Enlarge/ RTO mandates can boost workers' professional networks, but in-office employees may also spend more time socializing than remote ones. (credit: Getty)
A new survey suggests that some US companies implemented return-to-office (RTO) policies in the hopes of getting workers to quit. And despite the belief that such policies could boost productivity compared to letting employees work from home, the survey from HR software provider BambooHR points to remote and in-office employees spending an equal amount of time working.
BambooHR surveyed 1,504 full-time US employees, including 504 human resources (HR) workers who are a manager or higher, from March 9 to March 22. According to the firm, the sample group used for its report "The New Surveillance Era: Visibility Beats Productivity for RTO & Remote" is equally split across genders and includes "a spread of age groups, race groups, and geographies." Method Research, the research arm of technology PR and marketing firm Method, prepared the survey, and data collection firm Rep Data distributed it.
Trying to make people quit
Among those surveyed, 52 percent said they prefer working remotelyΒ compared to 39 percent who prefer working in an office.
In episode 333 of the Shared Security Podcast, Tom and Scott discuss a recent massive data breach at Ticketmaster involving the data of 560 million customers, the blame game between Ticketmaster and third-party provider Snowflake, and the implications for both companies. Additionally, they discuss Live Nationβs ongoing monopoly investigation. In the βAware Muchβ segment, the [β¦]
Enlarge/ Oral-B released the Guide in 2020, making promises of Alexa-powered convenience, which it ended in 2022. (credit: P&G)
As weβre currently seeing with AI, when a new technology becomes buzzy, companies will do almost anything to cram that tech into their products. Trends fade, however, and corporate priorities shiftβresulting in bricked gadgets and buyer's remorse.
Thatβs what's happening to some who bought into Oral-B toothbrushes with Amazon Alexa built in. Oral-B released the Guide for $230 in August 2020 but bricked the ability to set up or reconfigure Alexa on the product this February. As of this writing, the Guide is still available through a third-party Amazon seller.
The Guide toothbrush's charging base was able to connect to the Internet and work like an Alexa speaker that you could speak to and from which Alexa could respond. Owners could βask to play music, hear the news, check weather, control smart home devices, and even order more brush heads by saying, βAlexa, order Oral-B brush head replacements,'β per Procter & Gamble's 2020 announcement.