Apple, SpaceX, Microsoft return-to-office mandates drove senior talent away

But where did they go? Did they start startups? Join another big tech (if so, who competes with Apple for pay)?<p>There aren’t that many opportunities for people these days, especially at the senior level where titles and compensation is still inflated due to 2020-2022 grants.

Lesson Learned ...<p>If you take away an employee perk&#x2F;benefit, employees get upset.<p>The lesson learned is, most companies didn&#x27;t realize allowing WFH (due to COVID) would be perceived as an employee benefit.

I think the outcome of all of this is going to be much more aggressive cost-of-living adjustments.<p>It provides real, non-negligible value to sit in the same room as your coworkers. If companies want to reap that value though, they are going to have to pay for it. I think the days of setting up shop in downtown SF and just expecting talent to show up are over.

I know people that were having friends scan their badge to meet company guidelines on return to office (their manager and teams were okay with remote work). But then Amazon added cameras on badge scans from what I heard.

So much effort expended trying to put a genie back into a bottle.

Who could&#x27;ve guessed that. But in the end that decision may have developed innovations as at least a couple of those seniors started new companies.

[dupe]<p>Discussion: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=40339852">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=40339852</a>

How many SpaceX employees really want to live in downtown LA?

I&#x27;m not aware that Microsoft has a &quot;return-to-office&quot; mandate. Maybe that&#x27;s only for some employees? I know quite a few people on product teams who are 100% remote.

All the more reason to have a union.

This makes sense considering senior talent has significantly more flexibility in switching companies in today&#x27;s tech job market. If you are entry-level or mid-level and your company mandates RTO, well suck it up, because there are thousands more ready to take your place in a heartbeat.