The latest get your ass back in the office story: AT&T

[Buzzrock 14883]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-16/at-t-reducing-office-locations-to-9-setting-mandatory-3-5-day-attendance-policy?in_source=embedded-checkout-banner

 

Some folks are rattled. It will be interesting to watch.

[BabaYaga 15238]

Consolidate costly commercial RE?  Force people back to offices in lieu of mass layoffs and additional costly comp packages?  I've seen this movie before.

[MissingInAction 24870]

ATT wants people to quit.

[Captainant 27521]

27 minutes ago, BabaYaga said:

Consolidate costly commercial RE?  Force people back to offices in lieu of mass layoffs and additional costly comp packages?  I've seen this movie before.

REIT's are gonna start taking heavy losses before long, and they're all leveraged to the tits

[Samson's Wig 3182]

Good

[FartingMonk 3606]

They just rolled everyone back to Amazon.  Those dudes are fucking pissed.  It's pretty funny to watch.  I understand Amazons thinking on this though.  They own all the buildings.  They need to be occupied.  Their real estate portfolio is in the billions.  If they have to take a loss on that it will drive their stock prices down.  That's only a small fraction of their portfolio though.  The players that are commercial real estate only like CBRE Hines JLL Cushman Wakefield are going to be the ones that take the kick in the nuts first.

[crash_davis 23090]

1 hour ago, BabaYaga said:

Consolidate costly commercial RE?  Force people back to offices in lieu of mass layoffs and additional costly comp packages?  I've seen this movie before.

 

1 hour ago, MissingInAction said:

ATT wants people to quit.

I worked in Telecom for over 15 years. AT&T, TMO, and Verizon are ruthless in pursuit of the bottom line. Revenue is decreasing, need to reduce costs in line. 

Move or quit. Oh, I'm not going to pay for relo either. There, I just removed $100M from cost without incurring any costs! I'm a fucking genius!

[BabaYaga 15238]

9 minutes ago, crash_davis said:

 

I worked in Telecom for over 15 years. AT&T, TMO, and Verizon are ruthless in pursuit of the bottom line. Revenue is decreasing, need to reduce costs in line. 

Move or quit. Oh, I'm not going to pay for relo either. There, I just removed $100M from cost without incurring any costs! I'm a fucking genius!

Yep

[MissingInAction 24870]

Home Depot did the same thing when they decided to move half their IT staff to India. They made things unbearable for the half (me) they wanted gone.

[texasdago 7553]

I've always been hybrid... and by always I mean 10-20 years where I could work hybrid and I love it.  I can understand the frustration by some people who a) moved when the company told them they could work anywhere b) have to start wasting time commuting again.  Commuting is a beating and a total drain on time usage. 

[Steel Shank 9417]

[Beau Vine 54059]

3 hours ago, MissingInAction said:

ATT wants people to quit.

Based on my experiences of having cell phone service through them and Directv for over 20 years, they also want their customers to quit.

[Zepol87 9174]

1 hour ago, FartingMonk said:

They just rolled everyone back to Amazon.  Those dudes are fucking pissed.  It's pretty funny to watch.  I understand Amazons thinking on this though.  They own all the buildings.  They need to be occupied.  Their real estate portfolio is in the billions.  If they have to take a loss on that it will drive their stock prices down.  That's only a small fraction of their portfolio though.  The players that are commercial real estate only like CBRE Hines JLL Cushman Wakefield are going to be the ones that take the kick in the nuts first.

CBRE and JLL have been handling a couple of our office moves and they have been a kick in the nuts to deal with so they deserve it 

[52-80 19128]

[rage-a-holic 4312]

18 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

Fuck that shit. I can do every bit of my work remotely with fewer distractions.

The only IT/Networking people that go into our offices right now are:

1. Lonely dorks that wander around and gossip/annoy other people because they have no lives outside of work.

2. Pathetic married guys who use the office to escape their wife/kids.

[FartingMonk 3606]

23 minutes ago, Zepol87 said:

CBRE and JLL have been handling a couple of our office moves and they have been a kick in the nuts to deal with so they deserve it 

That's funny.  CBRE was my employer until Amazon kicked them off the account and brought in JLL.  CBRE is contracts and more PM centric so they don't actually know how to do anything.   JLL is a lot more engineering centric from what I see so far but a lot more militant in their standards 

[goatsaag 279]

2 hours ago, FartingMonk said:

They own all the buildings.  They need to be occupied.

Is an empty building somehow more expensive that an occupied one?

[crash_davis 23090]

18 minutes ago, rage-a-holic said:

Fuck that shit. I can do every bit of my work remotely with fewer distractions.

The only IT/Networking people that go into our offices right now are:

1. Lonely dorks that wander around and gossip/annoy other people because they have no lives outside of work.

2. Pathetic married guys who use the office to escape their wife/kids.

3. Pissed off AT&T folks who can't find another job.

[CycleTex87 2958]

19 minutes ago, rage-a-holic said:

Fuck that shit. I can do every bit of my work remotely with fewer distractions.

The only IT/Networking people that go into our offices right now are:

1. Lonely dorks that wander around and gossip/annoy other people because they have no lives outside of work.

2. Pathetic married guys who use the office to escape their wife/kids.

Whycantitbeboth.gif

[RDCanecutter 26348]

1 hour ago, MissingInAction said:

Home Depot did the same thing when they decided to move half their IT staff to India. They made things unbearable for the half (me) they wanted gone.

You'd be a pimp in India.

[FartingMonk 3606]

13 minutes ago, goatsaag said:

Is an empty building somehow more expensive that an occupied one?

Absolutely.  They have retail tenants.  They also have the area that more foot traffic will serve.  Overall in terms of commercial real estate if you have 30 percent of your areas real estate unoccupied.  Tenants will break leases and negotiate for lower rent.  If there is no demand your property overall is going to be devalued.  The whole supply and demand shit.

[Neonmoon 38127]

WFH has now become another lever for the HR department. It has nothing to do with efficiency, effectiveness, work-life balance/etc. 

Want to increase hiring, offer WFH. Want to thin the herd, make RTO. 

Rinse, repeat.  

[crash_davis 23090]

6 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

WFH has now become another lever for the HR department. It has nothing to do with efficiency, effectiveness, work-life balance/etc. 

Want to increase hiring, offer WFH. Want to thin the herd, make RTO. 

Rinse, repeat.  

The WFH and RTO is just an executive change away. That is how fickle this shit is.

[MissingInAction 24870]

21 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

You'd be a pimp in India.

Brown ladies have a thing for gingers. Can't explain it.

[gmr548 16557]

They just rolled everyone back to Amazon.  Those dudes are fucking pissed.  It's pretty funny to watch.  I understand Amazons thinking on this though.  They own all the buildings.  They need to be occupied.  Their real estate portfolio is in the billions.  If they have to take a loss on that it will drive their stock prices down.  That's only a small fraction of their portfolio though.  The players that are commercial real estate only like CBRE Hines JLL Cushman Wakefield are going to be the ones that take the kick in the nuts first.

The big CRE firms are generally diversified into multifamily, industrial, retail, medical, etc. They will take one on the chin for sure but they’ll be okay.

As it usually goes in this country, it’s the smaller firms and banks who are going to be fighting for survival.

[FartingMonk 3606]

The work from home shit got messed up by the work from home people.  You can't put in your chat or email message hey I'm working from home today so I will respond to your calls later

[FartingMonk 3606]

You don't know how many people I'm trying to get a simple answer from and they leave this little cutsie ass message.  I'm working from home today so I may be napping or taking my puppy to the park.  I'll respond when I get the chance.  I'm a lowly peon and it pisses me off.  Imagine what a c level executive is feeling 

[Snake Diggity 4614]

4 minutes ago, FartingMonk said:

The work from home shit got messed up by the work from home people.  You can't put in your chat or email message hey I'm working from home today so I will respond to your calls later

Not saying it doesn’t exist but I’ve been 95% wfh for 8 years and have never seen anyone do that.  

[Neonmoon 38127]

4 minutes ago, FartingMonk said:

The work from home shit got messed up by the work from home people.  You can't put in your chat or email message hey I'm working from home today so I will respond to your calls later

This isn't true in my experience. In my experience, the people who are shitty at their job are also shitty at working at their job from home. Same for people good at their job. 

[Deej 76643]

51 minutes ago, rage-a-holic said:

Fuck that shit. I can do every bit of my work remotely with fewer distractions.

Everyone working remotely says that. 98% of them are full of shit. 

Edited May 17, 2023 by Deej

[FartingMonk 3606]

You guys are talking about pre pandemic people 

[Neonmoon 38127]

Just now, Deej said:

Everyone working remotely says that. 98% of them are full of shit. 

80% are full of shit

20% are not full of shit

Same at the office. 

[Deej 76643]

3 minutes ago, FartingMonk said:

You don't know how many people I'm trying to get a simple answer from and they leave this little cutsie ass message.  I'm working from home today so I may be napping or taking my puppy to the park.  I'll respond when I get the chance.  I'm a lowly peon and it pisses me off.  Imagine what a c level executive is feeling 

Yep. Four hours to respond to an email or phone call on their work from home days. 

[FartingMonk 3606]

2 minutes ago, Neonmoon said:

80% are full of shit

20% are not full of shit

Same at the office. 

It's true.  The shitty ones remain the shitty ones

[RDCanecutter 26348]

11 minutes ago, MissingInAction said:

Brown ladies have a thing for gingers. Can't explain it.

All you need is a line of gingers dancing behind you while you sing, to help woo her friends who are lined up dancing behind her.

[Captainant 27521]

11 minutes ago, FartingMonk said:

The work from home shit got messed up by the work from home people.  You can't put in your chat or email message hey I'm working from home today so I will respond to your calls later

 

8 minutes ago, FartingMonk said:

You don't know how many people I'm trying to get a simple answer from and they leave this little cutsie ass message.  I'm working from home today so I may be napping or taking my puppy to the park.  I'll respond when I get the chance.  I'm a lowly peon and it pisses me off.  Imagine what a c level executive is feeling 

that's wildly unprofessional behavior and absolutely not acceptable in any context, assuming that this isn't just an anecdote that you picked up from a fw:fw:fw:fw:fw:fw

If those people act like that and get away with it, its on the leadership for not upholding and enforcing higher fucking standards for professional behavior. Write their ass up! Put em on a dashboard. They can fucking do something about it besides "well SHUCKS I guess I gotta kill WFH now!"

[Trey3216 15325]

5 minutes ago, Captainant said:

 

that's wildly unprofessional behavior and absolutely not acceptable in any context, assuming that this isn't just an anecdote that you picked up from a fw:fw:fw:fw:fw:fw

If those people act like that and get away with it, its on the leadership for not upholding and enforcing higher fucking standards for professional behavior. Write their ass up! Put em on a dashboard. They can fucking do something about it besides "well SHUCKS I guess I gotta kill WFH now!"

Defending Big Bad Profit man now…. How the turntables 

[Captainant 27521]

Just now, Trey3216 said:

Defending Big Bad Profit man now…. How the turntables 

Wanting people to not waste others time is more a function of basic human respect and dignity and general professionalism, but I can see how you could confuse "profits" with that.

[Trey3216 15325]

1 minute ago, Captainant said:

Wanting people to not waste others time is more a function of basic human respect and dignity and general professionalism, but I can see how you could confuse "profits" with that.

I’m not confusing things at all.  

[Gatorubet 30165]

16 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

All you need is a line of gingers dancing behind you while you sing, to help woo her friends who are lined up dancing behind her.

[JesusSweatDuck 17780]

3 hours ago, FartingMonk said:

They just rolled everyone back to Amazon.  Those dudes are fucking pissed.  It's pretty funny to watch.  I understand Amazons thinking on this though.  They own all the buildings.  They need to be occupied.  Their real estate portfolio is in the billions.  If they have to take a loss on that it will drive their stock prices down.  That's only a small fraction of their portfolio though.  The players that are commercial real estate only like CBRE Hines JLL Cushman Wakefield are going to be the ones that take the kick in the nuts first.

You forgot another aspect of bringing people back to the office, tax incentives.  Amazon has $750M in tax incentives for HQ2 alone.  You need people to be working in that location to get the credits.  Amazon seeks out tax credits for jobs everywhere as do most other major employers.  Most municipalities were pretty lenient during COVID, but that support is evaporating quickly.

[rage-a-holic 4312]

25 minutes ago, Deej said:

Everyone working remotely says that. 98% of them are full of shit. 

My office is a 2 hour round trip on Mopac in medium traffic. Any wrecks or construction, it goes up from there. 

Then it's 30 minutes per day finding a parking space and getting back and forth from the parking garage to my desk.

So if you think wasting 2.5 hours (or more) every day getting to/from work somehow increases productivity, you must work for the government.

 

Edited May 17, 2023 by rage-a-holic

[Sawbonz 27469]

10 minutes ago, Captainant said:

Wanting people to not waste others time

[NeverMarryAStripper 21784]

Unless you’re spending the 2.5 hours you save working then it really has no effect

[BabaYaga 15238]

2 minutes ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

Unless you’re spending the 2.5 hours you save working then it really has no effect

Most WFH FTE's during covid indicated at my last company that they worked longer hours.  Difference was in the late afternoon is was usually accompanied by an adult beverage.  

[rage-a-holic 4312]

2 minutes ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

Unless you’re spending the 2.5 hours you save working then it really has no effect

I'm staring at a monitor, either place. 

[Deej 76643]

10 minutes ago, rage-a-holic said:

My office is a 2 hour round trip on Mopac in medium traffic. Any wrecks or construction, it goes up from there. 

Then it's 30 minutes per day finding a parking space and getting back and forth from the parking garage to my desk.

So if you think wasting 2.5 hours (or more) every day getting to/from work somehow increases productivity, you must work for the government.

 

It takes you thirty minutes to park in the garage and get up the elevators? 

[Captainant 27521]

4 minutes ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

Unless you’re spending the 2.5 hours you save working then it really has no effect

Genuinely, honestly, fucking no. It reduces the overhead in your life to NOT have to drive 1-2 hours each day. It gives you more down time to actually recuperate and process the day and not feel so beaten down. My manager lives out near Brenham but our office is in Houston. Dude has at least a 2 and a half hour round trip, usually three hour round trip. If he can NOT be driving and instead be taking care of this and that at home during the day, it frees up the rest of his life without impacting his productivity or organizational impact.

Now, if you're one of those sick fuck MBA types that think your job is to wring the happiness out of people in the form of increased margins (but never increase pay because then that would be inflation amirite) by taking up every waking moment of their lives.... Then yeah, I could see how you'd feel like a mere worker getting a couple hours back to themselves is of no importance.

[wildcat09 29307]

41 minutes ago, FartingMonk said:

You don't know how many people I'm trying to get a simple answer from and they leave this little cutsie ass message.  I'm working from home today so I may be napping or taking my puppy to the park.  I'll respond when I get the chance.  I'm a lowly peon and it pisses me off.  Imagine what a c level executive is feeling 

Those people should be fired for being dumbasses.

[MissingInAction 24870]

34 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

All you need is a line of gingers dancing behind you while you sing, to help woo her friends who are lined up dancing behind her.