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Ask HN: Employers, why do you want us back in the office?

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Re: Ask HN: Employers, why do you want us back in the office?

#881

Post by happymellon »

65 wrote: post #342

I'm in my 20s. I live alone in a city where I don't know anyone. Remote work destroyed my mental health. All I wanted was to be able to go into an office and talk to a real life person. I would go weeks at a time not talking to a single person in real life. I don't think people understand the plight of the young office worker until they've experienced the torture of solitary confinement. Day in, day out. All alone. I…

What is your office environment like?

I too would like some in-person time with colleagues, but I also know that with an open plan office it can be so noisy that I know that nothing will get done.

Prior to 2019 a well used phrase was "I need to work from home so that I can get stuff done" and we all understood it. A lot of actions have been taken over the years to ensure that we know who the boss is, Taylorism is the cause and the boss gets an office. We have had decades of research showing that open plan offices increase sick days by 30%, and reduce productivity.

Unfortunately you are right at this inflection point where those of us who have suffered the worst of it are fed up and want change. The best we can do is work from home.

Have you told other members of your team this? I don't need to see my friends every day to know they are my friends, but would once a week or fortnight help, even if it was to pair with one other person?

Re: Ask HN: Employers, why do you want us back in the office?

#882

Post by stumblindrunk »

9530jh9054ven wrote: post #788
chii wrote: post #763

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if you lack financial resources, that's the problem to tackle. Making friends and having leisure activities will be secondary until your financials become stable and good. Once you have the financial resources, _then_ you tackle the problem of no interest/hobbies/causes issue - which, i say is relatively easy to tackle as long as you have money; try different things until something sticks!

Slight miscommunication here. I'm talking about someone that genuinely has absolutely no interests whatsoever. Even after trying skiing, bowling, hiking, just about every time sport, reading, music in all forms, performance arts, painting, board games, table top games, video games, travel, etc. And everything is dull, boring, uninteresting, and unejoyable. That's the kind of person I'm talking about

This person is likely suffering from a mental illness. Start there.

Re: Ask HN: Employers, why do you want us back in the office?

#883

Post by raphar »

0xB31B1B wrote: post #21

I’m a CTO at a small startup, not forcing RTO on anyone BUT the vibe I get in my peer group is that managers don’t know how to manage remote teams, don’t want to do real performance management, and they personally have some loneliness issues they solve by working from the office. I work from an office with my cofounder 1 day/week, and it has been great for my mental health to leave my living room. I think broadly spe…

You can have really senior talent in Latam, starting at 60k. Don't let any intermediary believe otherwise.

Re: Ask HN: Employers, why do you want us back in the office?

#884

Post by danaris »

SpeedilyDamage wrote: post #760
Adraghast wrote: post #757

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not some solvable, technocratic equation, it’s a conflict between labor and management. I don’t look at it from my employers’ perspectives because I don’t care about their outcomes.

Then why should they care about your outcomes? You’ve got to do better if you expect to retain employment long term, and certainly if you expect to retain the privilege of working remotely.

If I expect my employer to care about my outcomes, 9 times out of 10 I'll be disappointed, no matter what I'm doing or how much I'm caring about theirs.

You may have had a better experience. If so, then, with all sincerity, I congratulate you on your luck; I bear no ill will to those who happen to find genuinely good employers.

Just don't take your experiences as typical and use them to argue that the rest of us should act as if our experiences either didn't happen, or aren't common.

Re: Ask HN: Employers, why do you want us back in the office?

#886

Post by klyrs »

Ensorceled wrote: post #561
klyrs wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm working within minutes of waking up, and shower during my lunch break -- taking about 20 minutes total, instead of the hour spent on an office lunch. I take a minute or ten to do chores like laundry, meal prep or dishes, usually no more than twice a day -- in the office, I take similar length breaks and often end up socializing with others. I often find overlooked solutions during my breaks, which are spaced out…

"A lot of people are abusing WFH" doesn't mean "all" so ask yourself why you are assuming this internet stranger has unfairly lumped you, personally and specifically, into the "abusing" group and taking offense?

Thanks, this made me laugh out loud. Of course I feel guilty every time I step away from work. That doesn't make the reflex healthy or sustainable.

Re: Ask HN: Employers, why do you want us back in the office?

#887

Post by Mandatum »

65 wrote: post #342

I'm in my 20s. I live alone in a city where I don't know anyone. Remote work destroyed my mental health. All I wanted was to be able to go into an office and talk to a real life person. I would go weeks at a time not talking to a single person in real life. I don't think people understand the plight of the young office worker until they've experienced the torture of solitary confinement. Day in, day out. All alone. I…

Work for the government, or finance with a strict "no remote" policy.

Re: Ask HN: Employers, why do you want us back in the office?

#888

Post by Smaug123 »

nunez wrote: post #837
Smaug123 wrote: post #301

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My team kept a Webex room open at the start of every morning for just turning up and chatting in; it would generally stay open in the background until everyone had left for meetings. It certainly worked well for us. Sometimes people just worked silently through it, but usually there was lots of chat.

Not at all the same. Most people will just go back to their own stuff behind the camera. Also, Zoom is EXHAUSTING for a lot of people. You're talking at a monitor, not a person!

If you're allowed the "exhaustion" excuse, then I'm certainly allowed the same excuse for not going into the office! In-person interaction is EXHAUSTING for a lot of people. You're trying to absorb dozens more nonverbal cues at once!

Re: Ask HN: Employers, why do you want us back in the office?

#889

Post by JohnFen »

pxue wrote: post #381
nostromo wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working in person isn't the issue here -- not having friends is the issue. People do make friends at work, and that's a good thing. But it should never be your primary place of making friends. (Friends and family won't lay you off like a job might. Having a network outside of work is critical if that ever happens.) Asking your coworkers to come into the office just so you can get some needed face time with other peop…

C'mon that's just bullshit. Once working, you spend 8h a day with a group of people. It's by far the easiest way to make friends since the needed repetition of making contact (a minimum requirement for friendship) is already solved by going to work together. Making friends as an adult is hard. Work is the easiest shortcut in establishing meaningful relationships with strangers. Edit: addressing some of the comments b…

> Friend just means someone you have established a platonic relationship with right here right now.

Ahhh, that makes more sense now. You're using "friend" to mean what I would call an "acquaintance".

I think the workplace is one of the hardest places to find true friends, because the relationship is dependent on the job. And, can you really be truly open and vulnerable to workplace friends? Can you safely talk smack about your boss, or your cube neighbor, or the company? Can you show up on their doorstep in crisis at 3am and have it not affect things at work?

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