▶ The sinister plot to destroy America

Behind Biden [New Documentary] [WSW Logo]( [Divider] A note from the Editor: Wall Street Wizardry is dedicated to providing readers like you with unique opportunities. The message below from one of our business associates is one we believe you should take a serious look at. [divider] For two years, employees have been waiting for ‘the day’ when everyone goes back to the office. But it’s probably never coming. W Workers were meant to have returned to the office by now. Our expectation, back in early 2020, was that once the pandemic had ended, we’d all collectively resume our pre-Covid patterns of office-based working. Yet that’s not how things have turned out. Two years on, employees around the world continue to face ongoing uncertainty as to when – and if – they’ll be expected back at the workplace in person. The emergence of different Covid-19 variants has exacerbated matters; Omicron has triggered record cases globally, forcing employees who were slowly adapting to a partial, hybrid return to the office to reverse course and work remotely again. Today, the idea that we’ll all return to the office together again seems highly unrealistic. Some companies have already switched permanently to remote work or hybrid models. And, while others may be holding out for staff to come back to their desks, each delay further entrenches flexible working patterns – rendering a full-staff return less likely. “The return-to-office date has died,” says Nicholas Bloom, professor of economics at Stanford University, US. “Endless waves of Covid have led most CEOs to give up, and instead set up contingent policies: if, when and how to return to the office.” But if we finally abandon the idea that there will ever be a day when we’re all permanently back at our office desks, what should we expect instead? The days of workers jamming streets to get to work en masse may become a relic of pre-pandemic days (Credit: Getty Images) The days of workers jamming streets to get to work en masse may become a relic of pre-pandemic days (Credit: Getty Images) Why there’s no ‘back to normal’ When the pandemic first hit, and its scale was still to be mapped, a widespread return to the workplace seemed likely in 2020. Employers and employees alike anticipated a hard date to come back: some kind of reversion to a pre-pandemic normal – the majority of workforces together in offices, at least a few days a week. In turn, the expectation was that many prior characteristics of work, such as the fixed nine-to-five schedule, would be restored. Businesses of all kinds, across multiple sectors, set return-to-office dates throughout 2020. However, as the pandemic dragged on, companies pushed plans back. This was in part due to ongoing health concerns in many countries, but also because workers had become comfortable – and remained productive – in their remote set-ups, and some even pushed back against these dates. “Early in the crisis CEOs would pronounce return-to-office plans only for them to get wiped out by each new wave and variant,” explains Bloom. And even when employers did fully expect to bring workers back at a defined moment regardless, the unpredictable nature of the pandemic meant return-to-office dates were increasingly kicked down the road. Now, in the third year of Covid-19, the return-to-office date remains a constantly moving target. It seems increasingly improbable to expect a universal return. Flexibility and remote work have become so deeply rooted that reimposing pre-pandemic working models appears a nigh-on impossible task. “Habits are hard to break,” says Almuth McDowall, professor of organisational psychology at London’s Birkbeck University. “We’ve all harnessed more innovative, efficient ways of doing our jobs.” Early in the crisis CEOs would pronounce return-to-office plans only for them to get wiped out by each new wave and variant – Nicholas Bloom Uncertainty around health remains rampant; we don’t know when the pandemic will end, whether Covid will become endemic or if another variant will emerge – let alone rough dates for when these might occur. And employees will continue to have different levels of risk tolerance; for instance, a healthy, single person may be more willing to go back to the office than an immunocompromised worker, or one with children too young to be vaccinated. “Amid Omicron, there is much low-level anxiety – many don’t want to rush back to the office,” adds McDowall. Considering all these factors, setting a sweeping, all-employee return-to-office date the way companies have been attempting – and workers have been anticipating – since 2020 seems like a fantasy: a construction of the past that no longer reflects our changing world. Devil in the details Ultimately, the office return will look different across sectors and companies; there won’t be a one-size-fits-all ‘back to work’ date – and for some employees, there won’t be a date at all. How does a worker figure out what’s next for them? The ways – and reasons why – employers have already planned to bring back their workers during the pandemic may be a good indicator for how they’ll try to do so in the future. On one hand, it’s likely many of the sectors who’ve tried mightily to pull employees back into the office multiple times during the pandemic will be keen to create the fastest, most sweeping return-to-office policies. Some industries, like finance, are more likely to return to the office as quickly as possible – but their plans are still up in the air (Credit: Getty Images) Some industries, like finance, are more likely to return to the office as quickly as possible – but their plans are still up in the air (Credit: Getty Images) For example, in finance, executives have been aggressive in their timelines to bring people back. This is in part due to a highly in-person work culture, but also due to “aspects of financial services, particularly around the trading floor, which aren’t as easy to do remotely”, says Chris Leahy, founder of due-diligence investigative firm Blackpeak. Essentially, businesses like these are less nimble than others, often hamstrung by regulations and decades-old practises still assuming that, at some point, everyone will return. Even in other sectors that aren’t so regulation-bound, many businesses have repeatedly set hard return dates, though they’ve had to move them, sometimes multiple times. Although it’s still murky as to when, workers at companies like these should plan to return to the office at some point, since it’s clear their employers are still placing emphasis on at least some in-person work. Yet, despite these indicators, the future may be even more malleable than we expect. Even as some sectors cling to pre-pandemic ways of working, worker power may potentially destabilise some employers’ best laid plans. Many bosses haven’t been able to make a firm decision yet, because we don't know exactly what will happen – Almuth McDowall For instance, Bloom says employees’ desire to work from home has strengthened as the pandemic has lingered, meaning many return-to-office plans have received staff backlash, both in the finance and tech industries, particularly from younger workers who question the wisdom of returning to the office at all. Bloom adds that the ongoing hiring crisis also means that workers in some sectors currently have more power than before; if their employer won’t accommodate requests for different job conditions such as flexible working, employees can choose to switch to one who will. Simply, the devil will be in the details for every individual company and role: what the ‘return-to-the-office’ will look like in practice will differ from worker to worker – a process that’s still taking time. “Many bosses haven’t been able to make a firm decision yet, because we don't know exactly what will happen,” says McDowall. “If you don't think it’s the right thing for your business to go fully remote or hybrid, then it makes sense to delay for as long as possible.” No matter when leaders can start making those decisions, however, it seems all but certain that the day when we’re all back together on the train platform, heading into our offices for a Big Bang restart, is gone. Although it may not be confirmed yet by bosses, the formal end to the full office return is coming – if not yet already here. “Unless something drastically changes, then the full return to the office is likely a myth,” says McDowall. Biden doesn’t want you to see this… [It’s a new documentary]( that exposes who’s really in charge of the U.S. economy… who’s really pulling the puppet strings… and why Biden, Kamala, and every other Democrat is impotent. It’s not the deep state, CIA, NSA, or any other alphabet agency… As you’ll discover in this shocking new documentary, it’s two men ([that I name here]( who are really setting the agenda for America’s future. Micromanagement has always existed. But remote work has birthed a new swathe of helicopter bosses, and workers are suffering. R Rarely does an hour go by without Alison, a software engineer, hearing from her line manager. “If she sees my Slack status has been switched to ‘away’, then I can bet within the next half an hour there’ll be an email in my inbox checking how I’m getting on with a project,” says the 24-year-old, based in Bristol, UK. “We’re all required to attend a morning meeting every day where we’re asked for updates on what we’re working on – even though they’re often long-term pieces of work that hardly change from one day to the next.” The micromanagement wasn’t nearly so bad when the team were based in a physical office, says Alison. But since the pandemic, the healthcare provider she works for took the decision to turn many of its technical roles permanently remote. “Even though we were busier than ever during Covid-19, which is when we went remote for the first time, my manager doesn’t seem to believe any of us are capable of getting our work done without her constant input. It’s infuriating.” Micromanagement isn’t a new phenomenon, of course; there have always been bosses who keep close tabs on their staff. But as the increase in workers performing their roles remotely has fuelled insecurities in some managers, experts say the pandemic has birthed a new swathe of remote helicopter bosses: think helicopter parents, who hover over their children and constantly monitor them, but for the workplace. A July 2020 study in the Harvard Business Review, which surveyed more than 1,200 people across 24 different countries, showed that a fifth of remote workers felt their supervisor was constantly evaluating their work, and one-third agreed their supervisors “expressed a lack of confidence in their work skills”. They weren’t imagining things: the same study showed 38% of managers felt workers simply weren’t as productive at home, and 40% had low confidence in their ability to manage remotely. Even now, many managers are struggling to lead remote teams using the traditional tools they once relied on. These remote micromanagers bombard staff with constant check-ins and calls, unnecessary Zoom meetings or overly detailed instructions. And experts say it’s doing significant damage to their employees. Remote workers who feel micromanaged by their boss are less engaged, less motivated and less capable than ever before. Remote micromanagers have driven some employees to go to great lengths to keep their status lights as 'active' (Credit: Getty Images) Remote micromanagers have driven some employees to go to great lengths to keep their status lights as 'active' (Credit: Getty Images) ‘We all want control’ Two leadership styles have increased since the switch to remote work, explains Katleen De Stobbeleir, professor of leadership and coaching at Vlerick Business School, Belgium. Neither, unfortunately, is positive. In one style, managers disconnect or even forget about their staff working from home, leading workers to feel isolated or alienated; the other style is the polar opposite: micromanagers. “They’re constantly checking up on employees, and even pushing them to come back to the office,” says De Stobbeleir. They may book endless video conferences, insist on being included on every email or deliver ultra-prescriptive project briefs that give no room for creativity or independence. There are clear reasons for the increase in this type of overzealous supervision, believes Arielle Sadan, a New York City-based executive and leadership coach. “Micromanagement has always been an issue that’s primarily rooted in a lack of trust between a manager and their team,” she says. “When we’re in a remote environment, and a manager doesn’t have direct physical oversight of what their employees are doing, then that mistrust gets amplified,” she says. “We all want control, and for managers that aren’t able to see their employees, that can feel like an even more acute need.” The spike in reliance on digital platforms and tools can make it easier for managers to peek over an employee’s virtual shoulder, too. Status indicators that show whether employees are in front of their computers can become a crutch for micromanagers, for instance. And for some employers, remote micromanagement goes one step further with the implementation of worker surveillance methods. A July 2022 survey from market-intelligence firm International Data Corporation showed about 68% of North American employers with at least 500 employees use some form of employee-monitoring software. Another September 2021 survey of 1,250 US employers from Digital.com showed that of those who said they used monitoring software, nearly 90% of them fired workers as a result. We all want control, and for managers that aren’t able to see their employees, that can feel like an even more acute need – Arielle Sadan Workers are feeling pressure. Alison says she’s ended up searching for ways to keep her Slack status as ‘active’ while she takes a coffee break, for instance, just to keep her boss off her back. Some employees are even investing in tools such as ‘mouse jigglers’, which keep their statuses active, in order to avoid productivity tracking. Less engaged, less capable Of course, micromanagement isn’t always malicious by nature – De Stobbeleir underscores that some of these helicopter bosses are simply trying to reach out regularly to ensure a remote worker feels supported and connected. Similarly, most people like a little bit of structure and oversight from their manager, says Sadan (though the amount of “handholding” each employee needs certainly differs, especially among age and seniority, she points out). Yet regardless of a manager’s intention, experts say results of micromanagement are nearly always negative – for everyone. Attrition is, of course, a major concern – something particularly worrying to firms right now, as they’re still struggling to retain staff, in an ongoing swell of worker quits. “Micromanagement is a behaviour born out of bad management to a certain extent, and lack of wanting to relinquish control,” says Mark Williams, managing director for EMEA at WorkJam, which develops digital tools to improve productivity, and regularly works with companies whose staff accuse them of micromanagement. The consequence is that “the employee feels undervalued, that their ideas and thoughts are not taken seriously. They become disconnected from the company and the brand”. In an era of remote work, this becomes amplified, as employees are already physically disconnected from a company and colleagues, and micromanagement only increases this sense of disengagement. It’s their vision that’s shaping our national agenda. For almost 20 years, they’ve been secretly forcing their radical beliefs on the public. And what they have planned next will shock you… These two unelected billionaires from New York - whose names you’ve probably never heard – have engineered a plot to reset the entire U.S. economic system. And they are dangerously close to succeeding. In fact: unless you know how to protect yourself from what they have planned next, [you could lose everything.]( [Video preview]( [Click play to stream the documentary at no cost]( Sincerely, Porter Stansberry [divider] [WSW footer logo]( You are receiving this e-mail because you have expressed an interest in the Financial Education niche on one of our landing pages or sign-up forms on our website. If you {EMAIL} received this e-mail in error and would like to report spam, simply send an email to abuse@wallstreetwizardry.com. You’ll receive a response within 24 hours. Email sent by Finance and Investing Traffic, LLC, owner, and operator of Wall Street Wizardry © 2023 Wall Street Wizardry. 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