Return to work push?

[soliloquy]

Hey all,
wondering how you're being impacted with this push to return to the office?
How often are you working from office? How often from home? What perks are you getting? How is this impacting your housing situation? hows your mental health with this?


curious what others are going through.

(not a happy person at the moment because of this... *sigh)

 

[sleewell]

i never worked from home so no change lol.

 

[thebeesknees22]

Hey all,
wondering how you're being impacted with this push to return to the office?
How often are you working from office? How often from home? What perks are you getting? How is this impacting your housing situation? hows your mental health with this?


curious what others are going through.

(not a happy person at the moment because of this... *sigh)

We keep getting told as of last summer that sometime this year we'll have to do some kind of hybrid work.

But this is 100% due to outside forces. Clients have been making a hard push for it. I know the Boss doesn't want to since all that office space costs a crap load of money, and people have been cranking stuff out well with wfh. But if those paying the company demand it or else they'll go elsewhere then we're kinda F'd on that front and we'll have to since my industry has such a small client base.

We'll see if it actually happens though. I know other studios are getting the same pressure, but my industry is so globally spread out at this point that it would be a massive undertaking to get everyone back in the same city as a studio office.

If I have to move back to a studio location to work from the office, they will not be getting my time in the office and later at home in the off hours. When I clock out, I'm out if i'm in the office. When I'm at home it's kind of whatever since it's right here and it's quick to check stuff. But if I have to waste 2 hours of my life commuting, they don't get that. Period.

I do know that with WFH, I'm way more productive and efficient. I can multitask like I can't do in the office. The whole thing is dumb. But the upside to being in the office was that it was kind of fun being around some of my work buddies in person. I've become a recluse with wfh. I don't talk to anyone at all outside of work, and those I talk to at work are either through chat or zoom. lol ....but do I care? .... no. Not really. I'm happy living the monk life.

 

[Demiurge]

I'm full WFH. There have been rumors about rolling-back to a hybrid arrangement, but between the logistics of reconfiguring the office, fear of mass exodus, and lower frequency of news articles telling managers that WFH is evil, I don't think there's much of a push anymore.

Things are pretty miserable as it is, and it might be recognized that WFH is one of the only perks left.

 

[Crungy]

i never worked from home so no change lol.

Same here. There are some parts of my job I could do from home but the majority is hands on stuff.

Personally I enjoy the separation. I'm happiest leaving work at work so I can focus on life. I'd be too distracted working from home with all of these guitars.

 

[soliloquy]

for me, this is a multi headed issue:

1) cost of living: During the pandemic, many people took advantage of this WFH by relocating to other parts of the country that were more affordable. Now that they are pushing us to return to the office many people are having a hard time with it as income is NOT keeping up with cost of living. As such, we are stuck making a hard decision of working in the industry we were taught/trained in JUST for the sake of working there...or quit, find a job right across our house at minimum wage, and potentially save money as we dont have commute, cost of living is more favorable, and everything else is better.

2) commute: If I have to white knuckle my way too and fro each and every day on the crazy highways near me, where I am simultaneously trying not to die, or kill someone due to bad traffic...that is needless stress that i'm neither getting paid for, nor appreciated for. And that stress stays with me after i'm done work. That is going to impact me in multiple different ways, and none of which i'm okay with.

3) If i'm going to the office, i'm not going to sleep right; eat right; regulate my emotions as properly, as such, what you get is a disgruntled, unhappy, and unproductive employee. VS leaving me at home where i am more productive and generally more happy, and my mental health is far better.

4) hypocritical environmental stance: "we are proud of how green we are" and "everyone comes to the office, environment be damned" those two dont exist at the same time. Its also equally hypocritical of the entities to say 'we value work-life balance' and then force us to return to the office.

5) sunken cost: you're an entity. you can write off expenses. you rented a massive building that costs shit-tons and now you want to spend MORE money for water/heat/electricity/utilities etc just to keep it functioning? why?

6) clients want a full office: sure, clients want that...but we can easily adjust around it by going TO the clients or setting up with them via online?

7) impact on child birth: a random side effect. In Canada, many abled people who previously COULD NOT WORK due to inadequate child care facilities took advantage and joined the work force by working from home. Unemployment fell, economy was doing relatively well, and its great for everyone involved. Great!!! Now they are forcing people back to the office, this is giving people an uncomfortable options: either quit and dont work at all....or dont have kids. the option is there, leave them alone.

not a fan of this one bit...

 

[SalsaWood]

Before the pandemic I was travelling a ton on the east coast. Since after I have been riding a desk. Didn't really shake me up too badly at all except for that. It's good, and bad, and nothing.

I'm soft-retiring and moving next month. I'm not rich, but I'm much more financially secure than the life I desire requires for a good while and my assets are still appreciating. I'll probably end up doing something low stress for myself down the road, where I can exercise a lot of discretion, maybe carpentry. Maybe go to school and learn something I genuinely find interesting.

Mostly looking forward to working on my new property and gardening, fishing, doing some shrooms, reading lots of books, and otherwise forgetting the entire world exists. I'm gonna get pretty chill with it.

Edit: Honestly the biggest drive to get out of the workforce was how incensed and tribalistic human interaction has become. I barely GAF about my own problems and folks want me to care about such-and-such that so-and-so on the other side of the country said because of whatever. Nah. Big fat meh, calm down. I'll be fishing.

 

[Moongrum]

wondering how you're being impacted with this push to return to the office?

My company has been pushing for hybrid, 3 days a week in the office. I was hired during the pandemic, and live two time zones away so have been fully remote the whole time. I had gotten an exception to be permanently remote, but along with the announcement of layoffs, they're also now coming down harder on coming in on those 3 days. And I guess exceptions will now be more rigorous and will have to be approved every quarter.

How often are you working from office?

Never!

How often from home?

Always.

What perks are you getting?

WFH is the perk, I guess lol

How is this impacting your housing situation?

I rent in the Puget Sound area, so I'm getting bent over no matter what. My team is in Dallas, and while I was originally hired with the expectation that I'd move there, I'm never moving there I don't drive and am very anti-car, not a lifestyle change I'm willing to make.

hows your mental health with this?

Fine. I had taken this job with the idea of im-going-to-ride-this-till-the-wheels-fall-off, so have been planning and saving accordingly to be able tell my employer to go pound sand if they gave me an ultimatum to come in.
I think most people here are more mature/established than me, so they have more to lose about this. I don't have a mortgage, don't have a car payment, don't have my own family, so the idea of losing my job doesn't get me too fussed because I only have to be accountable for myself.
I stress more about how I'm not becoming a better engineer in this position. When I have to find a new job, I feel like I don't have much to show for my experience

 

[brector]

We are supposed to spend 2 days a week in the office now. But, going on-site to a client counts, so I try to do that as much as possible. No reason for me to drive 20 mins+ each way for work when I can fully do my job remotely.

 

[budda]

I work in distribution (lead, base mgmt) and cant do my job from home. I do have a desk at work though.

I cant work a desk job 8hr days because i’d be squirrely after 4hr tops.

That said Im looking for new employment and Im open to hybrid desk/field. I dont think I’d manage wfh with the distractions but in reality, maybe?

 

[soliloquy]

I work in distribution (lead, base mgmt) and cant do my job from home. I do have a desk at work though.

I cant work a desk job 8hr days because i’d be squirrely after 4hr tops.

That said Im looking for new employment and Im open to hybrid desk/field. I dont think I’d manage wfh with the distractions but in reality, maybe?

it takes some getting used to, for sure.

But once you get the hang of it, and other side effects that you get, you may quickly enjoy it. It may not be as social, but for me, other perks FAR out weigh the social aspect.

though i fully understand that working from home isn't for everyone. It works for some, and not for others. Some jobs can ONLY function from the office (manufacturing/factory/sales/customer service/etc). My issue is that if we have over 3 years of definitive data confirming that work from home is not only possible, but also better productivity, AND environmentally better...why in the bluest of hells is there a push to return to office?

that part i just dont get

 

[CanserDYI]

Not working from home anymore is awful and I hate it.

 

[Xaios]

But this is 100% due to outside forces. Clients have been making a hard push for it. I know the Boss doesn't want to since all that office space costs a crap load of money, and people have been cranking stuff out well with wfh. But if those paying the company demand it or else they'll go elsewhere then we're kinda F'd on that front and we'll have to since my industry has such a small client base.

Don't you work in VFX or something like that? Why on earth would your clients even care where employees are working from, let alone demand that people return to the office?

For myself, I was never WFH from the start of the pandemic, but in my younger days doing web design I was, and I actually found that I perform a lot better at the office than at home. A lot of people indicate that the office is more distracting for them, but I found the opposite was true for me; home was where the temptation of distraction was, and I didn't have the discipline to avoid it, so I am legitimately just more productive at the office. I do also have an advantage in that I don't live in a huge city and my commute is only about 15 minutes, including the time it takes to stop and get a coffee on my way.

I absolutely don't begrudge anyone who wants to maintain an iron grip on their ability to work from home if their job can be done that way, frankly I think it should be a right. I just know it's not for me personally.

 

[thebeesknees22]

Don't you work in VFX or something like that? Why on earth would your clients even care where employees are working from, let alone demand that people return to the office?

oh early on during the covid lockdowns there were some leaks in the industry on the last spiderman and I thiiiink Dr strange although I never saw that one myself.

There haven't been too many incidents that I know of since though. But honestly there were leaks every so often when people were in the office too so I don't think it really matters one way or another. Professional people will conduct themselves professionally. Those who aren't won't not matter if they're in the office or not, and they're almost always found out in the end and given the boot.

 

[RevDrucifer]

I’m on the other side of this stuff; I run a commercial campus.

All our tenants have been back to work for a while now, there are only 2 who are still working from home and from our end, seems like a lot of BS is at play with that. It’s generally down to a couple people making the decision on whether people are coming back and that decision changes depending on which way the wind is blowing.

IE- One tenant, who leases a 44k sq ft space (that’s a LOT of fucking rent money, like our normal lease is $6,000,000-$7,000,000 for 5 years in a space their size), he tells me one week “We’re coming back in 30 days, fully staffed” then the next week we’re talking about something entirely unrelated and he tells me “We’re not going back just yet, I have a head cold and I’m just too nervous people are going to get sick”

That was about 6 months ago.

Then there’s been some additional shenanigans that have been used to keep people WFH, like when their facilities guy called me and said “I have 8 AC units down, this is holding us back from bringing people back to the office”

What that actually means was “I wasn’t doing my job by reporting these units when they went down“ and I suspected it was because he does not want people to return to the office, why would he? He gets to kick his feet up all day and has been for 3 years. This was confirmed after I had everything fixed in less than 4 business days and still, no one returned to the office. Then it turned into a different issue.

As for business for us, coming out of the pandemic we had one of the best years in the companies existence. If we take on one new tenant a year, that’s great, but we took on 3. We’ve had a couple suites give back space they no longer need, but we expanded more suites than we shrank.

And this year we had to go to a couple tenants who we know have unused space to ask them if they’d be willing to sell it back to us because we have prospective tenants looking to get in, but we’re running out of space. Business is REALLY good right now and has been since the end of the pandemic.

5) sunken cost: you're an entity. you can write off expenses. you rented a massive building that costs shit-tons and now you want to spend MORE money for water/heat/electricity/utilities etc just to keep it functioning? why?

I’m quite certain this is universal, but disconnecting any of those utilities while still renting the space would be a lease violation for our tenants. It’s not just rules to make people spend money, but you’ve got no clue what kind of issues can arise from not having these in place when a space is not being utilized. Then there’s laws around what needs to be in place to have a commercial building with people inside of it, whether or not office managers want to go back to work.

Pipes freeze in the winter, mold grows in the summer. Remediation to resolve those issues after they‘ve occurred is astronomical in pricing. And if it’s not resolved 100%, you put people at risk.

 

[Drew]

Investment analyst here. We've been hybrid since late '21, initially just one day a week, gradually ratcheting up to our current policy of three days a week between Monday and Thursday with strong insinuations that if you want to be promoted or in the top of the bonus pool you should be doing a fourth, including Fridays.

My sense is they're frog-in-boiling-water-ing us back to four days a week, under the guise of "productivity." Personally I got a lot more done at home when I wasn't getting interrupted by colleages as much - I sit on our trading desk but primarily do invesment research so I tend to have less pronounced on/off busy swings than our bond traders do, and there's a lot of banter and personal talk people keep trying to bring me into in the afternoons when trading slows down but I'm still doing research.

On one hand, my current commute is a ~15 minute bike ride into the city - it's hardly awful. And I like most of my colleagues, so it's not that I explicitly have a problem being IN the office.

On the other, my wife and I are shopping for the house, and for what we're looking for, "commuter access to Boston in one hour or less" is literally a swing of a half million to million dollars in house price. And, commuting by bike is much more pleasant in May than it is in February. And, again, I was much more productive when I was fully remote than I am hybrid, and the growing tendency (after years of burnout and growing frustration with our management team) of looking at it as I've already "done my time" after my days in the office so I feel less like I need to be as productive at home as I did back when I JUST worked from home is probably starting to cut into my potential productivity... but part of that burnout is because of the growing awareness, having hired someone to take over half of my job two years ago so I can focus entirely on the other half, was that prior to that I hat at least two full time jobs' worth of work on my desk, for seven or eight years, so I figure maybe by 2032 I owe it to my company to start firing on all cylinders again, so whatever.

If I could, I'd go back to fully remote, and I'm confident (having several years minimum now of full remote, full in the office, AND hybrid) that my productivity would increase if I was only coming into town for the occasional meeting instead of three times a week. My quality of life would be way better too - even getting a half hour, maybe 45 minutes if you include changing time, back from work (muhc less the 2 hours a day once I have a longer commute) - would be quite a lot, to say nothing of the fact that if I was spending the ten minutes talking about the latest political news with the guy next to me on the desk instead starting laundry or doing the dishes, I'd be getting a ton of outside-work time back too.

The way I see it, we as a society (and, as a firm) have demonstrated that "white collar" work CAN be successfully done fully remote, so continuing to insist on bodies in desks is a waste of everyone's time.

 

[Drew]

5) sunken cost: you're an entity. you can write off expenses. you rented a massive building that costs shit-tons and now you want to spend MORE money for water/heat/electricity/utilities etc just to keep it functioning? why?

Sunk Cost Fallacy. They've already paid for it whether or not they use it, so they have to "get their money's worth."

The economics textbook explanation of this is really a perfect example - you've purchased a non-refundable train ticket to go to a different city, but then a friend of yours finds out you're going and offers to give you a ride. Do you take them up on it? The "normal" inclination is because you've paid for the ticket you need to use it, but the economically rational, utility-maximizing answer is that you've paid for the ticket whether or not you use it so the best course of action is to assess your options and choose whichever you'll enjoy more. If your friend is a really shitty driver or their car is an absolute piece of shit, that may very well be the train.... but, more likely than not, it's going to be you'll enjoy traveling with your friend a lot more, so the economically rational thing to do is walk away from your sunk cost and take the ride with your friend.

Basically, way more of corporate America than should be the case is currently falling guilty to the sunk cost fallacy, and thinking because they've already paid for office space, they'd better use it so they don't "waste their money."

On my end a lot of it too is just that the president of my firm is an older white man of a certain generation and "normal" work is having everyone in the office, so that's what a return to normal should look like. We won't have "beat" covid until we're back to at least 4 days a week, possibly all 5, and if we stop short of 5 it'll be a "generous perk" rather than a recognition of the fact our jobs can be done remote.

 

[Drew]

I cant work a desk job 8hr days because i’d be squirrely after 4hr tops.

Try crippling amounts of work stress...? If not that, then get up and walk around on your lunch break.

I, too, would not expect myself to be able to sit and work for 8 hours at a time, but if you give me too much work, it's amazing how fast the time flies. I wouldn't intentionally pass up a desk job that otherwise looks very appealing though just because sitting for 8 hours sounds tough.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

As another who doesn't have a "from home" type job, when it was all WFH it was fucking awesome!

No traffic, better parking at work, and certain staff working non-9 to 5 meant IT and engineering support was more reliable on the off shift hours.