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80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans
251–260 of 630 posts
Re: 80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans
#252Earlier quoted context omitted.
The sweet spot in my experience has been for WFH orgs to get together periodically for extended offsites. A one week gathering twice a year has forged some incredible bonds on my distributed team.
Ugh. Multi-day work offsites are the worst. Along with conferences. You have to make arrangements to be away, (try to) sleep in a hotel room, end up eating and drinking too much, getting a workout in is nearly impossible, they just completely disrupt all your routines and responsibilities.
It's harder 2 weeks a year, but that is so easily offset by the 50 other weeks that make your workout, eating habbits, routines and responsibilities so much easier.
Re: 80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans
#253I understand the merits of WFH and in-person work. One thing that is however funny is the guilt tripping used by employers who have this straw-man version of a lazy WFH employee, and more so, employers who have a delusion that their workplace is important enough that people need to sacrifice a large portion of their lives just for the opportunity to be there in person. 90% of jobs aren't people's "passions" and have…
Acting like all humans will work equally as hard when they are supervised vs unsupervised is completely naïve
In-office work isn't the same as supervised work. If you have managers/cameras hovering over your shoulder at all times in an office, that's a toxic work environment.
People have always found ways to be unproductive even in the in-office era: going to the bathroom while on the clock, constantly hanging out in the break room under the guise of getting coffee, office small talk, or just old fashioned web browsing on their computers/phones. Pretending like every white collar job was at 100% efficiency in the pre-pandemic era was just pure delusion on management's part.
Re: 80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans
#254Earlier quoted context omitted.
> When I was required in the office, I would just wear headphones to avoid distractions That doesn't work for everyone. Some offices are louder than headphones and some people come around tapping your shoulders regardless.
> That doesn't work for everyone. Some offices are louder than headphones Depending on your budget, you can block out anything short of jackhammers with either IEMs or earbuds+noise reduction earmuffs. > and some people come around tapping your shoulders regardless Do they expect to continue living? What monsters.
> Depending on your budget, you can block out anything short of jackhammers with either IEMs or earbuds+noise reduction earmuffs.
Perhaps more a personal thing but it induces a dizziness/ drowsiness with extended use. It’s fine when watching say a movie but I could never work for long periods with my ears blocked. Wonder if I’m the only 1 but I have heard of similar cases.
Re: 80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans
#255Earlier quoted context omitted.
Open offices are the literal reason (after commuting/traffic) that I no longer want to go into the office. My work doesn't require a ton of person:person engagement and it's much easier for me to just zone out in my own headspace to do it. When I was required in the office, I would just wear headphones to avoid distractions, but I would have to deal with 2-3hrs of driving/day on top of it. This meant that my employer…
Open offices are terrible. Management knows they are as well because Sr. leadership almost always have their own offices. The peons sit in the pit. Until the CEO is sitting next to everyone else they are all speaking lies when preaching the benefits of an open office. The only benefit is that its cheaper and they can keep an eye on you.
Ahh my employer does this. The founding CEO had his desk over by the front door, and back in those days we all sat in the same big room.
We have multiple big rooms now but the current CEO still has his desk out in the open. Last time I was in the office we talked about anime lol.
Re: 80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans
#256Earlier quoted context omitted.
The only real reason for open offices is cost saving. Everything else is just an excuse to make it not seem like it is.
And you know what's a bigger cost savings than open office? No office!
Actually, the employers should really pay us rent for WFH because they are using our own facilities to make profits.
Re: 80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans
#257Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I find it funny that when people were required to be home, employers talked about what great productivity they were getting with people at home. In our case, we do have good, long-standing metrics: we measure how happy our customers say they are with our service. Since the whole point is to have happy, repeat customers and they have no reason to lie about being happy, we can trust this. That went up significantly a…
One point to remember is that during the pandemic, customers were much more sympathetic to everyone. The overall quality of customer service has gone done since the pandemic (even in companies that returned to office) and we, the customer, are forgiving of that. Pre-pandemic, we were not nearly as forgiving.
That doesn't seem to have regressed much, though. I do feel like people are more forgiving of home office interruptions since they became more common, but I don't think it makes that much difference. At the end of the day they still need their stuff fixed quickly and want good advice. And at least the current management believes in human capital and keeps good people for a long time, so people generally get that and turnover is rather low.
Re: 80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans
#258Earlier quoted context omitted.
Open offices are the literal reason (after commuting/traffic) that I no longer want to go into the office. My work doesn't require a ton of person:person engagement and it's much easier for me to just zone out in my own headspace to do it. When I was required in the office, I would just wear headphones to avoid distractions, but I would have to deal with 2-3hrs of driving/day on top of it. This meant that my employer…
> When I was required in the office, I would just wear headphones to avoid distractions Sometimes I just want silence. Not music, not $color noise. I also get itchy ears after wearing headphones for hours on end, and noise canceling headphones give me a headache… or, you know, I could work wherever I prefer, with little to no commute, and an office arranged how I like it.
Yup, this too. Half the time I had headphones on, I didn't even have them playing anything. I just had ANC turned on to muffle the background noise (and deter people who didn't actually needy assistance with anything). But I definitely had ear stink/itch at the end of most days.
Re: 80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans
#259Earlier quoted context omitted.
Don’t forget that a lot of offices are leased for many years or even purchased/built. Do you know what looks REALLY bad? A giant fancy office with five people in it. Better force people to fill it up. We are stuck, we spent the money, can’t have it look bad.
Maybe they could hire all these movie extras who will soon be replaced by AI generated alter egos and be out of work? Everybody wins: extras get to not be homeless and pay their bills, companies look busier than ever, extras can act whatever fantasy management wants to show off, offices have some kind of purpose again, we get to work wherever we like and do actual work… What’s not to like?
That would totally be a thing in Japan where you can pay people to act like they are your family.
Re: 80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans
#260I understand the merits of WFH and in-person work. One thing that is however funny is the guilt tripping used by employers who have this straw-man version of a lazy WFH employee, and more so, employers who have a delusion that their workplace is important enough that people need to sacrifice a large portion of their lives just for the opportunity to be there in person. 90% of jobs aren't people's "passions" and have…
> this straw-man version of a lazy WFH employee
I thought performance management was all about managing results. So, I don't quite understand how "lazy WFH employee" could be a management headache.