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The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices

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Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices

#21

Post by rob74 »

themadturk wrote: post #7

Our return to the office has been back and forth for various reasons, but the ultimate goal is that everyone work in the office every day. But in an effort to make commuting easier, we are opening satellite offices in the metropolitan area...which (when all satellites are open) scatters teams between up to four offices. So nearly all of our meetings will be via Zoom, even if team members are "in the office." I don't…

The problem with Zoom calls in the office is that you usually do them at your desk rather than in a meeting room, and when you do that, you are totally destroying the productivity of anyone who happens to be in the room with you. Not to mention what happens if several people in the same room have different calls at the same time...

Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices

#22

Post by hdjjhhvvhga »

rspeele wrote: post #6

I actually kind of like when I go into the office and nobody is there. It's the least distracting possible work environment.

I like that, too. The problem is, those who are left enjoy catching up. That is fine in general but I noticed I'm much less productive in the office than at home because I need to listen to small talk whenever I go to the kitchen or just pass my coworkers. I'm not an introvert and I enjoy talking to people in general, but when I'm at work, I have a certain amount of things to do and I really want to complete them all. When I'm WFH, nobody is calling me on Zoom saying, "Hi, what's up, have you seen the last Batman"? That is perfectly fine by a friend after work, but during work hours I prefer to be focused on my work and decide when to take a break when I need to, not when someone comes to my desk (sometimes with trifle issues that could be solved more easily by async communication).

Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices

#23

Post by feq543ni0g »

My workplace requires me to visit the office once every two weeks. And even then I only go for a friendly one-on-one type of lunch with my boss. Nothing we ever discuss justifies the two hour commute, the same things could be discussed in Zoom. And yet, I am supposed to visit every two weeks.

Now it turned out that during my last visit my boss had already been infected with covid. So not only me, but my wife and my two kids will need to stay home, isolate and take days off to look after the kids. WTF is the point of this? I am losing valuable vacation days, my boss also loses an employee for days (and my wife's boss ditto) and the kids will go bat-shit crazy because they will not be allowed to go outside.

Yay. How much fun the office it is.

And this was just one example of how idiotic and unproductive this whole on-site in-person office work arrangement is.

Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices

#24

Post by VBprogrammer »

rob74 wrote: post #21
themadturk wrote: post #7

Our return to the office has been back and forth for various reasons, but the ultimate goal is that everyone work in the office every day. But in an effort to make commuting easier, we are opening satellite offices in the metropolitan area...which (when all satellites are open) scatters teams between up to four offices. So nearly all of our meetings will be via Zoom, even if team members are "in the office." I don't…

The problem with Zoom calls in the office is that you usually do them at your desk rather than in a meeting room, and when you do that, you are totally destroying the productivity of anyone who happens to be in the room with you. Not to mention what happens if several people in the same room have different calls at the same time...

The absolute worst is being in an office with several people who are on the same call as you at their own desks. You can neither listen to the call nor the person near you speaking and you hear everything the say with a 2 second delay.

Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices

#25

Post by redox99 »

musicale wrote: post #10
ravedave5 wrote: post #5

Same experience as me, went in nobody was there. Spent day doing the exact same thing as at home with a different view and extra 50 minutes of driving. Did not go in again.

It sounds like the commute is a big part of it. My perfect commute would probably be a 10 minute bicycle ride, or maybe a short train ride.

Something like that is very hard in practice unless you live extremely close, like walking distance.

Even in a densely populated area such as Manhattan, getting from midtown to lower manhattan (which is quite close btw) is 20 minutes either biking or taking the subway.

Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices

#27

Post by aloisdg »

idontwantthis wrote: post #13
1over137 wrote: post #8

2 hour commute! Is that typical in the USA? Is it necessary? Preferable? My bike ride to my office is 10 minutes. I miss my commute.

What if you go for a bike ride in the morning instead?

Same logic as you. I missed my walk between work and home. Now I walk 20 minutes after the end my shift in remote before coming back home.

Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices

#28

Post by Stratoscope »

> a lot of people who have returned to their offices for some or all of the week have found that they’re the only ones there, or others are staying isolated in their offices, and all communication still happens over email, Slack, or Zoom. As a result, they’re spending time commuting to and from the office and dealing with all the hassles of in-person work but without any of the promised payoff.

This is hardly surprising. At the last few offices I worked in during the Before Times, everyone in the open office crammed a few feet apart was typing away and focused on their monitors, wearing headphones that said "don't interrupt me!" And watching Slack.

Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices

#29

Post by jhoechtl »

aerique wrote: post #11
musicale wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds like the commute is a big part of it. My perfect commute would probably be a 10 minute bicycle ride, or maybe a short train ride.

I've got a 35 - 45 minute bicycle ride which makes it a nice workout. I really felt it when we started working from home during corona and I was sitting on the couch just eating chips and ice cream.

Totally not the same for me. I anticipated that I will move less when WFH and started eating healthier and less chocolate. I think it has to do with self-discipline.

Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices

#30

Post by anthropodie »

stn_za wrote: post #26

In my view, the biggest problem with hybrid is: You are still required to live/reside near the office. Fully remote allows me to live in a very affordable area while still earning a great salary

It's crazy that so many people don't realise this.
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