My entire department, and honestly probably 95% of my company do all of our work on a computer on the network, that’s the only requirement, it can be a PC at a desk on site or a laptop on WiFi at a coffee shop or home or the beach for that matter.
My company did the big RTO mandate last year after 6 years of WFH since Covid first started. Those 6 years marked some of the highest productivity and highest job satisfaction ever.
Then the C suite decided they either didn’t like not being able to watch their worker bees go, or maybe they also had financial investments in the commercial district (conflict of interest if they do IMO) or maybe they got lonely? Or maybe they just read a stupid article that told them they should assert control by making their employees lives harder, who knows? But ours, like so many, all did it seemingly blindly like a fad, with no real reason or goal and just a vague empty promise of “collaboration and culture” whatever THAT even means.
Also really funny that in the same paragraph they will praise “cloud data”, “cloud AI”, “remote servers”, but the humans can’t be remote because reasons.
The real sore point that I resent VERY much is that half the company is out of state, so exempt, including my supervisor. So now me and my team commute in to an office to sit in a sad cube by ourselves and then we still have to join a video call for every meeting, but doing that from a conference room is hell compared to a headset and your own laptop, not to even mention all the technical issues we keep having while everyone at home stares blankly waiting for us, it’s so dumb.
All I know is for me and my team and every single person I’ve talked to, the collaboration is so much worse in-person. The communication is worse. They wave their hands and say “collaboration”, but then if one person is talking on the floor it is disrupting 50 people that can easily hear every word. The morale is worse. Everything takes so much long to do. So much time and money is wasted sitting in cars in traffic for no reason. I don’t get it. It was a huge win-win when we all went WFH. We worked more, did more, were happier and more productive, saved money, saved time, communication was better since everyone was on the same level field.
Mandating RTO is wild to me, it feels like going back to typewriters in a world of laptops, because “well we used typewriters in the past, it’s the way it’s been done”
Then on the flip side, some people want and do better in a central office, fine, have that available, but don’t mandate everyone does it. It should be up to each worker or their managers to figure out the actual need and what is best. “One size fits all” doesn’t work, it fits 1 person and excludes 10.
The shitters in charge literally dont care about you or what you think. They will make these RTO demands until they are forced to pay for the commutes of their employees.
it sounds like “the freedom to work in one’s best environment” is the ideal policy.
I get this, but as an aside I am a bit amazed that it takes some people converting everything into monetary value to see this.
IMO having healthy life balance should be the goal, my mental health doesn’t have a price tag someone can just pay for and take from me.
my mental health doesn’t have a price tag someone can just pay for and take from me.
2-3 extra zeros added to your annual income?
It has to be monetary value for capitalists to even acknowledge it existing.
Or Luigi actions. Fear is a great motivator. They want us to live in fear of job loss for healthcare, see how they like a flip of the script.
I’m probably in the minority here, but I actually enjoy a hybrid work schedule. It helps that I actually like my coworkers, but it’s so much nicer to talk to them in person. And it might just be me, but it’s easier to separate work and home life when they are in separate places.
Remote days are great for getting small chores done around the house, and I can cook my lunch. Hybrid gives the best of both worlds, at least for me.
I’m fortunate that my office is flexible so if something comes up I can work from home until whatever issue gets resolved. Just goes to show that everyone has preferences and the best policy is to let people choose.
I’ve worked 100% remote for 9 years. It gets old.
It doesn’t get older than working in an office though lol
I guess it does if you live in a shit country with a shit job.
I very much prefer to work in the office. First of all I don’t have a dedicated office in my house, and I do not want to work in my living room.
I walk 20 minutes to the office and chat with my colleagues. I see no reason why not seeing your colleagues in person would make your life better.
If I need a day off, I take a day off. It happened plenty of times to me that the same day I get busy with something important and I’ll just call the job and tell them I’m not going to work.
I imagine if your job is not like this then remote work is better. But you don’t have to change your job for a job with remote work; you have to change your job for a better job.
The commute is the key thing, not necessarily the job.
People working from home is also great for those that can’t. During and after the covid shutdowns I could be at work in like 35 minutes. Now that most people are back in office its about an hour to an hour and 10 minutes. Not to mention the office being full of people again is frustrating
I guess it does if you live in a shit country with a shit job.
shame we can’t all live in the worker’s paradise
Agree, I have been interning remotely this summer, and I’ve never felt so isolated. I just sit on my couch all day doing barely any work. However some people clearly like it, so remote vs local should be up to the workers to choose, flexibility and personal choice are some of the biggest factors contributing to work place health
doing barely any work
Ah, there it is. It’s a skill issue.
Interns don’t actually do shit anyway.
He’d still have nothing to do in the office. Actually most people in an office are doing nothing regardless of title in my experience.
As Ranzispa says, he goes there to chat and bother everyone else rather than actually work.
I don‘t see why one has to be weighted against the other. I remember when my employer tried to frame it as a perk when in reality me coming to the office daily just wasn‘t feasible. I understand other employers with too much money or employees mandate office time because they value control and authority over profits or simply want to get rid of you but if you work for a smaller company they often have no benefit from you sitting in the office every single day.
