Texas native Christy Tabors, 35, was working remotely for a Meta Group subcontractor. In the spring of 2023, she received a phone call. Her job was eliminated. She called her department head, who didn’t even know. The decision had been made at higher levels. M. Tabors’ sudden dismissalme Tabors is hardly original. On TikTok, testimonies of laid-off employees working from home are multiplying. One had not pressed the keys on his computer keyboard often enough, so the spyware had assumed he was not diligent. Another, a Cloudflare salesman, had “it is unlikely to succeed”according to her management, who fired her.
During the pandemic, large companies in the high-tech sector have been hiring heavily. At the end of the health crisis, a wave of layoffs followed, affecting white-collar workers and, in particular, remote employees. The probability of being “grateful” is therefore 35% higher for remote employees than for those who regularly attend the office, indicates a survey by software publisher Live Data Technologies, which surveyed two million white-collar workers in 2023, office workers and home workers.
Their chances of promotion are also reduced by 31%. “It is clear that there is an a priori of proximity for both the employer and the employee, comments Jason Saltzman, director of development at Live Data Technologies. Managers feel closer to those they see in meetings or around the coffee machine. » Therefore, it is the absent person who will disappear from the organization chart when difficult decisions have to be made.
Tech groups do not like to publicly discuss their lack of appetite for remote work. They are too afraid of being judged by newcomers to the labour market. Some, however, admit their preference for face-to-face work. IBM has therefore asked its managers to come to a company office within a 50-mile radius. Senior Vice President John Granger has clearly set the rules of the game. In a note from January 2024, he adds that from now on, employees must clock in at least three days a week or risk their jobs.
The return of the pendulum
The same applies to another company: the computer manufacturer Dell requires that employees be present in the office three days a week. In February, management explained that those who do not adopt this new agenda will no longer be eligible for promotion or change of management. Dell has therefore instituted a colour control system. Blues are very present in the office, greens and yellows in the middle, reds are very rare. This ranking is taken into account for future promotions, annual evaluations or even possible dismissal plans.
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