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Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office

#561

Post by blululu »

kjkjadksj wrote: post #163
wkat4242 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US I think it's also a retention strategy. Nobody will just up and leave before they have another job lined up because health insurance is unaffordable. One US colleague mentioned $1000 per month! It's a big deterrent IMO especially compared to Spain where healthcare is free

Honestly, I wonder what sort of aca plans you would qualify for unemployed? Certainly not a $1000 a month one as you’d be reporting no income.

Last I checked the feds treat income as an annual thing that happened a year ago. A six month period of unemployment does not mean your income is zero by their accounting.

Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office

#562

Post by Apocryphon »

Always found it funny that software engineers think they have so much power just because of relatively high compensation. (And ease of finding new jobs- guess not so much, this year.) But pre-pandemic, how much labor power did SWEs have in determining whether or not they could work in a private office or even a cubicle as opposed on the open floor? And soon, how much power do you have to determine whether you can WFH or not?

Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office

#563

Post by lowbloodsugar »

lampshades wrote: post #542
ilaksh wrote: post #480

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are process failures. People need to be responsible on some electronic communication medium and if they can't do that then they have to be fired.

I don't disagree but I've been dealing with it for years now (since COVID) and nobody has seemed to be able to fix it.

Sure. Management stupidity and employee incompetence certainly wasn't a thing before COVID! I really like this new comic from Scott Adams called Dilbert [1] that gets a good laugh from how incompetent things have gotten since COVID! /s

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilbert

Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office

#564

Post by smileysteve »

peatmoss wrote: post #505
Analemma_ wrote: post #483

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft used to do this. Famously, they had private offices for a long time while all the competition was open-office plans. They've scaled this way back in recent years though (to much complaining, albeit totally ignored, from employees). Whether this means the brainworms got to them too or they actually have the numbers to prove that private offices aren't worth the expense, I don't know.

In my first job after college, I worked at a federal agency where people had cubicles carved out of traditional large offices. It was actually kind of nice, because you worked with people in your office, but had some separation from them as well. The peons all had desktop computers, while middle management had clunky laptops with docking stations. You knew who the executives were by their small laptops that were clea…

Is it sad that I miss cubicles? even semi-cubes.

I had them from 2001-2014, 2017-2018.

Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office

#565

Post by steveBK123 »

generic92034 wrote: post #549
steveBK123 wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, even well paid worker bees are still worker bees. The queen bee who owns a share of the hive, decides how many bees to hire/fire, where they work, when they work, what % of the honey to share with the worker bees, etc.. now thats a different class.

What about managers/trainers of sports teams, if the stars of the team get a significantly higher salary? The manager/trainer might order them around, but does that make them belonging to a higher class, even if they earn way less than their "subordinates"?

you are misreading "owns a share of the hive, decides how many bees to hire/fire, where they work, when they work, what % of the honey to share with the worker bees"

Team managers/trainers do not meet most of those criteria. At most the GM meets the majority of them. Only the team owner would meet all the criteria.

Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office

#566

Post by Tokkemon »

feyman_r wrote: post #194

I am an outlier and minority here - WFH should have worked for me, but I realized the lack of control over snacking when at home, and a lack of discipline to take breaks between meetings to walk and be active. I gained 20 lbs over two years. When I’m in the office, both these problems don’t exist; in fact 1:1s become ‘walking 1:1s’. I feel more healthier; the commute back allows me to disconnect from work and decline…

Echo this a lot. Combined with a 4-year old at home constantly interrupting your flow, it's a hard time.

Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office

#567

Post by justjash »

peatmoss wrote: post #505
Analemma_ wrote: post #483

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft used to do this. Famously, they had private offices for a long time while all the competition was open-office plans. They've scaled this way back in recent years though (to much complaining, albeit totally ignored, from employees). Whether this means the brainworms got to them too or they actually have the numbers to prove that private offices aren't worth the expense, I don't know.

In my first job after college, I worked at a federal agency where people had cubicles carved out of traditional large offices. It was actually kind of nice, because you worked with people in your office, but had some separation from them as well. The peons all had desktop computers, while middle management had clunky laptops with docking stations. You knew who the executives were by their small laptops that were clea…

Same. Got a laptop and Blackberry at my first job out of college. Didn't take too long for me to realize that it actually sucked.

Later worked as a govt contractor and could leave my laptop at the office 90% of the time. Never realized how good that was until I switched back to a job with an on-call rotation.

Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office

#568

Post by steveBK123 »

re-thc wrote: post #526
bko wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're assuming that someone working from the Hamptons is as productive as working from a desk in the office or his own home. I highly doubt this is true and especially so for young junior employees. After you've been there a while, learned more and are more effective at your job, you're more likely to get the benefit of the doubt but even that has limits. Why are we pretending like this is all weird? New or junior e…

> You're assuming that someone working from the Hamptons is as productive as working from a desk in the office or his own home. I highly doubt this is true and especially so for young junior employees. We're assuming you even read the article. It clearly says "how the underling walked up at a restaurant, introduced himself and pointed to associates with him" i.e. it was more than 1 person. Maybe they are doing face-t…

Exactly. What if it was a "team building lunch" or they were all out meeting a client or they are all remote together in a summer share?

And of the CEO - was he meeting a client, the board, or simply out to lunch by himself or with family/friends/etc. The article is silent on this topic.

Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office

#569

Post by xtracto »

whateverman23 wrote: post #560
AvAn12 wrote: post #9

Joel Spolesky has made this very point many times in the past: "Private offices with doors that close were absolutely required and not open to negotiation." I work on a Data Sci team that moved to an open floor plan in 2018. What happened? Anyone who needed to work intensively on a project would work from home instead of in the office.

> "Private offices with doors that close were absolutely required and not open to negotiation." Where does this come from? It's something that sounds right, but then I look back at my parent's office jobs and pop culture from 20+ years ago and it doesn't line up. Open office spaces have been extremely common for a very very long time, with private offices reserved for higher level people.

Back in 2008 i worked at a Leibnitz institute in germany. First as a Wissenschafter and then as a Koordinator.

In the first case I shard a closed door office with one other person. Each of us had a large desk, bookcase and great space.

In the second case I had my own office with my own desk and even a table with two chairs for receiving people.

I was pretty low in the institute food chain. Only the PhD students were lower, and they shared 2 or at most 3 person closed door offices .

Its perfectly doable.

Re: Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office

#570

Post by seanmcdirmid »

Tokkemon wrote: post #566
feyman_r wrote: post #194

I am an outlier and minority here - WFH should have worked for me, but I realized the lack of control over snacking when at home, and a lack of discipline to take breaks between meetings to walk and be active. I gained 20 lbs over two years. When I’m in the office, both these problems don’t exist; in fact 1:1s become ‘walking 1:1s’. I feel more healthier; the commute back allows me to disconnect from work and decline…

Echo this a lot. Combined with a 4-year old at home constantly interrupting your flow, it's a hard time.

If our kid was at home all the time, going to the office would be necessary, but someone has to watch the kid, and having a daycare in the neighborhood makes it better to just send them off there (and convenient to drop/pick them up via WFH).
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