The forced return to the office is the definition of insanity

[GURPS]

The myth of the magical office​

Many CEOs are clinging to the false belief that the office is the secret sauce to productivity. It’s as if they think the office is a productivity vending machine: Insert employees, receive increased output. But the data tells a different story.

Instead of being a productivity wonderland, the office is more like a productivity black hole, where collaboration, socializing, mentoring, and on-the-job training thrive, but focused work gets sucked into oblivion. In fact, research shows that the office is detrimental to productivity.

For instance, a recent study by scholars at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Harvard University, and the University of Iowa found that software engineers located in different buildings on the same campus wrote more computer programs than those who were sitting close to colleagues. However, the engineers who worked in different buildings commented less on others’ code. In other words, they were more productive but that meant that less experienced coders got weaker mentorship.

To put it simply, expecting the office to boost productivity is like expecting a fish to ride a bicycle: The office serves a different, and very important purpose. The EY-Parthenon research shows a direct correlation between the forced return to the office and plummeting productivity. The numbers don’t lie. People are working longer hours and barely putting out more products. It’s high time we stop trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

Structured mentoring can strike the balance between in-office and remote work​

While productivity is harmed by in-office presence, mentoring is boosted. However, you have to be intentional about mentoring. The unspoken belief in many organizations is that if you pack employees into an office like sardines, mentoring will magically happen. However, office-based mentoring, especially full-time, is often inconsistent, inefficient, and dependent on factors like proximity, office politics, and personal dynamics, which can limit its reach and impact.

In contrast, a structured mentoring program offers a more intentional and effective approach, pairing mentors and mentees based on skills, interests, and goals. This targeted method ensures that knowledge sharing and personal growth are not left to chance, but rather strategically nurtured and cultivated.

Structured mentoring programs can thrive in a hybrid environment that combines the best aspects of both in-office and remote work. This balanced approach allows companies to limit in-office activities to necessary mentoring sessions, maximizing productivity and employee satisfaction without sacrificing the benefits of face-to-face interactions.

To leverage the advantages of both in-office and remote work in a structured mentoring program, companies can schedule targeted in-office sessions, use technology for remote mentoring, establish clear goals and expectations, encourage networking and collaboration, and monitor and evaluate progress.

The forced return to the office is the definition of insanity

After five consecutive quarters of declining productivity, CEOs must abandon the sinking ship of forced in-office work and embrace flexible work.

fortune.com

 

[SamSpade]

I don't get the constant message from networks and social media that people need to return to the office. It somehow presumes that productivity increases when my laptop is 50 miles from here.

My situation may differ, but when I go into my office instead of at home, I see no one all day, except for the people I pass going upstairs and the people I pass leaving. Since the people I work with are in offices around the country - my interaction with them is online, by phone or instant messaging. Our meetings are by Teams, and I use Teams to do things one on one on my screen - or theirs -

And if I am physically IN the office - I STILL do it that way, because it is stupid to walk half a mile and hover over a desk when I can share a screen remotely (meaning, I can type on THEIR screen in our sessions).

My physical presence adds nothing to the experience, except I lose 3+ hours a day commuting there (up and back).

While it is nice that there's more flexibility, there are other advantages. Should I need to see a doctor, dentist or take one of my children to one - it means missing a whole day at work, should I have to be 50 miles away in an office. When I work from HOME - I just miss the time away from my desk. It means that in an emergency, I am right there - instead of trapped in DC dependent on a commuter bus which doesn't start leaving until late afternoon.

The agency also benefits - they do not need to maintain a huge office or the needs that thousands of daily workers require.

There is no logical reason for me to return. Except possibly someone's ego needs stroking.

 

[Sneakers]

Didn't someone post recently on how poor the actual employee performance was under the stay-at-home model?

Conflicting stories.

 

[Kyle]

Didn't someone post recently on how poor the actual employee performance was under the stay-at-home model?

Conflicting stories.

I'd be good with the employees coming in to work and the Program and Project Managers staying home.

 

[DaSDGuy]

Didn't someone post recently on how poor the actual employee performance was under the stay-at-home model?

Conflicting stories.

Yep, their personal opinion against another. My personal work experience has our 16 person team with a 40% productivity rate increase since the kungflu work from home edicts. Sure, there is less face-to-face time, but we still see each other on MS Teams. And the daily 1.5 hour BS sessions every morning don't exist anymore.

 

[RoseRed]

I've been back in the office T-Th for the last three weeks.

 

[RoseRed]

And then there's this...

‘Worked with a guy who had 4 remote jobs. He got caught’: Mortgage lender says his client secretly works 2 full-time WFH jobs​

MSN

 

[SamSpade]

Didn't someone post recently on how poor the actual employee performance was under the stay-at-home model?

Conflicting stories.

I suppose it depends greatly on the kind of work you do. Obviously if you're a medical professional, you can't really "work from home".
My normal job for the past thirty plus years is I sit at a desk and talk to no one - except when I am at the OFFICE, it might allow for a half hour of shooting the breeze with a co-worker in the next building.

I can't speak to productivity for eveyone - but no one is missing deadlines.

 

[Kinnakeet]

people need to go to work to fill empty buildings so FJB does not give them to all the Illegal aliens

 

[Sneakers]

I'm retired, don't have an vested interest in this either way, but I get the distinct feeling that the biggest reason for not wanting to go back to the office is a direct impact on personal lifestyle. Real easy to pretend you're 'working' when you're working on house projects, taking trips to the store, on the boat, doing personal things.... easy to schedule around those Zoom meetings to make it look good and cell phone gives you instant access no matter where you are or what your doing. And yeah, maybe no one is missing deadlines, but is that the premise you were hired under? It's a fine ethical line. Has anyone you know doing this told their boss they are doing this? Of course not, because it feels like cheating, might even get you fired.

 

[RoseRed]

I'm retired, don't have an vested interest in this either way, but I get the distinct feeling that the biggest reason for not wanting to go back to the office is a direct impact on personal lifestyle. Real easy to pretend you're 'working' when you're working on house projects, taking trips to the store, on the boat, doing personal things.... easy to schedule around those Zoom meetings to make it look good and cell phone gives you instant access no matter where you are or what your doing. And yeah, maybe no one is missing deadlines, but is that the premise you were hired under? It's a fine ethical line. Has anyone you know doing this told their boss they are doing this? Of course not, because it feels like cheating, might even get you fired.

Even while telework, I was available on off hours and occasionally on weekends.

 

[TPD]

I don’t see this as strictly a productivity issue. There is the social aspect of it- people need physical and social interaction that an office gives. And the economic machine aspect - keeping downtowns alive and thriving, keeping restaurants in business for the lunch rush, gas stations and car dealerships for the additional miles on vehicles driving to the office.

But I’ve never had an “office” job so what do I know?

 

[SamSpade]

I don’t see this as strictly a productivity issue. There is the social aspect of it- people need physical and social interaction that an office gives.

Well that might be nice. My office never had that, at least, not for the last twenty years. Construction and decisions above me had every single person in my section and branch scattered to the four winds, instead of centrally located. Then reductions in staff - and so on. Since 2004, I have a job where I punch in, and punch out. My socialization that I need - starts when I make it home.

There's zero socialization at work.

 

[RoseRed]

Well that might be nice. My office never had that, at least, not for the last twenty years. Construction and decisions above me had every single person in my section and branch scattered to the four winds, instead of centrally located. Then reductions in staff - and so on. Since 2004, I have a job where I punch in, and punch out. My socialization that I need - starts when I make it home.

There's zero socialization at work.

Fortunately, I like most of my co-workers.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

I get so much more done at home. There I can do my work and be left alone, when I'm in the office I constantly have people stopping by wanting to BS, asking me how to do this or that, bitching about how someone else isn't doing their job etc. I get my work done at home. When I have a big task that needs done in a short amount of time I say "I'm going home with this where I can work without interruption" and that is the only way I am able to complete that task without being interrupted.

Now I had a coworker that was supposed to do a project, after 5 months he announced he had another job, his project got dumped on me and I was told its all done you just need to babysit it. Turned out he had done nothing during that 5 months but watched porn and ate Doritos. It took me two months to do what was supposed to be already done. Another coworker was called when he was working from home, was supposed to be doing training and he was awoken from a deep sleep.

So it's dependent on the person.

 

[SamSpade]

I'm retired, don't have an vested interest in this either way, but I get the distinct feeling that the biggest reason for not wanting to go back to the office is a direct impact on personal lifestyle. Real easy to pretend you're 'working' when you're working on house projects, taking trips to the store, on the boat, doing personal things.... easy to schedule around those Zoom meetings to make it look good and cell phone gives you instant access no matter where you are or what your doing. And yeah, maybe no one is missing deadlines, but is that the premise you were hired under? It's a fine ethical line. Has anyone you know doing this told their boss they are doing this? Of course not, because it feels like cheating, might even get you fired.

And I don't see that it matters at all, if you have a very defined set of tasks that you complete. What I accomplish at home or at the office is exactly the same. If I have to load this, write that, fix this or that, write up this, help someone through that - it is exactly no different.

The only difference being, I don't waste 3-4 hours of my life each day going back and forth.

 

[SamSpade]

Fortunately, I like most of my co-workers.

I don't KNOW them. I used to - when our groups were put together. If I am at work, none of my co-workers are there - the schedules are staggered, because too few desks to sit at. So even when I go in, no one I work with is in.

The people who sit near me - when I am in - some of them don't speak much English. And they don't want to fraternize.

It really WAS different, thirty plus years ago, when we would go to the bar after work or play softball. They plowed over the fields, the bar is gone, and the people I knew have left.

Yeah, it's sad, but the few people I do know - work is like that, for them too. It's a place to show up and go home.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

I'm retired, don't have an vested interest in this either way, but I get the distinct feeling that the biggest reason for not wanting to go back to the office is a direct impact on personal lifestyle. Real easy to pretend you're 'working' when you're working on house projects, taking trips to the store, on the boat, doing personal things.... easy to schedule around those Zoom meetings to make it look good and cell phone gives you instant access no matter where you are or what your doing. And yeah, maybe no one is missing deadlines, but is that the premise you were hired under? It's a fine ethical line. Has anyone you know doing this told their boss they are doing this? Of course not, because it feels like cheating, might even get you fired.

When I was working from home in 2020 the weather was beautiful, people from program offices were walking the neighborhood talking about things they clearly should not have over their cell phone. I almost knew what one guy was talking about loudly over speaker phone while getting his steps in.

 

[SamSpade]

I get so much more done at home. There I can do my work and be left alone, when I'm in the office I constantly have people stopping by wanting to BS, asking me how to do this or that, bitching about how someone else isn't doing their job etc. I get my work done at home. When I have a big task that needs done in a short amount of time I say "I'm going home with this where I can work without interruption" and that is the only way I am able to complete that task without being interrupted.

THIS - especially during school hours. I have the house to myself. No interruptions.

Now I had a coworker that was supposed to do a project, after 5 months he announced he had another job, his project got dumped on me and I was told its all done you just need to babysit it. Turned out he had done nothing during that 5 months but watched porn and ate Doritos. It took me two months to do what was supposed to be already done. Another coworker was called when he was working from home, was supposed to be doing training and he was awoken from a deep sleep.

So it's dependent on the person.

And we have regular meetings with short term tasks. It would be impossible to get away with two months of not doing something, because you'd have to give your results to others weekly. Virtually everything I do affects someone else in an exact flow. If I'm not doing my job, it affects a lot of people "downstream" immediately.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

THIS - especially during school hours. I have the house to myself. No interruptions.


And we have regular meetings with short term tasks. It would be impossible to get away with two months of not doing something, because you'd have to give your results to others weekly. Virtually everything I do affects someone else in an exact flow. If I'm not doing my job, it affects a lot of people "downstream" immediately.

Ah see mine is "design this complex electrical system that will do ________", he simply reported every time he was asked that it was moving along nicely and he was tracking to be done on time.

When I got a hold of it nothing he designed would work, even then it was mostly incomplete.