SAP

Great team members, pleasant work environment, middle management comprised of reasonable and honest people, good work-life balance (before return to the office policy).

Absolutely untrustworthy and volatile CEO and Board, who do not keep their pledges, even in the face of excellent results. The last four years, and particularly 2023, have proven work from home yields the necessary performance, and the financial results and stock movements prove it.

However, it's been decided employees should go back to the office for three days a week. Many of the reasons why this is nonsense are obvious, proven by facts, and have been mentioned here. But I'll focus on the main argument CEO Christian Klein has stated, which is that more experienced people have to help new hires who feel lost when starting out.

I've mentored several interns over the work from home period without ever seeing them in person. During this time, I've always been available to guide them via chat or call. All these people have met or exceeded expectations, doing better than previous interns who've worked from the office. If interns can do it, so can anyone while enjoying all the WFH benefits.

It's not the responsibility of all employees around the globe to solve problems with new hires not demonstrating sufficient communication skills. This is something to discuss on a case-by-case basis with the new hire's mentor or decided by a team and their manager. That's how it currently works, and it's effective.

The CEO's main argument for RTO is completely superficial, yet affects more than a hundred thousand people.

• Make decisions based on facts, statistics, and logic, not personal beliefs.
• Grant people the flexibility to do the job they're hired for as they see fit, not apply arbitrary restrictions.
• Do not assume you know better than thousands of people about how they'll be more productive.
• Don't dodge difficult questions and admit when you're wrong.
• Learn what the word "pledge" means.