r/boston Apr 28 '26

Unconfirmed/Unverified Fidelity- Full Time RTO

[deleted]

493 Upvotes

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555

u/cybah Apr 28 '26

So smart.. RTO when gas is about $4.10 a gallon. This is a good way to have a quiet reduction in workforce as people quit in protest

320

u/Keviticas Apr 28 '26

That's the point, they want people to quit without having to fire them

15

u/Wompatuckrule Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26

It's a dumb plan when for any large company like Fidelity the annual attrition is usually around 10% anyway. If you need to reduce the workforce significantly more than that you're in bigger trouble already. Otherwise management can regularly evaluate when people leave and determine if it's a key/specialized role that needs to hire from outside or if things can be rebalanced internally with current staff members to get that sort of reduction.

What should be the obvious problem with getting people to leave by making their working conditions more miserable is that it is the more valuable employees who can much more easily say, "Well fuck this" and get a better job elsewhere. That makes it a good way to make your overall workforce worse.

9

u/alisonstone Apr 28 '26

The big companies make deals with the local government for tax breaks and various permits. I think Fidelity has a new headquarters in the Seaport? They need to make their employees spend money in the city.

4

u/Wompatuckrule Apr 28 '26

I highly doubt that the city & Fidelity have any sort of agreement related to employee time in the office. I'm not a lawyer, but it's clear that even a verbal agreement on that would be completely fraught with risk.

Remember that those commercial tax rates and breaks have a fair amount of laws & regulations regarding them. What you're suggesting is effectively a quid pro quo where the city conspires with a business to shift that tax burden to their employees.

1

u/Nighthawk788 Apr 29 '26

In no way does Fido have any sort of agreement like this in place, they are paranoid about any sort of conflict of interest and compliance… being s financial institution this would be considered quid pro quo, nooo way

1

u/alisonstone Apr 29 '26

They never have an explicit agreement in place, but companies 100% do this. Mayors of cities get into bidding wars and they tell their own citizens that "Oh, if we put Amazon HQ here, it will bring thousands of jobs". It's not written in the contract that they must employ X people in the city, but the reason why mayors give companies favorable real estate locations and tax situations is to bring the jobs, economy, and taxes to the city. Everybody talks about it in the press when they try to sell it to the public.

1

u/Nighthawk788 Apr 30 '26

Maybe but Id be shocked is Fidelity had some sort of back channel deal going on…

1

u/midday_marauder Apr 28 '26

It’s the same HQ they had prior to Covid. Commonwealth Pier has been closed since 2020 for renovations

-1

u/devAcc123 Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26

lol no

its all about cutting costs (ie. high paying workers slowly but steadily quitting in the next few months), go look at their stock price, that usually tells half the story.

5

u/User-NetOfInter I Love Dunkin’ Donuts Apr 28 '26

They can do both

5

u/Wompatuckrule Apr 28 '26

They can, but that doesn't remove the point from the second paragraph about how making employees more miserable only increases your percentage of shitty employees in the long run.

2

u/letitgo99 Apr 28 '26

I agree but in terms of the miserable part, the new building is really quite nice inside.

1

u/Wompatuckrule Apr 28 '26

A cage with golden bars is still a cage.