Broadcom is laying off 1,267 Palo Alto-based VMware workers following its acquisition of the company
Chip manufacturer Broadcom wrote the latest chapter in the long story of return-to-office tensions between bosses and employees.
After completing its $69 billion acquisition of cloud computing company VMWare, Broadcom CEO Hock Tan issued a direct order to his new employees about where they must work. “If you live within 50 miles of an office, you get your butt in here,” he told the workers of previously remote-friendly VMWare.
The comments came during a meeting Tan hosted on Tuesday after the merger between the two companies officially closed, following approval from Chinese regulators. Like many other executives, Tan cited in-person work’s benefits to collaboration and company culture. “Collaboration is important and a key part of sustaining a culture with your peers, with your colleagues,” he said.
That drove me crazy about my hybrid schedule. It didn’t matter whether I was in the office or not. All communications were via slack and email and all meetings were via Zoom. There was not one single reason for me to be in that office.
And it wasn’t even a ‘sunk cost on real estate’ issue. The office was attached to a production facility. If they got rid of it, they could add more production lines. Fucking moronic.