iaflyer

Yep - everyone said business travel would die during COVID - I thought maybe, until the a company snagged the big deal/project because they showed up while the other side did a Zoom call.

Plus, some people like traveling to fun places on the company dime and eating in nice restaurants.

tcco94

This is a huge thing. People are still humans and I feel like people forget the human element all the time.

NuGuy

In certain areas, remote work does ok, in others, not so much. It needs to be highly structured with clear goals, otherwise, people drift off. You still need face to face, and web meetings are the worst way to do business ever invented.

In other ways, the recovery from the recovery has been a trainwreck. I'm familiar with a company who basically had to fire their entire back office staff. At first people were motivated, but people being people, slacked off. Maybe 40% of the work was getting done, then it all became "well, my kids have a thing, we have to take the dog to the vet", and a whole litany of things that people used to work around because of, well, work. When it looked like people would have to go back to the office, people squared off to protect their good deal. They wouldn't come in, they wouldn't do training for new people (afraid they'd get the can after training a replacement), they wouldn't do anything, really. And then the insidious stuff started happening, like not giving up system passwords or other administrative functions. Not really quiet quitting, more like quiet strike with a paycheck. Then the people who actually showed up for work were getting bitter because not only were they not getting the good deal, but they had to pick up the slack. No amount of cajoling, bonus offers, flexible schedules would fix the problem.

When deadlines started getting missed, customers started calling about stuff not done, demand lettings started coming in, they finally had to drastically retrench. They simply cancelled a bunch of contracts, refunded a bunch of money, terminated everyone that wouldn't return to the office, and rebuilt the whole back office function of business from scratch. They reduced hours for the production staff, but used some time to re-work those processes as well. Probably retrenched 40% from pre-covid in one of the best market for their services in generations.

Lots of people left the workforce. Others used that to their advantage, which, IMHO, is perfectly fine. Let the market work. And just to make sure the blame is spread evenly, businesses handed it poorly as well. It's been an employers market for so long, generations, perhaps, when a legitimate, no kidding shortage happened in the workforce, they had no idea how to deal with it when employees had actual leverage.

There was a lot of remote work pre-covid. In those areas where it worked, expanded, but like any business trend, people tried to drive a sqaure peg into a round hole, and found that it just doesn't work in a lot of cases.

The remote thing works fine until there's not a shortage of everything. When there is actual competition for business, its the people who actually show up that get the contracts. Once that happens 2 or 3 times, then the house of cards falls, and everyone gets called back. That's happening now as we move into the post-shortage of everything, and people who re-worked their life around it are facing some disappointment. The first real recession we run into, with no kidding unemployment, the hammer will drop, and that will be that.

Bucking Bar

Yep and piling on with what NuGuy, big E757 and others wrote:

• We are social mammals that evolved, or were created, to live in groups. Today we think of it as "gross" but handshakes, hugs and smiles build our social groups. (science and religion agree on this point)
• We prefer to do business with people we like
• Nobody is going above "manager" in their career unless they make the trek to the office & make friends
• Want to be rich in your 40's or 50's, the trade is busting your ass in your 20's and 30's

For many years Warren Buffet made fun of corporate jets as being "indefensible." A company I worked for flew him around in our jets to meet people, see things in person, and walk the production line of his businesses. He now considers them "indispensable." He bought NetJets.

I think Delta Network has this right. Business is coming back. Business wants to be safe, on time, and comfortable. They like being smiled at.

dragon

I agree 1000%. People are social critters. I know the new generations "thrive" with apps and online interactions but do they? My son just got hired for a job that wants him to actually meet with clients, talk and more importantly - listen to the them.

I was reminded of a very old commercial that United had. It references faxes and doesn't mention zoom but I think it is still relevant today.

FlexManFlex

Where’s that AE memo at? Was it the 10th or 12th?

BigHitterLlama

12th
Filler

FlexManFlex

Ah thanks. I couldn’t find it in this thread but maybe I skipped over it

Big E 757

As I read this post, there was a lightbulb above my head that kept getting brighter and brighter as each point you made illuminated several frustrating experiences I had at the time during the initial recovery. I didn’t completely understand it until reading this! Thank you! That was very interesting.

Abouttime2fish

Hey! Take all that AE stuff over to the MBCBP thread!