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[StreetsofBeige]

what kills the office for me is commute, not because it's far from home, but because of the rush hour traffic jams, a 15KM trip takes 2+ hours, I will avoid going to the office because of this.

That’s nuts! Wall to wall cars plus shitty roads and lights?

Only time I’ve driven a 2 hr commute in life was during a giant snowstorm when I worked at old place and took the god awful hey 401. But the worst was the 2003 black out. Took over 3 hrs to get home when it was more like 1 hr tops.

My drive is around 30-35 min for 20 km. Easy route. But we’ve had tons of construction last 5 years where some roads squeeze to one lane. Sometimes it’s smooth. Other times it would add 10-15 minutes.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

My ex works at Google and I remember she telling me a lot of her colleagues buying properties in the countryside when wfh happened, and I was wondering what the fuck are they going to do when wfh eventually dies? (Answer they don't come into work as much as google mandates them to).

My work had the same but we aren’t tech. Some people took advantage of real estate gains selling high and buying low, but 1-2 hours away. Now that the company wants people back at the office more and more we’ll see how it goes. 1 day in the office seems ok. But what if my company mandates 3 or 4?I’ve asked and they don’t even have a good answer. It’s more like they’ll cross that bridge if it happens. The bosses might say ok, but if they are hard asses might be time to look for another job.

Everyone knew wfh wouldn’t last forever, but many did it to bank some money rolling the dice that when COVID passes wfh will be the norm. Maybe for some companies, not for others.

 

[diffusionx]

My ex works at Google and I remember she telling me a lot of her colleagues buying properties in the countryside when wfh happened, and I was wondering what the fuck are they going to do when wfh eventually dies? (Answer they don't come into work as much as google mandates them to).

Those companies are going to start firing those people. Amazon's starting to do it. Google is slow-walking this a little bit, but they're on the same trajectory.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

Companies are starting to realise their staff who "work from home" are basically just pretending to work most the time

As opposed to pretending to work in the office? Just put KPIs in place to monitor the org and let people figure out how they will meet them.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

In person meetings are always better. Online meetings have so many issues from tech problems, to people not paying attention and if there’s an in person meeting and people are on the phone dialing in you can’t even hear half the stuff if the presenter is speaking softly or someone asks a question from the back of the room. There’s a lot more room for goofing off or people not giving a shit when it doesn’t work smoothly.

And another thing that is bad is how awkward it is when someone (often the host) tries to do ice breakers. It’s dead silent half the time, half the people don’t go on cam so you stare at a canned photo or their initials since they didn’t even want to upload a photo. While in person meetings are so much easier to talk with everyone.

Try to set a proper agenda next time before an online meeting, you will see it works wonders for productivity. I never take a meeting when the agenda is not set and deliverables clear for all participants.

 

[TheUsual]

Try to set a proper agenda next time before an online meeting, you will see it works wonders for productivity. I never take a meeting when the agenda is not set and deliverables clear for all participants.

I set up meetings with the meeting agenda in the invite.

I then do post call summaries with next steps if needed.

Greatly shortens meetings, we get to the point, everyone gets aligned, and there's a trail of information.

 

[tommolb]

Wow, a few folks on here really do believe that people who work from home are lazy and do nothing all day.... they've really drunk the kool aid from government and bosses who are worried about commercial property prices and want to force everyone back to how it was pre-covid and don't care at all about "team building" and "collaboration".

I work from the office twice a week, three days from home. I get a LOT more done whilst at home as there's a lot less distractions and I can focus more. I also work longer hours whilst at home, cos I don't have to worry about traffic and the commute.

My employer has just completed a new Head Office building and is closing multiple other offices as a result. The new building doesn't have enough desks to accomodate everyone working from the office twice a week. It's going to be a nightmare to get a desk and the car parking is equally restricted.

 

[DR3AM]

They are hoping people will leave on their own to save on money on severance packages during layoffs.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

Companies are starting to realise their staff who "work from home" are basically just pretending to work most the time

Lol

In my case and I'm speaking of my own experiece, people work less when they're in the office.

A few colleagues do nothing more than fuck around all day by the coffee machine talking to other colleagues about how their weekend was or some other BS.

Funny enough they do more when they're working from home. Also this hybrid model benefits those with families. It worked during covid for them so why change it now.

Also means I have to spend less money on transport into the office, the company spends less on utilities. It's a win win for both parties.

 

[Tams]

That’s nuts! Wall to wall cars plus shitty roads and lights?

Only time I’ve driven a 2 hr commute in life was during a giant snowstorm when I worked at old place and took the god awful hey 401. But the worst was the 2003 black out. Took over 3 hrs to get home when it was more like 1 hr tops.

My drive is around 30-35 min for 20 km. Easy route. But we’ve had tons of construction last 5 years where some roads squeeze to one lane. Sometimes it’s smooth. Other times it would add 10-15 minutes.

You're still wasting over an hour of your life, five days a week.

 

[TheUsual]

Lol

In my case and I'm speaking of my own experiece, people work less when they're in the office.

A few colleagues do nothing more than fuck around all day by the coffee machine talking to other colleagues about how their weekend was or some other BS.

Funny enough they do more when they're working from home. Also this hybrid model benefits those with families. It worked during covid for them so why change it now.

Also means I have to spend less money on transport into the office, the company spends less on utilities. It's a win win for both parties.

Yup. I save an hour and a half each day. Im using that time to walk, go to the gym, errands, and so on.
We usually have a day or two each month for in office stuff for those who can get in and not a big deal.

Hope companies that hired employees who they know aren't even close to offices don't fuck them over. But lol at that

 

[a multicultural team of v]

Probably has to do with companies fighting for people. Living in metro areas costs more than a small town so they’ll offer more to attract hires. People working at head office also typically get paid more than regional offices.

Oh yeah I mean I get why they do it now... but in a situation where location is not tied to a job, it is no longer a relevant factor. Which I would think honestly the companies would want, since on average they could probably pay less.

(I say this as someone living in a major US city and "working" in the much smaller state capital a hundred plus miles away lol)

 

[bitbydeath]

I go in once, maybe twice a month.
I know I do less work in the office than Wfh but it’s still nice to see everyone.

 

[Pelao]

It's funny. I became even more productive when I started working from home, because in my case, the sooner I finish my workload, the sooner I get off work, so that motivates me to work extra fast. In any case, I have had this work format since before the pandemic, so I doubt it will change, and if it does, I will simply look for another job that is similar to what I have now.
In the case of my brother, who works in cyber security, he was asked to return to the office about two months ago and he simply refused, and said if they didn't like it they could fire him. Now the same company is paying him a certification while he works from abroad.
The idea of going to work in an office is stupid if you can do the same task from home or anywhere in the world. Too bad not all companies realize that. Mediocre employees will remain mediocre employees no matter where they work from.

 

[simpatico]

WFHers should be really nervous about AI taking their jobs. If you don't even have to show up to get the work done, you can probably be replaced by a bot.

I know it absolutely wrecked the company I was at. Otherwise good performers would publish garbage documents, with errors they weren't making previous to WFH. I think the mind is in a different zone when you're wearing pajama pants and sitting at the kitchen table.

 

[yet_another_alt]

Oh yeah I mean I get why they do it now... but in a situation where location is not tied to a job, it is no longer a relevant factor. Which I would think honestly the companies would want, since on average they could probably pay less.

(I say this as someone living in a major US city and "working" in the much smaller state capital a hundred plus miles away lol)

Paying less is exactly what companies want. If people get too used to the same salary while working from home then you're essentially going to be competing in an international job market instead of just those that are wiling to uproot. If companies find that there's no difference in productivity between those at home and those at the office, they may as well just hire people from outside the country who will do the same work for a fraction of the price. I mean those guys are also working from home after all.

 

[Nobody_Important]

This is hilarious. Companies don't seem to realize that the toothpaste is out of the tube.


The moment my job asks me to come back to the office for more than half the week is the moment I start looking over my job options, but luckily they seem content to leave it at 2 days a week in the office and no plans to change it from what I understand.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

Yup. I save an hour and a half each day. Im using that time to walk, go to the gym, errands, and so on.
We usually have a day or two each month for in office stuff for those who can get in and not a big deal.

Hope companies that hired employees who they know aren't even close to offices don't fuck them over. But lol at that

Yep.

Takes me an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon to get into and from the office because traffic is horrendus in my area. That's 2 hours lost compared to when I'm working from home.

I can imagine its much much worse for people in major metropolitan areas like Los Angeles.

In the office today and again like I said before, people here fucking around not doing much of anything. I hear more people chatting shit than working.
Last week some old lady in the office actually had to get up and walk over to a group of younger ladies talking about holidays in Hawaii and because they were so loud, everyone in the area could hear their conversation which went on for what seemed like 15 minutes.

Hybrid office/WFH should be the way forward. And I've had some colleagues who are thinking of leaving for other jobs if they make us come back to the office full time.

This is hilarious. Companies don't seem to realize that the toothpaste is out of the tube.


The moment my job asks me to come back to the office for more than half the week is the moment I start looking over my job options, but luckily they seem content to leave it at 2 days a week in the office and no plans to change it from what I understand.

Yeah pretty much this. Some mates are going to fuck off to other companies if we're demanded to come back to the office full time.

 

[WoJ]

I've been WFH since Covid started and overall like it. Saving on commuting is the best benefit and if allows evenings with my wife and daughter to be more relaxing.

I've been going into the office a bit more frequently because it is nice to see people face to face and interact. I'd be okay with hybrid work in most cases. I'd say my productivity is pretty even in or out of office.

The commute is the worst part though. If I lived closer to my office I'd go in more, but trying to race across town and having my fingers crossed there's no traffic jam that will make me late for daycare pickup is something I don't miss at all and will actively fight to avoid.

 

[cash_longfellow]

So much

 

[Puscifer]

Companies are starting to realise their staff who "work from home" are basically just pretending to work most the time

Honestly a lot of jobs can be done from home and get the same level of work done but people who won't SHUT THE FUCK UP on twitter and social media like these companies aren't watching ALL THE TIME blow my mind.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

Do companies use Zoom?

Mine uses MS Teams and others i know use Google Hangouts.

We used to use zoom. We switched over to Google meetings

 

[NecrosaroIII]

Perhaps.

But not as bad as WFH people. At least any slogs in the office are right there and if you need something they can’t avoid you coming by and asking them for stuff.

WFH workers can literally disappear and go shopping or take naps. Impossible to get hold of them. And you can tell they aren’t there (as opposed to being busy and don’t want to repond) because their Outlook/Teams status is yellow and says away for 3 hours in the middle of the day. Probably out grocery shopping.

A lazy ass at home will say they’ll respond when they get around to it in their own time. That’s fine for them but not for other people. Nobody wants to wait for their response at 9pm when precovid everyone works standard hours where people ask and receive information 9-5.

I work for a logistics company. Our system is designed so that every click we do is measured. Every call is recorded. If you enter an order, it's time stamped. If you exit an order it's time stamped. Any actions in the order are time stamped. Each employee is routinely audited for performance in which you have a biweekly performance meeting with your supervisor.

In other words, we're so harshly monitored that it doesn't matter if you're at home. They know.

 

[Cyberpunkd]

A lazy ass at home will say they’ll respond when they get around to it in their own time. That’s fine for them but not for other people. Nobody wants to wait for their response at 9pm when precovid everyone works standard hours where people ask and receive information 9-5.

I do a quick glance at the request and if it is not urgent I will get to it later, sometimes at night.
Slack made it so people do not reflect before sending a message requesting info:

Do I need it?
Can I get it on my own?
If I ask for something - what information should I convey first?

People just type stuff and hit Enter, it adds incredibly to information overload.

 

[ADiTAR]

Unless you need to physically be there to do a job, like repair a faucet or a printer, there's zero reason to work in an office these days.

You have enough tools today to balance both professional and personal life working from home, and there's no need to force people to come to these buildings those companies built for billions just because they built them. Or rent them. Or whatever.

Wfh offers no commute, more ability to control the food you eat, and more time for you as a worker. People here who argue otherwise is really weird to me.

 

[Torrent of Pork]

Weighing my disdain for concrete shit-holes against my utter lack of empathy for people whining that they can't push paper in their pajamas anymore.

Shit's hard man.

 

[Lukaku's First Touch]

I went to the office yesterday. I have one weekly mandatory office day per week. I did fuck all except drink 5 chocolate milks that are free there and drive a total of 2h30min.

 

[GeeseGoose]

My employer decided to be remote friendly during COVID and have expressed that it won't go back to mandatory office days again.
In the meantime I got my contract amended to have full time remote working enshrined so I'm protected should they decide to walk back this policy.
Although outside of the Sydney HQ because in most of AU & NZ they only operate small co-working spaces the expectation is most people on teams are spread geographically and so I doubt they will be able to implement in office days without a lot of trouble!

Working with an entirely remote team has its own challenges, but I find that myself and the team are super productive because we don't have distractions, we all dislike meetings so keep them succinct, embrace async communication and allow flexibility in the day e.g. allowing time for chores, relaxation, etc. point being, as long as the work is delivered on time, who cares how you do your day to day?

 

[Hudo]

Wow, a few folks on here really do believe that people who work from home are lazy and do nothing all day.... they've really drunk the kool aid from government and bosses who are worried about commercial property prices and want to force everyone back to how it was pre-covid and don't care at all about "team building" and "collaboration".

I work from the office twice a week, three days from home. I get a LOT more done whilst at home as there's a lot less distractions and I can focus more. I also work longer hours whilst at home, cos I don't have to worry about traffic and the commute.

My employer has just completed a new Head Office building and is closing multiple other offices as a result. The new building doesn't have enough desks to accomodate everyone working from the office twice a week. It's going to be a nightmare to get a desk and the car parking is equally restricted.

Couldn't have put it better.

Interestingly enough, I've found myself working more when I work from home because there's no real "cut" in the sense of "OK, I'm going home now." So I often find myself working even late into the night (Or at least thinking about problems that are work related).

 

[Hugare]

Hybrid is the way

Going 2 days a week is just the right spot. You see other people, solve problems and to the social bullshit part.

There's no way someone can justify going all the 5 days. I'm much more productive working from home. Way less distractions from co-workers.

 

[Wind's Howling]

I never been on a Zoom call that amounted to something. It's almost always a giant waste of time.

They are just scared of being recorded doing jack shit, so the better “solution” is for everyone to return to office.

 

[Mr Reasonable]

TBH, I wouldn't mind spending more time at the office, if it was nearer. Being at work isn't an issue, travel time and cost of travel are annoying.

I'd probably do less work and shorter days in the office.

 

[Aesius]

WFHers should be really nervous about AI taking their jobs. If you don't even have to show up to get the work done, you can probably be replaced by a bot.

I know it absolutely wrecked the company I was at. Otherwise good performers would publish garbage documents, with errors they weren't making previous to WFH. I think the mind is in a different zone when you're wearing pajama pants and sitting at the kitchen table.

If AI is gonna take your job, it's gonna take it regardless of whether you're WFH or in the office. Being in the office might give you a stay of execution because upper management may be slightly less eager to free up the payroll of someone they see/interact with daily, but it's gonna happen regardless.

 

[Ownage]

I hear everyone when they say they'll consider leaving their jobs of WFH is rescinded. That being said, it's hard to find a job these days, especially if you're late 30s and up. More firms would rather hire cheap and young/malleable versus older/competent and high producing.

I do believe that experience comes with age. I laughed out loud at the LinkedIn article that said Gen Z is ready to take leadership roles. The audacity. TikTok has really brainwashed some of them into thinking they actually have value. Can't wait to watch them get set straight.

 

[Aesius]

I hear everyone when they say they'll consider leaving their jobs of WFH is rescinded. That being said, it's hard to find a job these days, especially if you're late 30s and up. More firms would rather hire cheap and young/malleable versus competent and high producing.

This is true. Especially if you are still just in a productive rather than management role.

 

[Nester99]

I am back to work full time in the office (wfh 2-3 days a month as needed) it’s my choice after almost 3 years 80% WFH.

Frankly I was going stir crazy and feel it’s refreshing to be back in the office. Thankfully I am in a smaller center with a 15 min commute and free parking I have toddlers at home which might be a factor….

 

[20cent]

The war to get employees back to the office to prevent devaluation of property is only starting.

Godspeed, WFH people. We're gonna need it.

(also: Zoom has 8,300 employees. Get the fuck outta here)

The whole world economics and politics, like current wars and bans (hello Ukraine, China) are influenced by the 0.01% refusing to lose a single cent of the wealth and power they inherit since generations while you are encouraged to let go any small things you love. Just stating the obvious I guess. But thank God, some cretins still think it has something to do with Good vs Evil like in a rotten Marvel/SW movie.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

They are just scared of being recorded doing jack shit, so the better “solution” is for everyone to return to office.

You can always tell who is likely goofing off and who isn’t. The people who go on cam, participate and speak up are doing fine. The people who don’t go on cam, go on mute and never say a word are likely goofing off. No doubt they are doing emails or something else.

Best way to catch them is to put them on the spot and watch them scramble for answer or the usual….. sorry can you repeat the question?

 

[The Pleasure]

I hear everyone when they say they'll consider leaving their jobs of WFH is rescinded. That being said, it's hard to find a job these days, especially if you're late 30s and up. More firms would rather hire cheap and young/malleable versus older/competent and high producing.

I do believe that experience comes with age. I laughed out loud at the LinkedIn article that said Gen Z is ready to take leadership roles. The audacity. TikTok has really brainwashed some of them into thinking they actually have value. Can't wait to watch them get set straight.

The boomers won't leave. Gen Z ain't getting shit.

 

[Evil Calvin]

Companies are starting to realise their staff who "work from home" are basically just pretending to work most the time

I'm a contractor at a big company and the regular employees generally WFH on Mon, Wed and Friday....but I NEVER get emails or call on Monday or Friday's.........and really ramps up on Tuesday. Leads me to believe that they don't actually work on Monday or Friday at all.

 

[Evil Calvin]

what kills the office for me is commute, not because it's far from home, but because of the rush hour traffic jams, a 15KM trip takes 2+ hours, I will avoid going to the office because of this.

...and the cost of gas.

 

[Ownage]

The boomers won't leave. Gen Z ain't getting shit.

 

[Trogdor1123]

I like hybrid myself. Working in the office most of the time and then home when it makes sense is a fantastic set up.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

My company is subletting half of our complex.

 

[TransTrender]

Why the hate for Teams!?

I love it, it works perfectly, lots of tools within it also.

Here there's Slack and Teams.
I like Slack because it has a modern, sleek, and efficient interface. I like how my direct messages and group chats are organized, and how I can organize the different Slack channels in to different categories with different notification levels. The interface is efficient and doesn't waste space. The dual plane view of a given Slack channel and then the expanded conversation after I engage with it is great. Less clicks more info. Searching works much better. I also like the reminder and save for later feature. I do not use Huddles or whatever but they work.

Teams is just like most other MS products at this point. Ugly, inefficient interface with tons of wasted white space. Clunky ass controls and donesn't present enough information when engaging with it. Organization also sucks. Chats don't seem to have any way to categorize, and the 'Teams' chat is a complete waste of space and time when compared to a Slack channel. Office 365 integration doesn't do me much good when it all tries to go through Shatepoint or OneDrive. It should never ever take this long to open a PPT or Word doc when engaging through this unified infrastructure. Overall it's a completely, entirely, from top to bottom, inferior tool compared to Slack. The one thing I do like is Teams meeting chats and whatnot are saved but they're still dumped in to the uncategorized list of "Chat" which doesn't do me much good but it's better than nothing.

Oh yeah, I like how I can be in a Teams meeting but then Teams doesn't realize I'm in the Teams meeting.

Sharepoint: Holy shit. How can this be soo bad for soo long? Because all these things are tightly coupled the overall work flow is more annoying because you have to engage with SharePoint. Looks like it's straight out of the late 90's, incredibly slow, mind boggling URLs, horrible organization. Complete and utter piece of shit compared to Confluence. Collaboration with live docs is...OK...but still when engaging with it at anything other than the surface level is infuriatingly slow and clunky.

OneDrive: Seems to be OK for backing up folders but a complete pain in the ass to engage with outside of that. Super slow, clunky, ugly, and hard to tell what the fuck is actually happening on the back end when deeply engaging with it. It should never ever take that long to download a 20MB PPT.

 

[tamago84]

Here there's Slack and Teams.
I like Slack because it has a modern, sleek, and efficient interface. I like how my direct messages and group chats are organized, and how I can organize the different Slack channels in to different categories with different notification levels. The interface is efficient and doesn't waste space. The dual plane view of a given Slack channel and then the expanded conversation after I engage with it is great. Less clicks more info. Searching works much better. I also like the reminder and save for later feature. I do not use Huddles or whatever but they work.

Teams is just like most other MS products at this point. Ugly, inefficient interface with tons of wasted white space. Clunky ass controls and donesn't present enough information when engaging with it. Organization also sucks. Chats don't seem to have any way to categorize, and the 'Teams' chat is a complete waste of space and time when compared to a Slack channel. Office 365 integration doesn't do me much good when it all tries to go through Shatepoint or OneDrive. It should never ever take this long to open a PPT or Word doc when engaging through this unified infrastructure. Overall it's a completely, entirely, from top to bottom, inferior tool compared to Slack. The one thing I do like is Teams meeting chats and whatnot are saved but they're still dumped in to the uncategorized list of "Chat" which doesn't do me much good but it's better than nothing.

Oh yeah, I like how I can be in a Teams meeting but then Teams doesn't realize I'm in the Teams meeting.

Sharepoint: Holy shit. How can this be soo bad for soo long? Because all these things are tightly coupled the overall work flow is more annoying because you have to engage with SharePoint. Looks like it's straight out of the late 90's, incredibly slow, mind boggling URLs, horrible organization. Complete and utter piece of shit compared to Confluence. Collaboration with live docs is...OK...but still when engaging with it at anything other than the surface level is infuriatingly slow and clunky.

OneDrive: Seems to be OK for backing up folders but a complete pain in the ass to engage with outside of that. Super slow, clunky, ugly, and hard to tell what the fuck is actually happening on the back end when deeply engaging with it. It should never ever take that long to download a 20MB PPT.

90s? Power automate sending teams/outlook message of pbi pptx presentations across different datalakes in sharepoint is a godsend. Makes my weekly analysis tasks done in 5 minutes. I dont give a fuck if it looks “outdated” lmao. I’m just using it for the fucking paycheck

 

[TransTrender]

90s? Power automate sending teams/outlook message of pbi pptx presentations across different datalakes in sharepoint is a godsend. Makes my weekly analysis tasks done in 5 minutes. I dont give a fuck if it looks “outdated” lmao. I’m just using it for the fucking paycheck

Company did that for a bit but it was slow.
Using Salesforce stuff for that and nobody misses the old way.

 

[AmuroChan]

Wow, a few folks on here really do believe that people who work from home are lazy and do nothing all day.... they've really drunk the kool aid from government and bosses who are worried about commercial property prices and want to force everyone back to how it was pre-covid and don't care at all about "team building" and "collaboration".

I work from the office twice a week, three days from home. I get a LOT more done whilst at home as there's a lot less distractions and I can focus more. I also work longer hours whilst at home, cos I don't have to worry about traffic and the commute.

My employer has just completed a new Head Office building and is closing multiple other offices as a result. The new building doesn't have enough desks to accomodate everyone working from the office twice a week. It's going to be a nightmare to get a desk and the car parking is equally restricted.

Curious what industry you work in. I'm like you in that I get more done at home as well. However, that has not been the case in general at my company. We recently laid off about 300 people, almost all of whom were under 25 years old, and we collected data for the past 6 months showing that they almost never did anything work-related when they're at home. I do think that there's a generational gap when it comes to work ethic here in the US.

 

[Hawking Radiation]

I work in IT and just this morning my boss texted me saying he expects me in the office.

Promptly told him to fuck off (in a nice way).

I'm still in my job and I actually finished all of my work an hour before my shift ended.

What in god's green earth would be the reason for me to travel an hour to and from the office to do the same fucking work I can do from my living room.

Cunt

 

[RavenSan]

I work in IT and just this morning my boss texted me saying he expects me in the office.

Promptly told him to fuck off (in a nice way).

I'm still in my job and I actually finished all of my work an hour before my shift ended.

What in god's green earth would be the reason for me to travel an hour to and from the office to do the same fucking work I can do from my living room.

Cunt

Also in IT -- When it was time to renegotiate my contract I absolutely made sure WFH full time with the caveat that I'd attend any 'team' days, or obviously go if there was a hardware problem that needed fixing onsite.