The current edicts and arcane folklore about returning to office work are so lacking in depth perception that it’s almost interesting. It requires a very high level of total incomprehension to fly in the face of every available hard money metric.
The workplace is digital. The work is digital. Productivity is digital. The business is largely digital. Why do you need a ridiculously expensive place to do business at all?
For example:
You employ 10 people at a net wage cost of $1 million including admin.
You now want to incur an added cost of $2 million through office rental, insurance, OHS, admin, managerial facilities, and other costs. This is done for no other reason than having people in an office.
Somehow you have convinced yourself that the extra $2 million employment cost is better for your business. It’s all cost. This does not generate more business or better business. Your salespeople and service providers spend most of their time offsite.
You have also been brainwashed to believe that people who can earn multiple income streams working remotely want to lose all those options. Then you wonder why you have high staff turnover and can’t attract job applicants.
If you’re paying someone $100,000 to make you $20 million, why do you care where they make you that $20 million? If they build a nest in a tree so they have somewhere to work, (which is what most wage earners may soon be doing), what difference does it make to your bottom line?
Suggested fix – Go back to grade school for remedial arithmetic and basic management skills.
After years of massive price increases and inflicting financial acrobatics on just about everyone, this is what you need to hear:
Thou shalt schlepp thy sorry self in whatever physical and mental condition any distance at any risk to work 5 days a week somewhere else.
Thou shalt cop the added cost and wasted time of commuting at thy own expense, effectively reducing thy wages.
Thou shalt attend the premises for no real value benefit to the staff or business.
Thou shalt attend the toxic nuthouse largely to take up space in useless badly maintained commercial property portfolios.
Thy business shalt wear all the added costs of operating a place of business for the sake of appearances, not cost efficiencies.
Thy business shalt incur major liabilities for all people and compliance issues on the premises for no actual cost benefit.
Thy business shall provide a place for the spread of seasonal diseases and plagues which will decimate attendance rates.
A little perspective here:
The most successful species all work from home. Ants, termites, bees, cockroaches, rats, and even whales don’t put themselves to all that trouble.
Workplaces are also stress factories. It’s much easier to create stress and terrible working relationships by putting people together in confined hostile spaces. Stressed people do not work well. The many subsequent issues that arise can only happen in a workplace.
Most jobs are now effectively contracts. Contractors rarely if ever need to work onsite. They simply provide whatever services are required as per contract. That’s because it’s more cost-efficient and for no other reason.
Time management needs to be addressed. In terms of time management, the workplace is the least cost-effective option.
The working day includes multiple time management issues:
Commuting – 2-3 hours every day. Those 2-3 hours could be used for actual work, but thanks to the workplace commute, they’re usually not. This is anti-productivity incarnate.
The extra effort in commuting is nothing but an immediate expenditure cost to employees. It also involves navigating the world’s ultra-safe cities and any related risks.
What purpose does cramming people into a space where they don’t need to be actually achieve?
There are a few possibilities:
Constant layoffs and related costs making the workplace cost structure obsolete on an annual basis.
Workplace shootings.
Physical violence.
Middle management melodramas.
Sexual assaults.
The entrenchment of expensive, obsolete business models and work practices.
Days weeks months or years in workplace disputes remote workers don’t have.
Endless meetings that remote workers don’t need to do.
Lawsuits galore.
Compliance issues if the good old firetrap/mold factory workplace has problems.
Pretty impressive, isn’t it?
No, it isn’t.
Solution – Ignore such expensive prehistoric drivel. Hire someone who can read, write, do basic arithmetic, and structure your business operations accordingly.
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
