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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

#141

Post by Aicy »

Mc91 wrote: post #134
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…

The same thing for me. I go to another city and pay a visit for a week, but say I need to be available on Teams from 9 to 5 and attend some meetings, and get some work done. Usually it slows me down a little, so I do some extra prep work before the visit and catch up when I return home. It's like a little vacation without taking time off.

What do you do on your city visits? I would like to do that but everything I like to do is only open during the day, and where I live by 5pm when I finish work it's dark and cold

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

#142

Post by swalsh »

I've been working from home for a bit over 5 years now. Before Covid, we used to have quarterly meetings where all of us full time WFH people went into the office for a day of in-person meetings. We'd get A BUNCH of work done, then go back to normal. In person collaboration is better, but you don't need it every day, or even every week. Our team was highly distributed so monthly was not practical. But this was a good system, we haven't done it since Covid, and I think we're worse off for it.

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

#143

Post by stn_za »

zozbot234 wrote: post #54
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

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.

I don't want to fly every week.

My company should not call itself remote if they also want to decide where I must live... :)

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

#144

Post by nkrisc »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #88
rosmax_1337 wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

Money doesn't solve every problem.

Money will solve the problems at the top of most people’s lists. By the time money stops solving problems you’re pretty well off.

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

#145

Post by sylens »

The other thing this article does not mention is that with many open office floor plans, the amount of conference rooms was never enough to satisfy meeting demand. So even though I might have coworkers on my team with me in my same location that needed to meet with others in another location, we could never just grab a conference room at the last minute and all sit together there. Instead, we would all have to dial in from our desks (often back-to-back in the open office) and manage mute/unmute there to prevent echo.

I'm glad people are seeing how ridiculous this was.

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

#146

Post by efsavage »

fcatalan wrote: post #70

"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…

As someone who has probably experienced it, I wonder if ageism is more or less prevalent in remote jobs. I suspect, with zero evidence, that it might be diminished a bit, and could even be an asset since you've got a proven track record of being disciplined and productive in a remote environment. Perhaps it's worth testing the job market and finding something that is a better fit.

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

#147

Post by stn_za »

joaodlf wrote: post #51

I love coming in to the office. Granted, I live a 20 min walk away. The walk in is through a beautiful county park, surrounded by nature. Most of my colleagues who live further away have stopped coming in. Understandable, I wouldn't want to get in a car to get here, traffic in the UK is horrible. It's all about personal circumstances, really. Living close to my workplace, having access to a nice office that is (now)…

Imagine being able to take a walk anyway without going to the office?

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

#149

Post by iso1210 »

pmlnr wrote: post #101
onion2k wrote: post #75

Employees need to be on site, we’re told, because collaborating with one another has been harder to do when everyone is working from separate locations. I think this is true, but only if the main part of your job is collaborating eg talking to other people to reach a consensus. That is easier face to face. The problem is that only higher up management roles are actually like that. Lower down the tree people are expec…

> That is easier face to face Written down communication makes things impossible to wiggle out of later on, meaning the writing needs to happen anyway, why waste time on the face to face?

In my experience if you are going into a large (more than say 5 people) meeting to get a consensus for a decision you've made, you start with one-to-one conversations with every meeting participant, get them on side, then the large meeting is just a rubber stamp.

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

#150

Post by newsclues »

Gigachad wrote: post #129
joaodlf wrote: post #51

I love coming in to the office. Granted, I live a 20 min walk away. The walk in is through a beautiful county park, surrounded by nature. Most of my colleagues who live further away have stopped coming in. Understandable, I wouldn't want to get in a car to get here, traffic in the UK is horrible. It's all about personal circumstances, really. Living close to my workplace, having access to a nice office that is (now)…

The office is not as bad as people make it out to be. Its commuting that really sucks. I used to hate working in the office and then I moved to an apartment next to work and I decided to walk in even while WFH was an option because I did slightly prefer going to the office and being with everyone.

Commuting can suck. I’ve commuted by car, no fun.

I’ve commuted by foot through a park, great but when it’s -20c not so great.

I’ve commuted by bike, a 60 km round trip through a big city, and loved it… the exercise, being outside and the time alone to think. 3-4 hours of riding was the best part of the day.

Until winter came and I had to make the trip on a train and I got sick and hated the noise and people.

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