Together with Masterworks:
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Get Back To The Office:
Last week we discussed how the remote working trend was changing the landscape for the American worker. This week we’re going to discuss the opposite end of the spectrum. What will happen to the workers who don’t go back into the office? Will they be able to still climb the corporate ladder as effectively in this new digital landscape? Will they even have jobs to go back to if they aren’t vaccinated? Will they even care?
Currently, one of the main concerns with companies “forcing” employees to come back into the office (specifically for those who can do their job remotely) is trying to protect their employees’ health through the pandemic that continues to rage on across the world.
While recent studies and data show the current Covid vaccines do offer a level of protection to the different variants, they are still not 100% effective at preventing or spreading the disease. Moreover, there will be employees who will not be vaccinated (or plan to get vaccinated) and have a much higher probability of contracting and spreading the disease to other coworkers. So regardless of vaccination status, there currently is still a chance that Covid can come into the workplace. For employers, this brings up some difficult policy decisions that they must be willing to react to and defend.
As reported on by The Drum: Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act), an employee does not have a legal right to refuse to work merely because of a potentially unsafe condition in the workplace. An employee only has a legal right to refuse to return to the office if all of the following conditions are satisfied:
The employee asked the employer to eliminate the risk and the employer failed to do so;
The employee refused to work in "good faith"—meaning the employee has a genuine belief that an imminent danger exists;
A reasonable person would agree that there is a real danger of death or serious injury; and
There is not enough time, due to the urgency of the hazard, to get it corrected through regular enforcement channels, such as requesting an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspection.
Most working conditions would not give rise to a legal right to refuse to return to the office on the part of the employee, and especially now with the administration of Covid-19 vaccines.
This leads to the next question: Does an employer have the power to fire an employee who wants to return to the office and who refuses to get vaccinated?
My friend Matt Kobach tweeted out this question in a poll over the weekend. The results were pretty evenly split with some interesting discussions happening in the comments section. This issue was also discussed in the most recent week’s episode of the All-In podcast, where the panel unanimously said that employers could force their employees to get vaccinated.
According to recent guidance issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, this appears to be true. Employers can legally require COVID-19 vaccination for employees to re-enter the workplace and can provide incentives to encourage employees to get a shot.
As they also note in their guidance: In some circumstances, Title VII and the ADA require an employer to provide reasonable accommodations for employees who, because of a disability or a sincerely held religious belief, practice, or observance, do not get vaccinated for COVID-19, unless providing an accommodation would pose an undue hardship on the operation of the employer’s business. The analysis for undue hardship depends on whether the accommodation is for a disability (including pregnancy-related conditions that constitute a disability).
The new guidance seems relatively straightforward but still creates enough room for interpretation that could prompt lawsuits as companies bring (force) their workers back to the workplace. So if you're getting the push to come back to the office and get vaccinated, you will have a choice to make. Either take the jab or look for a different job where the employer may not require it.
On the second topic of returning back to the office, I was reviewing some corporate policies when I started thinking about how this may impact workers’ career paths moving forward. So I put out a poll that tried to capture this:
While not the most scientific poll, the results were just as expected; we are still living in a world where large corporations like to control their employees. When employees are putting butts in seats there is more oversight. They know their workers aren’t taking naps during the day or playing golf over lunch or sitting in their underwear watching CNBC. I’m talking about myself if you didn’t pick that up…(j/k I wear pants).
My point of saying “all things else being equal” before I ran out of characters meant that the quality of work done by the employee was of the same quality across the board. But it also brings up a good point about relationships with our coworkers and managers and C-level executives. How would that poll be answered if all of the higher-ups were in the office but you? How would that poll be answered if all of the higher-ups were remote but you were in the office?
For most of you that are trying to climb the corporate ladder and are trying to do it remotely, I wish you the best of luck. You need to form deep relationships with your supervisors and higher-ups and play politics if you have to—otherwise, you’re just another 7 digit employee number that doesn’t stand out from the crowd.
You may produce high-quality work but at the end of the day, your supervisors are still also rating you based on your relationship with them and other coworkers. The key for remote workers in this competitive arena is to build relationships early and often. Do team-building events with your supervisor, go out to lunch with them monthly, hop on video calls instead of audio, etc. You need to replicate what you would do if you were still going into the office. Don’t become a recluse or a nomad. Otherwise, it’ll appear like you aren’t committed to the team and you will surely be forgotten when it comes time for promotions.
The takeaway: Employers appear to have the ability to force the hand of employees who don’t want to get vaccinated or don’t want to come into the office even if they are vaccinated. All hope is not lost though for those wishing to continue working remotely in the future (regardless of vaccination status). New data shows that one in four Americans works for a different employer than the one they had before COVID-19 struck. 26% of those job-switchers have ended up with a salary bump of 10% or larger. Maybe you could just jump around from company to company getting 10% salary bumps every year.
Performance Update:
Now let’s see how the People’s Portfolio did this week…
It only took 2 straight weeks of losses to wipe out 4 straight weeks of gains. As the saying goes: Stairs up, elevator down. The overall market sold off this week because [insert your own narrative about interest rates, the Fed, valuations, Delta variant, etc.].
On Friday, we voted Waste Management (WM) to remain in the portfolio for another 10 weeks. WM is +3.10% over the past 10 weeks.
Exxon Mobil (XOM) is on the chopping block next week for the 2nd time. We’re currently holding onto a 5.94% loss over the past 19 weeks. Oil and energy stocks have underperformed have essentially stalled since the first quarter.
Our portfolio is currently -6.75% on the year—an incredibly tough scene.
Keep an eye out for the new Twitter poll every Friday. Follow along in real-time with nearly 300,000 others on Public.
Portfolio News Highlights:
The biggest stories affecting our portfolio this week:
Bitcoin still waiting for a 'fundamental factor' to drive the next bull market (Yahoo)
NVIDIA's ARM Acquisition Is Facing Regulatory Hurdles (Yahoo)
Square to launch bitcoin DeFi platform, CEO Jack Dorsey says (Yahoo)
Watch Out: Subscription Fatigue May Be Setting In Faster Than Expected (Barron’s)
What Else We’re Reading:
Blogs/Articles:
In 2030, You’ll Own Nothing And Be Happy About It - Kenan Kolday (Illumination)
What is Robinhood? - Marc Rubenstein (Epsilon Theory)
24 Hours - Michael Antonelli (Bull & Baird)
The Fed Should Stop Using the Term “Transitory” - Cullen Roche (Pragmatic Capitalism)
Books:
The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion - Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell
Need new reading material? Visit my Amazon page for my most purchased book recommendations.