There are ppl here saying schwab won't push RTO-5 in January. It's unlikely due to notice needed. But my understanding is that they are working diligently to firm up desks and assignments. Is that going to expedite that plan if RTO-5 is required in June or whenever? Less notice would be required once desks are assigned.
12 replies (most recent on top)
F This Place Bunch of Mo--ns Running the show. I have seen no significant improvement in the past 5 years in STS. Sh---y Tech & People.
What they say and what they do is all under their control. After the pandemic they said not RTO yet they did. They run the company not the employees.
We should all be flexible with going into the office. Why should some folks get to be fully remote ?! Fire them and send em home.
Yeah EC is Sc-m. Don't trust them at all. If they ask you to be in the office for 5 days, just get another job. Ghost them. Don't waste your time here.
Someone said don’t take into account what they say in Town Halls but I’m actually going to disagree.
Because of what happened last year, Rick and the EC are being VERY careful with what they say and HOW it is said. He has said there are no plans to change RTO in 2025, and I do believe that. HOWEVER, that leaves the door open for a mid-year announcement that RTO 5 will come in Jan 2026. There is a reason that they chose the wording they did, it’s all done with intent. I believe what they said, but they are explicit in what it means. I expect it to come in the future, but not in 2025.
As far as honoring commitments is concerned, Rick admitted last year that when they decided to downsize a certain well-equipped location in 2023, the exec council DID NOT account for the fact that that same location had 1. Extremely strict local covid restrictions. 2. Very limited/unsafe parking on site. 3. A building that was not appropriate for working/hotelling/facilities due to acquired company disarray and rearrangements.
I think they can say, "no RTO-5 is coming." and still shut a location to and/or change the rules so people can't thrive there.
Rick has said, in at least 2 Town Halls I attended, that there are "no plans" to change the RTO policy in 2025. He was egged on by Walt in the initial TX townhall in relation to an Amazon RTO question on if we were following suit. I am not sure I trust that, but it does feel like, to me, Jan 2025 is unlikely to have something change. I also think 2025 is unlikely to have NO changes. "No plans" gives them wiggle room to make make, and execute, plans in the future - it only means that right this very moment there is nothing they are planning to enact - a la Walt in the spring of 2023 telling us there were no plans, then calling a plan for RTO into place in the late summer/early fall. A lie by omission, if you ask me. Not a plan but a "concept of a plan", if you will. What I continue to have an issue with, is Rick using the phrasing that people need to "honor their commitment" to being in the office. It feels awkward, and hollow, to think that people who did not elect to RTO are not "honoring their commitments" by not coming into the office at the current policy. I understand that, technically, by being employed we are supposed to adhere to any DICTATED policy. But to call it a commitment is... well, I'm calling a spade a spade. The leadership can give their reasoning for why the want us in the office, but we did not vote or commit to any of this. If anything, they could have called out people who did not "honor their commitment" with the true Hybrid Workplace Flexibility program back in 2022/2023-ish. But those who "adhere" will never get a benefit, and those who have not, (as far as I know) have not had any true repercussions. Nor do I think they should; if you get your work done and no one noticed you were not in a physical Schwab location... here is your sign that remote work is viable. Last year, I committed to my 90% WFH, yet I was in the office way more than 10% of the time (because I come in when it makes sense and I enjoy networking when my schedule allows) and I have had 2 managers who have told me I cannot ask for an exception, at all, because they don't want to "look bad". I honored my commitment then, and now I feel absolutely pressured to adhere 100% to the current policy, without "exception" because I no long feel I have any autonomy, and that no one assumes positive intent. And THAT is not servant leadership that is touted from the top; it's all just hollow.
I was told today by my leader that changes are coming to the exception process, beginning with the upcoming round. This is not specific to our org- the changes are across the firm. The decision has been made to no longer grant exceptions for commute time. Based on what leaders were recently told, the firm is moving to a commute time of 2+ hours one-way to qualify for a commute exception. I know that idea was floated in the past, but now they have implemented it and are informing MDs. I bring this up because I think it is another step toward 5 days RTO. Each exception round they narrow the scope, which forces more and more into the office.
Another thing about this- it shows that their whole “we’re making people return because people aren’t following the rules” is just B.S. You can’t grant exceptions, have people follow those exceptions, and then continuously narrow the scope if you are acting in good faith. So stop using the “people aren’t following the rules so we have to do this” line. It’s played and you’re just lying.
During a recent townhall with Rick and Walt, they both iterated the following: "Read my lips. No more WFH." We should be ok....
The real problem imo is that schwab told employees they could change physical locations and move away from the cities or even the state they were in. What happens now? They give us 45 days notice to sell our house, move our kids out of their schools?
They flat out lied to us all while planning RTO. Nobody on my team is in the same location but let’s all pretend going back into a 4x4 cube prison makes me more engaged.
I would not put much weight behind what is said in the town halls. I would still expect a change for some BS reason in 2025.
The real truth is rarely told in town halls. Just ask Walt what happened a few weeks after saying work from home was not going to change. He accidentally slipped that they had been planning RTO for months.
Town halls have confirmed there are no changes for 2025. What happens for 2026 and beyond, who knows?