Steve Schwarzman of the Blackstone group said staff want to work from home so they can save money

The boss of the world’s biggest commercial landlord has accused remote workers of staying away from the office because it means they “don’t work as hard” and can save money.

Steve Schwarzman, the chief executive of investment firm the Blackstone group, made the claims about hybrid staff while speaking on a panel at the Future Investment Initiative summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

In remarks first reported by Bloomberg, he said employees had kept working from home because “they didn’t work as hard, regardless of what they tell you” and also due to the savings they make on their daily commute, lunches and work attire.

  • @cm0002@lemmy.world
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    2708 months ago

    Says WFH is terrible

    Is biggest commerical landlord

    Yup, definitely totally unbiased opinion im sure lmfaooo

      • TechyDad
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        98 months ago

        He has his servants put his pants on one leg at a time like the rest of us! So relatable.

  • Boozilla
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    1658 months ago

    Let’s assume for the sake of argument he’s correct. So fucking what? Wealth concentration is wage theft. Profits are at historic highs. They owe it to the workers to put down the fucking whip. It’s better for the environment. Every worker who wants to telecommute (in jobs where it’s possible) should be allowed to do so. It’s unethical not to. It should be made illegal, IMO.

    • @WindyRebel@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Oh, well, we’ve been over producing by taking in extra tasks and not getting raises for many years with extra work while in the office. I guess this is just our reciprocity and evening out our personal time.

      I wonder if I sent him a pizza, would he feel better about it all?

      Oh. And you expect me to be in the office? Then you should make an appearance daily in the office. I don’t care if you’re halfway across the US - you better show up to say hi and prove you’re there you fucking slacker.

      • Snot Flickerman
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        8 months ago

        Oh. And you expect me to be in the office? Then you should make an appearance daily in the office. I don’t care if you’re halfway across the US - you better show up to say hi and prove you’re there you fucking slacker.

        This is the biggest reason people don’t respect the Return to Office mandate of some companies. If the C-suite jabronis can’t be arsed to show up and it’s okay for them to telecommute, they’ve given away the game. It’s rules-for-thee-not-for-me and it’s as simple as that. Treating adults well into their professional careers like children who must be watched endlessly is a slap in the face to these professionals. It’s why more often than not they’re just finding a different job that does respect them.

        This is such short-term thinking. They’re going to lose their most productive and most valuable employees to this, and then their business will slowly fold like a flan in a cupboard.

    • @thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
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      38 months ago

      These people do not care about the environment. They don’t care about social debt to the workers. They especially do not care about ethical behavior.

    • @Powerpoint@lemmy.ca
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      28 months ago

      Good thing he’s not correct though. Remote workers are more productive and save businesses money. This guy is just a greasy greedy fuck.

      • Boozilla
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        28 months ago

        Yup, I’m with you on that. Just pointing out that he’s still on the wrong side of it, either way.

  • @edgemaster72@lemmy.world
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    1078 months ago

    I’m not saying violence is the answer, but I do believe he deserves to be strapped into a machine that just slaps him in the face constantly

  • @seaQueue@lemmy.world
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    938 months ago

    Ah, yes, a man with a vested interest in seeing offices full to capacity can clearly be trusted to tell the truth here.

  • @bemenaker@lemmy.world
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    668 months ago

    Commercial landlord. LOL, like this douchebag has a clue what he is talking about.

    Translation: These remote workers are costing me money!!!

  • modifier
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    588 months ago

    Someone is confusing hard work with productivity. Fucking dinosaur.

  • @elrik@lemmy.world
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    558 months ago

    Even if we accept the premise that remote workers “don’t work as hard,” so what? They’re either fulfilling their job responsibilities or they’re not.

    • @JoBo@feddit.uk
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      238 months ago

      I mean, it’s true? I used to have to spend 11 hours a day to get 8 hours in my workplace. Now I spend 8 hours a day to get 8 hours in my workplace. And I start earlier and finish later because I can take longer breaks during the day when no one needs me to be there. And I get more done because I’m not knackered all the time from commuting 3 hours a day.

      They’re quids in (unless they’ve based their finances on the capital gains from owning property in a ridiculously expensive city while shunting the costs onto lower paid workers who are forced to commute long hours at their own expense).

    • @killeronthecorner@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Yes, well, he’s saying the quiet part out loud. In his mind workers should know they are finite resources for the company to suck dry at their whim and spit out once they’re done with them.

      This is the type of person who would ban lunch hours and eight hour days given the chance. They’re an embarrassment to their companies and to humanity in general.

      • @frezik@midwest.social
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        8 months ago

        Don’t even have to delve into movies. The book “Way of the Turtle” is a first hand account of some of the early algorithmic traders. While there’s nothing mentioned that’s even close to Wolf of Wall Street, the actual work they did hardly filled a full day. Mid-day office ping pong tournaments were common.

    • @aesthelete@lemmy.world
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      18 months ago

      They’re either fulfilling their job responsibilities or they’re not.

      I agree, but the problem is that they still have no way of determining that aside from chair to ass ratios because all of the upper layers of these organizations don’t know how to do their jobs.

  • @clearedtoland@lemmy.world
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    538 months ago

    he said employees had kept working from home because “they didn’t work as hard, regardless of what they tell you” and also due to the savings they make on their daily commute, lunches and work attire.

    It’s almost as if people enjoy having extra disposable income!

    • @Trainguyrom@reddthat.com
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      348 months ago

      I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it, one of the fastest ways to pull cars off the road is to pass strong incentives/taxes on businesses to encourage them to adopt a hybrid or remote work model. I live in a rural area where you frequently need to drive to the next town over for this that or the other thing and my hybrid work schedule has allowed my family to become a single car family in about the most eternally car dependant kind of living situation there is

  • @kaitco@lemmy.world
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    468 months ago

    How dare the common staff attempt to save money?!

    That is not their lot in life! They ought to be thankful for the pittance they receive as it is, and they are entirely ungrateful wretches to think of saving and trying to improve their situation!

    Entirely ungrateful!!

    • @GreenMario@lemm.ee
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      138 months ago

      That’s why when people start making a bit more money suddenly “fake inflation” gets introduced. We are always supposed to be on the edge of death. That’s the only thing that makes the owner class hard, and fucking kids.

  • Chaotic Entropy
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    8 months ago

    “It’s very important to me that you head into a large and expensive to rent office. Don’t ask me why.”

  • @Cruxifux@lemmy.world
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    408 months ago

    We should remove these people from all levels of power. They are not fit to be in charge of anything, ever.

  • @MiDaBa@lemmy.ml
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    378 months ago

    Remote workers can live in locations with cheaper rent. Blackstone has invested far too much money buying up overpriced housing in densely populated areas to allow that. A spread out population is bad for their bottom line.

  • Obviously, the dude owns commercial real estate. Of course he’s talking shit about people that don’t want to go to the office.

    I’m never going back to an office. Started my own business and never looking back. Information workers don’t need offices, period.

    Dude probably can’t wait to replace his own office staff with AI. Tell him to eat shit.