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Why do so many people want us back in the office?

paulitaylor.com

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Re: Why do so many people want us back in the office?

#311

Post by duiker101 »

ahupp wrote: post #301

I worked remote for 3 years. It was great at first (10ft commute, woo!), but I wouldn't choose to do it long-term. All those relationships I'd made with co-workers slowly withered as the team changed, and by the end we just didn't work as cohesively together. It wasn't a failure per se, we still shipped software, it was just clearly a lot less effective (both for me career-wise, and for the team as a whole). So I wou…

i dread the office. for me going into the office means sitting at my desk, getting my work done and occasionally interacting with my team. it's not that I didn't like them or something else, I just don't care. they are not my friends, they are co-workers. I will forever pick remote work over office.

Re: Why do so many people want us back in the office?

#312

Post by Nursie »

SergeAx wrote: post #221

1. WFH is not for everyone. There are people with kids and no dedicated workplace at home. There are people with low motivation and self-control, and office routine just helps them to keep up. 2. You can't mix WFH with work in office. It's either one or the other. If you have a single employee working remotely - you should transform all the processes to WFH-style. 3. WFH shifts most of the burden onto management. Man…

Those people with kids would presumably have to make other arrangements if they were in an office?

Re: Why do so many people want us back in the office?

#313

Post by ck425 »

Nursie wrote: post #300
tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Commute time is a big thing here. People who have a 2 hour (one way) commute from hell from their massive house are super happy about this situation (shocking, I know). People who live in a small studio apartment 10 minutes from the office see it differently. What I expect this to result in is employers increasingly forcing people to WFH (either outright, or by making the offices horribly unattractive through hot-des…

The real estate is not a cost if you have an office setup at home anyway. As a computer programmer, why would I not? Cleaning and maintenance of that office is just part of what I do. Almost any commute is going to outweigh those factors.

That's far from the case for everybody. Extra heating is looking like it'll cost me another £80-100 over winter whereas I have no commuting costs atm.

Re: Why do so many people want us back in the office?

#314

Post by canofbars »

barrucadu wrote: post #175
rootusrootus wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not OP but I will throw in my 2 cents... 1. Work/life separation. Even with a separate computer, getting it shut away and Slack gone is easier said than done. Now everyone knows you're probably around somewhere and will read their e-mail or see their Slack message, even early in the morning or later in the afternoon. 1b. I work better in a dedicated environment. My home office has all kinda of other distractions. Hom…

> Even with a separate computer, getting it shut away and Slack gone is easier said than done. Now everyone knows you're probably around somewhere and will read their e-mail or see their Slack message, even early in the morning or later in the afternoon. But... why? Just don't look at work messages outside of work hours. Is that so hard?

Exactly. This line has always puzzled me. My work laptop is the only one with IM/Email on it. When I close the lid at the end of the day people can email me all they want, I won't see it.

Re: Why do so many people want us back in the office?

#315

Post by xur17 »

maest wrote: post #298
gordaco wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I agree. I miss my old routine too. I even have a dedicated office of sorts, and working from home is comfortable and convenient to me. But... I miss the commute. The bus I used to take wasn't particularly uncrowded, but I always managed to get a seat (thanks to having a particularly early schedule) and I used to take the opportunity to read (since each trip took about 40-45 minutes, that's about 1h30m of readi…

I'm being facetious but also maybe not: why don't you take a 40min bus trip around the neighbourhood and return home before you start your WFH schedule?

Or just take a short walk.

Re: Why do so many people want us back in the office?

#316

Post by NewFireStudios »

Working from home has been great for me. I no longer have a 45 minute commute in both directions. I don’t have to pay for a train pass. I get to eat lunch with the only person with whom I want to eat lunch, my wife. I don’t have distracting conversations going on behind me. I can listen to relaxing music all day without having to wear headphones. I can now continue working on things during forced meetings because no one is able to see I don’t care about the conversation that before the pandemic clearly didn’t involve me but somehow required my presence. Overall, by working from my basement, I save time, money, and stress. I get more done now work-related than I did before the pandemic. I have time to take care of myself. I get to spend more time with my wife. The only thing that took a little getting used to was now I have to IM my boss to ask him to review something instead of turning to my right and saying out loud, “Can you please look at the deck and approve for release?” I don’t get instant feedback that my message was received, but, if I’m being honest, I really don’t care what happens after I have done my part.

Re: Why do so many people want us back in the office?

#317

Post by canofbars »

nemetroid wrote: post #171
rootusrootus wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not OP but I will throw in my 2 cents... 1. Work/life separation. Even with a separate computer, getting it shut away and Slack gone is easier said than done. Now everyone knows you're probably around somewhere and will read their e-mail or see their Slack message, even early in the morning or later in the afternoon. 1b. I work better in a dedicated environment. My home office has all kinda of other distractions. Hom…

> Social connections. There are many people I was friendly with but only at the office. Now I only interact with people on my own team or in closely related teams when we are working on some project that overlaps. My 'work world' has shrunk dramatically. I echo this sentiment. As a junior engineer in a large office, being able to keep track of other projects, who is working on what, what's coming up in a different bu…

My company started up an internal newsletter describing what is going on as well as a quarterly meeting about what has happened and what will happen. I honestly feel like I know more about what is going on before even if I don't speak to other teams at all outside of this.

Re: Why do so many people want us back in the office?

#318

Post by ck425 »

VectorLock wrote: post #257
tgsovlerkhgsel wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Commute time is a big thing here. People who have a 2 hour (one way) commute from hell from their massive house are super happy about this situation (shocking, I know). People who live in a small studio apartment 10 minutes from the office see it differently. What I expect this to result in is employers increasingly forcing people to WFH (either outright, or by making the offices horribly unattractive through hot-des…

I think both big house 2 hours away and small studio 10 minutes away would both be happy about WFH. This means small studio 10 minutes away can move out of his small studio that he lives in only because its 10 minutes away. EDIT: Not to say that studio 10 minutes from work might enjoy other aspects of his living situation but if his main constraint of "must be 10 minutes from work" is lifted, that gives him much more…

Moving isn't easy if your have a mortgage plus I don't particularly want to move.

Even if I did I got a great deal on my flat and I'd have to move right out the the edge of town or to a very rough neighborhood to afford an additional room for the same price.

Lastly you're ignoring that some of us genuinely like being in an office. I like the physical separation between work and home, I like seeing folk day to day and I like discussing things and working together in person.

Re: Why do so many people want us back in the office?

#319

Post by Nursie »

ck425 wrote: post #313
Nursie wrote: post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real estate is not a cost if you have an office setup at home anyway. As a computer programmer, why would I not? Cleaning and maintenance of that office is just part of what I do. Almost any commute is going to outweigh those factors.

That's far from the case for everybody. Extra heating is looking like it'll cost me another £80-100 over winter whereas I have no commuting costs atm.

That's barely the cost of a couple of cups of take-out coffee a week for the cold months, which I'd be far more likely to buy when at work.

Re: Why do so many people want us back in the office?

#320

Post by canofbars »

derwiki wrote: post #36
mcphilip wrote: post #18

I think ideally it should be up to the employee to return when they feel safe. That being said, I look forward to going back to the office. It’ll be nice to see people again —- few people bother to turn on their video on zoom anymore for anything other than one-on-ones, myself included, and that is starting to feel alienating to me. I don’t think it’s wise having a policy that you must have video enabled, though, it’…

Interesting. For whatever reason my team keeps video on for all meeting unless there are bandwidth issues. But I agree now that it would be far worse if folks didn’t show their face regularly.

For me I always have my camera off. My PC desk is in my bedroom my bf usually has to walk behind me to get to the door. If I had a dedicated office room I'd leave the camera on.
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