This is the challenge we have. I think corporate rightly sees the conflict here so hasn’t mandated any in person days at all, thankfully, but is more focused on the “intentionality” of in person work–it’s stupid to come into the office to sit on Zoom all day, so they’re focused on getting connected people in the office on the same days so that they can actually have productive in-person collaboration rather than taking the same Zoom calls you could be taking from home.
It’s a tough line to walk.
And it’s obviously different for my line of work, which is predominantly team-based and collaborative, vs other jobs that are more individual.
Jeez, that sucks especially because if the guy spent 5 minutes thinking he could easily come up with another scam reason to rent that building you need storage right?
Rather than spending “$3,400+ a month for rent, I book a $100 round-trip flight on the one day a week I work in-person” as a corporate marketing intern, she explained on her LinkedIn account. “Plus, my untraditional commute provides me with more lifestyle freedom, and I genuinely look forward to my weekly adventures.”
Based on any amount of meaningful experience with people and human interaction it seems obvious that face to face has advantages for communication, relationship and trust building, ease of communication, etc.
I think many of you are blinded by idiotic self interested managers being idiotic and self interested.
All of the following are true.
Many managers are idiots.
Some in person is objectively better. (All things being equal).
Not all things are equal, and those costs fall on the employee, not the employer.
I think it’s a tough spot where we’re at right now.
I think we are healthier as individuals and a society when people are in person and interacting with each other rather than doing the interactions over Zoom or Phone Calls.
The problem is that the only people who can enforce that are employers and the only justification employers can use is “People are more productive in office”, which I think just isn’t the case.
To me, WFH is like any other minor vice like eating junk food or drinking, where it feels better to do it in the moment, and also can have benefits when you do it occasionally in terms of being able to do things around the house, balance work and life, etc.
However, over time, I believe that people who only work from home are just less healthy overall due to a lack of socialization and its just bad for us in general
The stuff you say may be true on average, but I feel like there are so many variables that make it hard to say anything categorically. Some people genuinely function way worse in an office full of people due to anxiety or inability to filter out distractions. Some people save >2hr and significant $$ and stress every day not commuting, and that buys them way more well-being than they give up. Some people get harassed at work, or find the personalities of their co-workers toxic or draining, but only in person. It’s a very individual thing and it’s tough.
For me, I don’t even have a perfect solution for myself. I’m a 52yo IT guy who’s mostly had to stay in the office while almost everyone is still working from home, and I really don’t miss people walking up to me constantly with dumb questions that could have been asked in an IM or email, but also I find it pretty depressing talking only to my immediate boss 90% of the time who I don’t particularly like. And from my brief stints working from home, I’ve found I can’t really get used to it, I feel like I have to constantly be sending out emails to “prove I’m busy” or something, have trouble properly disengaging at ~5pm, etc.
At the same time, the normalization of WFH being an option has been nice, I don’t feel guilty staying home to work at the first hint of snow, or when I have someone coming in to fix something, or when I don’t feel great but I’m not too sick to work at all. It’s helped me bank a lot of PTO for “real” time off. But I wouldn’t want to WFH every day.
I’ve worked from home for almost two decades, so my only daily interactions with non-family adults is you guys. And look at me! I’m a shining example of perfect mental health!
I work from home 100%. In fact I am employed by a state that is not my state of residence.
I am a big introvert, so I am not sure how much I miss the in-person meetings. It doesn’t matter if it’s an in-person meeting, a zoom call, or a telephone call, I can’t focus because it’s, you know, interaction with another human being. I can’t wait for it to end. I can’t really concentrate until it ends and I go read the meeting materials on my own.
It would be nice to go to the office every once in a while just to say hi and shoot the shit. I’m an introvert but I still probably need a little contact.
Also I need to print things and my printer is a pain. I find it difficult to read long documents on the screen
I am probably more productive in the office though, just because there are fewer distractions. But I’m not super productive in either setting.
But for life stuff, appointments with contractors and stuff, WFH is great. The dog loves it course, if we went back to working in the office she would be very sad.
Yeah everyone is different. I function better in a noisy office than in a quiet one (it’s an ADHD thing). Also I live alone and don’t have kids. So WFH full time kinda sucks for me.
I think WFH is also going to be a disaster for junior programmers, unless companies lean way way in to making sure they stay engaged and plugged in, which most companies simply won’t.
Its probably company/job role dependent how much being in the office is good or bad. Overall I think most employers think jobs require a lot more work than they actually do so theres just a lot of wasted time in the office where as at home you can accomplish meaning full things that you’d just have to do after work instead so you get to be more efficient with YOUR overall time.
That being said people are social creatures, and there are positive benefits to in person interaction, but that’s only a positive if you enjoy your coworkers and it isnt like some mythical thing that only having a job can provide you. You can still get that outside of work, its just that work takes up so much of our day that it can be hard to fit that in (which like if we worked less it would be less of a constraint!).
My office is dead silent 75% of the day. All we do is send e-mails back and forth to each other!
About the only time I “interact” with a “human” is when one of them walks into my office and asks, “Did you see the e-mail [that I literally just sent you three minutes ago]?”
