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Return to Office Is Bullshit and Everyone Knows It

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Re: Return to Office Is Bullshit and Everyone Knows It

#31

Post by grumblingdev »

TerrifiedMouse wrote: post #11

There are so many “habits” left over from industrial work. On an assembly line everyone needed to be in sync but this generally isn’t true for most office work. You need to be present at the factory to do the work, hasn’t been true for office work for awhile now. Yet we still operate synchronously. Everyone commutes through traffic/crowded public transport and risk catching the latest novel virus, to arrive at work a…

> an assembly line

Now imagine working on an assembly line on your feet all day versus your office day job. The people on the assembly line would look at you like the most spoilt people in the world.

I personally hated going into the office, but the morale effect is real.

I think the main thing is people cannot be trusted to honestly tell you if they work better from the office. It's a nicer life working from home but whether you get more work done is debatable. And there is always too much to lose by speaking the truth.

Re: Return to Office Is Bullshit and Everyone Knows It

#33

Post by dinkblam »

grumblingdev wrote: post #20

Video conf still sucks. It's literally the same as 10 years ago. Does anyone have a workplace where it is really seamless, high resolution, and just works? Or is using any of these new technologies? Maybe VR will help... But not being in-person for collaboration/morale is miles apart. I wonder if employees would personally cover the cost of a one week meetup once per month if their other option was move city and offi…

> Video conf still sucks

Audio calls also still suck. Commercials in the 90s advertised "crystal clear audio quality" - they stopped talking about it but it never materialised.

Re: Return to Office Is Bullshit and Everyone Knows It

#34

Post by ramraj07 »

If I start a company tomorrow, this is what I would want to do:

1. Hire within a general metropolitan area (2 hour commute max).

2. WFH for 28 days a month.

3. 2 days a month the entire org convenes in a ballroom or something and works together, have some progress reports, happy hours and hackathons.

In this model, everyone’s remote most of the time. Yet everyone gets FaceTime with each other IrL. Seed ideas and brainstorms. Everyone’s happy. I think. Curious if anyone has a critique.

Re: Return to Office Is Bullshit and Everyone Knows It

#35

Post by thrtythreeforty »

dsm4ck wrote: post #23

I am beginning to think, somewhat uncomfortably, that due to industry consolidation most big corps don't have to worry about having great talent anymore. They are squeezing more money out of an established business model in a market that no longer has real customer choice, as long as they have good enough people to keep things going it's not a problem.

That's fine, they will eventually have their lunch eaten by companies that can execute with all the talent they refuse to hire. It takes time, but the wheel turns.

Re: Return to Office Is Bullshit and Everyone Knows It

#37

Post by bwestergard »

I'm a union software engineer at NPR, and we just won guaranteed remote work for three years (pending a ratification vote by the membership). Glad I don't have to worry about shifting fashions among executives on this subject.

https://nitter.net/WeBuildNPR/status/1707916820928241801

Re: Return to Office Is Bullshit and Everyone Knows It

#39

Post by and0 »

throwaway290 wrote: post #13
Two9A wrote: post #3

This is one aspect of the RTO discussion that's sometimes missed: there are plenty of people in the tech sphere (myself included) who've been comfortably remote for much longer than those who were pushed into remote work by lockdowns and pandemic response. We're not about to give up a whole lifestyle we've built over (in some cases) decades, on the whim of whichever executive we happen to be serving under at the pres…

Been remote for 15 years, recently started full time job, love going to office. No strict work hours but I come anyway, nice to chat with colleagues (and much more productive than those tedious calls or text chats). Also I was already making myself leave home at least daily for physical activity, so if I'm out why not travel to the office? There's a nice coffeeshop near there. Also the chair is comfy enough, desk is…

That's totally valid, also. I do sometimes miss the office, particularly from when I worked in a healthy office culture, but would want it to be optional.

Re: Return to Office Is Bullshit and Everyone Knows It

#40

Post by syndicatedjelly »

grumblingdev wrote: post #20

Video conf still sucks. It's literally the same as 10 years ago. Does anyone have a workplace where it is really seamless, high resolution, and just works? Or is using any of these new technologies? Maybe VR will help... But not being in-person for collaboration/morale is miles apart. I wonder if employees would personally cover the cost of a one week meetup once per month if their other option was move city and offi…

Video conferencing is miles better than it was 10 years ago. It barely worked even 5 years ago
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