GM Renovates Offices and Factories to Appeal to Mobile Workforce

The pandemic abruptly and dramatically brought home the fact that one does not necessarily need to be at their work site to get work done and be productive. I'm curious about those on this forum who no longer work at their work sites and on their views on returning.

The internet has made that possible and, just as this forum, purpose and mission can be fulfilled from anywhere and at any time.

Today's Free Press has an excellent article on how GM is changing its work environments, both office and factory, to appeal to a labor-shortage work market where workers have acclimated to working remotely and my not find winter commutes and child care management appealing.

Snippet:

At the Tech Center, the model that salaried workers are experiencing aims to give employees added flexibility as they give up the flexibility of remote work.

There is a life-size checkerboard and a pool table embedded in the body frame of a late 1960s Chevrolet Camaro SS 396 in a nearby hallway - just two of several game areas meant to be “mental jogs” to stimulate creativity.

“We did it from a neuroscience perspective,” Messing said.“Creative breakthroughs actually happen, a lot of them, when you're mildly content and not thinking about anything and there's a certain level of ambient noise. That's just the way the brain works.”

The building has designated quiet areas for those who can't be distracted and regular desks in low lighting for those who need to see a computer without glare. Some folks occupy private phone rooms [[with treadmills in some) or meeting rooms, either with colleagues or working solo.

The onetime sea of cubical walls is gone, leaving window views of GM's campus that allow all in the office to take in the scenery. That is exactly how GM wants it.

And at GM Flint Assembly...

...a mother's room will be added to the trim area; mother's rooms are now located in other parts of the plant. New speakers and monitors will be added to team rooms, among other upgrades.

Will it work?

As a business owner that deals with many other companies and the owners I do not expect very much to change until we see a little bit of a recession and workers are easier to find. Right now, if worker quits or gets fired finding a replacement takes weeks if you can find one.
While I agree some positions working remotely makes sense but I am here to tell you the companies I deal with where all the workers are back in the office are much easier and faster to deal with If I need to talk to several people in the office with the workers back to work it’s a much faster process then the office with everyone working remotely its to the point when I am getting quotes on a new machinery I ask are your workers are back in the office or still working remotely.
One of my vendors who repairs many of my machines got so fed up with how slow the tech and parts support has gotten he closed his shop retired last month a few years earlier then planned. Yes, we know about the supply chain issues but the amount of time on hold and people getting back to him was out of control and I have run into the same issues which goes back to poor performance from remote workers.
Right now, you here about the great resignations I think if the economy goes south a little you will hear in the news about a lot of people being told come back to the office or lose your job and the poor performers being let go all together.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lowell

The pandemic abruptly and dramatically brought home the fact that one does not necessarily need to be at their work site to get work done and be productive. I'm curious about those on this forum who no longer work at their work sites and on their views on returning.

The internet has made that possible and, just as this forum, purpose and mission can be fulfilled from anywhere and at any time.

Today's Free Press has an excellent article on how GM is changing its work environments, both office and factory, to appeal to a labor-shortage work market where workers have acclimated to working remotely and my not find winter commutes and child care management appealing.

Snippet:

At the Tech Center, the model that salaried workers are experiencing aims to give employees added flexibility as they give up the flexibility of remote work.

There is a life-size checkerboard and a pool table embedded in the body frame of a late 1960s Chevrolet Camaro SS 396 in a nearby hallway - just two of several game areas meant to be “mental jogs” to stimulate creativity.

“We did it from a neuroscience perspective,” Messing said.“Creative breakthroughs actually happen, a lot of them, when you're mildly content and not thinking about anything and there's a certain level of ambient noise. That's just the way the brain works.”

The building has designated quiet areas for those who can't be distracted and regular desks in low lighting for those who need to see a computer without glare. Some folks occupy private phone rooms [[with treadmills in some) or meeting rooms, either with colleagues or working solo.

The onetime sea of cubical walls is gone, leaving window views of GM's campus that allow all in the office to take in the scenery. That is exactly how GM wants it.

And at GM Flint Assembly...

...a mother's room will be added to the trim area; mother's rooms are now located in other parts of the plant. New speakers and monitors will be added to team rooms, among other upgrades.

Will it work?

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On the broad picture, I read where the number of job offers continue to outstrip the number of job seekers.

This is giving workers the edge and companies have to be on guard against their employees walking on them and then facing the costs of hiring and training, likely with a lesser employee.

This, in turn, is leading to pay hikes, compromises on mobile working, and other benefits.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lowell

...This is giving workers the edge and companies have to be on guard against their employees walking on them and then facing the costs of hiring and training, likely with a lesser employee....

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Southwest Airlines showed how not to deal with employees: The Largest Airline Meltdown in Aviation History! 29 Dec 2022.

Paraphrasing, Denver ramp agents couldn't function outdoors in bomb cyclone temperatures. Too many called in sick. Southwest responded with threats. [unverified:] 200 ramp agents quit. From Denver, cancellations cascaded to Dallas, St. Louis, Nashville, Chicago.... The entire Southwest operation was shut down. 1990s Sky Solver software was overwhelmed. Headlines ensued.

Considering the catastrophic aftermath, they could have limited the problem to a temporary, not uncommon, weather issue instead of allowing it to escalate into a drawn out, system wide failure.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lowell

On the broad picture, I read where the number of job offers continue to outstrip the number of job seekers.

This is giving workers the edge ..

This, in turn, is leading..compromises on mobile working, and other benefits.

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This will prove to be bad for the workers, and a disaster for the companies.

Most of what workers need to know to do their job, is learned on the job, and much of that is passed down from the older workers. Almost nothing is learned in college.

Allow your workforce to work from home, and an incalculable amount of knowledge used to make the company run well will be lost.

And the newer employees will rarely if ever progress to more valuable positions. Forever frozen in tier 1 customer service or the like.

Like dday above, I deal with lots of companies and the City, and when the person answering is remote, I know nothing is likely to happen, and if it does, it will happen poorly over a week instead of correctly over a 5 min call.

I am in the process of moving suppliers and services from companies that work remote, to ones that are back in the office. I simply can't spend 2 hours every day on the phone trying to cajole lazy people into doing the thing they've already been paid for.