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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

#91

A lot of the sentiments seem to resent commuting a lot? Perhaps most of them works in the US and primarily use cars as a mode of transportation?

Not necessarily. In Paris I had a 45 minutes subway commute, or a 35 minutes -somewhat dangerous- bike commute (time for a one-way trip), and while sometimes I could appreciate either the disconnection the subway provided me or the physical effort need for the bike ride, it was mostly a hassle and lost time I am not compensated for.

Living close to where you work is pretty expensive, especially when the CEO likes the prestige associated with the building or area (and lives nearby, of course, but he gets 10 times my salary).

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

#92

A lot of the sentiments seem to resent commuting a lot? Perhaps most of them works in the US and primarily use cars as a mode of transportation?

Train and bus rides come with their own set of problems, whereas any other form of transportation is generally much slower, pushing people to relocate closer to the office in an often expensive and very population dense area. The premise remains the same: time spent commuting is often time better spent differently.

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

#93

A lot of the sentiments seem to resent commuting a lot? Perhaps most of them works in the US and primarily use cars as a mode of transportation?

Ehh, 40 minutes on a crowded tram isn't much better. A 1.5 hour walk is better in the actual experience, but that extra 50 minutes comes out of my sleep.

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

#94

"Emergency" WFH at my workplace have been slashed, everyone back in full since the start of the month. No reason publically given, been privately told "not about people like you, but some others have taken a 2 year vacation so management is fed up". I have emails from the CEO personally thanking me for my commitment in going way over what was expected when basically saving the institution during lockdown, so now I al…

I love working from home, and I have a very enlightened employer but I do have some sympathy with the companies that have a chunk of employees who just don't work when they're at home.

The situation in my company is simple to manage - we hire good people who are very capable and then trust them to get on and do the job. That works with the sort of people we hire and the sort of work we ask them to do. If they're at home we'll generally work just the same, because we're pretty well motivated.

Not all companies are like that though. My partner worked for a charity where maybe 2/3 of people worked exactly the same during the pandemic, but a good chunk (mostly of the lower level admin staff) didn't. Some of them were very unsubtle - they'd never answer Teams calls, and would return them half an hour later and never produced any output anyway. Some were more subtle like the colleague who'd log into Teams first thing and then go back to the Playstation for a few hours of the morning before actually starting work. Having these people in the office WOULD result in more work being done.

What we need is for these employers to be focusing on output rather than hours in the office. They are stuck in a mindset and approach that barely worked in the past where if you had someone in an office for 8 hours a day you'd probably get something out of them. If they focused a little more on what they were getting (and I don't just mean some basic metrics with no human insight) then we wouldn't need bums on seats and the people not doing anything at home would be pretty obvious.

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

#95

"Emergency" WFH at my workplace have been slashed, everyone back in full since the start of the month. No reason publically given, been privately told "not about people like you, but some others have taken a 2 year vacation so management is fed up". I have emails from the CEO personally thanking me for my commitment in going way over what was expected when basically saving the institution during lockdown, so now I al…

> not about people like you, but some others have taken a 2 year vacation so management is fed up How is it not easier to fire those individuals? And not now, when you can just bring them to the office and have them be productive from day one (unlike new hires who would replace them), but one year ago.

Welcome to government jobs, where it's way easier to squeeze those who do the work than fire those that won't.

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

#97
post #79

"Emergency" WFH at my workplace have been slashed, everyone back in full since the start of the month. No reason publically given, been privately told "not about people like you, but some others have taken a 2 year vacation so management is fed up". I have emails from the CEO personally thanking me for my commitment in going way over what was expected when basically saving the institution during lockdown, so now I al…

This guy goes into a bar in Mexico and there’s a dog lying in the corner, every so often the dog whimpers and whines a little. The guy asks the barman “what’s up with that dog?” And the barman said “oh, he’s probably lying on a nail.” After a few more minutes and another set of whines, the guy asks the barman “so why doesn’t he move?” And the barman says “it probably doesn’t hurt enough for him to get up.”

Interesting story, but why in Mexico?

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

#98

"Emergency" WFH at my workplace have been slashed, everyone back in full since the start of the month. No reason publically given, been privately told "not about people like you, but some others have taken a 2 year vacation so management is fed up". I have emails from the CEO personally thanking me for my commitment in going way over what was expected when basically saving the institution during lockdown, so now I al…

>I have emails from the CEO personally thanking me for my commitment in going way over what was expected when basically saving the institution during lockdown It's a business not a skate park, tell your CEO that you appreciate the positive feedback but that if he really means what he is saying: he should put his money where his mouth is and give you a sizable raise or a considerable bonus.

Oh I also have stories about this... maybe for another thread. I should really just leave, but I know I won't

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

#99

A lot of the sentiments seem to resent commuting a lot? Perhaps most of them works in the US and primarily use cars as a mode of transportation?

I live in London and commute via public transport, it still sucks.

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

#100
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

If it's just once a week or less, you can travel. It's quite doable, and you're not constrained by the needs of a daily commute.

By getting on a plane every week? That would be very expensive and take a ton of time.
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