Managers Remain Incredible Needledicks About WFH Policies

Modern managers, lacking purpose and understanding of productivity, often create a semi-surveillance state.

The above screenshot is from this research. As you can say, 44% of managers either “threaten termination” or actually terminate if someone works over the prescribed amount of at-home days, i.e. company says 2 days at-home and they work three days at-home one week.

There’s one school of thought which says, “Well, Ted, if you work three days at home and the policy is two, you’re violating the policy, and you should be subject to termination.” Indeed. That’s true, and that’s employer right, especially in at-will employment settings.

There’s another — perhaps more logical — layer, however. The point of a job is to get tasks done in exchange for money. You can claim the point is “purpose” and “clarity” and “accomplishment” and “success” and “value” and all this other shit, but if you take away the tasks, the managers are unhappy, and if you take away the money, everyone is unhappy, so those are the two big things. “Respect” would be nice, but at this point it’s just that — a nice-to-have, not a need-to-have.