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Washington Post Employees Ordered Back To the Office (washingtonian.com) 150

Long-time Slashdot reader DesScorp writes: The Washingtonian magazine reports that yet another company is ending most remote work for its employees. The Post's previous policy from 2022 until now had been 3 days in office, 2 days remote. The employee union for the paper, the Washington Post Guild, will oppose the mandate.
The union sent members a defiant email, according to the article. "Guild leadership sees this for what it is: a change that stands to further disrupt our work than to improve our productivity or collaboration." Managers will have to return beginning February 3, 2025, and all other employees will be expected in the office beginning June 2 [according to a memo from publisher Will Lewis]. "I want that great office energy for us every day," Lewis writes. "I am reliably informed that is how it used to be here before Covid, and it's important we get this back."

Washington Post Employees Ordered Back To the Office

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  • by Press2ToContinue ( 2424598 ) on Sunday November 10, 2024 @04:36PM (#64935357)
    ...wants to bring back the “great office energy” that was apparently bouncing off the walls pre-Covid. But nothing says “great energy” quite like employees reluctantly dragging themselves into the office like they're at a corporate re-enactment of The Walking Dead.
    • of what the future brings. There was a lot of noise about his refusal to allow WP to endorse Kamala. Turned out his bet was the right one.

      • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 10, 2024 @05:05PM (#64935403)

        of what the future brings. There was a lot of noise about his refusal to allow WP to endorse Kamala. Turned out his bet was the right one.

        For sufficiently small values of "right".

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by Anonymous Coward

          of what the future brings. There was a lot of noise about his refusal to allow WP to endorse Kamala. Turned out his bet was the right one.

          For sufficiently small values of "right".

          Where "right" is defined as "don't get on the wrong side of the vindictive sociopath who has vowed retribution on all of his perceived enemies."

      • by quonset ( 4839537 ) on Sunday November 10, 2024 @05:06PM (#64935409)

        of what the future brings.

        You mean higher prices due to tariffs and a return to rising inflation?

        • Designed to cause mass layoffs so that we all blow through our savings and then are forced to take huge pay cuts which is supposed to help lower inflation.

          The next 4 years the face eating leopards are going to be eating so damn well. Yet somehow the people whose face is get eaten will blame the minority political parties for it.
        • What is this 'return' stuff?
      • Well, that bet actually turned out wrong since Trump filed a FEC complaint against WaPo, ie Bezo's nixxing of the endorsement didn't help in the least to get him into Trump's good graces.

        FEC Complaint: https://s3.documentcloud.org/d... [documentcloud.org]

        • by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Sunday November 10, 2024 @05:58PM (#64935531)

          What we've seen over and over is that you can never be obsequious enough for Trump. Even a complete toady like Lindsay Graham regularly found himself on Trump's shitlist on multiple occasions.

          Tangentially - I am anticipating with bated breath (and popcorn) the inevitable Trump-Musk blowup. Eventually one or both will decide the other one doesn't deserve the (perceived outsized amount of) attention they're getting.

          • Agreed, it is the only positive I see. I've already seen an article https://www.yahoo.com/news/car... [yahoo.com] where he says stuff like "For one thing, Republicans will look to freeze fuel economy standards for at least a decade — which would slow EV adoption and anger environmentalists. A second Donald Trump administration may also look to take away California's ability to set its own strict emissions standards. Also, it is likely to repeal parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, including the $7,500 tax credit
            • There's an angle to some of this that I don't think people are seeing yet: with Musk involved deeply in whatever the hell they're going to do (nobody knows, and if they think they do, they're likely wrong) - if they take away EV incentives, there's a good chance that Detroit can't make EVs profitable and they just stop trying. Tesla and Rivian would then be the only market players, and it's unclear if Rivian would have a path to profitability or not.

              This could merely be a backdoor to handing Tesla a de fac

              • Only if people keep buying ev's. I suspect not, especially if CAFE is suspended and CARB is neutered causing ICE to continue to be viable. And the greens who are willing to pay the ev premium will buy a kia or hyundai. I've a friend who is looking at an ioniq. And they are priced similar to muskmobiles, so not sure musk has the edge anymore in ev making. If anything BYD has shown it has the edge, and that could wipe his China and possibly EU markets. I do agree, musk may have a different angle to suck the g
          • Perhaps Musk will get disappeared like Jack Ma.

            (I need to remind myself that this really would be a bad thing, in the larger scheme of things.)

          • Also see: Nikki Haley.

            Completely debased herself after staying in the primary too long for Trump's liking. And one of his first actions as President-Elect is to say she won't be joining his administration.

            These people never learn.

      • by gtall ( 79522 )

        Bezos did that because he had already done a deal with the former alleged president re his silly rocket company. He sold out, just like all the rest of the former alleged president's supporters.

      • It was the "right" short term bet.

        It remains to be seen if this is a case of mortgaging the future to pay for right now.

    • by TigerPlish ( 174064 ) on Sunday November 10, 2024 @04:47PM (#64935383)

      employees reluctantly dragging themselves into the office like they're at a corporate re-enactment of The Walking Dead.

      That's every job I've ever had, with varying degrees of soul-sucking powers.

    • Flatulence. He's talking about flatulence. He wants victims for his crop dusting.
  • by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Sunday November 10, 2024 @04:38PM (#64935359)

    "I am reliably informed by Our Lord Bezos that is how it used to be in the office before Covid, and I want my paycheck to continue arriving at my bank. May he live forever!"

  • Will The Washington Post replace that human-created content with AI-created content?

    Honestly, it is sometimes difficult to tell the difference between the two.

  • Our overlord has a bunch of real estate that is sitting idle, and he wants it used. He's willing to take a major productivity loss in order to make that happen, so hop to it!

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      Our overlord has a bunch of real estate that is sitting idle

      WaPo rents office space at One Franklin Square in DC.

      Neither WaPo nor Bezos owns the premises.

      So your conspiracy theory that employees are being ordered back to the office to support real estate prices is nonsense.

      • So your conspiracy theory that employees are being ordered back to the office to support real estate prices is nonsense.

        Not necessarily. There's a distinct possibility the building owners have been in consoltation with the businesses that rent from them (or used to rent) explaining how they'll lower rent costs if businesses fill the space because they're losing money with people working from home.

      • So your conspiracy theory that employees are being ordered back to the office to support real estate prices is nonsense.

        It's a big club, and you aren't in it.

        • You can't on one hand accuse businesses of being only mindlessly in pursuit of their bottom line, but on the other proclaim that they'll take actions that do nothing to further that with just the merest suggestion and no further evidence to support that claim. It's just that usual conspiracy claptrap that paints the government (or some other entity) as simultaneously all powerful and hopelessly incompetent as convenient for whatever fantasy is being constructed in the mind of the theorist.

          There are far m
          • There are far more simple reasons including management having a hard time justifying their own existence if they don't have people around to manage. The people in those roles are used to doing things they way they have been doing them for decades and aren't comfortable with change, even if that change might be for the better.

            Not my problem. They can always find another in office job.

      • So your conspiracy theory that employees are being ordered back to the office to support real estate prices is nonsense.

        Alright then. When a brand new company starts up and actually hires grown-ass adults as managers who are fully capable of managing good employees who have all collectively proven WFH works just fine, and start to compete against the old-fashioned corporate mentality of RTO and all of the companies carrying the fucking massive financial burden of obscene real estate lease costs, insane property taxes, associated daily, weekly, and monthly upkeep of the building along with annual maintenance and inspections,

      • Do you think they like paying for leased space that is going under-used?

        Do you think the lease has language in it allowing them to pay less if it's used less?

        Does any commercial real estate lease work that way? In the history of commercial real estate leases?

        What are you even talking about?

  • they could go and get a job elsewhere (like MSNBC)

  • Will be ALL ABOUT how Jeff Bezos has ruined the paper and how that helped Trump. This will be self-reinforcing negativism. It's a terrible human factors/sociology call by the Post's management.

    • Re:Water cooler talk (Score:5, Interesting)

      by hdyoung ( 5182939 ) on Sunday November 10, 2024 @05:23PM (#64935439)
      Most of the time, there’s no such thing as coincidence. Last week, Bezos bowed and kissed Trump’s feet, and 10% of the newspaper staff resigned in response. Trump won the election, and 24 hours later, Bezos just happens to call an end to WFH?

      This isn’t a coincidence. The clear message to the remaining staff is “we will bow to the new leader, and if you don’t like it, you can leave anytime you want”. Others will leave, and Bezos will replace them with more pliable people.

      The newspaper will rapidly shrink and lose money. The market for a conservative newspaper in DC is barely even a blip. Bezos knows this. His larger goal is to stay on Trump’s good side in order to avoid any regulatory action on his other company. You know, the one that rhymes with “marathon”? Any money lost on the newspaper is pocket change.

      Bezos had better watch his back. Trump has zero loyalty beyond his children and barely even knows the meaning of the word “gratitude”. I suspect both Bezos and Musk are in for a nasty time. Probably sooner than they expect, too.
    • Didn't a bunch of them who don't believe in journalism already quit? Maybe that's good for the long term health of the company.

      Everyone can be replaced. No one is special. But anyone who doesn't like their work conditions absolutely should go see what else is out there and quit if they can find something more appropriate.

      When I was new to managing and lost someone I tried really hard to save them but it rarely worked. Later on, I only asked the reasoning behind the decision, wished them all the best and

  • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Sunday November 10, 2024 @05:10PM (#64935415)
    or try to. It's his paper, he's not going to let it argue against his interests.

    Letting 0.1% of the voting public buy 99% of the media is not going to end well for any of us. Doesn't matter how informed you are if your neighbors are all guzzing down billionaire backed propaganda.
    • Go start your own paper then. It's never been easier to get your message out to the world and if you can find an audience receptive to what you say, you'll certainly be successful. Every other successful business started that way and only reached their present level of success by providing a useful good or service to their customers.

      If you think he's purging talented writers, that just means that their labor is now available for hire. It sounds like a perfect opportunity for you and any number of like mi
      • Papers like the Washington Post in New York Times have long standing audiences built up over decades and decades. So yeah I can start my own paper but for example I can't get my local grocery store to carry it. But on the other hand the right wing epoch Times is carried by my grocery store...

        Or take the propaganda outlet PragerU who bought their way on to YouTube with tens of thousands of dollars of ads. Sure if I had a lot of money lying around and nothing but time because I was independently wealthy I
      • All the last newspapers that went bankrupt in the past 20-30 years, just weren't trying hard enough?
    • by Tailhook ( 98486 ) on Sunday November 10, 2024 @05:46PM (#64935493)

      is not going to end well

      It's already ended well. These people and their reporting is effectively useless and if they vanished tomorrow, we would notice, but nothing of value would have been lost.

    • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

      Omg, you are so right! 99% of our media being owned by 0.1% is fucking horrible. What we need is the People's Media. We can all own all the media and pay for it with tax money.

      We can set up websites and let people post their own videos and opinions and news from around the world.

      Are you with me, Brother?! Let's rock this socialized media shit!

    • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      He's got to do a purge. Because of an edict from Bezos to not do a presidential endorsement - that backfired so badly, Bezos was forced to write a opinion piece about it that basically said nothing other than what everyone knew - he nuked the article.

      As a result, a quarter million subscribers to WaPo cancelled. In a struggling industry, that's a huge number. (Note that newspaper subscriptions only really pay for the delivery - the paper itself is paid for by the ads, but now they're getting a quarter millio

    • or try to. It's his paper, he's not going to let it argue against his interests.

      Thats not a CEO/business owner running a newspaper.

      Thats an asshole demanding public discourse bend to his will.

      If you can’t take the heat, don’t even think about buying a kitchen appliance. Let alone step foot in a kitchen.

  • by schwit1 ( 797399 ) on Sunday November 10, 2024 @05:58PM (#64935521)

    Bezos wants to trim headcount. This is an easy way to do that.

    Lots of businesses are doing the same for the same reason

    • Bezos wants to trim headcount. This is an easy way to do that.

      Lots of businesses are doing the same for the same reason

      Lots of grown-ass adult managers and executives, all collectively assume their children employees (who have proven WFH capability for years) are far too stupid to understand a simple need to trim headcount, so all have collectively agreed to collude and abuse a RTO mandate under the guise of trimming headcount.

      In other words, lots of businesses are fucking lying. We have no fucking idea if it’s a headcount trim, a pension save due to commercial real estate investments, protecting the entire corruptly

  • by Jayhawk0123 ( 8440955 ) on Sunday November 10, 2024 @06:23PM (#64935579)

    let's fix that headline: WSJ lays off staff

    Can we just start to openly call these RTO mandates what they are, concealed lay offs. They want to save on severance payouts... so they do these.

    Curious how many lawsuits were filed and won for wrongful termination or breach of contract by companies that did these moves. We likely don't hear about them due to NDAs.... but there have to be many. Can't see it being legal to fire someone that doesn't want to RTO when they were hired for a role that was full-time WFH.

    • by bsolar ( 1176767 )

      Can't see it being legal to fire someone that doesn't want to RTO when they were hired for a role that was full-time WFH.

      Depends on whether WFH was part of the employment contract and on what terms.

  • âoe
    The push to end remote working stems from several factors:
    Control and Supervision: Many executives prefer in-office work to maintain oversight and control over employees, fearing a lack of productivity when workers are unsupervised13.
    Commercial Real Estate: Companies face financial pressure to utilize expensive office spaces, leading them to mandate a return to the office to avoid losses on real estate investments34.
    Cultural Concerns: Leaders often argue that remote work erodes company culture and c

    • The push to end remote working stems from several factors: Commercial Real Estate: Companies face financial pressure to utilize expensive office spaces, leading them to mandate a return to the office to avoid losses on real estate investments.

      The push to bring back WFH will stem from one factor: when the new competition hiring grown-ass adults to work for grown-ass managers who work for grown-ass executives starts crushing your business because they have zero commercial real estate expenses.

      They'll also capture your best and brightest (crushing your salaries too) to sustain that happy and productive workforce who are not forced to waste countless hours sitting behind a steering wheel adding to death tolls on road-rage congested roadways, drivin

  • 1. They want the ones who don't have the financial means to quit. They can "alter the deal" further and they'll have no choice but to accept the terms. They want subservient employees. This means those who don't have the means to quit, this way they can "twiddle the dials" and further enshittify the job and the people dependent on them will have no choice but to grin and bear it.

    2. They view all employees as interchangeable cogs. If they lose a few, they'll be plenty more who are hungrier who will accept a

  • RTO is all about ham-fisted control and utopian management social engineering, not employee satisfaction or saving employees' time and money. Just opt-out and send them the right message by working elsewhere.
    • RTO is all about ham-fisted control and utopian management social engineering, not employee satisfaction or saving employees' time and money. Just opt-out and send them the right message by working elsewhere.

      Some people feel stuck. All of this return to work shit is a filter. They're trying to filter out those with a bit of spine and enough means to quit and find other work. Those who feel stuck? They'll bring back to the office, then slowly tighten the screws on them. The oligarchs want to return to slavery, but they'll be almost as satisfied with indentured servitude.

    • That's probably what they're actually looking for - this is a self-selecting layoff in disguise to dodge paying severance / buying out union contracts / avoid WARN.

      Remember, they just lost >10% of their subscriber base because their managing editor is a coward. That probably puts their profitability underwater without cutting expenses.

  • Cancelling my subscription immediately. And, for good measure, take a big huge middle finger.
  • This is the world their shitty news coverage created. Let them marinate in everyone else's microwaved fish fumes while they whore themselves out to Bezos.
  • I don't have much knowledge in union and would like to ask someone with experience to help understand this. Can union actually intervene in how a company makes internal changes like this?

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