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‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect

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Re: ‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect

#251

Post by ItsMonkk »

awsthro00945 wrote: post #214
ItsMonkk wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I experienced all of these to a much better degree during college. Are you sure you don't just want to live in a city that provides plenty of shared spaces? Relying on your employer for these items seems unwise.

> Relying on your employer for these items seems unwise. Why? Work is where you spend one third (or more) of your time during your adult life. Why the hell would I not want such a significant portion of my life to not also provide great benefits like opportunities to make friends, meet people, eat great food, and have fun? If you scoff at people who want to make their workplaces more welcoming and happier, no shit th…

We've learned in this pandemic that for knowledge work the workplace is no longer a requirement for productivity. Work should be what you spend one third of your time doing, but it should not be where. During college I did my homework in the computer labs where other students were doing their work and we chatted and built a rapport despite working on different tasks. I look forward to working out of the office and out of my home and building relationships with people that are not contractually obligated to be with me.

I expect to treat my co-workers with respect, but that is no different than what Open Source projects have done for decades.

Re: ‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect

#252

Post by throwawaynumber »

dcolkitt wrote: post #15

I’m honestly perplexed what the FANGs are even thinking in being so aggressive about pushing an end to WFH. Sure it could all work out fine for them. Maybe employees will grumble for a bit, then settle back into office life. But maybe it wont’t . There’s a very real possibility that you lose a non-negligible percent of your staff (disproportionately the most talented who have other options), handicap your ability to…

Like most of hacker news, I think you vastly underestimate really how replaceable smart and skilled people really are. There are literally millions of them, most with far lower pay and conditions than offered by FANGS.

Re: ‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect

#253

Post by icedchai »

tedivm wrote: post #213
icedchai wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not so young any more, but I miss getting out of the house more during the day. The separation between work and home spaces is pretty important. After almost 16 months of this, working from home has simply become old.

There's a huge difference between what we all did over the last year and a normal remote working situation. A lot of the worst part of WFH for most people really is a combination of WFH and pandemic pain, rather than purely being a WFH issue. I've spent most of my career doing remote work. Since I planned on it, rather than being forced into it, I was able to do things like rent an apartment with space for an office…

Yes, this is true. It would be different if it were planned for. I hope to get back to coffee shops soon. I am somewhat hesitant at the moment given there's still a decent percentage of unvaccinated folks in the area.

Re: ‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect

#254

Post by joefife »

achow wrote: post #166
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #42

In my experience at least talking to some younger people there is a clear dichotomy: despite all the talk about Gen Z being "digital natives", people new in their career are much hungrier to get back into the office because they don't yet have good career networks built up and they're eager for mentorship. It is older, or at least more established workers who are less keen on that. I don't think FAANGs will have any…

From a single, young: I miss the office for.. - Free and convenient food. - Social chatter & engagement. - Making friends with employees who I don't know and connecting with new employees. - Work life separation (balance). - Proper workstation, climate controlled environment. - Sense of belonging - team outing, after hours beers.. - Intra and inter company sports and games. - Meeting potential dates. [Not me. Just em…

Several of your reasons for wanting to return to the office are the very reasons I want to stay at home.

Re: ‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect

#255

Post by standardUser »

nrmitchi wrote: post #196
okareaman wrote: post #161

I was extremely lucky to WFH during the first 12 years of my software career. When I finally got a job in an office I was shocked at how awful it was. The 2 hours commuting every workday, the flickering fluorescent lights, the noise of coworkers, the smell of burnt coffee or popcorn, the boss that drops by to see how you're doing and causes you to lose a hour of concentration so I might as browse the web until quitti…

> the flickering fluorescent lights, the noise of coworkers, the smell of burnt coffee or popcorn, the boss that drops by to see how you're doing and causes you to lose a hour of concentration so I might as browse the web until quitting time. Was this at a "tech" company of any kind, or a non-tech company with a small number of software engineers? This sounds more like an archetype based on Office Space rather than a…

I think the inability to control light, noise, temperature, scents and walk-up bosses/coworkers are more of less universal among offices.

But all of those things are trivial and unimportant in the shadow of the miserable 1-2 hour of commute every day, which is truly a waste of time, resources and our limited human lives.

Re: ‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect

#256

Post by ItsMonkk »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #235
ItsMonkk wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I experienced all of these to a much better degree during college. Are you sure you don't just want to live in a city that provides plenty of shared spaces? Relying on your employer for these items seems unwise.

I'm more-or-less the person described in the GP, and I live in Manhattan. Being in a city doesn't mean crap if I spend the day sitting alone in my tiny studio apartment. 40 hours a week is a huge chunk of my life. I don't want to just be a robot during that time, I want to be part of a community of some sort. (Even as I do try to maintain connections outside of work too!)

Now that others are not working in the office, I hope that communities realize that we are drastically under-creating shared spaces and push for significantly more of them.

As these offices are sitting empty and are no longer required, instead of letting them sit empty, let them be free to all. Community involvement is the only way to get this done.

Re: ‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect

#257

Post by frumper »

toast42 wrote: post #159
acid__ wrote: post #141

Eh, I love my company and I love my coworkers and I’m unbelievably excited to see them in person. In fact, I’ve already started going back into the office (since April) and 1) my productivity is easily 5-10x what it was before 2) I’ve had amazing so many conversations that never happened over zoom — both productive and personal - and as more of our company’s employees return over the coming months I’m even excited fo…

> my productivity is easily 5-10x what it was before How are you measuring this? Those numbers seem incredulous.

well he gets done by 11am(8am-11am?) so 8 hours into 3 hours, 8/3 != 5x let alone 10x, sounds like maybe an exaggeration

Re: ‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect

#258

Post by moistly »

acid__ wrote: post #141

Eh, I love my company and I love my coworkers and I’m unbelievably excited to see them in person. In fact, I’ve already started going back into the office (since April) and 1) my productivity is easily 5-10x what it was before 2) I’ve had amazing so many conversations that never happened over zoom — both productive and personal - and as more of our company’s employees return over the coming months I’m even excited fo…

You are super-productive and you are spending a lot of time having amazing conversations. That makes sense. Yup. Must be working sixteen hour days.

Re: ‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect

#259

Post by nklop »

awsthro00945 wrote: post #214
ItsMonkk wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I experienced all of these to a much better degree during college. Are you sure you don't just want to live in a city that provides plenty of shared spaces? Relying on your employer for these items seems unwise.

> Relying on your employer for these items seems unwise. Why? Work is where you spend one third (or more) of your time during your adult life. Why the hell would I not want such a significant portion of my life to not also provide great benefits like opportunities to make friends, meet people, eat great food, and have fun? If you scoff at people who want to make their workplaces more welcoming and happier, no shit th…

Friends are friends and workmates are workmates. A lot of people confuse these groups and think they are somehow the same.

Workmates might become friends but more likely they are work colleagues that vanish after a contract ends, especially if they didn't mesh with your network.

In my circles we as a group often get work at a company. At least do referrals etc. We also leave together to find new opportunities when the place goes feral. This is partly why we think office work is less than good a lot of times.

I'd argue most offices devolve into hellholes as management forget about people and treat them as things.

Re: ‘Great Resignation’ gains steam as return-to-work plans take effect

#260

Post by mikestew »

eric4smith wrote: post #23
seneca wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meta-response, but what is with the carriage return after every sentence, (and sometimes in the middle)? It's a jarring way to write.

Haha good point. I learned to do it so it’s easier for people to read instead of a wall of text. People usually get bored with a wall of text. My sentences are longer on desktop - but I was writing on mobile now.

I learned to do it so it’s easier for people to read instead of a wall of text.

There's a new technology call "paragraphs" that a lot of people are using these days. I don't know that it'll catch on long-term, but it might be a worthy middle-

road

between walls of text

and unnecessary line feeds.

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