Working from home could kill career advancement, so says the CEO of IBM
(2023/05/04)
- Reference: 1683230408
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/05/04/working_home_ibm/
- Source link:
IBM CEO, Arvind Krishna, isn't telling his employees that they have to return to the office, but he did warn that continuing to work remotely could mean being passed over for promotion or career advancement.
Trotting out the same old Microsoft [1]productivity paranoia arguments that we've become accustomed to since the COVID-19 pandemic redefined work, Krishna said in an interview this week that "we work better when we are together in person," and that managers need to be able to see the folks whose work they're directing every once in a while.
"It doesn't need to be every minute. You don't need to function under those old 'Everybody's under my eye' kind of rules, but at least sometimes," Krishna [2]told Bloomberg, adding that IBM's return-to-office policy is one of encouragement, not requirement.
[3]
"We encourage you to come in, we expect you to come in, we want you to come in," for three days a week, Krishna said.
[4]
[5]
Krishna said this applies especially to managers, arguing they require face-to-face time with staff to properly do their jobs. Remote work is more viable for individual contributors, Krishna said, adding that "moving from there to another role is probably less likely because nobody's observing them in another context. It will be tougher. Not impossible, but probably a lot tougher."
The IBM boss earlier [6]mulled replacing thousands of workers with artificial intelligence.
Joining the ranks of the working paranoid
Corporate leaders have been jockeying to [7]get staff back to the office since early into the pandemic, and not everyone has been successful.
Apple's attempts to get staff back to its [8]expensive new headquarters in early 2022 met [9]strong opposition from employees. The company [10]scrapped the move , citing rising COVID cases, but as of March 2023 has [11]reportedly ordered employees back to the office 3 days a week on pain of termination.
[12]
Krishna's statement that working in the office is optional but encouraged puts in him good company, with Amazon having mandated [13]3 days a week on site for its 300,000 corporate staff in February. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's justification was similar to Krishna's, with the Bezos replacement saying "It's easier to learn, model, practice, and strengthen our culture when we're in the office together most of the time and surrounded by our colleagues."
Jassy emphasized new employees, who he said need the culture injections that come with working on site, echoing Salesforce founder and CEO Marc Benioff, who last year [14]accused his newer employees of being less productive and blamed remote work.
Don't you wish your employees were miserable efficient like me?
While Microsoft is not without [15]blame for exacerbating tensions between remote employees and their bosses, the software giant said last year that its own research found a [16]disconnect between workers and managers that needs to be addressed, and return-to-office mandates might not be the way to do it.
Microsoft urged companies to avoid practicing "productivity theater" and instead focus on listening to staff to better understand their remote work experiences and needs.
[17]Red Hat layoffs spark calls to unionize, CEO wades in
[18]Dropbox drops 16% of staff, points finger at hard-up customers and AI
[19]IBM pauses counting its billions to trim Red Hat staff
[20]How was Google boss's 2022? He got paid $226M as stock awards kicked in
That's similar to what industry leaders said at the Canalys Channels Forum last year - namely that focusing on the work done by in-office staff (cough - Benioff and Krishna - cough) could mean qualified, talented - but remote - staff may [21]simply quit .
And while the debate over how productive remote employees are continues to rage, plenty of studies actually find that, contrary to statements from Benioff and Krishna, remote workers are more productive and focused - and can even feel a better connection to their company's culture.
The Slack-backed Future Forum's October [22]report of worker sentiment found that 29 percent of remote workers say they're more productive at home, and 53 percent feel they're better able to focus.
[23]
"Remote and hybrid workers are more likely to feel connected to their direct manager and their company's values and equally or more likely to feel connected to their immediate teams as fully in-office workers are," Future Forum said in its report.
Oddly enough, those same workers cite flexible remote work policies as the top factor in improving company culture since the pandemic. Sixty percent of executives, however, told Future Forum that their workforce planning policies are determined at the executive level with little to no direct input from underlings.
In other words, executives that want their employees back in the office are making their decisions based on sentiments from other leaders without considering the feelings - or accurately gauging the performance - of line workers.
Combined with what the Future Forum said is a declining job satisfaction rate for executives In fact, individual contributors responding to the survey last year generally reported feeling that their work-life balance had improved, they were more satisfied at work and suffering from less stress and anxiety.
But let's not forget the period of time we're in right now - the tech industry is contracting hard and fast as it struggles to readjust to the post-pandemic economy.
IBM Consulting, which ordered workers back to the office three days a week in October of last year, has been accused of trying to [24]get employees to quit on their own to avoid layoffs.
"Nobody wants to commute to an office and sit there for ten hours to justify managerial roles and sit in meetings all day," one IBM employee said on Fishbowl. Since then, IBM and its subsidiaries have conducted [25]several [26]waves of [27]layoffs . ®
Get our [28]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/23/microsoft_highlights_productivity_paranoia/
[2] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-03/remote-work-can-hurt-your-career-ibm-ceo-says
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZFQrAXnz7GsdywPu4ye88QAAAEw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZFQrAXnz7GsdywPu4ye88QAAAEw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZFQrAXnz7GsdywPu4ye88QAAAEw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/02/ibm_ai_back_office_jobs/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/16/return_to_office/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2018/03/06/apple_hq_headbang_horror/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/03/apple_return_to_the_office/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/18/apple_return_to_office/
[11] https://fortune.com/2023/03/24/remote-work-3-days-apple-discipline-terminates-tracks-tim-cook/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZFQrAXnz7GsdywPu4ye88QAAAEw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/20/amazon_mandates_return_to_office/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/19/salesforce_new_hires_less_productive_claims_benioff/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/26/productivity_score/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/23/microsoft_highlights_productivity_paranoia/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/28/red_hat_layoffs_union/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/27/dropbox_ai_layoffs/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/24/ibm_red_hat_layoffs/
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/24/google_boss_paid_226_million/
[21] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/21/proximity_bias_workforce_productivity/
[22] https://futureforum.com/research/pulse-report-fall-2022-executives-feel-strain-leading-in-new-normal/
[23] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZFQrAXnz7GsdywPu4ye88QAAAEw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[24] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/19/ibm_consulting_three_day_week/
[25] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/23/merative_job_cuts_ibm_watson/
[26] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/04/ibm_and_kyndryl_are_cutting/
[27] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/24/ibm_red_hat_layoffs/
[28] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Trotting out the same old Microsoft [1]productivity paranoia arguments that we've become accustomed to since the COVID-19 pandemic redefined work, Krishna said in an interview this week that "we work better when we are together in person," and that managers need to be able to see the folks whose work they're directing every once in a while.
"It doesn't need to be every minute. You don't need to function under those old 'Everybody's under my eye' kind of rules, but at least sometimes," Krishna [2]told Bloomberg, adding that IBM's return-to-office policy is one of encouragement, not requirement.
[3]
"We encourage you to come in, we expect you to come in, we want you to come in," for three days a week, Krishna said.
[4]
[5]
Krishna said this applies especially to managers, arguing they require face-to-face time with staff to properly do their jobs. Remote work is more viable for individual contributors, Krishna said, adding that "moving from there to another role is probably less likely because nobody's observing them in another context. It will be tougher. Not impossible, but probably a lot tougher."
The IBM boss earlier [6]mulled replacing thousands of workers with artificial intelligence.
Joining the ranks of the working paranoid
Corporate leaders have been jockeying to [7]get staff back to the office since early into the pandemic, and not everyone has been successful.
Apple's attempts to get staff back to its [8]expensive new headquarters in early 2022 met [9]strong opposition from employees. The company [10]scrapped the move , citing rising COVID cases, but as of March 2023 has [11]reportedly ordered employees back to the office 3 days a week on pain of termination.
[12]
Krishna's statement that working in the office is optional but encouraged puts in him good company, with Amazon having mandated [13]3 days a week on site for its 300,000 corporate staff in February. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy's justification was similar to Krishna's, with the Bezos replacement saying "It's easier to learn, model, practice, and strengthen our culture when we're in the office together most of the time and surrounded by our colleagues."
Jassy emphasized new employees, who he said need the culture injections that come with working on site, echoing Salesforce founder and CEO Marc Benioff, who last year [14]accused his newer employees of being less productive and blamed remote work.
Don't you wish your employees were miserable efficient like me?
While Microsoft is not without [15]blame for exacerbating tensions between remote employees and their bosses, the software giant said last year that its own research found a [16]disconnect between workers and managers that needs to be addressed, and return-to-office mandates might not be the way to do it.
Microsoft urged companies to avoid practicing "productivity theater" and instead focus on listening to staff to better understand their remote work experiences and needs.
[17]Red Hat layoffs spark calls to unionize, CEO wades in
[18]Dropbox drops 16% of staff, points finger at hard-up customers and AI
[19]IBM pauses counting its billions to trim Red Hat staff
[20]How was Google boss's 2022? He got paid $226M as stock awards kicked in
That's similar to what industry leaders said at the Canalys Channels Forum last year - namely that focusing on the work done by in-office staff (cough - Benioff and Krishna - cough) could mean qualified, talented - but remote - staff may [21]simply quit .
And while the debate over how productive remote employees are continues to rage, plenty of studies actually find that, contrary to statements from Benioff and Krishna, remote workers are more productive and focused - and can even feel a better connection to their company's culture.
The Slack-backed Future Forum's October [22]report of worker sentiment found that 29 percent of remote workers say they're more productive at home, and 53 percent feel they're better able to focus.
[23]
"Remote and hybrid workers are more likely to feel connected to their direct manager and their company's values and equally or more likely to feel connected to their immediate teams as fully in-office workers are," Future Forum said in its report.
Oddly enough, those same workers cite flexible remote work policies as the top factor in improving company culture since the pandemic. Sixty percent of executives, however, told Future Forum that their workforce planning policies are determined at the executive level with little to no direct input from underlings.
In other words, executives that want their employees back in the office are making their decisions based on sentiments from other leaders without considering the feelings - or accurately gauging the performance - of line workers.
Combined with what the Future Forum said is a declining job satisfaction rate for executives In fact, individual contributors responding to the survey last year generally reported feeling that their work-life balance had improved, they were more satisfied at work and suffering from less stress and anxiety.
But let's not forget the period of time we're in right now - the tech industry is contracting hard and fast as it struggles to readjust to the post-pandemic economy.
IBM Consulting, which ordered workers back to the office three days a week in October of last year, has been accused of trying to [24]get employees to quit on their own to avoid layoffs.
"Nobody wants to commute to an office and sit there for ten hours to justify managerial roles and sit in meetings all day," one IBM employee said on Fishbowl. Since then, IBM and its subsidiaries have conducted [25]several [26]waves of [27]layoffs . ®
Get our [28]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/23/microsoft_highlights_productivity_paranoia/
[2] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-03/remote-work-can-hurt-your-career-ibm-ceo-says
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZFQrAXnz7GsdywPu4ye88QAAAEw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZFQrAXnz7GsdywPu4ye88QAAAEw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZFQrAXnz7GsdywPu4ye88QAAAEw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/02/ibm_ai_back_office_jobs/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/16/return_to_office/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2018/03/06/apple_hq_headbang_horror/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/03/apple_return_to_the_office/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/05/18/apple_return_to_office/
[11] https://fortune.com/2023/03/24/remote-work-3-days-apple-discipline-terminates-tracks-tim-cook/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZFQrAXnz7GsdywPu4ye88QAAAEw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/20/amazon_mandates_return_to_office/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2022/12/19/salesforce_new_hires_less_productive_claims_benioff/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/26/productivity_score/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/23/microsoft_highlights_productivity_paranoia/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/28/red_hat_layoffs_union/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/27/dropbox_ai_layoffs/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/24/ibm_red_hat_layoffs/
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/24/google_boss_paid_226_million/
[21] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/21/proximity_bias_workforce_productivity/
[22] https://futureforum.com/research/pulse-report-fall-2022-executives-feel-strain-leading-in-new-normal/
[23] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZFQrAXnz7GsdywPu4ye88QAAAEw&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[24] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/19/ibm_consulting_three_day_week/
[25] https://www.theregister.com/2023/02/23/merative_job_cuts_ibm_watson/
[26] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/04/ibm_and_kyndryl_are_cutting/
[27] https://www.theregister.com/2023/04/24/ibm_red_hat_layoffs/
[28] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
45RPM
My heart sings when I hear senior management from big companies trot out this old tosh. It makes applicants think twice about a career with these stuck in mud fuddy duddies - which means that the pick of the crop come to smaller, hungrier, less well known businesses. Like mine.
So keep it up chaps. The less stuffy companies will be sure to wave cheerily as they overtake you.
Anonymous Coward
Indeed. Though it is worrying that a company can build up so much inertia in their "prime" that they can seemingly remain to stagnate the industry for decades past their end-of-life date.
Further exacerbated by the fact that large impressive companies tend to attract this kind of scummy upper management, poisoning the entire culture and company ethos during middle age (though IBM has always been a little stuffy but in a kind of charming way. This is something else!).
IglooDame
And when staff comes back in for three days a week and productivity doesn't improve, presumably they'll insist on all five days in person? Are they going to be able to ignore productivity going down when everyone is back in the office for most of the week?
Spoiler alert: Yes, and yes.
wondering if fellow travellers are working together
Sparkus
Similar messages are coming out from other firms, worded in very similar ways, on the same subject.
One might think that HR staff or the c-suite droids are coordinating their messaging on this.........
Re: wondering if fellow travellers are working together
Anonymous Coward
My employer, another three-letter American multinational which is also management heavy and mired in a treacle-like bureaucracy of its own making, has also trotted out exactly the same line.
And as if to head off complaints, said that yes productivity was measurably up, but engagement was down and engagement was important if the business was to have a future.
What engagement meant was unspecified, perhaps it was kool-aid consumption.
Anonymous Coward
"career" ? In IT? His he extracting the urine?
Uh huh
sarusa
Being over 35 will completely kill your career advancement at IBM too, unless you're an executive. Maybe people should stop doing that too.
As far as I'm concerned, if working from home keeps me from being hired at a sh#$hole like IBM that's another positive.
The real career killer at IBM
trevorde
Getting old and being RA'd
Isn't this the guy who decided to get rid of experienced people because they were too old?