RTO - In This Time of Economic Jitters, Your Job May Depend on It (so may your professional development)

 The human mind loves to form generalizations. Maybe it needs to. But when it comes to RTO it's difficult to superimpose patterns on what is happening post-pandemic in this time of global and US economic turmoil.

On the one hand, there are sectors, such as auto and specific corporations such as GM, where employees can still effectively push back on RTO. 

Then there are sectors such as tech and Apple which are experiencing headwinds. There employees previously had been in a position of strength. Now not so much. Leadership could set in play a come-back to the office or don't bother coming back to the job.

Another dynamic unfolding has been in the intersecting businesses of Wall Street and the large law firms which serve as their legal counsel. As Bloomberg Law reports, essentially what is evolving is RTO, full-time. Hybrid has been ditched or, consultants predict, will be ditched. There is no ambiguity in this time of slowing demand for both sectors that holding onto a job as well as any upward mobility means being in the office full-time. Attendance - those card swipes - are being tracked and factored into overall assessment of performance.  

This is no surprise. What is surprising is that it didn't happen sooner. The reason it hadn't, of course, had been the pandemic boom. Demand had been off the charts and the talent to do that work had the upper hand. But that is over. Layoffs, formal and stealth (that is, performance-based terminations), are the new usual. The extent of that ax-swinging could become more intense as the economy worsens.

However, the pressure isn't only coming from management and that in-person in the office is its comfort zone.  

Increasingly what has become obvious is a skills gap among young professionals on Wall Street and Big Law who primarily operated WFH. That is one reason for the recent emphasis in both sectors for professional development.

Moreover, in addition to that gap is also the urgency for the organizations to learn to do business differently. That's the meme put out there by the experts featured on CNBC video interviews. Meta watchers are not optimistic that the Mark Zuckerberg “administration” can do anything in new ways. Was that tribe a one-trick pony? The same issue resonates throughout Wall Street and Big Law. Which firms will be able to reset for the 2022 – 2023 business conditions? Those which can’t may not survive.

Even during the pandemic boom and chase after talent there were voices supporting the benefits of in-person. For example, on the one hand, Wall Street law firm Paul Weiss didn't cave to Morgan Stanley's "encouragement" for full-time RTO. It went hybrid. Last August, the law firm conducted total WFH for the workforce.

On the other hand, Paul Weiss chairperson Brad Karp recounted in a Wall Street Journal interview how early in-person mentoring had been key in his career. According to SuperLawyers, there seems to be a correlation between that and an unusual advantage: In his second year as an associate - atypical - he had "real work" on the high-profile Pennzoil litigation.  Soon enough Karp was on his way to being made partner, then the top leadership position.

Currently his rainmaking, as Karp described in an Insider interview, primarily happens in-person. Specifically he cited hosting three consecutive breakfasts in a Manhattan restaurant. The 2022 RSW/US research on new business development found that pressing the flesh is what professional services is leveraging to get the work. Increasingly less effective are social media, sponsored content, email, snail mail, and even phone calls. 

Clearly, employees who are gunners will be out there in-person with the decision-makers. That also applies to us vendors. In November I am relocating my intuitive career coaching practice to have access to more in-person venues. Those range from spending several hours onsite at the client (an organization needing coaching) location to conducting workshops to old-fashioned in-person networking.

In a sense working has bifurcated into two cultures: The gunners and those insisting on professional/personal life balance. The former will eagerly do RTO. The latter will hold out for WFH and probably get what they want.

You may need to change jobs, careers, or from being a worker to entrepreneurship. You are not alone. So many are at a crossroads. Complimentary consultation for coaching, job-search materials, and interviewing. The menu of services includes Tarot readings, both spreads and one-card pulls. Please contact janegenova374@gmail.com or text 203-468-8579.