I’m not sure we will eventually go hybrid. Reading their board, it seems that the work-from-office policy is strictly enforced at Broadcom, from whence our leader hails. It isn’t enforced there as a way to get people to leave without paying severance, as they don’t have that set of circumstances. This seems to be a policy driven only by TK’s beliefs and convictions as learned at Broadcom.
The worst part about this for me isn’t the RTO policy itself. It simply represents a new set of circumstances surrounding my employment as a Citrite, with new trade-offs that I can evaluate and decide whether I want to remain. The worst part is the disconnect between his introduction, speaking of data driven and transparent decision making, and the explanation for the RTO policy and the way the explanation was (not) delivered. TK didn’t even have the integrity and courage to announce the policy himself, even though he is clearly it’s origin and sole reason for existence.
Currently, our leadership has given us zero evidence that their words are trustworthy. In fact, we have only seen negative correlation between words and actions. How can we trust any statements about at-market base pay and above-market equity/profit sharing, or that flexible PTO won’t result in us never being able to take time off, or anything else communicated to us? Based on all the evidence I have available, I cannot. (As an aside, the one statement I do believe is that we will know whether we stay, go, or transition by end of year. I believe it not because the speaker is credible, but because it coincides with the end of the fiscal year, and it’s best for financials to have the costs of severance and the reduced costs of reduced headcount on the books before the new fiscal year begins. Of course, that doesn’t prevent them from starting a new round of layoffs next year. I expect they will be perpetual).
That said, I also understand that there are practical and legal reasons for communicating in certain ways when layoffs are pending or ongoing. Perhaps the new leadership does have integrity and will demonstrate it after the initial restructuring is complete. If so, I hope they understand how far they have to go to build trust and restore their credibility. I don’t really think TK and the new owners actually care about trust, integrity, and their credibility though. None of that is necessary to make money in the short to mid term. The absence of those qualities in leadership, however, does result in an abusive workplace environment. That’s why I’m planning on leaving when the right opportunity presents itself.