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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

#121

Post by mike_d »

simongray wrote: post #114
irrational wrote: post #51

Same. Half the people we hired during work from home are remote (that was never allowed before). Now all meetings are on zoom and all conversations are on slack. Being in an office is beyond pointless. It wastes time, gas, etc. the main take away from the past 2 years is working in an office is beyond stupid (at least for certain careers like developers). I drive to work, communicate with no one except on the compute…

> I drive to work, communicate with no one except on the computer, then drive home. You don't talk to people aside from at the meetings?

Do people have hallway conversations? Sure. Are they conversations that a company would consider help further the bottom line? Not at all.

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

#122

Post by chews »

dSebastien wrote: post #119

Same here. Everyone was "happy" and "proud" about our remote performance and now they force us back to the office 50% of the time. Many people seem to see it as a great leap forward, but I don't. One of the company value is supposed to be "independent"... This week I was supposed to go, not see my kids in the morning, waste 2 hours in the train, expose myself to Covid, just to sit alone in an office and discuss throu…

No post body was provided.

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

#123

Post by remus »

mike_d wrote: post #121
simongray wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I drive to work, communicate with no one except on the computer, then drive home. You don't talk to people aside from at the meetings?

Do people have hallway conversations? Sure. Are they conversations that a company would consider help further the bottom line? Not at all.

> Are they conversations that a company would consider help further the bottom line? Not at all.

I realise this depends on the company and the person, but to me these kinds of conversations are essential. I find all the interesting stuff actually happens in these incidental conversations!

I guess the real takeaway here is that to be an effective company you need to have an environment where your employees can work well, but different styles work better for different people so you end up having to compromise.

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

#124

Post by Hackbraten »

azth wrote: post #90
freyr wrote: post #40

This is the most frustrating part of being forced back to the Bay Area. Even before the pandemic, we always had distributed meetings, with people calling in from various buildings, conference rooms, phone booths, etc. So nothing changes between last month and this month, except that managers get peace-of-mind knowing I’m calling in from somewhere on the premises, and I’m back living in a place where I can’t afford a…

Those companies have to justify their office leases somehow.

Wouldn’t that just be sunk cost? How does it matter whether or not the spaces are occupied? Are we dealing with some emotional thing here?

If the justification is meant for the shareholders: why not admit they may be right, and lease a smaller office?

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

#125

Post by miked85 »

simongray wrote: post #114
irrational wrote: post #51

Same. Half the people we hired during work from home are remote (that was never allowed before). Now all meetings are on zoom and all conversations are on slack. Being in an office is beyond pointless. It wastes time, gas, etc. the main take away from the past 2 years is working in an office is beyond stupid (at least for certain careers like developers). I drive to work, communicate with no one except on the compute…

> I drive to work, communicate with no one except on the computer, then drive home. You don't talk to people aside from at the meetings?

Depends on the company, at my current company it was very rare.

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

#126

Post by renewiltord »

nophunphil wrote: post #110
JohnBooty wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It wasn't an apology.

Crazy, I could have sworn you started the sentence with “I am sorry” So what did you mean by this?

“I am sorry that you have X” is either an expression of sympathy or pity.

For instance, in general, “I am sorry to hear that your father died” means “I am feeling sympathetic to you for your misfortune”.

It does not mean “I apologize for the death of your father” except in the extreme case where I was responsible.

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

#127

Post by closeparen »

elisbce wrote: post #98
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…

1. There are people who are more sociable and more likely to thrive working with other people in person, while some other type of people are more introverted, sensitive and dislike human interactions. 2. There are companies/work environments/jobs/teams where coworkers are mostly nice, smart and a pleasure to work with. There are also companies/work environments/jobs/teams that suck and filled with political, disgrunt…

There’s introverted and then there’s reclusive. People who don’t like big groups or find social situations draining may nevertheless find a lifestyle with 95% of their time spent alone (assuming 8 hours of social plans in a 168 hour week) to be too isolating.

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

#128

Post by A_non_e-moose »

chews wrote: post #122
dSebastien wrote: post #119

Same here. Everyone was "happy" and "proud" about our remote performance and now they force us back to the office 50% of the time. Many people seem to see it as a great leap forward, but I don't. One of the company value is supposed to be "independent"... This week I was supposed to go, not see my kids in the morning, waste 2 hours in the train, expose myself to Covid, just to sit alone in an office and discuss throu…

Quoted post unavailable.

Set terms yes, bu the terms are very unreasonable, impractical and paradoxal, they imply unnecessary suffering that actually degrades work performance, the very thing good managers want to keep up. Sacrificing performance for control is the signature of bad management and a bad employer.

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

#129

Post by ulfw »

chews wrote: post #122
dSebastien wrote: post #119

Same here. Everyone was "happy" and "proud" about our remote performance and now they force us back to the office 50% of the time. Many people seem to see it as a great leap forward, but I don't. One of the company value is supposed to be "independent"... This week I was supposed to go, not see my kids in the morning, waste 2 hours in the train, expose myself to Covid, just to sit alone in an office and discuss throu…

Quoted post unavailable.

You know your employers benefits of you too, right? That's why they employ you. They don't give you charity or hire you of the good of their heart. They hire you because you bring them more value than you cost.

So I don't get this subservient attitude you have to employment. This should really be a two way street.

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

#130

Post by PaywallBuster »

chews wrote: post #122
dSebastien wrote: post #119

Same here. Everyone was "happy" and "proud" about our remote performance and now they force us back to the office 50% of the time. Many people seem to see it as a great leap forward, but I don't. One of the company value is supposed to be "independent"... This week I was supposed to go, not see my kids in the morning, waste 2 hours in the train, expose myself to Covid, just to sit alone in an office and discuss throu…

Quoted post unavailable.

a relationship between 2 groups of people can change depending on the circumstances and feedback given
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