Hacker News Reader

Once the market turns, and the labor pools aren't so tight, you might just see corporations stop allowing so much remote work. If you need to lay off 10% of staff, and 15% of your staff are remote, that's a easy place to start cutting. Lay-off all your remote workers, and re-hire the 5% from local employees who can work at your existing office.

View on HN

I suppose it depends on the attitude of management towards distributed work. If it's something they just tolerate to attract people who might otherwise not work for them, you're probably right.

But the situation may be different if they see it as a way to attract better and/or cheaper employees and to reduce the facilities costs associated with those employees.

That said, when things go south, companies (and managers within companies) do lots of haphazard things in an effort to be seen as doing something whether or not it makes long-term sense.

Might be easier to lay off everyone on that half-full 3rd floor and save money on your lease next cycle.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com