Seems like every study is saying RTO was a bad idea
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/05/rto-mandates-led-to-pronounced-exodus-of-senior-workers-at-top-tech-firms/
11 replies (most recent on top)
I only see a handful of TDA directors left, outside the Trader group. I thought they were mostly gone.
I think the person posting “you lost me” was a Schwab employee that was laid off by a TDA manager.
You lost me.
Do you think Schwab is innovative company?
They brought TDA to k-ill a rival not for innovation.
if you innovate you are threat for established people, which they won't like.
You lost me. I built multiple pieces of widely used automation using free (as in beer) tools and custom code that cost the company no money and was laid off by poor TDA leadership that was put over teams, platforms, and processes they didn't care to understand. Schwab leadership was flawed, but when you made the business better and did great things, they recognized your efforts. TDA tech directors + weren't interested in keeping people around that didn't want to spend millions a year on sh1tty tools (vendor kickbacks?) they used on the Green side. Most of the technical people let go from Blue were more knowledgeable and talented than the people retained from Green.
RTO is just a tool to force people to resign. Think of the savings and time. Now management and HR can focus on getting rid of those that actually go into the office daily.
It's really absurd how much of the content on here is about RTO. Schwab invested significant capital in real estate facilities and your view is that it should go unoccupied or be sold off? Additionally, how much difference do you think there is having newer employees learn in the office around others as opposed to working in isolation at home? 5 years ago, people would have thought it was the greatest thing in the world to work every Friday at home. Now, if you aren't working at home the majority of the time, you are working for a bunch of ruthless leaders that are incompetent or don't care about you. If you are truly that unhappy, my suggestion is that you leave.
Some of us are so disillusioned to think we actually have talent. We are not Nvidia. This isn’t Microsoft. We are not Alphabet ot Meta.
We should all quit and tank the stonk. I wonder what would happen if let's say 50% of all employees just quit and got other jobs and moved on.
From https://riabiz.com/a/2024/4/18/charles-schwab-corp-headcount-is-down-4000-from-its-june-30-peak-nearly-double-the-expected-reductions-though-the-company-has-hundreds-of-job-openings-many-with-wealth-in-the-titles
"The Westlake, Texas, firm reported that it has a lean 32,600 staffers as of Mar. 31, a shade above the 32,000 it reported on the same date in 2021, but 11% below the peak total of 36,600 reported on June 30, 2023.
Tim Welsh: ‘They have now finally pretty much digested TD Ameritrade.’
The vast majority, or 2,800 of the 4,000 departures, left between Sept. 30 and Dec. 31 last year. It reported 35,900 staffers on Sept. 30, already down 700 from June 30. Another 400 people left in the first quarter of 2024."
Assuming we actually had a lot of talent to begin with. I would say we didn't lose much.
It wasn’t just resignations or refusal that condemned mandated RTO. Reduced productivity, stress, fatigue, reduced net income, higher costs, health impacts, climate impacts… only those lacking leadership would insist on such a thing in 2023. Or those who were panicked about commercial real estate values. Or those who are flaccid without seeing miserable people in cubicles.
WFH with per individual and per team RTO was the easiest thing we could have done to reduce commutes, improve air quality and increase investment rates. As a company we could have added profits overnight and maintained productivity. But as I sit on my fifth meeting today with people in other offices I can only think of how wonderful the 35 minutes of 114 is.