Is everyone going back to office full time? NO! We collect a list of US public firms with 5 day RTOs based on news search. While there are more such firms (10) than the last year (8), the increase is small. I don’t think it’s really showing a big upward trend. Also, most of these firms aren’t asking every employee to work in the office for 5 days. For example, Dell’s 5 day RTO only applies to its global sales team. There is really only one firm (ATT) trying to follow Amazon’s across the board 5-day RTO plan. Interestingly, ATT suggests that just like Amazon, they don’t have enough seats for everyone ??Are ATT employees supposed to fight over a desk or bring their own desk from home? We also collect the age information of these 5 day RTO firms’ CEOs. At the time of the RTO announcement, the average (median) CEO age is 61 (62). This is significantly higher than the average age of US public firms, which is often between 58-59 depending on which year the data are from. So, older CEOs are more likely to imposing these outdated 5- day RTOs. Is this nostalgia or lack of adaptability? ?? What do you think? Brian Elliott Francis Saele Matthew Boyle Dave Cairns
Scott McMillan
2 个月
The commerical real estate industry and by extension those providing financing, are facing an existential crisis. If commerical office space is empty, either by tenant occupancy patterns or landlord leasing characteristics, the underlying financial stability of the investment is compromised. Property Taxes / Sales Tax Retail and Food sales All impacted. This creates contagion. The chairman of the Fed is already on the record as “navigating by the stars, under a cloudy sky” You can judge the monetary and fiscal policy decisions through whatever political prism you wish to apply. The last thing policy makers need are large scale commercial property lending defaults. It will make 2008 look like a rounding error. The so called #FutureOfWork #EmployeeExperience #WorkplaceTrends advocate’s are now running right up against #ReturntoOffice reconomic realities. Federal employees will almost certainly find themselves under scrutiny in 2025. UK government departments are settingbudgets from a Zero base. Change is coming. This is a way more complex topic and will likely become the subject #MBA case studies in the future, and possibly PhD subject matter. As night surely follows day - it will polarise.
Sophie Wade
2 个月
Mark, thank you for collecting and sharing this list of firms. It confirms the small number and gets granular to understand more about their characteristics and what can be learned. ‘Nostlagia’ can be a charming euphemism for ‘entrenched’ and or ‘set in their ways’ especially relating to legacy ‘Command and Control’ leadership styles—both aspects of which these leaders are very used to and comfortable with. While adaptability is certainly key, in many cases, I believe it’s a clear decision by these folks not to adapt. I do empathize with corporate leaders right now, including these ones, who are trying to navigate very challenging unpredictable fast moving marketplace developments. From this list, I observe determined intention to use old habits to try and navigate a new climate—tried and tested methods in unfamiliar circumstances. But, flexibility and adaptability are imperative for operating now, hence very few companies—even from this list as you point out—have been very fixed about their policy in practice. Your analysis confirms that we all have to find solutions with flexibility that work for our own specific business and workforce. Great post!
Emelie Hagander
2 个月
Would be interesting how a portfolio of just these companies, shorted, would compare to index.
Gabe Burke
2 个月
I wonder how these firms are performing against their industry. In other words, is an RTO mandate now a symptom of financial struggles.
Nirit Cohen ??
2 个月
Mark Ma If I wanted to quote this in a Forbes article, is this published anywhere?
Matt Ferris
2 个月
So the analysis set of companies here is the Russell 3,000? And out of 3,000 companies, the claim is that only 10 converted to 5-day in-office requirements? Publicly traded companies are estimated to be about 22% of US employees. Wonder what's happening with the other 78%.
Paulo Cardoso
2 个月
Thank you for sharing Mark Ma! Happy holidays!
Aaron McLin
2 个月
"At the time of the RTO announcement, the average (median) CEO age is 61 (62). This is significantly higher than the average age of US public firms, which is often between 58-59 depending on which year the data are from. So, older CEOs are more likely to imposing these outdated 5- day RTOs." This does not follow. Given the very small sample size here it's worth looking into how they compare with their similarly-aged peers, especially given that the difference is only a year or two. Is there any evidence that the chance of an RTO mandate increases with age? Median age cannot tell you that.
Rob Longley
2 个月
It's the boomer way - and it's time to let go of it.
Business Professor Passionate About Addressing Real World Issues Through Research
2 个月There are two female CEOs on the list, Jane Fraser and Carol Tome. I am surprised when I find their profile pictures online. While both look elegant, their styles are so similar. Maybe, there could be some behavioral explanations.