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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

#21
As a mid level computer programer working under policy of work from office at least few days even at peak of covid I see that company is happy when employees are more available remotely for work issues after hours. But when it comes to normal work hours remotely there is lot of hedging mainly because with so many leaving they do not want anger by explicit calls on this.

So they like to save all the money by utilizing benefits of online resources. Never flying for mid level employees for any face to face meeting, get togethers etc. No tech conferences, no in-person training and so on. At the same time office is best way to collaborate with team distributed over 4 cities. Doing 5 webex sessions in a day apparently require office to do quality work.

Afaik many people who either see best intention or that management is listening their remote work demands are deluding themselves. Management are simply waiting to get great employee churn over so they can announce everyone get back to office if they want to keep their jobs.

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

#22
post #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, a…

I was on Zoom or Meet most of the time for years before the pandemic. Teams were geographically spread. Clients, vendors could be anywhere. I've never had an official WFH job but I also haven't had a colocated team since maybe 2010. Ironically enough my current company is very localized but I have barely set foot in the office due to pandemic.

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

#24

This reminds me of the time about 7 years ago when my team (in Redmond, WA) wanted to send me to Beijing for a year. I didn't agree so they sent someone else instead. He spent most of the year living in Beijing and working with a team in Bellevue, WA.

I'm confused, what was the point of making you (or your coworker) live on the other side of the globe then? Were they running an "let's see what happens if we expel someone out of the US just for kicks" experiment? The way you described it it sounds like they deliberately did something completely pointless, which seems... unlikely?

I'm not sure. Maybe they thought it was supposed to go differently, but then it didn't turn out as planned.

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

#25
I recently spent a week in the office with my team. First time I'd had office time with any team since mid-2018.

It was really, really, really nice.

I've been a diehard work-from-home guy for ages. Why spend perhaps 10+ hours per week commuting? It's a productivity and environmental nightmare.

But... sometimes?

Yeah. It's nice to be in the room with other smart people, solving hard problems. I didn't realize I missed it until I experienced it again. For the first time in years.

I think it also helps team cohesion. We're human beings, not robots. I think my ideal schedule would be "3 days at home, 2 in the office" per week or maybe "one week in the office, two weeks at home."

edit: I'm baffled by the polarized and inflammatory replies to this post. I was just relating a personal experience. I don't have opinions on how others should work. You want to be 100% fully remote forever? Cool. I don't think you're wrong. I'll continue to be remote a majority of the time, myself.

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

#27
post #8

If just one person for a meeting has to be on zoom because they’re remote, then so does everyone else, even if they’re sitting at the same table.

Yes, and that's why hybrid doesn't make much sense - even if you have 80% in office and 20% remote, then you have to have 100% of the processes/costs/downsides of remote work (because almost everyone needs to work as if you were remotely), but you get only 20% of the benefits of remote work.

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

#28

I recently spent a week in the office with my team. First time I'd had office time with any team since mid-2018. It was really, really, really nice. I've been a diehard work-from-home guy for ages. Why spend perhaps 10+ hours per week commuting? It's a productivity and environmental nightmare. But... sometimes? Yeah. It's nice to be in the room with other smart people, solving hard problems. I didn't realize I missed…

Some of us have moved to places that aren't a reasonable commute to an office. It's much nicer not having to deal with big city traffic for anything.

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

#29

I recently spent a week in the office with my team. First time I'd had office time with any team since mid-2018. It was really, really, really nice. I've been a diehard work-from-home guy for ages. Why spend perhaps 10+ hours per week commuting? It's a productivity and environmental nightmare. But... sometimes? Yeah. It's nice to be in the room with other smart people, solving hard problems. I didn't realize I missed…

Some of us have moved to places that aren't a reasonable commute to an office. It's much nicer not having to deal with big city traffic for anything .

Yeah, I hate big cities, generally.

Do you still spend (or, would you like to spend) any time with your teammates? Like several times per year? Or 100% remote?

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