Work from home led to a good chunk of layoffs in 2024.
Swaney Group Capital conducted its LeverUp survey, confirming the following:
1. Preference or requirement to WFH had a massive impact on layoffs vs. not – but the number of cuts, how deep, and what members
2. Productivity issues in WFH were common; measuring impact leads to overhead in upper levels, causing a whirlwind
3. Changing macro environments happen fast in the 2020s. Home staff can’t grasp and assimilate the culture fast enough. Lack of creativity/innovation/adaptation to pace costs a fortune
4. While home staff is theoretically cheaper (less office space/office perks), it’s largely accepted that performance gains on site are way, way more impactful than saving a couple square feet, coffee and lunches
5. 75% of CXOs expect a “more centralized workforce”
Look, remote work is one of those conversations that get heated fast, and are always unpopular.
Socialists will always defend human capital, work flexibility, flexible work hours, long maternity/paternity leaves, severance packages, travel opportunities, the environment. We’re all humans and we ALL WANT THEM.
The difference lies in HOW we get them or HOW MUCH of that is realistic and possible.
I was a remote work advocate in 2007-2009, started the first national freelance conference in 2010 or so. DevriX started remote, too, before moving in-house in 2016.
What works for a team of 5 seniors with 10+ years of experience, each owning their role/department, no “shared responsibilities”, no need to “whiteboard and brainstorm” – that’s lovely and great.
Good luck applying that with 1,000 people, with 300-400 support reps or call center folks or other 9 to 5 people who couldn’t care less about the job, and it’s only an accessible path to pay rent and make money for hobbies, friends, family travel.
Paul W Swaney III, founder of Swaney Group, has broader consulting experience from McKinsey + visibility over his time at Amazon (which peaked at 1.5 million employees in 2021).
Forcing a model globally that clearly only works when business is accelerating at a 50% speed vs. normal pacing – that was bound to fail eventually.
