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WFH is becoming a benefit again

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: WFH is becoming a benefit again

#11

Post by lokar »

duskdozer wrote: post #6
theandrewbailey wrote: post #2

Those pushing return to office have drank so much of the Kool-Aid that compliance with policy is worth any cost. You must keep collaborating and allegedly being productive in person.

It's managers who want to feel in control of their peons reinforced by massive investment in corporate real estate and businesses surrounding them.

The last place I worked mandated 3 then 4 day RTO

After a year line managers were not enforcing it, despite repeated reminders

They started counting badge-ins, and lowering performance ratings for managers with reports not showing up.

They had to force the managers to act, almost none of them thought it was needed.

Re: WFH is becoming a benefit again

#13

Post by kot_manul »

joe_mamba wrote: post #8
theandrewbailey wrote: post #2

Those pushing return to office have drank so much of the Kool-Aid that compliance with policy is worth any cost. You must keep collaborating and allegedly being productive in person.

Management & their HR henchmen, sorry, henchpersons: "But think of all the in-person collaboration that gets missed without the in-office presence!" The actual in-person collaboration in the office: 50-100 person open space office with everyone wearing noise canceling headphones all the time to drown out everyone else talking in zoom/teams calls, not talking to anyone in person, reading reddit and watching youtube on…

And there's the people that more or less require the use of headphones if you want to get anything done: the two or three people that continually narrate every aspect of what they're doing loud enough for everyone to hear, the handful of people who desperately need attention and validation at every possible juncture, the project managers having a ball pretending every day is an episode of The Office, and if you're really unlucky, the fire alarm that goes off at random intervals throughout the day that everyone's learned how to ignore.

Re: WFH is becoming a benefit again

#14

Post by rhines »

joe_mamba wrote: post #8
theandrewbailey wrote: post #2

Those pushing return to office have drank so much of the Kool-Aid that compliance with policy is worth any cost. You must keep collaborating and allegedly being productive in person.

Management & their HR henchmen, sorry, henchpersons: "But think of all the in-person collaboration that gets missed without the in-office presence!" The actual in-person collaboration in the office: 50-100 person open space office with everyone wearing noise canceling headphones all the time to drown out everyone else talking in zoom/teams calls, not talking to anyone in person, reading reddit and watching youtube on…

At my workplace, HR addressed RTO and said that even when people aren't working together, just seeing people around invigorates them. Kind of demeaning to think that part of my pay comes from HR enjoying seeing the back of my head while I'm hunched over my laptop.

Re: WFH is becoming a benefit again

#15

Post by jjice »

_fat_santa wrote: post #9

I've been working fully remote for like 5 years at this point and I have to say I do get an itch to go into the office. My pipe dream for the future of work is it's remote by default with in-office being a decision that's made at a team level. Ideally there would be no hard requirement to come to the office X days per week, it would be a team coming together and saying "hey, how about we all go into the office on Tue…

My small company has an office in a coworking space that's about a 1.5 hour train commute for me. I don't go in much, but when I do, I have a great time. Some excellent conversation and product discussion happens there. I even go into a closer coworking space in my city a few times a week (typing from there).

All that said, working from home is so awesome. I'm more productive, have no commute, and get to do things like take care of background tasks like laundry and start my workouts at a reasonable hour after work.

Hybrid is a comfortable spot for me.

Re: WFH is becoming a benefit again

#16

Post by gtowey »

game_the0ry wrote: post #10

I don't know about you guys, but RTTO was the biggest signal to me that corp america is lost and beyond recovery. The benefits are so obvious, yet here we are.

I have heard a large impetus for the RTO push was to prop up commercial real estate. Permanent WFH would change the value of trillions of dollars of properties and reshape the commercial centers of cities.

A lot of people with a lot of money at risk got really scared and decided the easiest thing to do was to go back to the status quo.

Re: WFH is becoming a benefit again

#17

Post by staplers »

tmaly wrote: post #3

The high performers are usually the first to leave under tighter RTO conditions https://www.business.pitt.edu/return-to-office-mandates-dont...

Likely because they are fully aware of the power dynamics in a job and understand of when they are being taken advantage for performative theater.

Re: WFH is becoming a benefit again

#18

Post by joe_mamba »

game_the0ry wrote: post #10

I don't know about you guys, but RTTO was the biggest signal to me that corp america is lost and beyond recovery. The benefits are so obvious, yet here we are.

Assuming this is an issue only in America is absolutely adorable. Signed, from Europe. In Austria a lot of corporations are overly generous if they give you 2-3 day/week WFH.

Re: WFH is becoming a benefit again

#19

Post by icedchai »

_fat_santa wrote: post #9

I've been working fully remote for like 5 years at this point and I have to say I do get an itch to go into the office. My pipe dream for the future of work is it's remote by default with in-office being a decision that's made at a team level. Ideally there would be no hard requirement to come to the office X days per week, it would be a team coming together and saying "hey, how about we all go into the office on Tue…

Same. It's been 6 years of "work from home", starting mid-March 2020. It has become very, very old. I would love to find a local startup that embraces hybrid work.
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