Rip Wfh

On Thursday employees at a national financial services company were told they’d have to come into the office at least three days a week. “Oh boy,” one of the corporate managers told me that afternoon. “This should be interesting. But there are employees who work for me I’ve never met. It has to end.”

Indeed. It is.

CIBC has informed workers in its capital-markets division that their bums need to be in chairs, in the office, five days a week. (Many have already been returned for four days weekly.) In the US Amazon this month told employees that five days a week is the law. Hybrid work at AT&T is now forbidden and everyone must be in office as the new year dawns. Scores of other firms – Barclays, Dell, Goldman Sachs and Tesla among them – have full or partial-get-your-butt-in-here mandates.

A KPMG survey of CEOs last year found an overwhelming number – 83% – expect there to be a full return to the workplace movement within the next three years.

This week, of course, Trump joined in. US federal workers have been ordered to be in the office five days a week immediately. In addition workplace protections were stripped away, while any existing contractual agreements allowing remote work were forfeited. All managers, said the president, must, “Take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis.” The American government directly employs more than 1.1 million workers.

And the situation in Ottawa?

Government workers were told last fall that they’d have to go from full remote (zero days in the office) to three days a week. Predictably, there were howls of outrage. Union leaders asked for a Parliamentary inquiry and have taken the issue to court, amid charges offices are unsafe work environments (seriously), full of noise and distractions with inadequate meeting spaces available. At the CRA – where workers have been handling sensitive taxpayer records on home computers through insecure connections – there’s concern an exodus of employees will hobble operations.

Public Service Alliance of Canada boss Sharon DeSousa says, “remote work is the future of Canada’s public service,” and thinks the government should start selling off buildings. For his part, Con leader Pierre Poilievre is on record wanting to slash the size of the public service even as productivity has slipped (a quarter of necessary tasks, like getting passports issued, are found to be deficient). The PM-in-waiting says he has no issue with remote work, by the way.

PSAC president Sharon DeSousa. (CBC photo)

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Well, here we are now – fully six years after Covid started to spread and five years after the WFH revolution ripped through society. As we know, tens of thousands of people fled the cities during the pandemic. Hundreds of thousands bought real estate in more distant locations to take advantage of cheap money to relocate in less expensive areas believing they’d never be in cubicles again.

WFH, clearly, raised the price of real estate in general and in many smaller cities, towns and rural areas exploded it higher. Local families, as a result, have forever been priced out of communities that were their heritage.

WFH decimated many big-city locations. It turned lofty office towers into empty monuments. In areas like Toronto’s famous PATH – the largest, longest underground mall on the planet – local businesses were wiped out. Transit service budgets plunged into the red and have stayed there with ridership still only a fraction of what it was in 2019.

WFH has also widened the rift in society between the whites and the blues. White-collar workers, generally more educated, better paid and expected to tap on their laptops and go through Zoom meetings (often without any pants) got to be at home and run their own personal schedules. Blue-collar folks, working trades, or retail, hospitality or other service jobs, were expected to have cars, travel costs, work clothes, day care and other expenses while being on site and earning less. Unfair. Inequitable. Unsustainable. All while inflation and interest rates were on the rise.

Well, it’s over. Five years ago this blog boldly forecast that WFH would not last. Humans crave other humans. Workplaces require their own culture. Thousands of years of civilization arrived at the same conclusion – people need guidance, supervision, inspiration, training and encouragement. Cities, downtowns and work areas evolved for a reason. When human nature changes, this will too. But not so far. We’re not even close.

WFH appeals to people, of course. They want to get paid and not actually work as hard. Or be governed. Or judged. Soon they come to see walking the dog, doing laundry, shopping and child care during work hours as a right. They stop budgeting for travel costs, new shoes and haircuts. They buy houses in places that are affordable and inconvenient. And meanwhile employers foot the bill for vacant spaces and dodgy workers who, by their actions, prove they don’t actually want to work. The bottom line is a less productive, less equitable and less cohesive society.

We’re done. You can fight it and lose. Or we’ll see you on Monday.

About the picture: “My mom reads you blog (and forwards every post to me) regularly,” writes Tricia. “I thought it might be a nice surprise for her to see her Grand-Dogter Scout. I’ve attached a few of her best photos for you to choose from, should you honour her with being featured as a Blog Dog.”

To be in touch or send a picture of your beas, email to ‘gartyh@garth.ca’.

Source: https://www.greaterfool.ca/2025/01/24/rip-wfh/