Yet Another CEO Wants to Get Rid of Remote Work

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Fortune Article image of Citadel CEO

Image: Fortune Mag Article Citadel CEO

I’ve seen another article about a CEO who wants to get rid of remote work in the online version of Fortune recently.  It discussed how Citadel founder, Ken Griffins says “employers won’t go the ‘extra distance’ to keep hybrid workers…

Why not?  In my opinion, CEOs of that ilk were certainly eager to have employees work from home during the pandemic.  Do they not plan for future events? Or, think that another event like the pandemic might happen again?  For me, it shows the short-sightedness and greed of some corporations and their leaders.

Why not take the opportunity to manage the business model into something more equitable for both employers and employees?  Honestly, I have never heard so many CEOs bitch about workers who actually make them money.

Yes, I do realize everyone cannot work from home; and there may be times for face-to-face meetings.  We that.  But it seems to me that since the government pre-bailed out a lot of companies and industries during the pandemic, they should have put that money in to R&D, and their employees instead of using it for company stock by-backs.

I’m not sure what the aforementioned Citadel founder did, but generally speaking—a lot of the funding the government made available for businesses was not used for the purposes intended.

I applaud the efforts of unions to organize people.  And for those who don’t want to unionize or don’t want to be a part of a union (even though you have more than likely benefitted from them greatly), these are a few other things to consider.

  • Push for legislation that gets rid of non-disclosure agreements or that works against you sharing in the profits of your creativity while working at a company. If you’ve helped create a new procedure or made work more efficiently at your organization—you should be recognized for it.
  • Vote for congress people who have your best interests at heart. Corporations have lawyers and lobbyists to work on their behalf.  Elected officials should be fair, but they should primarily represent all the people they serve in their districts.

I hope workers will take it a step further and realize that they have self-worth… even after some guy says “goodbye” or won’t go the “extra distance” to keep you as an employee.  Every job you’ve held added in some way to your skill set. Find ways of collaborating with others who may have been laid off and see what opportunities you all can create for yourselves as a cooperative or other synergetic type organization.

So, now let me say what I think or see happening in 2024—since people are expressing opinions (which I like to do). Lol…

I see workers continue to make decisions favorable to their work/life balance, especially the younger ones.  I also see them holding the leaders in the companies they work for accountable for the decisions they make.  I also see consumers doing the same.  Generally, people don’t like walking into a store to purchase something only to find out they have to work for free in checking themselves out and not get some type of worker’s discount.  On occasion, sure—If I’m in a hurry I’ll run over to scan a pack of gum or drink and be on my way.  But If I have to either wait in a long line because you only have two registers open or have to both wait in a long line and check myself out, you can keep what you got.  I’ll figure something else out.

No, I don’t speak for everyone—but I’m not the only one either.  And yes, this articles was another long way of saying—Do Better.

Resource:

Fortune Article by: Eleanor Pringle

Update:

And this is how you say you “took your workers to Disney Land“… probably after you realized you boo-booed, and surmised you were doing too much… <Read>

Citadel CEO KenGriffin in interview

“How do you motivate team members to stay productive and motivated while working remotely?” ✏️

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laptop on a brown office desk
Photo by Olena Bohovyk on Pexels.com

How do you motivate team members to stay productive and motivated while working remotely? ✏️”  I saw this writing prompt from my LinkedIn profile as I was going in to edit a few things. So let’s explore.

My mind filled with many answers to this question and I listed a few responses below.

  1. First, in my opinion the premise of the question is suspect.  The assumption of the question is that people aren’t motivated while working from home.  For many people, working from home is the ideal situation as it helps cut down on the costs associated with work; and helps mesh work into their lifestyle.  So I think corporations and management should keep that same energy that they had when asking people to work during the peak of the pandemic. Having said that –
  2. Management should approach the solution of working from home as an extension to working from the office — even if they never go back to the office again. Communicating with employees using various technologies like phone text, Zoom meetings, Google chat, WhatsApp, and even Skype –can increase  esprit de corps (spirit of the group) among team members.
  3. Assume the motivation is already there… until proven not to be.  Then use conflict/resolution strategies to find out what’s going on just as you would during a counseling session, or a one-on-one session, back in the office.
  4. Ensure everyone is familiar with, and skilled in, the use of applications and technologies being used by the organization. Sometimes, people need additional training when they start working solo, although still remaining part of the team. (Read that again.) Supervisors and management should get to know team members well enough to detect who is good with technology; and how to get those who are not, more comfortable with using it by providing additional training. This holds true in both “in-office” and “work from home” settings. Often, it is assumed people know how to do things that they may not know how to do proficiently. Increasing levels of proficiency in the use of available tools alone, can help improve productivity.
  5. Encourage participation in online group meetings to create synergy. For example, in the office, a  person could give great verbal input on projects –but could be lacking in details or follow up. Someone else would chime in or use their skill set to improve upon the idea.  That same synergy should carry over in a work-from-home environment too, instead of expecting the person with the idea to have all the answers.

These are only a few suggestions but I’m sure there are many other things leaders can take note of that happen in an office environment and use their creativity to implement those things for working at home. As a leader and manager of your team, ensuring the development and success of the team is vital.

I Think We Should Work Harder at Getting ‘Work From Home’ and ‘School From Home’ Right

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image of globe with books and a graduation capPersonally, I think we should work harder at getting Work From Home and School From Home right.  This pandemic is rough and it’s not the first nor will it probably be the last problem in this ‘brave new world’ we are facing.

I think many people have looked at these two solutions as temporary fixes as opposed to working on them as long term cures that could potentially help out a lot of people.  Do you think people like driving 20 – 30 miles to a job where they only make between $7.25 and $12 an hour?  Especially if they could do the work from home?

Home schooling has actually been around for a long time.  This period has been an opportunity Read More