❗Another Saturday, Another Broadcast

Well, here we go again.

Key topics:

✔️ It's not hidden anymore. Corporate America wants you back butt-in-seat in the office.
✔️ Is it possible that corporate-owned "news" might not be fair and balanced journalism? Hmm, I wonder. What a conundrum!
✔️ A lot of companies still own over-priced corporate real estate... are they planning to sell that off or let it go? Probably not.
✔️ Now we're expected to believe that, after working successfully from home for all this time and being more productive, it's all falling apart and everyone needs to RTO. 😣

Links I discuss in this episode:

https://www.patreon.com/saracausey (new content drops every Sunday morning)

https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/is-the-wfh-revolution-fading-5358564/

https://www.axios.com/2022/06/05/work-from-home-elon-musk-remote-office-meetings

https://www.forbes.com/sites/grantfeller/2016/06/14/this-is-the-real-reason-microsoft-bought-linkedin/?sh=5a37588f04a5

https://www-nytimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.nytimes.com/2022/06/04/business/dealbook/companies-return-to-office.amp.html

Need more? Email me: https://causeyconsultingllc.com/contact-causey/

For exclusive content you won't find here, become a Patreon Patron!

Siren courtesy of Pixabay. 

Transcript

0:06

Well, here we are another Saturday, another broadcast. I'm thinking of that Duke Ellington song where he's like, missed the Saturday dance, heard they crowded the floor. So before I dive into the nuts and bolts of this episode, I want to do a little bit of housekeeping / shameless plugging. I recently launched a Patreon account, and information will drop there every Sunday morning. There are two tier levels on the first tier, you will get exclusive blog posts that will not be published to my public blog on my website or on LinkedIn or social media. In the second tier, you'll get access to that, as well as exclusive podcast episodes that won't ever be published to this podcast is designed for truth seekers. It's designed for people who want to be on the leading edge of the job market, who take their career seriously, and they want to make sure that they're staying informed. It's tips and information you can use for helping you to navigate the job market, helping your career and then also to understand how corporate America actually really truly works. It's pulling the curtain back, like Sydney Pollack in Eyes Wide Shut saying, Hey, if you want to really know what's going on, even if you don't sleep so well at night, here's what it is. The lower tier is five bucks a month, and the upper tier is 10 bucks a month. So for less than a cup of coffee shop coffee, you can have some truth bombs delivered to you from me. It is absolutely not for people who would rather hear fluffy lies and Bs instead of uncomfortable truths. And when I say it's for truth seekers, I am dead serious. So don't come there. If you're not looking to hear the truth. If you don't want some hashtag real talk, don't show up there, please. One of the things that inspired me to create that account, was seeing how my episode about quiet quitting exploded. That episode has been accessed so many times by so many people. And it's far and away the most popular episode I've recorded so far. In 2022, I'm sort of rubbed my temples and I thought I really wish that I could get that many people to engage with content, saying wake up, there's a poop storm brewing. The great resignation is not going to last forever. These companies are already telegraphing to you what's on the horizon, and you need to pay attention. Yet, it seems that when someone is in a blissful state of slumber, and you go to tap them on the shoulder and say, Hey, wake up, up, up, they resent the messenger, they don't want you interrupting their sleep, they don't want you to say, Yeah, you're not going to be able to Job hop relentlessly forever, and get a big pay bump every time you do it. Like I think that little ride is coming to an end sooner rather than later. You can see it all in the news media. People don't want to hear that by and large. And I'm not talking about the truth seekers, obviously, that I made the Patreon account for. I've said before, if you're listening to these podcast episodes, if you're engaging with my blog on a regular basis, you're already a cut above. And so I wanted to make a sort of even more elite club on the Patreon for people who are like, Yeah, I'm willing to go deeper, I'm willing to instead of walking around with my Eyes Wide Shut, I'd rather open them. So here we go. Earlier this week, there was an article published on LinkedIn called is the work from home revolution fading. As I'm sure you know, LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft. They don't vary that information. But there are times in my opinion, where they don't exactly trot it out on Front Street either. So I want you to bear in mind that LinkedIn is not just some completely organic Power to the People platform. It's owned by a giant corporation. There's an article on Forbes that talks about this acquisition, I'll drop a link to it, of course in the write up so you can check it out for yourself. And I want to read a little snippet from that article now. But Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella has bought something more precious than what some patronizingly Call a social network for jobseekers. Microsoft has just bought one of the world's most influential specialized, highly read, constantly updated and occasionally annoying digital media companies. And unlike some on Forbes, I don't think Nadella has wasted his money and quote. So, given the information that we have, is it possible that the platform could be used to further a particular agenda? Hmm, what do you think? To me, it seems like the days of anything resembling quote, fair and unbiased journalism are gone. And it doesn't matter what side of the political fence that you sit on, whether you want to sit and listen to leftist talk radio, right? Talk Radio, Fox News, CNN, whatever. I mean, trying to find a news channel where it's like, we're just going to give you the facts. We're not going to embellish. We're not going to editorialize. We're just going to tell you the who, what, when, where and how of what happened and let you make a decision for yourself. I don't know where you find out anymore. So the idea that well, I mean, I'm sure the side panel of LinkedIn is a great place to find fair and unbiased journalism, right. Um, okay. So here we have this article is the work from home revolution fading, and I'll read the blurb that was written by Alexandra Reimer one of the seemingly many 10,000 different editors at LinkedIn news. The great debate of remote versus in person work continues while at least 7.4% of American workers are still working from home due to COVID. This number is considerably down from about 35% At the height of the pandemic federal data shows Yes, hybrid systems are still in demand, but work from home faces its own set of drawbacks, including zoom fatigue, and longer hours with less productivity. These factors are driving some CEOs to curtail hybrid work. It's becoming increasingly apparent that zoom and Google Chat aren't substitutes for in person dynamics, argues Axios, and quote, and the article on Axios. How better can we get we are in the metaverse, folks. The article that LinkedIn references from Axios is called remote work may not be working anymore. And I want to read a little bit from that article for you now. The challenges of remote work are getting harder and harder to ignore as employees and bosses alike grapple with the realities of indefinite separation from the office. The big picture a growing number of corporate executives want to put an end to the work from home revolution. But workers have gotten used to the flexibility and they have the leverage to demand it driving the news. Tesla CEO Elon Musk stirred the pot last week with a blunt warning that workers would have to spend a minimum of 40 hours per week in the office or find a new job. It raised the question about whether other employers might also adopt a tougher stance. JP Morgan Chase's Jamie diamond only recently softened his stance on remote work and Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon has been on a mission to return to the five day status quo March survey by cleaning coalition of America which canvassed over 200 New York based C suite executives found that a whopping 76% Think in person work is essential to the bottom line. By The Numbers 7.4% of American workers are teleworking because of COVID, down from a pandemic Aerohive around 35% According to federal data in quote. Okay, I'm going to skip down to the end of the article and read again. However, flawed remote work arrangements have become a linchpin of COVID era labor market defined by high employee turnover. For many knowledge workers in an economy with more open jobs and workers to fill them work from home is more de rigueur than ever before, even when they've done it unenthusiastically. More employers have embraced flexible work from home arrangements, but it's becoming increasingly apparent that zoom and Google Chat aren't substitutes for in person dynamics that bridge communication gaps and help build careers and quote, hmm, strokes long devil beard thoughtfully. It's almost like somebody should have been on a blog or a podcast warning you that the fit was about to hit the Shan Hmm. Oh, wait, who could it be? Believe it or not? It's just me. Yeah, I've been that beacon in the wilderness, y'all. And if you've been reading the posts, if you've been tuning in to this podcast, then you know, this should not be hitting your ear as any kind of surprise right now. I'll say it again, for the people in the back. They are telling you in advance what is going to happen. There'll be a poop storm brewing. And if you think that they will not use a recession or a severe market contraction as a means to an end to get your butt back in the seat in the cube farm. Guess again. A lot of these companies still own way overpriced corporate real estate. They want you back in a cubicle is really not about your comfort, your safety, your finances, your ability to like afford the commute to afford childcare or eldercare, whatever else that you may not have been dealing with during the pandemic. They don't care. They don't care they want you back but in seat because it's what is fitting for them and their bottom line. That's what it's all about. So if you thought that the revolution was going to go on forever, I I'm sorry to burst your bubble on that. You know, I think that in so many ways the great resignation has been awesome. And as someone who is Power to the People, I wish that it could go on forever. But I just don't see that happening. We have too many people that live paycheck to paycheck that don't have much in savings as a nest egg. Believe me, I get it. If no one rules if no one obeys. What if we all just had a collective sit out and said make us okay, Elon, you think you're such hot poop, like make us? Well, how long is that gonna last? People are gonna starve out, they're gonna lose their homes, they're gonna get evicted. I mean, I just think there's too much infrastructure built into this country around oligarchy and crony capitalism for some kind of long term Power to the People revolution to gain momentum. I mean, when you go to this article on LinkedIn, is the work from home revolution fading, the responses that are put up toward the top are positive. They're the ones that are like, Oh, yes, I think that this is quite fantastic. But the dissenters that are like, No, we don't think this is quite fantastic. Or at the bottom, you can't tell me that. That's pure coincidence. I'm sure that this is being curated to put forth a specific narrative. Again, we're not really talking about fair and unbiased, completely balanced journalism here. But more importantly than that, for the purposes of this podcast episode is they are telling you in advance, what's getting ready to happen. And you can either sit back and look at the people on LinkedIn who are co clapping about it, like are, isn't it? Isn't it? Great? We all get to go back to the office. Well, how lucky are we we get concerts and pizza parties and free shuttle buses again. Or you can wake up to reality. One of the reasons why I went out on my own, I worked out my courage even after having a business failure. That completely sucked the life out of both myself and my finances. One of the reasons why I worked up the courage to do it again, is because I was like, This is not a life for me, man. It's not it's not I don't want to sit in a cube under fluorescent lighting. I hate commuting. I hate being away from my farm all day. You know, if an animal had a baby, if they got injured, if there was a problem of any kind, I wouldn't discover it until after I'd already gotten home. And the vet's office was closed, I'd have to call and try to set up an after hours emergency farm call, I mean, I don't miss any of that, not any of it. And so to me, it was worth it to take the risk again, and see if I could cobble together some kind of something that would sprout wings and allow me to fly. Hopefully not like Icarus, too close to the sun. But you get what I'm saying. I understand that's not an option for everybody. Not everybody wants to be out on their own. Not everybody wants to freelance or own and operate their own business, not everybody wants to try to cover their own benefits and kind of live on their wits like you have to do when you freelance. So where is this headed in the long run? Well, I mean, again, at the risk of sounding pessimistic, I think that it's, it's not going to be a super fun time. Maybe we're gonna have a long hot summer, followed by a winter of discontent. I've said that before. And I'm sticking by my prediction. There was recently, an article published in the New York Times called the Office monsters are trying to claw their way back to 2019. And in that article, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase has said that he thinks their work setup will look just like it did before by September or October. And that means September or October of this year. So we're talking about two or three, maybe four months at most into the future, and he sees the workforce being but in seat in the cube farm, just like they were back in 2019. Could there be some massive walk out sit out protest against return to Office? Of course there could be and maybe there will be I don't know. My concern is that I just don't see that lasting for months or years. Because I just don't think most people have enough money put back in savings. They don't have enough of a nest egg. aside for emergencies and for being able to float themselves along with no income or very little income, maybe from like a side hustle or something to be able to do that. I could be wrong. Like Dennis Miller always said, this is just my opinion, and I could be wrong. I think at the very least there's going to be a really ugly collision between people. They're like, No, no, no, I don't want to go back to being but in seat in the cube farm. It would absolutely destroy my soul to have to sit under fluorescent lighting and do this crap again. versus people they're like, Okay, all right. You know, the Eeyore types. Okay. All right. Why bother? Okay, I'll go back. I don't really want to but I'm, I'll take my lumps. So I'll do what I'm told. And if they say it's time to come on back, okay, I spent more of my career in the office in the digital panopticon than I did at home. So, Mom, mom, I'll go on back. I mean, it's almost like a weird toxic stew is brewing up between all of these people with all of these different goals and maneuvers out in the job market, but they're all working their own angles, everyone's being Machiavellian about it. They all have their own means to an end and they want to subvert somebody else in order to do it. Please stay aware. Stay alert. Keep an eye on what's happening in the market. This is not the time to go into Candy Land, gumdrops and lollipops land and play pretend this is the time to be prepared not to panic, but to stay prepared and stay alert. I'll see you in the next episode.