How are you interpreting the new WFH policy announced this morning? Full return to office but "maintaining flexibility" whatever that means...
36 replies (most recent on top)
During Ramadan, one of my colleagues was constantly YELLOW on Teams. He is one of the reasons we were all forced back to the office five-days-a-week in October.
It’s awful, I hope the new CEO retires and then we go back to a more productive hybrid setup again. The amount of time wasted during the day on random people stopping by for small talk in the office + commuting times, is super unproductive.
It's been a week of full time RTO. How's everyone doing?
HR should anticipate a large number of talented employees resign in March 2024 after RSUs vest and bonuses are paid out.
Hopefully @bqrx+1oyzj5xR and your team are Terminated when the Workforce Reduction is over. No need for Onboarding Specialists in the downsized company.
for a bunch of reasons 90% of all terminations take place tues-thurs and between 9AM to 11AM... if we can't find you we'll just keep calling until we do.
When I work from home I usually get more things done. I have my lunch which is quick and close to me, i just need to walk in my kitchen and pick the food and heat it up. In the office its different. I will have a quick lunch but I want to spend lunch hour and I go for a walk on +15 or outside. I do that on purpose because they forced me to commute and work from office. I try to go home earlier too. I chat with folks , I take it easy and slow. Still working hybrid but most likely in Oct it will be 5 days/week.
Employees also spent money on setting up a home office, furniture, better internet etc.
Suncor should not have continued to let people work hybrid long after the pandemic only to take it away. CNRL never had hybrid as soon as pandemic was over it was back in office 5 days and they were always transparent with this.
Suncor kept sitting on the fence for 18 months saying it was being evaluated.
Very bad move on Suncor’s part.
Thank goodness I was recently let go as I would not be returning to office 5 days week.
The whole point of hybrid flexibility is you can for example take a bike ride for an hour or go to an appointment and use it as your lunch. We don’t punch a clock and it is our job to work the hours we are required and this has been the position of every leader I’ve ever had in my professional career. So of course not everyone is going to be sitting at their desk from 8-5 everyday. The same thing holds true for when we are in the office. Granted it doesn’t surprise me HR used that justification towards their position of making everyone return to the office.
There is also zero chance they spent the time to line up access card data with key stroke data. That is a point made up by boomers trying to make a reason for why there is no longer WFH. You can’t get anything from keystroke data as many of us spend hours in meetings where there would be very little in the way of keystrokes. The numbers of meetings has only gotten worse as well. If this was true we wouldn’t have been using a hybrid work model for 18 months because I’m sure it hasn’t changed since the WFH started during the early days of the pandemic.
or were you deliberately instructed to call during lunch hour so as to provide 'data' for a specific point of view? I know when my first call came. 12:05PM
Suncor has the data to support this decision. By matching up access card data with computer data like keystrokes, they can see that a lot of people who were WFH were not actually working. Sure, some people were productive while WFH but for the organization as a whole the data was clear.
WFH proved us all that working from home can be even more effective than working from office. Office work adds a lot of unproductive time like chatting in the kitchen or in a hallway with folks, commuting to work. If job is not requiring any deadlines but constant meetings then of course it could help to be in the office. The point is that hybrid model is the best model that proved to be the best for most types of jobs. Managers have their own “ego” or interest to be in the office because they meet with other managers and senior leaders. But for all other employees who do the “dirty” work, hybrid model is the best choice, no question.
It seems that many of the people that are complaining the most are those that used WFH to do the minimum level of work to maintain their employment. People are talking about now having to get before and after school programs, vehicle expenses, etc Does that mean you were looking after your children's care instead of working but still being paid? You are paid 100% of your salary and are responsible to be there for that work during working hours; this was the norm for many, many years. The pandemic was a strange time but wee should have more acceptance to business as usual.
The problem is not from where you are working, the employee that is doing nothing from home is going to do the same in the office and some times worst, they start to be distractors for other. Many people washing cellphones or talking.
I lost my job this summer. I was in the office more than three days a week. I would work extra hours (early / late) to accommodate projects being engineered in other parts of the world. My colleague averaged two days a week and was always YELLOW in Teams. Quality of work was average. But they are still employed by Suncor. Do not tell me favouritism did not play a role in the selection process. I take comfort in knowing that they will have to face cold dark snowy January mornings while I will continue to collect my Retirement Allowance.
Suncor needs to put an end to employees leaving their cubicles to have coffee at Starbucks too.
The end of WFH allows management to load up the remaining employees more. Do not kid yourself, the layoffs do not mean work is being removed - just reallocated.
The sad part is that in years to come people will flock back to Suncor oblivious to how people were treated in 2023.
Don’t kid yourself, there is no flexibility. The job is at work and any work from home is outside of those work hours, in addition to those work hours or you are going to be dealing with consequences.
I posted on here earlier about this. I was part of the team that did small batches of un-announced terminations. Easily over 50% of the people we 'cold called' for their termination was NO WHERE NEAR their computer and NOT at home. So for everyone on here saying how great WFH was... you must be that 50%+ that never actually did much work from home. And everyone on my team knew, once management saw those stats... WFH was goanna be dead.
Parkland is still mostly hybrid and outperforming CNQ on a YTD and R12 basis though ..
CNRL has been back to 5 days a week for over a year tho
They saw CNRL returned to office full time and much higher stock price. That's it.
The joke is that my leader insists I work from home when I’m falling behind on my projects due to people pestering me non stop in the office.
Once you have tasted filet mignon it is hard to go back to chuck steak. The end of WFH is essentially a pay-cut for me. I am envious of those who lost their jobs this summer. I intend to one of those individuals who moves on.
The top people will leave. It was not a good move.
For item number 2, have you heard about quiet quitting?
For j5zR - just like buggywhips and 8 year olds in factories were here to stay
Times change and WFH will gradually become more of a key talent attractor. Those that refuse and before the 5 business days will become the less preferred employers with lower talent employees.
The end to Work-From-Home serves two purposes:
- Employees will quit. No severance required.
- Employees will be closely supervised. Able to take on a greater workload.
We have been back to the office since April last year, so explain how the pandemic had anything to do with why WFH continued. The only difference is there is a new CEO. The prior CEO may have had his flaws, but at least he cared about the people who worked at the company he led.
What made everyone think WFH was a permanent thing - it was a tool used to keep companies functioning during the pandemic no more. When you signed on with Suncor pre-pandemic 5 days in office was the deal…. Why are you surprised we’re going back to it?
WFH is over, 15 PTOs should be given back.
does it mean.... other large oil and gas companies will follow end work from home!!!!
I love how this announcement was immediately followed by allegedly "wanting to restore trust with employees". How are employees going to trust management if they don't trust us?
Good luck retaining top talents and attracting millennials.
What do you expect from a bunch of boomer managers, directors and c suite residents who have object permanence disabilities and art control freaks with trust issues?
It means you get your butt into the office 5 days per week! WFH is over people!
I think you just have to work with your leader on what that means. If your kids are sick and it is between you working from home or missing work, I am sure you would be able to work from home. But again it's up to your leader to decide which is stupid............................................................ that call su-ked.