Is BT trying to clear out "the stale old guard"?

Ignore what I say at the end of the video - I am a liar - next week we’re going to deal with the impact of the wild ride of this week. It’ll take that long to synthesise the news from all the emergency board meetings currently sitting.

For now: moves by BT’s CEO Phillip Jansen to get everyone back to the physical office three days a week (or more), are said by some senior insiders to be a veiled attempt to clear out the 'stale old guard'.

In a memo, Jansen acknowledged:

"I know this won’t suit everybody’s individual preference, but the whole of the executive team believes it is fundamental to the success of our business."

Similar suggestions have been made at Tesla—anyone not wanting to work 40 hours a week on site isn’t the right sort of person for the firm… and needs to leave.

Which got me wondering: when you force a return to more days in the office, who is most likely to leave?

Let’s have a look at the data.

1. Leadership pipeline

👨‍👩‍👧 Data from Statistica (UK—February 2022) show that the group most likely to WFH if they can are the 30-49 crowd. They are most likely to also be caring for younger kids AND represent the pipeline of talent for future leadership.

2. Those with options

🏅 Job seekers are putting working pattern at the top of their selection criteria.

👧 While younger workers usually want to go into the office more, they highly prize flexibility and are confident job hoppers.

3. New talent

😓 Hiring is getting harder (and more expensive—see last week).

4. Diverse talent

Meta research in the US from July of this year showed that:

🧔🏾‍♂️ “US candidates who accepted remote job offers were substantially more likely to be Black, Hispanic, Native American, Alaskan Native, Pacific Islander, veterans and/or people with disabilities”

🙋‍♀️ “Globally, candidates who accepted remote job offers were more likely to be women”

🙅‍♀️ 5. Early adopters

In both BT and Tesla many people who had carved long-standing flexible arrangements are now losing them. Do they really think highly motivated individuals who have never been frequent office goers will suddenly accept this change to their working modes? “No way, I’m out” said one.

Jansen will have to judge whether the policy cleanses the firm of the dead wood… or increases the proportion of it by scaring away the kind of talent a future-looking business is keen to keep.

Next week

Making sense of the economic tornado…if that’s even possible.


Christine