this post was submitted on 27 Oct 2024
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Work Reform
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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
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- All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
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My friend works as a corporate "efficiency expert," and yes, we joke about Office Space with him all the time. According to him, one of the latest tools for cutting labor costs is the inflated perception of WFH positions. Many people are willing to accept lower pay for a remote role, making it a highly effective tool for companies to leverage against workers. The strategy described in the article is precisely what he and others are advising corporate clients to use. As a result, you’ll likely see more companies adopt this approach in workplaces that mix WFH and RTO policies.
This explains why RTO mandates are becoming more common. The increased push for RTO makes fully remote jobs rarer, which in turn heightens competition for these positions. RTO also serves as a cheap and easy tactic for downsizing—companies can issue an RTO mandate, see a voluntary exodus, and then re-advertise those same roles as remote positions with reduced pay. Often, they hire fewer people overall. With such fierce demand for WFH, businesses can reduce their workforce cost-effectively, attract top talent, and drive down wages.
At this point, WFH is largely a tool for managing labor costs. Many workers will leave a job over an RTO mandate, swearing off office work for good, only to find that the market is flooded with people making the same choice. If they’re lucky, they’ll find a new WFH job, but often it comes with less pay or stability—just delaying the next inevitable RTO push. Sure, some find a better fit, but for most, this cycle of WFH, RTO, pay cuts, and re-shuffled roles is only going to intensify.
The underlying issue here is intense competition for WFH roles. Many workers overestimate their irreplaceability, yet most can be easily swapped out. More often than not, these replacements are higher-skilled individuals willing to accept lower pay. There’s no shortage of people vying for remote roles. And notably, in the article, the complaints about losing “high-skill employees” come from the employees themselves—not the companies.
Interesting way to look at things. You could then look at it like this: Allowing people to work from home was essentially a raise. And now they are rescinding it.
Sure, you can frame it however you want, but the reality is that companies are using people’s attachment to WFH as a tool to cut costs and churn out employees more cheaply. By pushing return-to-office mandates, they’re nudging people to leave without having to call it a pay cut or layoff—it’s a workaround that makes it easier for them to replace folks with new hires who’ll take the conditions they’re setting.
Whether you want to call it a "rescinded raise" or not doesn’t change the fact that this tactic is all about control and cutting down labor costs. And unlike an actual rescinded raise, there aren't as many laws and rules about notification, etc. So it's fine to think of it that way as long as you don't convince yourself RTO has the same provisions required of a pay cut, which is why it's being used in the ways I described previously.