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Earlier this month, <keyword id="19904608" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amazon" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Amazon" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> made headlines for enforcing a strict <keyword id="20408795" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="return-to-office" source="keywords">return to office</keyword> mandate on employees starting next year. Until now, Amazon employees were required to come to office for three days a week but from next year, the employees will have to work from offices for all five days. The move had sparked backlash from various employees who took to social media to express that they work better in a hybrid or remote setup. Now, at a recent event, <keyword id="19974102" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon-Web-Services" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Amazon Web Services" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Amazon Web Services">Amazon Web Services</keyword> CEO <keyword id="21187658" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Matt-Garman" source="keywords">Matt Garman</keyword> talked about the company's <keyword id="23712741" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="RTO-mandate" source="keywords">RTO mandate</keyword> and said that if it doesn't work for some employees, they can always "find another company." <h2>"Find another company" </h2> Speaking at The Wall Street Journal’s Tech Live event, Garman said that according to him, in-office work plays a critical role in driving innovation and operational efficiency. Citing interactions like impromptu chats in hallways, quick brainstorms on whiteboards, and casual discussions over coffee, he said that in-person collaboration brings advantages that remote settings can’t replicate. However, Garman also acknowledged that the mandate might not sit well with everyone, and that is okay. He said, “If it’s not for you, then that’s okay – you can go and find another company if you want.” This statement, as per a CNBC report, comes amid internal debate, with many employees voicing concerns about losing the flexibility they’ve become accustomed to, which some say enables them to balance their work and personal lives better. The report adds that around 37,000 employees have joined an internal Slack channel that advocates for <keyword id="20665553" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="remote-work" source="keywords">remote work</keyword>. On a related note, Garman had talked about Amazon's new policy over a week back as well. While speaking at an all-hands meeting as per a Reuters report, he had addressed potential concerns from those who might find the mandate challenging. Garman said that while most employees he spoke with supported the change, he recognised it might not suit everyone. "If there are people who just don't work well in that environment and don't want to, that's okay, there are other companies around," he had said and added, "By the way, I don't mean that in a bad way. We want to be in an environment where we're working together." <h2>When Amazon defended its RTO mandate </h2> Garman isn't the only Amazon employee who has advocated <keyword id="20294959" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="work-from-office" source="keywords">work from office</keyword>. A couple of days back, a report in The Information revealed that Beth Galetti, Senior Vice President of People Experience and Tech at Amazon, defended the RTO mandate. Galetti said that younger employees are eager to benefit from in-person mentorship and have been asking to work from office. Speaking at The Information’s Women in Tech, Media, and Finance conference, Galetti explained that many junior staff members expressed a desire for face-to-face interaction with colleagues. She also said that the new policy reflects a return to Amazon’s previous work culture, where there was flexibility for personal matters but office attendance remained the norm.

'Find another company if it doesn’t work for you’: Amazon Web Services CEO on work from office mandate

The healthcare startup Forward bet the future of its business on a spaceshiplike mall kiosk in Roseville, California.Launched in 2017 by several high-profile executives from Google and Uber, Forward set out to disrupt primary care with tech-enabled, ultramodern clinics. In mid-2023, it shifted its attention to a new offering: an AI-powered doctor-in-a-box.Replete with ultraviolet lighting and floor-to-ceiling screens, the metallic "CarePods" let patients get a doctor visit sans the doctor — directing patients to take their own blood, sequence their DNA, and test for diseases like COVID-19, all without speaking with another human."If Elon has the self-driving car, well, this is the autonomous doctor's office," Forward CEO Adrian Aoun told <a target="_blank" href="https://www.axios.com/2023/12/08/carepod-forward-doctors-office-telehealth-telemedicine">Axios</a> in late 2023.Today, Forward's first CarePod is gone. Where the kiosk used to sit in the center of the Roseville Galleria mall, two strips of blue painter's tape lie stuck to the shiny marble floor.The startup announced Tuesday it would close its doors, just a year after raising $100 million in a Series E funding round to power its CarePods rollout. That fundraise took its total funding to over $650 million.Forward sent a late-night email to its patients on Tuesday, obtained by Business Insider, announcing it would immediately shutter all its locations, cancel scheduled visits, and cut off access to its mobile app. The startup said its clinical team would be available by email until December 13 for remaining patient support.Eleven former Forward employees spoke with BI before the closure on the condition of anonymity to avoid retribution from the company. They painted a picture of a startup that bet the house on its bold, new healthcare technology, with little to show for it a year later.Fewer patients than the company had hoped jumped at the chance to try out the CarePods, six former employees said. Logistical challenges in setting up the kiosks forced Forward to delay core parts of its strategy, like launching CarePods in big markets such as Chicago and New York City.Meanwhile, the technical problems mounted. Automated blood draws routinely failed. Lab test offerings were withdrawn. And patients kept getting trapped inside the CarePods.Forward said in November 2023 it planned to scale to launch <a target="_blank" href="https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/15/forward-health-carepod-ai-doctor/">3,200 CarePods in a year</a> — 12 months later, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=505445618923153">it said it had launched five</a>. Immediately prior to its closure, only two CarePod locations were listed on its website.Facing sluggish growth, Forward laid off a significant portion of its staff in March, seven former employees said. Two former employees told BI that, at that time, the startup was set to run out of money in less than a year.The startup's abrupt closure points to the perils of its high-growth ambitions and dogged "tech-first" approach to the notoriously complex healthcare industry — a case of AI-fueled style over substance.Forward did not respond to multiple requests for comment.<div type="image" title="Forward San Francisco clinic" height="2705" width="3607" msid="115264594" hostid="261" sizebytes="342990"></div>Adrian Aoun originally made his name at Google as Larry Page's right-hand man, leading special projects for the tech giant after the company bought his first AI startup, newsgathering platform Wavii, in 2013.When he launched Forward in 2017, Aoun <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/forward-new-york-city-healthcare-2018-11">positioned</a> the startup's health clinics as a doctor's office crossed with an Apple Store. The startup began with a membership model that offered patients complete primary care for $150 a month. (The company never accepted insurance.)Upon entering a clinic, subscribers faced a Star Trek-teleporter-esque full-body scanner, a platform <a target="_blank" href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/miguelhelft/2017/01/17/meet-forward-an-ex-googlers-plan-to-reinvent-healthcare/">Forward said</a> takes a patient's vitals and runs them through its proprietary artificial intelligence to detect symptoms.While the scanners helped attract new patients to the clinics, the flashy tech simply took basic vitals that clinicians could easily measure manually — for instance, the scanners take a patient's temperature by using <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&amp;v=727194414435413">infrared-thermal-energy mapping</a>, rather than with a thermometer. Three former employees said the scanners often recorded incorrect data, which forced clinicians to retake information like a patient's blood pressure or heart rate."The aesthetics drew people in and kept them there," one of those former employees said. "But the scanners don't actually do much."<div type="image" title="The body scanner in Forward's Washington DC clinic." height="3024" width="4032" msid="115264592" hostid="261" sizebytes="226616"></div>Forward operated more than a dozen of these healthcare clinics across the US prior to its closure. BI visited two, in Washington, DC, and San Francisco, in the weeks leading up to it shutting down. The clinics were sleek and glossy, with iPads built into the wall, a shiny white body scanner awaiting its next patient, and no front desk.Both locations were eerily empty in the past few months. BI went to Forward's Washington location once and its San Francisco location twice and glimpsed one patient in all. The Washington clinic was silent; after about 10 minutes, a medical assistant emerged to greet the reporter who was wandering the halls and calling out for an employee. The clinicians at both locations declined to speak with BI.Forward hadn't opened any new clinics in the past year. Four former employees said the startup closed at least two clinics since the CarePods launch: in Dallas and Bellevue, Washington.Forward had also been cutting costs at its clinics for months. Forward started declining to pay for any lab tests it couldn't do in-house, according to documents viewed by BI — meaning a wide variety of tests previously available to members, including several STI tests and key hormonal measures like thyroid tests, are no longer covered by the startup.Last year, the startup stopped paying for genetic tests through 23andMe, a service it had touted since its inception. It cut smaller services from at least some of its clinics, too, like skin-tag and mole removal using too-expensive liquid nitrogen, three former employees said.Those former employees said Forward leadership told them the startup was closing its clinics, at least partly, so Forward could focus on the CarePod.<div type="image" title="Empty patient room hallway at Forward Washington DC clinic." height="2705" width="3607" msid="115264588" hostid="261" sizebytes="323756"></div>When Forward launched its first CarePod in November 2023, Aoun suggested he wanted to replace the type of care he'd spent the past six years building his business on."I don't even believe a doctor's office should exist," he told <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=3acc9e8edc97399cb8cdec8f5b777978cd910840dcd952e16a865f3ed0717e7e&amp;postID=6734ba00d4b5ffeb6fd37907&amp;postSlug=healthcare-startup-forward-shutdown-carepod-adrian-aoun-2024-11&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theinformation.com%2Farticles%2Fhealthcare-without-health-workers-a-unicorn-pivots-to-an-ai-doctor-in-a-box">The Information</a>.Eleven former employees told BI that Forward went all in on its CarePods, pivoting nearly all of its marketing materials and resources away from its clinics.After Forward launched its first CarePod in Roseville, just outside Sacramento, in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/inno/stories/news/2023/04/24/forward-carepod-westfield-galleria.html">summer 2023</a>, it <a target="_blank" href="https://www.axios.com/local/phoenix/2023/12/11/ai-doctor-chandler-arizona-carepod-artificial-intelligence">announced</a> its second later the same year, this one in Chandler, Arizona. The startup began offering a CarePod-only membership, without access to its clinics, for $100 a month.<div type="image" title="Adrian Aoun, Forward founder and CEO" height="3840" width="5120" msid="115264585" hostid="261" sizebytes="290970"></div>The CarePods came with many financial and logistical challenges, former employees told BI.Each CarePod, with its state-of-the-art technology, was extremely expensive to manufacture, six former employees told BI. Four former employees said the earliest two CarePods cost the startup more than $1 million each to produce.And CarePods were a hard sell to landlords. The miniature free-standing clinics were still subject to building codes, but they lacked the scale or customer base to prove they're worth placing in a mall or office building.The biggest CarePod launch Forward promised, in Chicago's Willis Tower, never materialized. Two former employees said the startup faced logistical challenges with the building, which forced Forward to halt the rollout indefinitely.The five CarePods Forward <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/forward/videos/505445618923153/">launched</a> are a far cry from the 25 the startup sought in its initial launch, let alone the 3,200 CarePods Forward hoped to scale to in a year, per TechCrunch.<div type="image" title="Empty atrium in the Roseville Galleria mall where Forward's first Care" height="4284" width="5712" msid="115264596" hostid="261" sizebytes="751040"></div>While Forward's $100 million Series E funding round and CarePods launch drew plenty of headlines, some former employees said patients rarely expressed the same enthusiasm."I would get people saying it looks like something from 'Black Mirror,'" one former employee said.Three former employees said patients would frequently get stuck inside the CarePods, especially in 2023 and early 2024.Former employees also said some of the CarePods' self-service offerings, like its blood draws, didn't work as advertised.Forward's blood draws, which the startup said could be used for tests such as cholesterol measures that necessitate a smaller amount of blood, directed patients to place a device on their arm that the startup said could painlessly break the skin and extract blood. But those blood draws were routinely failing to collect even the small amount of blood necessary for those tests through the first half of this year, the three former employees said.While clinicians are trained to draw blood precisely to get the right amount, one of the former employees said patients would often place the autonomous device on a part of their skin where it couldn't draw enough blood. That former employee estimated that self-service blood draws were failing well over half the time.<div type="image" title="Decor in Forward's Washington DC clinic" height="2857" width="3810" msid="115264599" hostid="261" sizebytes="487854"></div>Forward's messaging during the CarePods rollout left some of the startup's employees feeling frustrated, too. Four former employees said they felt Aoun's suggestions that doctors are inefficient and replaceable in the wake of the CarePods launch were disrespectful to the medical professionals who work in Forward's clinics.After the public's initial fascination with CarePods wore off, three former employees, including two former sales staffers, said the CarePods teams struggled to draw new customers and rarely hit their sales targets. In March, four months after the CarePods' public launch, Forward slashed its workforce, seven former employees said.As Forward burned through cash, the startup faced a challenging fundraising environment, with many investors leaning away from late-stage investments and countless generalist investors <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/digital-health/digital-health-funding-settles-down-2023-fewer-deals-smaller-check-sizes">stepping back from healthcare deals</a>. Aoun always eschewed the idea of selling Forward to another company, former employees said.It's unclear when Forward officially decided to shutter. As recently as Tuesday morning, Forward was still sending marketing emails to prospective customers offering discount rates to sign up for its services, per emails reviewed by BI.Most former employees BI spoke with said they still believed in Forward's mission. Many said they were drawn to the startup explicitly because they wanted to expand access to quality healthcare under Aoun's direction. Several employees told BI that the CarePod felt "ahead of its time."In the Roseville Galleria, there's no longer any sign that Forward's first CarePod ever stood in the mall's atrium, surrounded by stores like Pandora, Uniqlo, and Kids Foot Locker.An employee at a neighboring pretzel stand remembered the "AI doctor thing," which he said closed around September.Businesses that set up shop in that atrium don't typically stay long, he added. The mall plans to build a playground in the CarePod's place.

Inside Forward's failed attempt to revolutionize the doctor's office with AI

<keyword id="19897820" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bollywood" source="keywords">Bollywood</keyword> superstar <keyword id="19895142" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Shah-Rukh-Khan" source="keywords">Shah Rukh Khan</keyword> on Tuesday attended the <keyword id="24050072" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Global-Freight-Summit" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Global Freight Summit" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Global Freight Summit">Global Freight Summit</keyword> in Dubai, where he got candid about his personal and professional life. During the conversation with the moderator, SRK not only talked about his stardom but also shared how he dealt with failures. Urging people to introspect rather than dwell on their failures, he said, "When you fail, you should not believe that your product or service or job went wrong. Maybe you just misunderstood the ecosystem you were working in. You have to understand how people are reacting. If I cannot elicit an emotion from the people I cater to, then my product is not going to work how wonderful it may be." When asked if he is critical of his work sometimes, Shah Rukh candidly admitted, "Yes, I am. I hate feeling this way, and I cry a lot in my bathroom. I don't show it to anyone. You must believe that the world is not against you. If your film did go wrong, it's not because of you or some conspiracy. You have to accept that you made it badly, and then you have to move on." He also emphasised how one should be focused on learning how to move on from failures. "There are moments of despair but there are moments which say, 'shut up, get up and get on with it'. You have to do it because the world is not against you. You should not believe that things are going wrong only for you. Life moves on. Life does what it does. You cannot start blaming life for what it does," he added. After taking break from the films for over four years, SRK returned to the silver screen with Siddharth Anand's '<keyword id="19897075" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pathaan" source="keywords">Pathaan</keyword>' in January 2023. In the film, SRK donned an action avatar and left everyone in awe. The film broke several records at the box office and managed to grab a name in the list of one of the highest-grossing films in the Indian film industry. The film marked SRK's first hit after his sabbatical of four years post delivering a series of duds like 'Zero' and 'Jab Harry Met Sejal'. After 'Pathaan', King Khan returned to theatres in September with '<keyword id="19897076" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Jawan" source="keywords">Jawan</keyword>'. The film once again saw SRK in an action avatar. The film collected over Rs 1000 cr. at the worldwide box office. 'Jawan' redefined box office success, captivating audiences with its gripping storyline and stellar performances, and rewriting record books along the way. Released on September 7, 2023, 'Jawan' marked the first collaboration of SRK with director Atlee.The film also stars Nayanthara, Priyamani, Sanya Malhotra, Ridhi Dogra, Lehar Khan, Girija Oak, and Sanjeeta Bhattacharya. In the coming months, SRK will be next seen in King, directed by <keyword id="19904922" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="sujoy-ghosh" source="keywords">Sujoy Ghosh</keyword>.

"I cry a lot in my bathroom": Shah Rukh on dealing with failures

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Eric Schmidt partly credits his time in the office for his promotions.</li><li>Schmidt said in-person work offers experiences crucial for career advancement.</li></ul>Want a promotion? Get into the office and soak up the knowledge within its walls, Google's former CEO says.While some companies have <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-employees-open-letter-aws-ceo-office-return-rto-2024-10">faced resistance</a> after requiring staff to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/companies-requiring-return-to-office-rto-mandate">return to the office</a>, Eric Schmidt said asking workers to come back is partly for "their own benefit."Schmidt, who ran Google from 2001 to 2011 as CEO, said in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zg--ouGl7c">a recent episode</a> of "The Diary of A CEO" podcast that he has a "strong view" that staff should work in person to gain the types of experiences that remote work can't offer."When I was a young executive, I knew nothing of what I was doing," Schmidt said. "I literally was just lucky to be there, and I learned by hanging out at the water cooler, going to meetings, hanging out, being in the hallway."The knowledge acquired from being in office was "central" to his later promotions, Schmidt said."If you're in your 20s, you want to be in an office because that's how you're going to get promoted," he said.Live Data Technologies conducted an analysis of 2 million white-collar workers and found that, over the previous year, the fully remote workers were promoted 31% less often than their hybrid or fully in-office peers, The Wall Street Journal <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/remote-workers-are-losing-out-on-promotions-8219ec63">reported</a> in January.Schmidt said he wanted to "acknowledge" that, in some industries that have been studied, the flexibility of working from home can increase productivity. Many people who want to be remote have legitimate commuting or family concerns, and there is data indicating that productivity is "slightly higher" when remote work is allowed, he added."At least for the industries that have been studied, there's evidence that allowing that flexibility from work from home increases productivity," he said. "I don't happen to like it, but I want to acknowledge the science is there."Researchers have studied the hot-button topic with conflicting results. A 2023 Goldman Sachs report that examined multiple studies suggested the varying conclusions could be due to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-work-wfh-productivity-impact-no-consensus-goldman-sachs-2023-8">differences in study design and how researchers measure productivity</a>.Studies have also suggested that being fully remote decreases workers' productivity. A 2023 <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://siepr.stanford.edu/publications/working-paper/evolution-working-home">study</a> published by Stanford's Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) indicated that fully remote work led to a 10% decrease in productivity compared to fully in-person work, though hybrid work appeared to have "no impact on productivity."Although many execs praised the flexibility of hybrid schedules during the pandemic, several have <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/remote-work-rto-billionaire-ceo-threaten-fire-workers-wfh-2023-8">backpedaled</a> in the years since. Companies, including Amazon, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs, have ditched their remote work policies for full return-to-office mandates, with some even threatening to track performance or terminate those who don't comply.Others have moved to a hybrid model. Mark Zuckerberg said in 2023 that <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-update-meta-staff-remote-work-policy-lay-offs-2023-3">performance data</a> from Meta showed that "people who work from home are not efficient, and engineers who come to the office get more work done." Meta now requires employees to work at least three days a week from the office.Last year, <a target="_blank" rel="" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sam-altman-chatgpt-openai-ceo-career-net-worth-ycombinator-prepper-2023-1">OpenAI CEO Sam Altman</a> told Fortune Magazine one of the tech industry's "worst mistakes" was to allow employees to go "full remote forever."Schmidt expressed <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ex-google-ceo-losing-ai-race-staff-work-from-home-2024-8">similar sentiments</a> in an April lecture at Stanford University, saying that Google is losing out to AI rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic because of its remote work policies."Google decided that work-life balance and going home early and working from home was more important than winning," Schmidt said at the time. "And the reason the startups work is because the people work like hell." He said that if a tech giant wants to remain competitive against other startups, "you're not going to let people work from home and only come in one day a week."After video of the lecture was published online in August, Schmidt walked back the remarks, with his spokesperson telling Business Insider that "Eric misspoke about Google and their work hours and regrets his error."Google told staff in 2022 that they were to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-to-bring-workers-back-to-office-three-days-week-2022-3">return to the office</a> for at least three days a week, later doubling down on RTO expectations the following year in an <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-monitors-attendance-to-get-workers-back-to-office-2023-6">email to employees</a> that said attendance would factor into their performance reviews. However, Google <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/google-hybrid-work-policy-amazon-rto-employees-workplace-remote-2024-10">assured workers</a> in October that it would not follow Amazon's expectations for staff to come into the office five days a week.

Get to the office if you want a promotion, ex-Google CEO says

We all know the pressure of meeting deadlines, but what if we told you that being late doesn’t just affect your calendar — it could actually tarnish how people see the quality of your <keyword id="6355058" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Work" source="Orion">work</keyword>? According to researchers, that’s exactly the case. They found that work submitted late is seen as lower in quality than the same work submitted on time or early, no matter how great it actually is. It turns out, missing a deadline can make you and your work seem less competent and trustworthy, all because of the subtle judgments deadlines trigger in other people. <h2>The deadly deadline dilemma</h2>Previous studies have focused on how deadlines affect employees’ productivity and stress levels, but lead researcher Sam Maglio’s team wanted to know how missing a deadline changes an outsider’s perception. To test this, the researchers conducted 18 different experiments with thousands of people, from managers and HR professionals to everyday folks, evaluating a wide range of creative and professional work. In the test, participants saw the same exact work samples — like photography, product pitches, news articles, and art — but they were told it was submitted either early, on time, or late. And guess what? The late submissions were consistently rated as lower quality, despite being identical to those submitted on time. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="114883482" title="We heard from over 750 people who have recently struggled to find work. Here are their biggest frustrations with getting hired." mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>Maglio explains, “Everyone saw the exact same art contest entry, school submission, or business proposal, but they couldn’t help but use their knowledge of when it came in to guide their evaluation of how good it was.” In other words, once people knew something was late, it was hard not to think less of it. <h2>Early birds don’t really get extra credit, but late birds do lose points</h2>Interestingly, turning in work early didn’t seem to earn extra praise. Evaluators ranked work that came in early and on time as equally good, which means there’s no major boost for those overachievers who submit work ahead of the deadline. But the real problem comes if you’re late — even by a little. In fact, it didn’t matter if the work was one day or one week late; the hit to quality ratings was the same. Late submissions were rated as poorly as work that objectively missed the mark, like not meeting word counts. And it turns out that advance warning doesn’t do much to soften the blow — one missed deadline still chipped away at the evaluator’s view of the employee’s competence and integrity, even if they were usually punctual. But here’s where it gets even trickier: evaluators didn’t just judge the work as poorer in quality — they also saw the latecomer as less reliable and were less likely to consider them for future tasks. One missed deadline could, in theory, limit your future opportunities to shine or earn promotions. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="114915871" title="I did a remote internship while also side hustling at a national park. I worked all day but lived in a beautiful place." mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div>The researchers even tested this with high school students in China, who were shown art entries with the submission dates marked as either early, on time, or late. Even though they were told to ignore everything except the artwork itself, the “late” pieces received lower grades. And that’s with peers evaluating peers, so it didn’t matter if a boss or manager had set the deadline — missing it still left a mark. <h2>Let your manager know!</h2>Luckily, not all hope is lost for late submitters. Maglio’s team found that the reason behind a missed deadline actually mattered. If the delay was due to uncontrollable events — like jury duty or a medical emergency — people cut the submitter more slack. The same was true if the deadline was a “soft” one rather than a hard cutoff, or if the work wasn’t particularly critical. “Communication around deadlines is vital. If it’s a hard, and not a soft, deadline, you as the manager should let your employees know,” Maglio explained. “If the reason why you missed the deadline was beyond your control, you as the employee should let your manager know.” The findings of this study have been published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes and can be accessed <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2024.104365">here</a>.

Missed a deadline? Here’s why it might cost you more than just a little extra time

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-millennial-bosses-manage-gen-z-workers">Gen Z workers</a> are redefining office dress codes with their <keyword id="23370799" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="fall-fashion-trends" source="keywords">fall fashion trends</keyword>.</li><li>As companies enforce return-to-office, employees are balancing professional and personal styles.</li></ul>Charli XCX may have painted this summer "Brat" green, but a new season — and thus new style trends — are upon us. Although fall is yet to be given a quippy nickname (unless you count the annual <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/christian-girl-autumn-influencer-donates-meme-creators-gofundme-caitlin-covington-2020-9">Christian girl autumn</a> memes), fashion brands and their consumers are already eyeing what's next. As a result, office fashionistas are building their fall work wardrobes. In a world where trends are accelerated by the constant refreshing of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tiktok-ban-bill-algorithm-byetdance-2024-4">TikTok's For You Page</a> and other social media, it seems like Gen Z is either ahead of the curve or catching up on what's in style. And as more companies require employees to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-rto-faq-document-spells-out-new-rule-2024-9">return to the office full time</a>, workers must navigate professional dress codes while still finding ways to express themselves. So far, Gen Zers have made it clear that they're putting their own spin on the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-employees-dress-in-corporate-goth-style-for-work-2023-9">office dress code</a> — as demonstrated by the "corporate goths" of TikTok who wear all black and thick eyeliner to work. Business Insider spoke to three US-based workers about what's on their fashion wish list this fall. Although they come from different professional backgrounds — and don't necessarily have the workwear restrictions that a big Wall Street firm might mandate — their fashion plans suggest some emerging trends for cool-weather dressing. <h2>Jordan Booker, 25</h2> <div type="image" title="Jordan Booker standing next to a sign and smiling" height="826" width="620" msid="113747596" hostid="261"></div>Booker works with teens as a health educator. In the office, he said he keeps it <keyword id="23370802" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="business-casual" source="keywords">business casual</keyword> and prefers to be "presentable but relaxed" when working on-site at schools. He described his work style as professional with a hint of comfortable streetwear. For the fall, Booker is eyeing sneakers from On and Nike and vests from Patagonia and Ralph Lauren, and he's interested in exploring "the cowboy look." A ten-gallon hat and cowboy boots might sound outlandish for work, but trendsetters like Bella Hadid and <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/best-and-worst-outfits-country-music-stars-wore-this-year-2024-5">Beyoncé</a> are making the look mainstream. <h2></h2><h2>Sydney Rose, 23</h2> <div type="image" title="Sydney Rose kneeling down and smiling outside" height="1934" width="1297" msid="113747590" hostid="261"></div>Rose told BI that working on a college campus means the dress code is "pretty lenient" for both staff members and students. "My personal style is a mix of very flowy, typically 'girly' aesthetics with long skirts and dresses with bright colors," Rose said. She added, "I really like to turn that into a more business casual look, usually pairing a fun shirt with some wide-legged trousers." As for "<keyword id="22610266" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Brat-Summer" source="keywords">Brat Summer</keyword>," Rose compared it to the pink craze sparked by "Barbie" summer in 2023, which she said faded away by September last year. "I think Brat Summer will see the same outcome of everyone forgetting their neon green and grunge club rat aesthetic the moment they have to start layering for the cold weather and clocking into their 9-to-5," she said. Rose describes herself as a "thrifter through and through," so she doesn't usually look for specific brand names. But she's considering a dress from Reformation as a treat for herself this year. Denim from Universal Thread and sweaters from Banana Republic have been favorites for the fall, and she said she'll be layering oversize sweaters on tight-fitting shirts for a preppier look. <h2>Tealoni Butler, 25</h2> <div type="image" title="Tealoni Butler in a mirror" height="2048" width="1536" msid="113747593" hostid="261"></div>Butler is an editorial video producer who works in an office with no dress code. The office encourages employees to wear what they want, and Butler takes full advantage by expressing her street style. "I would describe my personal style as fluid, unique, nostalgic," Butler said. She added that she takes inspiration from the past decades, like the 1990's and early 2000's (<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/duy-tran-vietnamese-fashion-designer-blackpink-olivia-rodrigo-celebs-2023-4">Y2K style</a> is huge on TikTok these days), and vintage clothes from family help her achieve her vision. She's "definitely into kitten heels, leg warmers, and maxi skirts right now," and brands like Miista, Ottolinger, and Cruda are on her wish list this fall. Correction: September 27, 2024 — Corrects spelling of Sydney Rose's name in second subhead.

Brat summer is over. Here's what Gen Z's wearing to the office this fall. 

22 things you probably didn't know about 'The Office'

<ul><li><keyword id="19904608" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amazon" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Amazon" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> recently ended work from home</li><li>A former AWS employee shared tricks people use to not return to office</li><li>The post has gone viral </li></ul> A couple of days back, tech giant Amazon was under the limelight for ending <keyword id="20665553" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="remote-work" source="keywords">remote work</keyword> forever. The company, through a memo shared by <keyword id="21367545" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="CEO-Andy-Jassy" source="keywords">CEO Andy Jassy</keyword>, announced that employees will be required to be in office for all five days. Jassy had also noted that there are various benefits of working from office - something that he has mentioned in previous memos as well - and that everything will return to the way it was before the Covid 19 pandemic. <h2>Employees are not ready to return to office</h2>Amazon's RTO (return to office) mandate had sparked a lot of discussion online, and various employees were seen criticising the decision. Now, a former <keyword id="19974102" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon-Web-Services" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Amazon Web Services" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Amazon Web Services">Amazon Web Services</keyword> (AWS) engineer, <keyword id="23292501" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="John-McBride" source="keywords">John McBride</keyword>, has revealed some clever methods employees have used to dodge the company's strict return-to-office policy. The Colorado-based software engineer, who left AWS in June 2023, shared his experiences in a viral post on X (formerly Twitter), which has now garnered over a million views. McBride called these tactics "true ingenuity and innovation," but not in the way one might expect from a tech giant like Amazon. In the post, McBride explained that many employees were going to great lengths to avoid physically returning to the office after Amazon implemented a strict return-to-office mandate. He himself chose to resign when asked to relocate to a different city and work from the office. <div type="Article" hostid="261" msid="113585941" title="Unfortunate incident, compassion needs to be promoted: Experts react to EY employee’s death" mstype="2" mssubtype="0"></div> McBride listed three "wild" tricks AWS employees have been using to avoid returning to the office while still appearing compliant with the company's attendance policies. <h2>The three "wild" tricks </h2> First, he highlighted a classic approach that employees used for weeks: badging into the office during lunch breaks, grabbing free snacks or coffee, and quickly leaving. “This worked for a few weeks until they started tracking how long employees actually stayed in the office,” McBride said. The second trick involved employees renaming their home Wi-Fi network to match that of the office's network. The company's reporting software would then mark the employee as being “in the office” based on the network name. McBride admitted this was his favourite tactic but mentioned that it didn’t last long. “Eventually, the IT department made the system more sophisticated, checking more than just network names.” Lastly, McBride spoke about certain "under-the-table arrangements," where employees left their security badges with colleagues who would clock them in and out of the office. “This was risky, but I knew someone who did this for months,” he remarked, amazed by how long it lasted. <div type="image" title="amazon" msid="113620212" hostid="261"></div> Although many companies, including Amazon, have been keen to bring employees back into physical office spaces following the pandemic, the rise of remote work has sparked ongoing debates about its long-term viability. McBride’s post has sparked conversations about the necessity of office attendance for tech professionals, especially given the increasing availability of virtual collaboration tools. It’s clear that employees are not only resourceful but also determined to maintain the flexibility that remote work offers. Whether these tricks will continue or be shut down entirely as companies tighten their policies remains to be seen. For now, McBride’s account sheds light on how some are navigating the changing landscape of post-pandemic work. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/article/simply-put-founder-mode-the-secret-sauce-to-startup-success-or-fancy-term-for-hustle-and-micromanagement/articleshow/113568851.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Founder Mode — the secret sauce to startup success or fancy term for hustle and micromanagement?</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/apple-macbook-air-m1-to-be-available-under-50000-on-amazon-how-to-get-the-deal/articleshow/113617645.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Apple MacBook Air M1 to be available under ₹50,000 on Amazon, how to get the deal</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/author_articles_all.cms?query=479266566&amp;author=divyanshi%20sharma=&amp;page=1" class="artishow_author"></a>

Rename home Wi-Fi, leave badge at office: Ex-Amazon employee reveals tricks used by employees to not work from office

The Covid-19 pandemic drastically changed the way we work, with <keyword id="20665553" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="remote-work" source="keywords">remote work</keyword> quickly becoming the new normal. Employees across the globe adapted to working from home, enjoying newfound flexibility and a better <keyword id="19901232" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="work-life-balance" source="keywords">work-life balance</keyword>. And for a long time, we all thought that this was the new world and going to the office every day would be a thing of the past. However, as pandemic restrictions eased, many companies began rolling back these remote policies, pushing employees to return to the office. Tech giant <keyword id="19904608" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amazon" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Amazon" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> recently ended remote work for its employees and told them to come to office five days a week, just like how it used to be before the pandemic. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, in a blog post, said that working from offices has its benefits and therefore all employees will have to start coming to work the entire week. He added that even though they will permit work from home in case of emergencies (taking care of your sick kid, running emergency errands etc), remote work will no longer be the norm. <h2>Companies are calling employees back to offices</h2>Amazon isn’t the only company that has implemented the <keyword id="20007258" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="rto" source="keywords">RTO</keyword> (<keyword id="20408795" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="return-to-office" source="keywords">return to office</keyword>) mandate. Companies like <keyword id="19945574" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Wipro" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Wipro" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Wipro">Wipro</keyword>, TCS, X (earlier called Twitter) and Infosys also require employees to be there in office for at least three days a week. While X boss <keyword id="19903807" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Elon-Musk" source="keywords">Elon Musk</keyword> had once asked those seeking work from home to “get off of their moral high horse,” Infosys CEO N. R. Narayana Murthy had made headlines for saying that workers in India should work 70 hours per week. In wake of Amazon’s recent RTO mandate, many young professionals are reacting strongly on the internet. While some feel that the RTO mandate will hamper their productivity, others feel that it is simply unnecessary. And then there are also some people who think that this is a good decision. Let us take a look at how people are reacting on being called back to offices. <h2>How are people reacting?</h2>Social media sites like Reddit, X, and LinkedIn are full of reactions on the RTO mandate. Many employees feel that this will increase their cost and time spent on commute. Amazon’s recent decision to bring its employees back to offices has not sat well with many, especially those accustomed to the <keyword id="20445439" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="hybrid-work-model" source="keywords">hybrid work model</keyword>. On LinkedIn, Samrat Bhardwaj, who has previously interned with Amazon India, questioned the rationale behind the shift, asking whether the company truly considered employee well-being or was more focused on its own benefits. He also voiced concerns over the increased cost in case employees think of moving closer to tech hubs. He also added that if people start living at a distance from tech parks, rent will be lower, but you'll be wasting a lot of time to and fro from the office every day. On the other hand, Erin Mantz, a former Meta and Amazon employee, pointed out the stark difference between previous work norms and the flexibility of today's workforce in a LinkedIn post. “Gen Xers, for decades, used to have to go in every day... no working from home, no midday walks or being home for the dishwasher repairman,” she said, reflecting on how work-life balance has evolved. She concluded that the shift back to in-office work might not align with modern expectations, suggesting that today’s workforce has experienced a better way of working. <h2>“Working in the parking lot isn’t a bad idea”</h2>People aren’t just concerned about the increased cost and wastage of time in commute. Some also pointed out the irony of commuting to the office only to continue working in their cars due to a lack of proper space and resources. One Reddit user said, “Genuinely had no idea how bad RTO would be until it hit. I'm as unproductive as ever and half my work is done in the parking lot at this point for these exact reasons. Going back to the office isn't the end of the world, but when there's zero space or even disability accommodation for the employees? Unacceptable, especially considering the ones who usually enforce the arrangements all have their own private offices with the best gear their department offers.” Another user, Oracle-2050, quipped that working from their car was a makeshift solution, noting, "At least I can attend Teams meetings and make phone calls." The absurdity of the situation was highlighted by yet another commenter who sarcastically remarked, “Only in clown world would a worker drive to the office in order to do work in their car.” Another user pointed out that the decision-makers pushing these mandates “all have their own private offices with the best gear their department offers,” leaving regular employees to struggle in far less conducive work environments. <h2>The “Fake work” problem </h2> Annie Dean, who earlier used to work as Director of Remote Work at Facebook, took a critical stance on LinkedIn, highlighting that return-to-office mandates don’t address the core problem which is “Fake work.” This term, popularised by Airbnb’s Brian Chesky, refers to tasks that feel like work but don’t actually create value for the business. Dean explained in her post that employees are drowning in endless meetings and messages, which detract from productivity. She argued that instead of mandating office attendance, companies like Amazon should focus on “pioneering new, more efficient modes of work.” This argument has resonated with many on X as well, where employees have expressed frustration over the return-to-office mandates being viewed as a quick fix. One Twitter/X user remarked that "commuting to do the same virtual meetings in person isn’t solving anything," while others echoed that the core problem lies in work structures, not location. Here are some other reactions on X: <div type="image" title="negative reactions" msid="113528739" hostid="261" sizebytes="64721"></div> <h2>A quiet layoff strategy? </h2> Yet another take on the RTO mandate comes from Jennifer DeLorenzo, a former senior recruiter at Pinterest. She suggested that the move feels like a “quiet layoff strategy.” According to her, by mandating full-time office attendance, companies may be hoping for a wave of resignations without having to deal with the negative press of formal layoffs. “This tactic allows them to reduce headcount while avoiding the negative optics of layoffs,” DeLorenzo wrote on LinkedIn, adding that it may backfire as hiring becomes challenging again when the economy shifts. Many others seemed to agree with her view. On Reddit too, there are many people talking about how companies might be carrying out soft layoffs by implementing an RTO mandate. Her comments tapped into a broader conversation on how companies may be using return-to-office mandates to indirectly reduce their workforce. Other social media users pointed out similar trends across industries, where companies tighten office attendance policies to nudge employees toward leaving voluntarily. <h2>Some mixed reactions too </h2> While the return-to-office mandates are frustrating for many, not all reactions are negative. Some employees, particularly newer hires, see value in the traditional office setting. Bhardwaj, for example, also noted that going to the office is beneficial for freshers who want to learn. “I do believe that going to the office makes you learn a lot as freshers,” he wrote in his post, suggesting that for those early in their careers, the in-person experience might be crucial for growth and networking. Some users on X too seemed to be in support of this mandate. Here’s a look: <div type="image" title="mixed-reactions" msid="113528718" hostid="261" sizebytes="77770"></div> This duality reflects the ongoing debate around the future of work. On one hand, companies like Amazon, Google, and Meta are focusing on building stronger in-office teams, believing that physical presence fosters better collaboration, innovation, and mentoring. On the other hand, employees, especially those who experienced the benefits of remote work during the pandemic, are pushing back against these mandates, valuing the flexibility and improved work-life balance that working from home provides. As companies continue to adjust their RTO policies, the tension between employee expectations and corporate strategies is likely to persist. However, one thing is clear — the future of work is still being negotiated, and both sides are making their voices heard across the internet.

'I'm unproductive, this is not the real solution': Internet reacts as Amazon, Wipro and others call employees back to office

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Amazon plans to integrate its AI chatbot Q with Microsoft's Office 365 service.</li><li>The integration aims to expand Q's user base by leveraging the popularity of Office 365.</li></ul>To reach real scale in <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-frontier-crowded-winners-losers-2024-8">AI</a>, you sometimes have to enter enemy territory. That's what <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/aws-negotiating-huge-cloud-deal-supply-ibm-with-nvidia-gpus-2024-11">Amazon</a> is about to do with its <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-q-ai-early-challenges-aws-chatbot-2024-9">Q</a> AI assistant. The cloud giant plans to integrate Q with Office <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-prepares-amazon-customer-365-cloud-tools-2023-10">365</a>, the work productivity software service run by arch rival <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-mustafa-suleyman-ai-copilot-update-reviews-2024-10">Microsoft</a>. Amazon is looking to launch a new Q add-in for Office 365, according to a recent internal document obtained by Business Insider. Add-ins are extra programs that provide new features and capabilities to existing software. With this new add-in, Office 365 users will be able to directly access Q within Microsoft applications such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel, the document explained. At the moment, most Q users access the Amazon AI chatbot through AWS's website.The move is part of a broader set of new Q features that Amazon is working on, including a new browser extension, the document stated.It's unclear when the new features will be announced. Amazon is hosting its annual re:Invent cloud conference in early December and often readies product updates and launches for this event. The new integration could potentially expand Q's user base because Microsoft's 365 service is one of the most popular productivity software suites in the world. Many business applications, such as Salesforce's CRM software, have their own Office add-ins that help users access these services directly from within Microsoft's platform."We are inspired by how creatively customers are using Amazon Q to enhance productivity, and we will continue to build innovative new features to unlock new capabilities and make it even more useful for customers," AWS's spokesperson Patrick Neighorn told BI in a statement.Q publicly launched in April and was recently named one of the leading AI code assistants by research firm Gartner.Getting availability on other enterprise platforms may be a natural next step of growth for Q, which targets business customers. Amazon employees <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-q-chatbot-launch-rushed-flawed-anthropic-claude-ai-2024-1">previously told BI</a> that the company "rushed" Q's launch last year. In August, some Amazon employees raised concerns about Q's lack of features that they said was causing more customers to use Microsoft's Copilot AI assistant instead, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-q-ai-early-challenges-aws-chatbot-2024-9">BI previously reported</a>.AWS CEO Matt Garman shared on Linkedin last week that Amazon Q is now linked to millions of internal documents and integrated with tools his teams use every day. This year alone, he said, Amazon Q has "resolved over 1 million internal Amazon developer questions," saving more than 450,000 hours of work.Do you work at Amazon? Got a tip?Contact the reporter, Eugene Kim, via the encrypted-messaging apps Signal or Telegram (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="c-link">+1-650-942-3061</a><a target="_blank" rel=" nofollow">) or email (</a><a target="_blank" href="mailto:ekim@businessinsider.com">ekim@businessinsider.com</a><a target="_blank" rel=" nofollow" class="" href="mailto:ekim@businessinsider.com">). Reach out using a nonwork</a> device. Check out Business Insider's <a target="_blank" rel="" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/insider-guide-to-securely-sharing-whistleblower-information-about-powerful-institutions-2021-10">source guide for other tips</a> on sharing information securely.

Exclusive: Amazon's AI chatbot Q is entering enemy turf by integrating with Microsoft's Office 365

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Gen Z women are leaning into the "office siren" aesthetic, a sexified business-professional look.</li><li>They're taking it beyond the office: Work-inspired clothing has made it into <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pictures-of-vintage-street-style-evolution-2019-3">street fashion</a>.</li></ul>At first, Julia Quang posted her <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/guides/style/where-to-shop-for-womens-workwear-clothes">workwear outfits</a> because she had nothing else to share.As a fashion influencer, 23-year-old Quang had built her audience by posting outfit-of-the-day videos on TikTok, usually modeling casual womenswear trends.But when she landed a sales job and began spending most of her days in the office, she found herself with no time to post her typical fashion content.So, she started posting the outfits she was already wearing to work.To her surprise, her workwear outfits took off. Two of her videos, both featuring a variation of a form-fitting button-down top and low-rise trousers, garnered more than 1 million views each. Her following ballooned from 15,000 to 100,000 followers, and brand deals began pouring in.After five months in her corporate job, she was making more money as a part-time influencer than she was as a full-time sales rep. She quit her job to do influencing full time and now makes about 1.5 times her old salary.Quang attributes the unexpected virality to a digital trend that first appeared at the end of 2023: the office siren.Online interest in the style skyrocketed this summer. Videos on TikTok tagged #officesiren collectively have <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tiktok.com/search?lang=en&amp;q=office%20siren&amp;t=1723230696948">tens of millions</a> of views. Google Trends shows searches for the term "office siren" increased tenfold between the first week of May and the first week of August. Brands are catching on, too. Canadian retailer Aritzia launched its fall 2024 workwear-inspired collection with the tagline, "CCing office sirens."The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-tiktok-office-siren-trend-rooted-in-sexism-expert-2024-8">office siren</a> is a polarizing character — a sexed-up appropriation of office wear, restyled and applied to contexts outside the office.Think vests that you'd see in a three-piece suit but cropped and fitted and worn without a shirt underneath or pinstripes splashed across micro-mini skirts and tube tops.Quang's influence demonstrates a curious trend among working Gen Zers in America.Many of these young people began careers during the remote work boom of the pandemic years and continue to work in hybrid or remote settings. During this time, dress codes in many corporate spaces got more relaxed, welcoming <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/jeans-face-reckoning-pandemic-bankruptcies-habit-shifts-2020-8">jeans</a>, T-shirts, and in some cases, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fashion-brands-still-adapting-work-wardrobes-remote-hybrid-era-2022-12">athleisure</a>.Although more workplaces have embraced casual dress codes in recent years, young people are embracing corporate fashion in places that aren't meant for this kind of clothing at all.BI spoke with three industry experts who explained why office-inspired clothing is booming, even amid less crowded offices and more relaxed at-work dress codes.They pointed to a few key factors driving young people's embrace of corporate fashion: the prevalence of remote work, the demise of the dress code, and the ultimate blurring of our professional and personal lives.<h2 id="82c4edce-25aa-4792-aa00-1a573c2ef300">Reclaiming adulthood</h2>Quang, who quit her corporate job in April, continues to post office-siren content, although she no longer has to get dressed to go into work. She described her new aesthetic as the "office siren, without the dress code" — a pastiche of corporate culture that doesn't exist in real life.Josephine Hansom, a youth-trends analyst at the market research firm Savanta, said that young people could be embracing corporate core as a way of asserting their maturity."Young people are trying to reclaim their pathway to adulthood, which isn't necessarily being offered to them," Hansom said. "This generation is finding it quite hard to know where they fit because the life milestones associated with becoming an adult are so far off."Gen Z faces significant financial hurdles, like unprecedented <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/renting-vs-buying-homeownership-wont-make-genz-rich-increase-wealth-2024-7">housing unaffordability</a> and mounting student debt, factors that push many of them to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gen-z-living-at-home-relying-on-parents-safety-net-2024-7">live with their parents</a> for longer.And given that members of Gen Z are more likely than older generations to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/young-people-are-developing-money-dysmorphia-2024-7">perceive</a> themselves as financially worse off than they are, it's no surprise they may want to assert what little claims to adulthood they may have using clothes.<div type="image" title="Woman at a desk wearing heels and skirt" height="1414" width="2120" msid="112743255" hostid="261" sizebytes="84882"></div><h2 id="67cccec9-eb44-4703-9056-f9736196621c">Dress codes' demise</h2>Kirsten Classi-Zummo, an apparel industry analyst at Circana, said the end of the coronavirus pandemic accelerated the blurring of dress codes.Events came back in full force. Suddenly inundated with places to be and people to see, plus the demands of some return-to-office orders, young people sought out clothing that could easily transition between contexts.Classi-Zummo said she's noticed young shoppers buying a lot of suits, skirts, and blazers. These pieces have a specific versatility: They can be worn to the office, out to dinner, and elsewhere.She said the fluidity of the same clothes to move through different social spaces is a recent development."Ten, 15 years ago, we had completely separate wardrobes. For work, for working out, for going out, you bought separate pieces," Classi-Zummo said. "Now … everything has kind of met in the middle."Corey Robinson, the chief product officer of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/visited-abercrombie-and-fitch-first-time-in-years-menswear-review-2024-8">Abercrombie &amp; Fitch</a>, cited the versatility of tailored pieces as a main factor in their popularity."<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-you-should-tailor-clothes-2014-6">Tailored clothing</a> is not only great for the uptick in demand for wear-to-work, it's also a trend that is versatile for work to happy hour to weekend," Robinson said.That versatility isn't done by accident. Aritzia, a retailer Quang described as her go-to for office-inspired clothing, intentionally blurs the line between casual and professional clothing, according to its executive VP of product Heather McLean."We often blend elevated professional pieces with more casual items, and this effortless, sophisticated approach resonates with our community across all ages," McLean said.<h2 id="bf51131f-5758-4f71-8927-720c6ab4f501">Playing the professional</h2>Work creeps into other spaces — the coffee shop, your home, even the beach <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/quiet-vacations-work-trends-culture-pto-travel-job-stress-2024-6">when you're supposed to be on vacation</a>.Perhaps what we're observing with the trickling of office attire into other spaces is just a reflection of how increasingly blurred our personal and professional lives have become.To be sure, this isn't the first time we've seen business clothing make it out of the office and onto the street.In the 1970s, people embraced polos, collared shirts, and button-downs for day-to-day wear, leaning away from the baggy and boho chic of the previous decade, Nancy Deihl, a fashion historian at New York University, said.Hansom added that business-casual structured vests and ties even made their way into clubbing outfits of the 2000s — an era of fashion Quang said was a huge inspiration point for the corporate-siren trend.But the big difference between those earlier shifts and now is that Gen Z is online in almost every aspect of their lives: dating, socializing, and work.And with remote and hybrid work <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hybrid-work-here-to-stay-ceos-rto-remote-2024-4">here to stay</a>, Gen Z is left play-acting at adulthood, as its typical markers have slipped further out of reach.After all, Quang said, the ideal office siren isn't a real person — she's an idea. And the people commenting on her videos that she'd "get sent to HR" if she wore these outfits to work are missing the point."Obviously, I'm not wearing this to the office," Quang said. "The office siren is just a character I'm playing."

Gen Z women are leaning into office-inspired clothing — but they're not wearing it to the office

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Grocery chain Asda is calling workers back to the office three days a week from January.</li><li>The British retailer says it will improve on-site catering and provide better bathrooms for staff.</li></ul>Stuart Rose, chair of grocery store Asda and a veteran of British retail, says the company will improve bathroom facilities and on-site food as it mandates a return to the office for corporate staff.Rose, who has also held leadership roles at major UK retailers Marks &amp; Spencer, Argos, and Topshop, said last week that from January, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://corporate.asda.com/20241105/a-message-from-stuart-and-rob-putting-ourselves-back-in-the-service-of-our-customers">all Asda corporate staff must be in the office three days a week.</a>After the announcement, Rose said in an interview with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/nov/09/in-no-great-rush-to-get-back-to-the-office-uk-home-workers-may-not-have-a-choice">The Observer</a> that having too many staff based at home was "not a satisfactory way of working," particularly in a "fast-moving consumer goods industry.""It's not always as efficient with those teams working together in terms of online, in terms of Zoom calls," he told the outlet.Asda said it will "improve the working environment" in its offices as part of the RTO push.That includes "a better catering offer, an on-site Asda Express, a more welcoming atrium, more meeting spaces, quiet-space working pods, upgraded toilets, new chairs and redecoration."A spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider that in November, the grocery chain cut 475 management roles and announced a major restructuring amid slowing sales.Rose has taken on a leading role in Asda's transformation after one of the grocery chain's owners, Mohsin Issa, stepped down from running day-to-day operations in September.In 2021, Issa, along with his brother Zuber and private equity firm TDR Capital, purchased a majority stake in Asda from its previous owner, Walmart.Asda said that its RTO policy, combined with the restructuring and job cuts, would bring the business "in line with our competitors and the wider market, allowing us to build high-performing teams with a collaborative culture and respond to what our business needs the most."Rose is not alone in wanting his employees back in the office. While many bosses are firm advocates for the potential productivity gains of in-person work, some <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="c-link" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/rto-policies-dont-improve-employee-performance-company-value-controlling-bosses-2024-1">studies</a> have found that hybrid working does not affect productivity.As the pandemic years fade further into the past, more CEOs have been returning to policies similar to those that existed in most corporate environments pre-2020. In recent months, companies like <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dell-staff-return-office-order-sparks-panic-parents-childcare-wfh-2024-10">Dell</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ceo-return-to-office-mandate-5-days-week-2024-9?utm_source=Iterable&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=campaign_Insider%20Today,%20September%2017,%202024">Amazon</a> have announced that staff must be back in the office five days a week.Asda's chair told The Observer he thinks demand for hybrid work has swung too far in favor of workers."Hybrid working wasn't invented in the pandemic," Rose said. "It has to fit the business's needs."Experts say workers still have some say in the working culture debate. If RTO policies become too strict, top talent will simply leave to find a system that works for them, Ravin Jesuthasan, a respected future-of-work researcher, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ravin-jesuthasan-why-companies-enforce-rto-mandates-future-of-work-2024-8">previously told Business Insider.</a>If the labor market swings back around to favor workers, organizations will be under more pressure to meet their employees on their terms, the author "The Skills-Powered Organization" said.Nick Bloom, a Stanford economist and a leading expert on remote work, previously told <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wfh-remote-work-findings-rto-nick-bloom-2024-10">BI he believed</a> working from home is "here to stay," citing big steps in technology such as video calls and virtual reality.In a presentation published in September, Bloom shared that surveys in 2021 had shown that, on average, employees regarded the right to work two or three days a week from home as valuable as an 8% pay rise, based on 17,087 responses.

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