Needless to say, my company is desperate to fill their seats for the sake of “looking busy” despite employees busting their bums from the comfort of home.
This has been set, we do not know what the penalties will be as of today; but I am positive they are coming as this warning came from the highest ranking leadership within my company. Since 2020 my company furloughed (and continues to extend) and laid off valuable employees with legacy (aka higher salaries) to keep afloat. We kept busy, we kept productive, we kept the company alive and relatively in the green in terms of profits. Employees worked from home and most made the choice to relocate outside of the city in which we are located.
The first week of April, the office officially reopened but we were told remote schedules that we were now contacted for, would remain. Some were changed to hybrid due to the employees location relative to the office…but that’s a whole other mess I could get into. That first open day, the office saw a total of 34 people, pre-pandemic we sat at 1800. So you can see how leadership was punched right in the gut. Since then, our highest capacity has reached about 100-110…but this is still not satisfactory.
All house employees will be receiving penalties if they do not come to the office 3-4 days a week despite their remote or hybrid status. Talks with managers mean nothing, even if you had a valid reason (3+hr commute, high risk health, etc.) How, how is that announcement okay? How can a company be so blind to notice things are OKAY when your employees work remotely? We are located in one of the most expensive cities in the United States, and of course there have been no changes in our below average salaries. I had to relocate 2.5hrs outside of the city to make ends meet. My daily commute runs about $40 via public transport, and with gas prices the way they are, if I drove to work it would be just about $60 (with gas tolls and parking).
Needless to say, I won’t be staying at this organization long enough for these penalties to hit me, but I will provide updates for the curious.