I am so tired of reading the same excuses and nonsense from psychopathic control freaks on why it’s absolutely necessary for the good of the company/city/country/world/universe that all workers return to the mothership office.
The latest horrifying example is from the City of Philadelphia. The Mayor, Cherelle Parker, is convinced that worker presence in the office is necessary for equity because it promotes stronger social connections, better collaboration and fairness in the workplace. She didn’t mean it, of course. That silliness about connections and collaboration has been debunked over and over by actual research as opposed to the “gut feelings” relied on by the control freaks whose “leadership philosophy” boils down to having everyone in their seat so that the managers can be sure they’re really working. “Fairness” appears to mean that because not everybody can work from home, no one should be allowed to.
In what amounts to a Kinsley gaffe, Mayor Parker explained her goal with the program is to revitalize the downtown. In other words, to bring people into the downtown who will patronize restaurants, shops, and other city businesses. She’s also hoping that the city governments policy will shame the private sector into doing the same.
The story, from NPR, is centered around a city employee, Andrew DiDonato, who reviews construction plans for the City’s licensing authority. There’s no reason, of course, that he can’t do that from home. Indeed, he’s been doing exactly that for the last four years. During COVID, the city was forced to allow DiDonato and other employees to work from home and DiDonato discovered that he was able to be a better parent and husband by being there to help get the kids off to school and to support his wife.
Sadly, all that’s coming to an end. DiDonato loves his job but is considering leaving rather than have his life disrupted. The city will lose a good worker but at least citizens can be sure that their city workers are being monitored.