Executives Are Now “Cranky” About An Employee “Dead Zone”

More circular BS in the hybrid vs. WFH discourse.

I guess The Wall Street Journal needs to write things that appeal to titans of, well, Wall Street — so obviously for much of the last two years, they’ve been bashing work-from-home and hybrid work in a variety of ways, desperate to get executives to keep their subscriptions by playing to their need to be deified by peons in neat little rows at their desks, even if they can only name 2 in every 10 of those peons.

Now they are bemoaning a new “employee dead zone:”

The New Workday Dead Zone When Nothing Gets Done

Here’s the funniest paragraph:

Despite the return of teeth-grinding commutes and overpriced lunches, lots of workers are sticking with the Covid-era habit of clocking out early and making it up later. By 4 p.m. on weekdays, golf courses are packed, according to a Stanford University study, as are many New York City restaurants.

Why’s that funny?

Golf courses and restaurants were always packed at 4pm, especially in the summer. That was true in 2002 in many cities. That’s not new information. I myself have had a long and inglorious phase with day drinking in New York City, Minneapolis, and DFW. I can tell you that bars are often packed at 12pm, not just 4pm. And a lot of those guys are wearing suits.

Here’s another gem:

In a recent, one-month sample of Microsoft Teams software usage, the share of virtual and in-person meetings scheduled between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. was down 7% from a year earlier, despite widespread office returns.