Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans

cnbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

321–330 of 630 posts

Re: 80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans

#321

Post by sneak »

SoftTalker wrote: post #193
jurassic wrote: post #164

Earlier 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 sounds like you are perhaps just inexperienced at traveling, or don't like it.

All of your complaints are (usually) easily solved by experienced travelers. It's okay to not like travel, but it doesn't condemn the concept of a weeklong company offsite a couple times a year.

Re: 80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans

#322

Post by HellDunkel »

lamontcg wrote: post #94
troupe wrote: post #48

Earlier 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. Then when it isn't required anymore, they want everyone back in the office for...productivity. My guess is that most employers really have no way to measure if an employee is being productive or not so managers are just reporting what makes them look good...and now we are ba…

> 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. Then when it isn't required anymore, they want everyone back in the office for...productivity. The decades of evidence that open office plans are utter shit for productivity already proved that the emperor wears no clothes and they have no idea what makes for better produc…

100%. And don‘t forget about the useless standup meetings which are nothing more than a complete waste of time.

Re: 80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans

#323

Post by roland35 »

deaddodo wrote: post #258
ornornor wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Ear stink... I never knew my ears smelled so bad before I started using airpod pros!

Re: 80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans

#324

Post by bombolo »

re-thc wrote: post #254
kadoban wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

I get pain from the hears not being in their natural position.

Re: 80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans

#325

Post by quickthrower2 »

deaddodo wrote: post #141
lamontcg wrote: post #94

Earlier 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. Then when it isn't required anymore, they want everyone back in the office for...productivity. The decades of evidence that open office plans are utter shit for productivity already proved that the emperor wears no clothes and they have no idea what makes for better produc…

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…

I think specific problem is high density open plan offices. At about 20sqm per person, and keeping quiet and noisy professionals in separate rooms, it is not too bad.

Re: 80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans

#326

Post by MattPalmer1086 »

throwaway72957 wrote: post #98
atleastoptimal wrote: post #15

I 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…

We have a generous hybrid work policy: you can WFH, but you may be required to attend on-site sessions and meetings, for example if we're doing architecture brainstorms or design reviews. We've not found this to work well over zoom. Overall, this works out to a day or two a month, but most people choose to come in at least 1 day a week for various reasons (mostly social). We casually observed there seemed to be a spl…

You can't assume that people who are not on their laptop all the time aren't working. I frequently research stuff on my own devices as the web proxy at work blocks too much stuff.

I also have slow days where my energy is low, and intense days where I work longer than normal. People are not machines. Regardless, I get all the things that need to be done done, and usually a bit more on top.

You should measure productivity, not laptop utilisation.

Re: 80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans

#327

Post by coldtea »

atleastoptimal wrote: post #15

I 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…

>I 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.

Also the acceptance of that by employees who have no personal life or live for office drama, and are anti-WFH.

God forbid people miss the wondeful brainstorming opportunities of BS meeting -that-could-have-been-an-email, or the wonderful backstabbing and gossip watercooler camaraderie.

Re: 80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans

#328

Post by shoulderfake »

esskay wrote: post #317

I keep getting recruiters send me messages on linked in with very vague details about the job, often omitting if its work from office or home. So I always ask, and often get "The employer offers a great flexible hybrid system" or some such nonsense. When you dig further its almost always a max of 1-2 days at home per week or in some cases per month. One of them was incredibly persistent and I told them I was only int…

[dead]

Re: 80% of bosses say they regret earlier return-to-office plans

#329

Post by quickthrower2 »

ornornor wrote: post #243
deaddodo wrote: post #141

Earlier 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.

The worst place I worked I needed industrial earplugs, then chuck white noise on top of that to get almost distraction free. The way to get the desired peace was to leave
Post reply on HN