CEOs are running companies from afar even as workers return to office

Perceived Double Standards

• Many see CEOs and upper management as exempt from RTO mandates, location-based pay cuts, and commuting burdens, while rank‑and‑file workers are forced back to offices.
• Exec travel (offsites, frequent flying, “Europe offices” with minimal real presence) is described as longstanding, not new.
• Several anecdotes: partners and CEOs remain remote while ordering everyone else back; one COO complains layoffs ruined his expensed family vacation.
• This is framed as “rules for thee, not for me” and as evidence of class hierarchy inside firms.

Exec Presence and Location

• Some report that in smaller companies (<200 employees), executives tend to be local and physically present, sometimes more than staff.
• Others note big‑company CEOs often live elsewhere, commute by corporate jet, or even relocate the HQ near their home.
• Some argue CEOs should at least share the city and physical culture of HQ, especially if they claim to “care” about the company.

CEO Workload and Value

• One camp claims many CEOs make a few key decisions, spend time on client dinners and golf, and enjoy outsized perks and pay.
• A strong counter‑camp insists this caricature is false: CEOs and senior execs are said to work extremely long hours, face constant stress, be “on call” continuously, and handle unpleasant, high‑stakes decisions (layoffs, crises, lawsuits).
• There is broad agreement that CEO pay multiples (e.g., ~40x workers) are hard to justify, even if the job is stressful.

Remote Work, RTO, and Productivity

• Some say RTO is about hierarchy, visibility, and executive loneliness rather than business need.
• Others argue junior staff benefit from in‑person mentoring and serendipitous overheard conversations that don’t translate well to Slack/Zoom.
• Several note that remote can work very well with good async communication; others report productivity drops when conversations move to private chats.
• A side thread debates whether leadership’s inability to diagnose missed deadlines remotely reveals poor management rather than a flaw in WFH itself.

Power, Inequality, and Worker Responses

• Commenters highlight structural inequality: executives can ignore pay bands, expense travel, and shape rules; workers mostly “take it or leave it.”
• Proposed responses include unions, co‑ops, broader employee ownership, and simply avoiding such employers—though economic conditions and the tech downturn limit that leverage.
• Some jurisdictions (e.g., the Netherlands) are cited as giving workers legal rights to WFH where reasonable, with claimed benefits for traffic, stress, and emissions.