this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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Eh, but even some of those reasons can be absolutely plausible, for instance the theory behind RTO being about middle management trying to justify their existence, because most middle management positions are just glorified babysitters with too much power and time on their hands. Another plausible one is the narcissism of the executive class, there's plenty of executives writing about how their "people" provide them with "energy" and that they feel lost without their involuntary audience. Then there's the plausibility of the point about property values, companies that own their properties understand that the property itself is an investment, and in business your entire goal is to reach that almighty ROI, return on investment, so not only do empty unused offices harm that, but so do falling property values.
There's almost always an inkling of plausibility in any theory, that's one of the reasons why so many people fall to the attraction of conspiracy theories, but at the end of the day you have to remember that these are just people, and people are often selfish and not always selfish for the same reasons, we all have things that are more important to us than aren't as important to others.
But then you can also say that companies want people back because they are secretly harvesting their skin cells at work to see to alien larvae. It is a theory.
The problem with Amazon choosing to do this compared to nameless companies is that a lot of Amazon's work culture has been written about, and not all of that written about them is positive.
Amazon as a company is obsessed with driving down costs holding managers accountable to well defined metrics which filters down to everyone. This is the reason why warehouse people let others die in the warehouse.
The argument that Amazon, this company obsessed with metrics, is going to tell people to come into the office even though they are more productive at home, doesn't make sense.