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34% of remote workers would quit rather than return to full-time office work

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Re: 34% of remote workers would quit rather than return to full-time office work

#141

Post by MattGaiser »

benbristow wrote: post #57
MattGaiser wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What used to be swivel in your chair and ask a colleague or going to whoever you need to speak to is now But your need for an instant answer often derails my work flow. I can get a lot more done now that I am not being interrupted as frequently and can address questions once I have wrapped up what I am doing or at least have time to write down where specifically I stopped.

Just asking this as a talking point. Does a quick interruption that unblocks me and allows me to continue working outweigh allowing you to finish your thing first? Because maybe you're unblocked but I'm blocked by you now, and the thing that's actually blocking me. So only 1 person is able to work.

My preference is still Slack, even in this case. Send a message prefixed "URGENT" and I will write down where I stopped in the next 30 seconds and then get to you nearly right away.

I can skim the first few words of a Slack message without losing context and if those first few words demand an immediate response, I can "save" what I am doing to my notes.

I had a co-worker who did this in a past job, even though he sat behind me. It was quite helpful.

Re: 34% of remote workers would quit rather than return to full-time office work

#142

Post by alephu5 »

ptmcc wrote: post #20

I don't believe it. I do believe that 34% of polled workers said they would quit rather than return to the office, but I do not believe even a majority of them would actually go follow through on that threat. Especially if you filter out high paid/high job-security developers and similar people who might have the financial security to do so. People, particularly Americans, are shackled to their jobs for many reasons…

I'm just a sample of one but I literally did this. My employer started forcing us back into the office as soon as it was legally permitted. We were only allowed to be at 30% capacity, so management ensured that this quota was always filled.

We were all complaining about unnecessary risk to personal and public health. We couldn't even take advantage of the office, we were doing everything through Google meet anyway because meeting rooms were restricted to 3 people. Eating areas and water coolers were also out of bounds.

After a couple of months I landed a fully remote job and made sure management knew that this was why I was leaving. A couple of days after the CTO announced that fully-remote work will be allowed indefinitely for developers, and I'm quite pleased I was able to win that for my ex-colleagues.

Moral of the story: voting with your feet, it's a great way to balance power between employers and employees. Overall I think it's good for society to have this attitude.

Re: 34% of remote workers would quit rather than return to full-time office work

#143

Post by politician »

tezzer wrote: post #129
mulmen wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

34% being unwilling to work in offices does not imply not the 66% prefer to work in offices. It is entirely possible (however unlikely) that 100% of people prefer to work remotely but that 34% demand it. You just can't infer anything about the preferences of the 66% based on the preferences of the 34%. Some jobs have to be done in person, sure. But some jobs don't. Personally the extra two hours a day and reduced str…

I'm a software engineer. I can do my job 100% remotely. I can't wait to get back to the office. I like in-person collaboration, and I really like having separation between my work life and my home life. This year has been torture.

Do your colleagues feel the same way? Would you inflict office work on them if they don't?

Re: 34% of remote workers would quit rather than return to full-time office work

#145

Post by skeeter2020 »

>> Just under half of all the surveyed WFH employees (49%) said they would prefer a hybrid work arrangement, dividing their time between the office and another location. Likewise, 26% said they want to remain fully remote, and 25% wanted to return to a full-time office situation

So the real (less attractive) headline is "Typical Distribution in Demand" with the sub title of majority prefer more flexibility over less. Not really much there...

Re: 34% of remote workers would quit rather than return to full-time office work

#146

Post by MattGaiser »

Ensorceled wrote: post #131
hvocode wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While there is likely some truth to it, the first survey is hardly unbiased: it’s a survey showing lots of people are looking for jobs conducted by a company focused on job searching. That would be like WebMD doing a survey of people on its site to see how many people think they’re sick and finding out “wow, lots of people think they’re sick”.

I'm trying to figure out how a job search company gains from warning employers that their employees may leave if they force those employees to come back to office full time ... It would actually be like WebMD doing a survey to find out how many people are hypochondriacs and shouldn't be using their site.

They get a pile of new candidates when people read it and realize "if others are leaving, I should be looking at it too."

Re: 34% of remote workers would quit rather than return to full-time office work

#147

Post by dheera »

jedberg wrote: post #75

This headline is clickbait. Read the actual survey. The actual survey says that 1/3 said they would start looking for a new job if they were no longer allowed to work remotely. But then 49% said they would be happy with a hybrid environment, where they only had to come in some of the time.

Yes. The key here is that most of those 34% are probably talented, don't live within commute distance of an office of the company they work for, and have alternatives, so it makes sense that they would resign and take a different remote job instead of uprooting and moving their lives/families for non-remote work.

People who prefer remote work come in largely two flavors:

* People who do live within commute distance of their office but wish to work at home for various reasons

* People who do not live within commute distance of their office and do not wish to move their home

These two groups tend to think very differently about the problem.

Re: 34% of remote workers would quit rather than return to full-time office work

#148

Post by FredPret »

tezzer wrote: post #129
mulmen wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

34% being unwilling to work in offices does not imply not the 66% prefer to work in offices. It is entirely possible (however unlikely) that 100% of people prefer to work remotely but that 34% demand it. You just can't infer anything about the preferences of the 66% based on the preferences of the 34%. Some jobs have to be done in person, sure. But some jobs don't. Personally the extra two hours a day and reduced str…

I'm a software engineer. I can do my job 100% remotely. I can't wait to get back to the office. I like in-person collaboration, and I really like having separation between my work life and my home life. This year has been torture.

Is a bigger house/condo with an office an option?

If you can work remotely, why live (I’m assuming) in a city that is expensive because it was built around an in-person existence?

Re: 34% of remote workers would quit rather than return to full-time office work

#149

Post by Dominisi »

For me, its all about the commute. Just do the math.

1-Hour commute time both ways: 21.8 Days a year you are spending commuting to/from work.

3-fucking-weeks of time, poof, gone.

I'll get my social interaction else where for 3 weeks of my life back. Thanks.

Re: 34% of remote workers would quit rather than return to full-time office work

#150

Post by [deleted] »

Alupis wrote: post #13
User23 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conversely, if an employer isn't willing to let employees do a job remotely after having had a year to see that they're perfectly capable of doing so, they clearly have no attachment to their employees.

Or, perhaps they had a year to clearly see they're perfectly incapable of doing so. Not every office job is software engineering folks... Imagine trying to manage a warehouse remotely... or bounce ideas off each other in real time at a marketing agency... or any of the other normal jobs that thrive with in-person interaction. Not to mention, 34% is a minority... we can't force the other 66% to work remotely just beca…

[deleted]
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