Have Tarot Deck - Will Commute to Give You a Reading

 "CEOs Can't Fix Our Biggest Problem With RTO: Commuting" 

- Headline from Bloomberg, September 23, 2022

 

In the film "The Land of Steady Habits" all that's wrong with Wall Street is symbolized by the commute to and from New York City. The camera pans on exhausted middle-aged white men getting off the Metro North late into the evening and having their wives picking them up at the train station. 

 

That commute into Manhattan from Westport, Connecticut also captured professional unhappiness in the classic book/film "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit." 

 

And commuting was considered so time-consuming by leaders in large law firms based in the Big Apple that it had been speculated that those such as Cravath, Kirkland & Ellis, and Paul Weiss paid the high salaries so that their lawyers could afford to live close to the office. If the client's hotel went on fire those lawyers could be "on it" within 10 minutes. Let the strategic meetings and documents about that client’s disaster begin at 2 A.M.

 

Then the commute went poof during COVID. WFH became standard for white-collar workers. In a seminal op-ed for The Hill Dentons global chairperson Joe Andrew lamented that there were those who had to go into the office - and risk their lives. Essentially that went viral.

 

No secret: Many at the top of the food chain never felt comfortable with WFH. They wanted the ability to observe how the work is being done - in-person. That kind of visual form of control was considered the right of those signing the paychecks. Also clients for professional services such as Morgan Stanley’s Eric Grossman had let it be known in July 2021 that he wanted the worker bees back in the office. At the time he was vilified. That was then, of course. So much has changed.

 

Currently, with the global and US economy in upheaval business decision-makers feel they have regained the power to insist on RTO. In sectors such as finance and law they can exert fear of losing a job to get employees back to the office. At Goldman Sachs that's at five days a week. No hybrid. On professional network Reddit Big Law there is a consensus that those who want to keep their jobs will high-tail back to the office. Yes, attendance is being taken and allegedly paid attention to in the performance reviews which factor into terminations.

 

So, here we are, back to the ordeal of the commute. It sucks energy. It adds on hours to the already long workday. And it is expensive.  All that can increase the current undertow of employee discontent and stress. Of course, that could undermine productivity and creativity. 

 

Overall hopes have been dashed in a growing number of sectors that commuting had gone the way of cable television. Simultaneously there seems to be little right now that the brass is doing to position and package that ritual as less awful.

 

Yes, parachute in the HR experts. They could come up with policies such as stipends or reduced actual work schedules for commuters. 

 

Probably the most effective would be to launch gee-whiz professional development programs at the office to provide a real return on investment for coming in every day.

 

Over and over again receiving in-person forms of mentoring has been cited as an positive perk of office life pre-COVID. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal in August 2021, Paul Weiss chairperson Brad Karp described how that had shaped him as a lawyer when just starting out. In real time in-person partners would explain to him the strategies they were using in phone calls with clients. By year two as a junior lawyer Karp was doing "real work" on high-profile litigation such as for client Pennzoil. With WFH that kind of instructional opportunity likely didn't emerge. Some even contend WFH newbies to professional services have a skills gap.

 

It is interesting to add to this conversation about the return of the commute that the self-employed aren't off the hook. The Biden Administration declared COVID over. Some of my clients listened up. They want my services in-person. I have to commute, just as I had before digital technology enabled myriad entrepreneurs even pre-COVID to operate remotely and duck the standard train ride on Metro North into the Big Apple. That was then. The old game is creeping back.

 

Your just-right professional fit. You can bypass the usual pain points. You may need to change jobs, careers, or from being a worker to entrepreneurship. 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.