Highlights of the week: Whether employees will return to their offices, the US-China war continues

The impression is formed that in the leading global media, almost everyone has gone on holiday, topics included. Last week, the press was discussing a new trend – attempts to bring employees back to offices. Moreover, even from the IT companies' side.

If you want to bring staff back to offices – build walls

Thus, Amazon has warned employees who do not visit the office at least three days a week. Meta wants its employees to work on the same schedule starting next month. And if there needed to be additional evidence that big tech companies have officially abandoned remote work in favour of returning to the office, Zoom provided it. The company, whose revenues grew by 300% during the first year of the pandemic, asked employees last week to come to work at least twice a week, as reported by The Guardian.

During a tense Zoom meeting last week regarding office work, Eric Yuan, the company's CEO, faced a series of questions from employees regarding the time and money spent on commuting, according to the New York Times.

The British newspaper The Guardian believes that pressure from employers will lead to a talent drain. It quotes a relevant expert: "It’s likely that organisations are going to struggle to attract and keep talent if they want people in the office full-time, five days a week. People do have different expectations around workplace flexibility." The majority will no longer agree to work five days a week in the office, the outlet notes.

Ultimately, both newspapers are greatly concerned that according to a variety of research, the quality of work from young employees who work remotely is decreasing.

A thought-provoking perspective on the issue is presented by Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle, who suggests that if you want employees to return to offices, provide them with individual offices instead of the dreaded open space. If you want to monitor subordinates, make the walls transparent. After all, the noisy open office does not serve the functions for which employees are being brought back from remote work today: it doesn't enhance communication skills and doesn't increase productivity. Indeed, a study from 2018 showed that face-to-face communication among colleagues after switching to open spaces decreased by around 70%.

Competition for microchip investments: Britain is losing

The Guardian recently published a contemplation on whether the United Kingdom can establish a robust microchip industry, given that other countries are planning significantly larger investments in semiconductor research, design, and production.

"We could go to the US to get significant incentives – or the EU, or India, or other places. It drives an interesting decision: while we’d love to scale up in the UK, if we don’t have the same support incentives as elsewhere, how do we make case to our shareholders to do it just because we’re British?" the newspaper quotes representatives from Pragmatic, a company based in Cambridge that has now merged with an American business to take advantage of promised subsidies.

Under investigation by the FBI: How the Chinese acquired sensitive technology from Americans

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal has reported on a scandal surrounding the sale of technology by the American company DuPont.

In 2021, after a lengthy debate, the U.S. government approved the sale of technology related to the production of a more environmentally friendly version of nylon – derived from corn instead of oil – to the Chinese company Huafon.

Therefore, the signing of the agreement was personally intervened by Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, who convinced the U.S. Department of the Treasury to block the deal.

But in vain. Officials from CFIUS – the interagency committee authorised to review certain transactions related to foreign investments in the US – trying to block the deal, requested a meeting with Biden to break the impasse. The White House declined, instead offering a meeting with Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser. Sullivan stated that he agreed that the deal carried significant risks but delegated the resolution of the issue between agencies.

By May 2022, the sale had been completed, and officials reported that attempts to protect industrial secrets were futile. A month later, when representatives from the Department of Defence were planning a trip to China to verify that crucial technology hadn't made its way to Huafon, they received deeply unsettling news: information that was meant to stay within the American company was found on the servers of the new owner.

Currently, this case is being investigated by the FBI at the initiative of the Department of Defence and the Department of Energy. However, the sensitive technology is already in the hands of the Chinese.

Away from China: Mexico and Canada forge ahead

Last Wednesday, as reported by The New York Times, Joseph Biden signed an executive order prohibiting new American investments in key technological sectors that could be used to enhance Beijing's military capabilities.

The directive bars venture firms and private investors from putting money into the development of semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum computers, and certain projects in artificial intelligence.

The outlet reminds us that previous steps to tighten control over the export of key technologies to the People's Republic of China have already elicited a response from Beijing. China declared the suspension of supplying critical metals, such as gallium, which are vital to the Pentagon's supply chain.

At the same time, according to WSJ, imports of goods from China have fallen to a 20-year low. Buyers are turning to Mexico, Europe, and other parts of Asia for products, ranging from computer microchips to smartphones and clothing.

"Now companies understand that the trade, technology, and other conflicts between the US and China won't disappear," says Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics who monitors US-China trade. "They've started looking for ways to reduce risks."

At the same time, in June, Mexico's share in American imports equalled that of China. The free trade agreement among the US, Mexico, and Canada has positioned Mexico as a strong competitor to China and other Asian countries as a supply base for the US. The shift towards shorter supply chains in the post-pandemic era is providing these countries with advantages, the outlet notes.

And finally, an unexpected piece of news from the world of finance

Insider reports on how a group of Wall Street banks were fined for using WhatsApp and other messaging services for commercial purposes. The total amount of fines exceeded $800 million.

In recent years, American regulators have been intensifying their efforts to combat bankers' use of private messaging platforms for work purposes. This pertains to platforms like WhatsApp and personal email addresses that employers are unable to effectively monitor. An interesting experience to consider for Ukraine as well.