Precisely what we did, with coordinated WFH days. We're still experimenting, but I'm pretty happy with it and it seems to work for a lot of people.
Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office
271–280 of 838 posts
Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office
#272I think its fair to say that RTO is not about data, or studies, or about anything really. Leaders across all industries have decided people are coming back. Perhaps there is a secret cabal of commercial office space lenders who are putting pressure as share holders, or some other conspiracy theory. But it's happening - no one can do anything about it (except vote with your feet), and no one is going to get better acc…
My theory is that RTO is a way to reduce headcount without having proper layoffs and severance.
Yep, it's just a backdoor layoff.
Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office
#273I see white collar evolving to more virtual workspaces than physical. These will get more functional and productive, right now they are crude and clunky.
Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office
#274People who like WFH will never want to return to the office unless perhaps the office is a 5 minute walk from home (they may be forced to, but they won't want to). For many people the time and cost savings of avoiding a daily commute cannot be offset by a nicer office. Those who are happy to return to the office in general are those who do not like WFH and prefer more contacts and a change of scenery. A nicer office…
Personally, the commute is secondary. I hate being at the office. The office could be right next door to me and I still wouldn't want to go. Offices are cold, sterile, mentally unstimulating environments of constant surveillance. I never want to go into another one ever again
The "cold" aspect is one I really do not miss. During the summer (in Austin where it gets to 100F regularly), I had to wear a sweatshirt and long pants, and I was still cold.
Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office
#275I love working from home as much as everyone else here (seemingly) but I don't think people are fully appreciating how damaging not talking to people in meat space is likely to be long-term. We are embodied/energetic creatures and that energy is not exchanging the same way online (sorry if that sounds woo but it's true!). More so for the younger people, let's not forgot some of whom have never worked with people much…
This is a modern requirement of having to talk to people other than your family and friends. If you were a farmer or shepherd or fisherman or … 50 years ago, to whom would you talk during the day and work? Probably noone. You would just talk to your family when back at home.
Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office
#276Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the boiled frog is a perfect analogy. I grew up always assuming there would be a long commute. I couldn't afford to move out of my parents house for almost a year out of school in my first job (2008 making less than $30k/yr) so I spent 7 or 8 months driving an hour each way. I'm too young to remember but my dad spent the first few years of my life and several before that commuting 2 hours one way. Spending at…
Yes, also the typical career cycle in HCOL areas is you are 22 and live in a dumpy apartment with roommates but close to work. You maybe couple up with someone by 30 and get a nicer place a bit further, but still within a 20-40min transit commute. Finally you maybe decide to start a family by 40, and move out to somewhere 40-60min commute, if not further. Each step is just a small increment worse. But when you go fro…
> Yes, also the typical career cycle in HCOL areas is you are 22 and live in a dumpy apartment with roommates but close to work. You maybe couple up with someone by 30 and get a nicer place a bit further, but still within a 20-40min transit commute. Finally you maybe decide to start a family by 40, and move out to somewhere 40-60min commute, if not further.
I found this to be a depressing quality of life trajectory my coworkers were on when I worked in NYC. It was fun in my 20s without kids, but after that, it seems miserable.
Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office
#277Prior to COVID, I had made a reputation for myself as being quite difficult when it comes to Office space. Mostly this was because I felt that I wasn't as effective working in the Open Office. I was told time-and-time again how the open office is the standard, I figured the problem was me and looked inwardly at solutions (some of which I documented on my blog). I later discovered I had many markers of ADHD, meaning t…
For what it's worth, I discovered a baseball cap to block the obnoxious overhead lights and some Sony noise-canceling headphones were a godsend for focus.
Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office
#278At some point many years in the future, more lives will have been saved due to WFH trends (pollution, accidents, etc.) than were taken prematurely by COVID.
Fascinating silver lining.
Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office
#279Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think a lot of people on here have not been through a real recession. Not saying that everybody will go back to working in an office, but thinking one can simply demand anything only works when employment is high. During a recession, it is either social assistance or one takes the job that is available.
I think it comes from being a software engineer in US the last 10, and especially the last 5 years, is probably the greatest working conditions of any worker ever in human history. There are a large number of people, namely on HN, that have never known anything other than $120K+ compensation, constant stream of offers for changing jobs, all while working from their home and doing about 4 hours of real work a day. I d…
> while working from their home and doing about 4 hours of real work a day.
One of the consequences of working from home is I tend to work 8-12 hours a day. Sometimes it's hard to mentally shut off work because it's in the same place I live. I don't know how anyone works 4 hours a day, unless they simply don't have a lot to do.
Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office
#280Earlier quoted context omitted.
> You can't be serious. I have to agree with the parent post here. What do you think the median age of HN commenters is? I'd say it's probably mid-late 20s, in which case most people graduated after the great recession was largely over and only experienced the COVID blip that wasn't a cyclical recession in the normal sense and mostly helped tech workers instead of harming them.
The median age here would be 40s.
Based on what?