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Dell responds to return-to-office resistance with VPN, badge tracking, and color-coding of employees (arstechnica.com)

submitted 6 months ago by ForgottenFlux to c/technology

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After reversing its position on remote work, Dell is reportedly implementing new tracking techniques on May 13 to ensure its workers are following the company's return-to-office (RTO) policy, The Register reported today, citing anonymous sources.

Dell will track employees' badge swipes and VPN connections to confirm that workers are in the office for a significant amount of time.

Dell's methods for tracking hybrid workers will also reportedly include a color-coding system. From "consistent" to "limited" presence, the colors are blue, green, yellow, and red.

The Register reported today that approximately 50 percent of Dell's US workers are remote, compared to 66 percent of international workers.

An examination of 457 companies on the S&P 500 list released in February concluded that RTO mandates don't drive company value but instead negatively affect worker morale. Analysis of survey data from more than 18,000 working Americans released in March found that flexible workplace policies, including the ability to work remotely completely or part-time and flexible schedules, can help employees' mental health.

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[–] foggy 83 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Did they think that'd give them good optics or do they just not care?

[–] TOModera 107 points 6 months ago (2 children)

So I've worked in business for 17ish years now, and the only consistent thing I can say about business leadership is they are there to have their egos stroked.

They do not care about money or other people until they look bad, and even then they don't do anything until someone threatens to take away the group of people forced to listen to them.

Working from home hurts their ego. This method (RTO) doesn't improve value and increases turnaround, which increases expenses if you are happy with the amount of people working for your company, as replacing people costs money.

So either Dell still needs to get rid of people, or a bunch of old fucks need someone to suck up to them in person.

[–] victorz 33 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Are their egos fragile because they know the people who do the real work are... not them?

[–] TOModera 24 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Hard to say, you could be right. That's where I'm less sure. I've had jobs where a (not direct manager) boss thinks I do less than I do, and more than I do.

The ones who believed I did less believed they did more than me regardless of what my manager reported or actual work done. The ones who believed more consistently didn't hand me work and I eventually would leave.

One job I had different people who disagreed about the actual amount of work I did based on if I was at my desk vs the amount of awards I had vs my lunch breaks vs my extra work projects. I'd have feedback sessions with my manager about burnout but also if I was taking too long for lunch and going home too early.

What I'm saying is I think people are terrible at assessing subordinates work.

[–] victorz 2 points 6 months ago

Yeah it's probably more complicated than a single factor/parameter, eh. Anyway, thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences!

[–] FenrirIII 14 points 6 months ago (1 children)

This came straight from Michael Dell, per multiple conversations with directors and managers at Dell. He's probably trying to squeeze out all the old employees to replace them with cheaper people. There's no clear reasoning at all, which means it's underhanded bullshit or he's a moron.

[–] TOModera 2 points 6 months ago

Yeah I was wondering if it was an underhanded way to get rid of people without officially letting them go. Seems like a lot of time and money tracking people to do that though, so I really have to wonder if they've lost the plot, thus me leaning towards incompetence.

That all said, and to hedge my bets, I haven't seen their Financials. Maybe the verification is using cheap labour like YouTube review systems, for instance, or maybe they are really bloated.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 6 months ago

They only care that it looks good to the out of touch, sociopathic management type

[–] [email protected] 13 points 6 months ago

It's a way to cut headcount without doing layoffs. It's usually followed one or two quarters later by an actual layoff.