delighted to see If Books Could Kill tackle the worst ‘layoff propaganda’ book of all time, Who Moved My Cheese (includes an outstanding takedown of the transition to stakeholder capitalism that gave context to the book):

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