#return-to-office

#return-to-office

It may sound strange, but it's true, and a harbinger of a new détente between workers and employers. Five years after the pandemic, denizens of the white collar sector have been slowly but definitively strong-armed into returning to the office. An increasing number of companies have tightened their flexible work policies, which have idled commercial real estate across the country, and driven a number of business districts to the brink of desolation.

Since announcing the policy, Ford has sent some employees emails telling them that they are not badging in enough and warning that they could face termination if they do not improve their attendance, three current and former Ford employees told Business Insider. Two said they had received these emails despite complying with updated office attendance policies and having previous work-from-home arrangements signed off by their managers.

In 2020, Lisa was earning roughly $110,000 a year in a remote, corporate manufacturing role when she received an offer for a hybrid job that paid about $150,000. After talking it over with her husband, she landed on an unconventional solution: Take the new job - and keep the old one, too. For 18 months, Lisa secretly worked two full-time roles, earning roughly $250,000 in 2021 and averaging 40 to 50 hours a week across both jobs.

A new daily talk show, "Florida Matters: Live & Local," has debuted on WUSF 89.7. For more than two decades, "Florida Matters" brought newsmakers and others to your radio for a half-hour each week. Well, now an hour of "Live & Local" will air Monday through Thursday at noon. In addition to interviewing studio guests, host Matthew Peddie will take calls and emails so you can be part of the discussion.

I don't think I've talked to anybody who has had anything positive to say in response to this change of policy,

This year, in-office attendance reached its highest level since 2020, with 72% of US companies reaching their RTO goals, up from 61% in 2024, data from real estate group CBRE found. (At the same time, the rate of companies tracking in-office attendance hit 69%, up from 45% the year prior.) And some employers, most recently Microsoft and NBCUniversal, have also upped their RTO requirements, the Washington Post reported.

After joining the ranks of the " overemployed" in 2021, John, a millennial software engineer based in California, earned as much as $300,000 annually working multiple full-time remote roles. The extra income boosted his earnings to over $300,000 a year, allowing him to grow his savings and splurge on things like a roughly $9,000 honeymoon with his wife. "I figured I'd give it a shot," John told Business Insider in 2023.

Opendoor, which buys and sells homes, is currently making waves as the latest meme stock beloved by retail traders. The stock got another boost on Thursday when the company announced cofounders Rabois and Eric Wu were rejoining the board and that Kaz Nejatian, COO of Shopify, was appointed CEO. At market close on Friday, the stock was up 470% year-to-date.