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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

#41

Post by VBprogrammer »

watwut wrote: post #34
VBprogrammer wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

In our office, this created in-group out-group dynamic within the meeting each time. The in-person people were making jokes to each other and commenting stuff while online people had no idea. So, result is that the same meeting have one group coordinating with muted microphones and other oblivious. Perfect. It did not created some kind of real split (yet), but the potential is super clear and it is pretty much guaran…

Ah yes. This is horrible when a big chunk of the meeting are in the same room with several others joining online.

Honestly, given the choice an all face to face meeting is the best. However, with any kind of cross location collaboration this quickly becomes impossible (even before WFH). An all online (ideally in their own workspace) meeting is far better than any other mixed mode alternative.

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

#42

Post by thyagjs »

Same situation with me. I go to office 3 days but most of the time the meetings are taken from the desk, on zoom. This is because most tech employees have bigger monitors which is convenient compared to tiny laptop screens. IMO remote is extremely popular among employees and many will jump ship if given remote option. Any eventual plans for mandatory all 5-day at office will be suicidal for knowledge work companies.

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

#43

Post by watwut »

I think that people coming in and being alone or not talking whole day are things that will solve themselves over time. People/management will start to coordinate when who comes. People will start to socialize again.

But, omg, I really don't want to go back to office. I like not having to travel there. I like breakfast in peace taking my sweet time for it and lunch at home. I like extra sleep I am getting in the morning. I like extra exercise I am getting. I like being at home when kids come, have quick chat with them before returning to work.

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

#44

Post by lbriner »

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...

Not just that but if it is a private meeting and you are not on a laptop, then you have a problem unless all parties are in the office. Management meetings where you might be discussing problems in the team need to be made in private.

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

#45

Post by rjtavares »

turbinerneiter wrote: post #37
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

First the companies offshored the jobs, now the employees offshore themselves. At some point, somebody will start asking why the Indian working remotely in India is paid less than the American/European expat working remotely from Bali.

Pretty sure competent people anywhere in the world get the same salary in remote only companies.

That has actually become a trend in Portugal: people are quitting local companies to get US/German/UK salaries working remotely for US/German/UK companies.

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

#46

Post by spaniard89277 »

I do the exact same job in my office than with my laptop anywhere else.

Im in my mid 30s, and most of employees are +45 in my job. They really want to come back, and there are already a few in there, but whats the point?

I guess they feel lonely, bosses too, but my life is so much better with WFH.

Now Im just used to go places with my laptop, my phone as hotspot, and do work somewhere nice and quiet.

I can even travel on workdays. This very week Im heading to Madrid to visit a friend. I don't need to take time off as I'll be capable of working there.

It's usually just around my province, but knowing I can do this if I want is very liberating.

Im not a SWE, I'm aiming to be one, as I currently work for an ISP and get low pay. Getting even a junior job in SW will likely give me a jump in income. I wonder if I will be able to continue with this lifestyle, because I'll probably need more concentration, not sure yet.

Of course the fact that I can do this makes my otherwise boring and alienating job, with low pay, much more attractive. I didn't leave because I was afraid when the pandemic, now I just take it easy while I i study to change career.

Of course I have no kids, no wife, no responsibilities. If I don't do this now...

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

#47

Post by throwaway85858 »

We do design days in office once a quarter, fits within the project planning takt and feels great to catch up in person outside of the occasional after work drinks, some however do still choose to come in on a regular basis on their own accord. We greatly reduced our office space since the pandemic and i personally can't see us ever going back to the former status-quo.

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

#48

Post by zozbot234 »

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...

You can use the Zoom chat and just share your screen to use as a whiteboard. No need for audio.

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

#49

Post by showsover »

spaniard89277 wrote: post #46

I do the exact same job in my office than with my laptop anywhere else. Im in my mid 30s, and most of employees are +45 in my job. They really want to come back, and there are already a few in there, but whats the point? I guess they feel lonely, bosses too, but my life is so much better with WFH. Now Im just used to go places with my laptop, my phone as hotspot, and do work somewhere nice and quiet. I can even trave…

It might go either way to be honest. I'm currently living and working Spain as a SWE (immigrant) for a US company and the amount of useless meetings there is insane. That makes it quite hard to work on-the-go as half of the day is spent in meetings (most of them with camera turned on).

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

#50

Post by thawaya3113 »

> all the benefits of working from home (no commute, more focus, hanging out with the dog, whatever it may be)

More focus…hanging out with the dog…

These things literally contradict each other. The fact that someone can type this out and not even realize that just goes to show why everyone is convinced they have become so much more productive WFH, when companies dhar actually track their employees and their productivity have hard data that shows otherwise (Facebook, Google, etc would not be calling people back to the office which only serves to increase their costs, if they didn’t have the data to back it up).

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