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Employees are returning to the office to sit on zoom calls

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Re: Employees are returning to the office to sit on zoom calls

#2
I've been working remotely most of my career and I wouldn't trade it for the world. However I believe that "just" having a place to do your video calls or whatnot in peace and quiet can be a tremendous value offer for many if not all people. This isn't to say that I think going to the office should be mandatory. Rather, I would hope that one day more companies can start going remote first with a workspace budget where you get to choose. Whether it's choosing to go to the office and your budget going towards the office rent, or paying for a coworking space with the budget, or just getting a better setup at home, raising awareness of the topic will hopefully lead to more flexible approaches in the long run. Right now, finding a company that's good at remote and has it all figured out is still rare.

Re: Employees are returning to the office to sit on zoom calls

#3
Have any of the pro-RTO folks on HN experienced this phenomenon? There's definitely a contingent here who do not prefer remote work, curious to read what they think of going back into the office only to have to continue to call in order to collaborate with coworkers.

Re: Employees are returning to the office to sit on zoom calls

#6
Interference between Zoom calls (being in different or the same one) is the killing factor here. Specially when not everyone is back, or there are more people from outside participating, and that it has become the new normal. One Zoom call in a work room may be ok (if people there is quiet and don't care a lot of the lone participant speaking from time to time while using headphones), but two or more cause trouble, at least without special microphones.

And even if in some workplaces are rooms for phone and now Zoom calls, that too many people use now Zoom calls make them insufficient.

Re: Employees are returning to the office to sit on zoom calls

#7

Have any of the pro-RTO folks on HN experienced this phenomenon? There's definitely a contingent here who do not prefer remote work, curious to read what they think of going back into the office only to have to continue to call in order to collaborate with coworkers.

I prefer working from the office, even if it’s empty. 99% of my interactions continue to be remote but I like to have somewhere that isn’t my home office to do work. I don’t like being _that_ much of a hermit.

Re: Employees are returning to the office to sit on zoom calls

#10

Have any of the pro-RTO folks on HN experienced this phenomenon? There's definitely a contingent here who do not prefer remote work, curious to read what they think of going back into the office only to have to continue to call in order to collaborate with coworkers.

I prefer going to the office at least a few days a week, because (a) I like to socialize with other humans, and (b) I want to get out of my "home office", aka corner of the living room. I work with a distributed team, so I definitely don't go in to collaborate. In fact, on days with a lot of meetings, I'm more likely to work from home.
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