Return to the office is a sneaky way to do layoffs?

Hey,

I'm Sergio Pereira, and this is the Remote Work newsletter 👋

Last week I reflected on my 8 years working from home. What I miss, and what I don't miss at all.

Today, let me address a common question I get, as companies demand their employees to return to the office a few days a week. And in some cases they make attendance a key part of performance reviews, or even a cause for contract termination.

Let's be clear, remote work does work. Many remote companies prove that you can grow teams and companies to a significant size as a remote organisation. Wordpress was built fully remote. Zapier, Gitlab, Buffer, etc etc. There are plenty of companies with 1000+ employees that don't have an office at all, and whose team members span around the world. All working from their homes, or nomading, or living the life style they enjoy the most.

Now, for any companies doing such a full remote culture, of course this comes with the responsibility of setting up the right processes and tools for remote work, enabling async collaboration. Just like I cover in my course Mastering Remote Work, there are basics that must be covered as a foundation for such a remote+async culture.

The actual reasons driving most Return to the Office mandates are way beyond processes and productivity. In the current economy, many big companies are exploring ways to cut their costs and operate in a more lean way. Pushing everyone back to the office is a way to frustrate employees to a point where they walk out on their own, meaning the company doesn't need to pay any severance.

This is quite serious. Some people have moved back home, to another city or country. Others simply moved away from busy and expensive urban areas to more rural areas. Returning to the office is not simply about the commute, it entails redesigning the whole life for many folks out there.

And note that most people are doing their job and hitting their goals while working remote. Many people I spoke with showed me work they did, and performance reviews they had, which didn't indicate any need for sudden changes. In some cases, even team leads, managers and whole teams were surprise by these changes inflicted on themselves and their reports.

Furthermore, some companies are laying off employees after forcing them to doing such a massive life redesign to clock in at the office. This is a clear indication that there's a target for headcount reduction, if it isn't hit by RTO resignations alone, the company executes the layoff to meet that quota anyway. This is cruel, and certainly detracts folks from making the effort at all.

When I read RTO-related questions in my DMs they sound like a "Mayday! Mayday!" call for help. And I wish I could help them all thrive in a remote career and avoid returning to the office at all.

I recommend these few things to everyone who feels fragile in this context of layoffs and RTO mandates:

1/ Always be applying

The best way to test your value in the market, is to consistently apply to jobs relevant to your profile and your preferences.

This way you'll have hard data about how many interviews you get. And if you decide to go through them, you have a first row seat into what the process looks like and what kind of salary package you're offered. Regardless what you do about those, creating such options is a pragmatic insurance against layoffs and RTO mandates.

For people who have a full time job, and a family and other life commitments, it can be quite challenging to do this consistent job application process. And that's why I'm creating the JobsCopilot.ai, so that people can setup their profile and preferences and carry on with their life while the AI applies to jobs on their behalf. I'm wrapping private testing this week, and I'll be sending invites to the folks on the waitlist very soon.

2/ Create inbound job opportunities

I cover this in some detail on session 4 of the Remote Jobs Braintrust. There's easy work you can complete in 2 hours that will bring you a constant stream of job opportunities:

Linkedin: If you simply optimise your Linkedin profile with all the right keywords, you'll show up in the first search results when a Recruiter or CTO is looking for people to hire. Folks in the Braintrust community are consistently getting DMs with invites to join interview processes, just by doing this.

Recruiters: Just message recruiters with the roles/salary you're looking for. Search for the ones who engaged with you in the past, and search for new relevant ones. They'll add you to their "database", and reach out to you whenever they have a relevant role for you.

3/ Grow your network

Most people lose touch from past colleagues and managers, as they change jobs. Don't do that. The best opportunities will come to you from folks you worked with in the past. They'll invite you to join their new company, or mention your name in random conversations. Just keep in touch and update them when you're privately job seeking.

Also make an effort to grow your network. Ask for introductions to people at companies you're interested in, like fast growing startups, or companies with a top-notch engineering culture, or those that are heavy in your preferred tech stack. Do it when you don't need it ASAP, since theses things take time to convert into material job opportunities.

You should build leverage for when a rainy day comes. If you ever feel fragile because you were laid off or your employer bullied you to return to the office, you'll have options on the table. And having options makes all the difference in such tough times.

Thanks for reading this newsletter until the end. You can read all past editions here. Make sure to share it with your friends and colleagues so they can read it too.

If you're interested in sponsoring this newsletter, send me an email or DM.

Cheers,

Sergio Pereira, 
Startup CTO & Remote Work Lover