Jan. 19, 2024 "Working from the office every other week is the sweet spot for staff, this CEO says": Today I found this article by Jo Constantz on the Financial Post:
So far, Smucker says the policy has been a success. Many employees are making full use of the additional flexibility, choosing to live anywhere from California to Colorado to Connecticut to be closer to family and flying in for core weeks. At least a dozen companies have reached out to Smucker to ask how they make it work.
Work Shift sat down with Smucker to discuss the policy, its challenges and why big banks might choose a different path.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
How is the “core weeks” policy going?
It’s going very well. It varies by function — if you’re in a plant, you’re there every day.
If you’re in an R&D function or a product development function, those teams work in a technical building with laboratories and pilot plants.
There’s a community of practice, where they want to share information. So those folks actually come in Monday through Thursday, every week.
But the rest of the corporate employees, we all went through the pandemic together and we realized when we were remote, our lives changed. We did things differently.
We worked out at a different time of day,
we took care of an ill or an elderly relative.
We got our kids to school,
we were able to show up on time to the soccer game.
We realized, all of us as individuals, that there really is a benefit to this, and I can still get my work done.
And so the principle is “presence with purpose.”
We want you to be there,
and when you are there,
make it meaningful.
How has the policy affected recruitment, retention, engagement and productivity?
Our attrition is down to about seven per cent. Productivity seems better. And our recruitment has been outstanding, because we can go outside of the Cleveland market for talent.
In many cases, we’ve made the choice to not ask people to move.
You will be assigned to an office and it’s on your dime.
You have to get there during core weeks,
but it’s enabled us to get great talent and retain it for half the price.
We have had so many people wanting to know how we did it. Tons and tons of people have called. Lots of big companies, other public companies.
Have you made adjustments since rolling the policy out?
When we first rolled it out,
we wanted it to be based on trust,
and we wanted to make sure that people understood that we still expect productivity.
Because it was principles — not rules — we did see people not showing up in the middle of the core weeks as much as we’d like.
So rather than mandate it, we’ve sent a gentle reminder of “Hey, guys, we really like when you’re here when it’s important. And we would like to see people show up.”
I had concerns about mentorship for younger employees.
Are they going to get the exposure to the more seasoned leaders in the company?
There’s been some intentional efforts by leaders to spend the time with the younger employees to get them in the office.
We only do one week in July and one week in December, because people are travelling those months.
In the summer we do a farmers market one day a week, or we have food trucks.
We specifically put our town hall meetings on days we know people are going to be in, then we’ll do a happy hour with everybody.
We never used to serve alcohol on campus — so that’s kind of new, and people are responsible.
Have other challenges come up?
What to do with all the empty space? Haven’t figured that out yet. It’s a big campus, it’s a beautiful campus. It’s very open, lots of natural light.
We have a daycare centre,
we have a really nice fitness facility,
we have a full-sized basketball court,
we have a health clinic. (Smucker said the health clinic was discontinued due to declining use.)
On an off day, there’s still a couple hundred people there, but it feels empty because everybody’s so spread out.
So we haven’t answered the question:
do we still maintain all the space we have?
But we’ve talked about ideas like (converting) part of the office into condos.
What do you think of companies who are pushing a more traditional return to office?
You have to do what’s right for each company.
New York is a different ball of wax.
Uou look at the banks. Look at Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase. David (Solomon, CEO of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.) and Jamie (Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan & Chase Co.) are taking a more old-school approach.
It’s hard, because on one hand, you need to do what’s right for your employees.
On the other hand, you have all these empty buildings down here.
And you have all this real estate.
If I were in their shoes, would I do something different?
Maybe. But I know what’s worked for us.
https://financialpost.com/fp-work/working-at-office-every-other-week-sweet-spot
Feb. 2, 2024 "IBM tells managers to move near an office — or quit": Today I found this article by Brody Ford on the Financial Post:
International Business Machines Corp. delivered a companywide ultimatum to managers who are still working remotely: move near an office or leave the company.
All U.S. managers must immediately report to an office or client location at least three days a week “regardless of current work location status,” according to a memo sent on Jan. 16 viewed by Bloomberg.
Badge-in data will be used to “assess individual presence” and shared with managers and human resources, senior vice president John Granger wrote in the note.
Those working remotely, other than employees with exceptions such as medical issues or military service, who don’t live close enough to commute to a facility must relocate near an IBM office by the start of August, according to the memo.
That generally means within 80 kilometres, according to a person familiar with the rule who asked not to be identified speaking about corporate policy.
Managers who don’t agree to relocate and are unable to secure a role that’s approved to be remote must “separate from IBM,” Granger wrote.
“IBM is focused on providing a work environment that balances flexibility with the face-to-face interactions that make us more productive, innovative and better able to serve our clients,” a company spokesperson said.
“Consistent with that approach, we’re requiring executives and people managers in the United States to be in the office at least three days per week.”
Chief executive Arvind Krishna has long touted the importance of in-person work. In a May 2023 interview with Bloomberg,
Krishna said that promotions will be rarer for those who aren’t on-site.
Some teams within IBM had already instituted office attendance requirements.
IBM has slimmed its operations to focus on software and services in recent years,
introduced new products to capitalize on interest in artificial intelligence
and divested its managed infrastructure,
weather
and health businesses.
Executives gave a positive outlook for 2024 with fourth-quarter earnings last week, sending shares to their best day in almost four years.
Big Blue expects to reduce jobs this year, spending a similar amount on restructuring as it did last year when it planned to cut 3,900 workers, chief financial officer James Kavanaugh said last week.
Return-to-office mandates are often seen as fuelling attrition. IBM had about 288,000 workers globally at the end of 2022.
The company has closed a number of offices since the onset of the pandemic, potentially complicating return-to-office plans for workers. That includes in central New York state, Southbury, Conn., and Iowa.
Reducing its real estate footprint is part of IBM’s ongoing margin-expansion efforts, Kavanaugh said during an earnings call last week. It couldn’t be determined how many managers would be required to move under the new rules.
Many companies have increased return-to-office requirements over the last year replacing employee-friendly incentives like happy hours and commuter subsidies with more punitive measures including disciplinary action or limited career advancement if attendance targets aren’t met.
The tech industry in particular has seen tightening rules as the market soured and the risk of job cuts has tipped the scale in favour of employers.
Amazon.com Inc. and AT&T Inc. have each ordered some remote workers to relocate near offices.
Despite new rules, office attendance remained fairly stagnant throughout 2023, according to data from Kastle Systems.
Across the 10 largest business districts in the U.S.,
the number of workers in the office hovered around 50 per cent of what it was before the pandemic,
with tech-heavy regions like the San Francisco Bay Area reporting even lower percentages.
— With assistance from Matthew Boyle
This is about the real IBM Corporation, not that little collection of small offices in North York known as IBM Canada. Does the evil Trudeau push around the USA too?
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