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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

#101

Post by chii »

mulcahey wrote: post #93

My only 2c is that the WFH vs office conversation often seems to pretend that there aren't a ton of businesses with desk workers where many of their colleagues can't feasibly work from home -- manufacturing for example. It's not even only the people physically building the products who obviously have to be there, but even mechanical engineers have a reason to. My job is to build software to make the lives of the peop…

> I'd prefer myself and my team to be there with them frequently, instead of considering ourselves to be part of some class of special people that have the luxury of working at home most of the time.

there's a balance. I would consider being on site as a special case; do it when needed. This means the workplace needs to plan it out, and know ahead of time when it is going to happen.

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

#102

Post by lumost »

walls wrote: post #67
JohnBooty wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still find the replies to my personal experience very baffling. I didn't say what anybody else should be doing; I didn't present it as a universal truth. It seems very clear to me that there is room for a variety of workplace types. Strictly in-office, hybrid, and strictly remote. I said I enjoyed getting together with my coworkers; I also said my ideal situation would involve spending a majority of time remote.

Requiring any amount of office time completely eliminates the most meaningful advantages of working remotely.

Is that really true? Even a quarterly offsite can be accommodated from almost anywhere on the world.

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

#103

Post by chii »

darinf wrote: post #81

I love having lunch with co-workers. It’s a great way to connect. Even though at my office only about 30% of folks are back, it’s roughly the same group each day. So I’m happy being back even if all meetings involve Zoom. At least getting a conference room for all the zoom calls is not too hard :)

> I love having lunch with co-workers. It’s a great way to connect.

it is, but some people who prefer the remote world do so because they don't need nor want to socialize with their coworkers.

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

#104

Post by JohnBooty »

jwiz wrote: post #91
JohnBooty wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting perspective, thanks. It's hard to wrap my mind around somebody thinking a stranger is "bragging" or "uncouth" or "sycophantic" because they think their team is smart and fun to work with. But, I understand that it's a thing.

To be clear, it's not that you think they are smart and fun to work with, it's that you are saying they are smart and fun to work with.

Saying they are "fun" is obviously my personal opinion. How could it be anything else? Of course it means I think they are fun and not it is a universal truth that everybody thinks my team is fun.

As for smart, aren't most/all engineers "smart?" I hardly thought that calling a group of engineers "smart" would be controversial.

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

#105

Post by lumost »

poink wrote: post #77
JohnBooty wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I enjoyed one single week of office work after four years of being fully remote, and plainly expressed my preference to continue being remote a majority of the time. I also don't interrupt others in the office, thanks very much. I've worked with those sorts of people (who hasn't?) and I resent them as well. You enjoy being remote 100% of the time? Cool. I think there is clearly room for a variety of employment arrang…

That’s not how this works. There’s an extreme bias toward butts-in-seats. “Everyone should do what’s best for them” is a nice sentiment, but not how the world works at all. There are a lot of people currently enjoying remote work who are rightfully worried about being forced back to the office for what they perceive as zero benefit. I’m not one of them, but I get where they’re coming from.

Companies succeed by hiring the best people and setting them up to do great work.

I think the future in many large firms will be to pair full-time remote folks with others who enjoy full time remote. There are sure to be many hybrid and full in office teams as well.

A similar transition occurred a decade ago when companies moved* offices to cities and away from suburban campuses.

* for some definition of “move”

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

#106

Post by dang »

fartcannon wrote: post #92
JohnBooty wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

Quoted post unavailable.

Please don't take HN threads further in the flamewar direction. We want the opposite here.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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

#107

Post by mcronce »

JohnBooty wrote: post #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…

I'm with you. I definitely miss having an office to go to.

Would I take a job that required me to be in the office every day? Almost definitely not. Would I sacrifice a bit of pay if it meant working for a company local enough that I could go to the office 1-2 days a week? Probably.

That would really be the sweet spot for me. I like working from home a lot, but being a fully remote team wears on you. I've considered taking a part time bartending job just to satisfy the desire to have in-person coworkers a bit of time a week.

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

#108

Post by dang »

JohnBooty wrote: post #49
fartcannon wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did the same and it was as unbelievably worthless as I recalled from before the pandemic. You know what really stands out in the office? How sad it all is. The frowns on the subway, the fake smiles in the office, the pretending, the posturing. Bleh. I'm resigning.

Quoted post unavailable.

Please don't post in the flamewar style to HN. We want the opposite here.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

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