SamSpade
Well-Known Member
When the offices were more full - I had to fight with the noise that those coworkers would make while they were stopping by my neighbor's desks.
The forced return to the office is the definition of insanity
- Thread starter GURPS
- Start date
I seriously feel sorry for you.
I work for a small business. MOST of my work could be completed from home or wherever I am. Our "Customer Relations Management" software is all web-based, and the technology allows me to put my cellphone number into the system, so when I make phone calls - it looks like it's coming from our office phone number. (which is virtual) When I go away on vacation, I always bring my laptop, in case I get stuck someplace, via the airlines or my car breaks down, etc., so I would not miss work. During the Pandemic, we were all laid off - but there were a few times that office staff worked from home when we were exposed to COVID, etc. It was fine, and I was productive, etc., but in a small business, you usually wear several hats, and have multiple jobs - some require the human interaction.
We have a brick & mortar office with a warehouse, & small showroom, so there is some reason for staffing an "office". When we get walk-in customers, I am able to assist them with the products on display -as I'm also a "salesperson". I actually enjoy working IN the office, as I am one of those extroverted people. I sit on my job all day, but I also get up a lot to communicate via our warehouse staff, go to the mail box, run office errands, etc.
If I ever left this job for another where I worked from home, I could see myself going for a walk a couple of times a day, I could not sit and get fat all day - that would make me crazy.
We have a brick & mortar office with a warehouse, & small showroom, so there is some reason for staffing an "office". When we get walk-in customers, I am able to assist them with the products on display -as I'm also a "salesperson". I actually enjoy working IN the office, as I am one of those extroverted people. I sit on my job all day, but I also get up a lot to communicate via our warehouse staff, go to the mail box, run office errands, etc.
If I ever left this job for another where I worked from home, I could see myself going for a walk a couple of times a day, I could not sit and get fat all day - that would make me crazy.
SamSpade
Well-Known Member
(shrug) I don't feel deprived. I know countless people who live in neighborhoods for years and barely know their neighbors beyond a first name and occasional conversation if that. It's no different. My workplace changed over time. Lots of people who barely speak or who barely speak English.
But my point of it all is just that - the social interaction really doesn't exist, and for those who miss it - more power to you. Mine hasn't been there in many years.
That as a selling point for commuting back and forth to DC isn't compelling.
Construction is virtually a social extravaganza , plenty of folks around, all with stories to tell. Some of the best Mondays were listening to all the young boys recant their weekends. They were always a hoot, always good hearing a story that in a earlier part of MY life would have been ME. Kids today still do a lot of the same stupid sh*t that I did when I was their age..
If I had been stuck in an office all day I would have been suicidal.
SamSpade
Well-Known Member
I did work construction for a few years - and it was tough, hard work - and yeah, mostly fun.
I was once working on a very expensive house with vertical tongue in groove cedar siding. Difficult work and very slow, because it had to be perfect. Every day this old guy would come out and watch us as he went on his walk and I would chat with him. One day he invited me to his house where he said he lived with his son-in-law.
Whom I later realized was one of the relief pitchers for the Boston Red Sox (can't remember the name). It was wintertime, and too early for spring training so all he talked about was partying it up in Jamaica.
Those distractors were likely the ones not getting their work done at home with the tv on.
Since COVID has wound down our agency changed union rules to you only have to physically come in 2 days per pay period. Due to my position, I go in 2 days a week and as needed. Prior to COVID I had to go in every day to DC. We are also in a new 11 story office building that sits mostly empty as less than 10% are actually coming in. Plus many got their jobs changed to remote becuase they moved out of the area during COVID collecting DC pay (that pay is changing soon!).
"Tough hard work" Not hardly, I started at 17 and retired at 67, still in good shape and still trouble shoot for friends. If you are not in a tremendously physical trade (masonry , concrete, framing, laboring etc.) it ain't that tough.
SamSpade
Well-Known Member
I think the hardest work I had to do was lifting 6x6 pressure treated from floor to floor - just passing it straight up, board after board. Boy were my pecs sore that day.
Another was digging a foot and a half wide, 20 feet long trench up to my chin while breaking the concrete footing at the bottom. We took a nice selfie of us all in the trench with our heads sticking out - looked like we were decapitated.
The clapboard was hard only because it was New England cold and we got no heat all day long. I can actually remember passing around a hot coffee someone brought so we could warm our hands on the outside.
Most of the work I did was building porches, New England style -as in, stacked up three or more stories high. We actually added one to a house on Bunker Hill - the real one, not where the monument is - and the three floors of deck was stabilizing the rest of the house, because code didn't allow you to tear down a historic building.
I eventually left because, frankly, I was never going to get good at it. I could do the minimum but I wasn't showing any growing set of skill. I just sucked at it.
Framing is damn hard work for sure, but it's a Lot easier now than when I started out, nail guns, lifts, saws,ladders and glues have made it a little less physical nowadays .
SamSpade
Well-Known Member
My boss felt that nail guns delivered an inferior product. Of course, he's the only person I ever saw take a 16 penny nail, curve it into a "C" and nail it in.
Now that's different for sure
SamSpade
Well-Known Member
That was to join two studs that regrettably had to meet sideways. And actually not the most amazing thing I saw him do.
There was an interesting thread on Reddit r/WHF
would you take a 13k cut in pay to wfh 100% of the time - the OP's sal was 113k going down to 105k
OccamsRazor
Well-Known Member
I believe that I posted a story that mentioned the post-COVID numbers on productivity and it was down. I do believe there are many people that are more productive when working from home however, the numbers say that they are the minority. Overall, productivity is down. Many people are saying that the "call to be back in office" is a control tactic. They would be 100% correct! They are trying to control the productivity and trying to get it back to where it was pre-COVID. Its not just to make people miserable. It is because the overall numbers show that work is being lost by people working from home. Personally, I don't doubt that at all! I work in a field that heavily relies on being able to contact people and have them provide products so I can get my work completed. Time and time again I have had to delay deadlines because people simply do not answer their phones, emails, or complete their work in a timely manner. When you are waiting 2 weeks for a simple email reply or 1 month for a minor work product to be completed, there is a problem.
We're Now Finding Out The Damaging Results of The Mandated Return to Office — And It's Worse Than We Thought.
Case studies of attrition with the return to office
Take, for example, a regional insurance company with a workforce of around 2000 employees. The company enforced a return to the office policy, causing waves of unrest. It soon became evident that their attrition rates were climbing steadily. It echoed the Greenhouse report's findings: a majority of employees, 76%, would actively seek a new job if flexible work policies were retracted. The underrepresented groups were even more prone to leave, making the situation more daunting.At that point, they called me to help as a hybrid work expert that The New York Times called the "Office Whisperer." We worked on adapting their return-to-office plan, switching it from a top-down mandate to a team-driven approach, focusing on welcoming staff to the office for the sake of collaboration and mentoring. As a result, their attrition rates dropped and the feelings of employees toward the office improved, in line with what the Unispace report suggests.
In another case study, a large financial services company began noticing employee turnover despite offering competitive salaries and growth opportunities. Upon running an internal survey, they realized that, aside from better compensation and career advancement opportunities, employees were seeking better flexible work policies. This aligned with the Greenhouse and SHED findings, which ranked flexible work policies as a crucial factor influencing job changes. After consulting with me, they adjusted their policies to be more competitive in offering flexibility.
A late-stage SaaS startup decided to embrace this wave of change. They worked with me to introduce flexible work policies, and the result was almost immediate - they noticed a sharp decrease in employee turnover and an uptick in job applications. Their story echoes the collective message from all three reports: companies must adapt to flexible work policies or risk being swept away.
SamSpade
Well-Known Member
There IS one aspect of this, however -
This is unquestionably the future. I agree that some jobs cannot be replaced with all remote work. I have been told that the IRS *mostly* operates with staff, from home - and that began many years BEFORE THE PANDEMIC.
Just as email and electronic messaging is erasing snail mail and such - the virtual office IS the way much commerce WILL be done. My sister has been working from home since the 2000's.
There are a lot of reasons - one is, as government staff increase, the need for more building space emerges - there's just only so many broom closets and hallways that people can work in, before you have to consider - do we build ANOTHER building - rent space, locally - or allow more people to work from home?
I know OUR productivity has not flagged, but for a few reasons - we track EVERYTHING. Every part of our project is broken down into tasks as short as one day - OR LESS, and as long as one week, and we track it regularly. Nobody gets away with doing nothing for days or weeks on end. You don't just show up and say, yep, done it. It gets tested, scrutinized, reviewed. If you say your stuff is done, someone ELSE is reading it within minutes. You simply cannot "cheat". You MUST be logged in, and logged into Teams and so forth and you get logged out if there's inaction more than a few minutes.
I don't find it onerous - but I would face the same system if I was physically present, except I would also have to lock up my workplace if I so much as visit the restroom. And it means I never see a co-worker even if I am IN THE OFFICE. My job doesn't change.
This is unquestionably the future. I agree that some jobs cannot be replaced with all remote work. I have been told that the IRS *mostly* operates with staff, from home - and that began many years BEFORE THE PANDEMIC.
Just as email and electronic messaging is erasing snail mail and such - the virtual office IS the way much commerce WILL be done. My sister has been working from home since the 2000's.
There are a lot of reasons - one is, as government staff increase, the need for more building space emerges - there's just only so many broom closets and hallways that people can work in, before you have to consider - do we build ANOTHER building - rent space, locally - or allow more people to work from home?
I know OUR productivity has not flagged, but for a few reasons - we track EVERYTHING. Every part of our project is broken down into tasks as short as one day - OR LESS, and as long as one week, and we track it regularly. Nobody gets away with doing nothing for days or weeks on end. You don't just show up and say, yep, done it. It gets tested, scrutinized, reviewed. If you say your stuff is done, someone ELSE is reading it within minutes. You simply cannot "cheat". You MUST be logged in, and logged into Teams and so forth and you get logged out if there's inaction more than a few minutes.
I don't find it onerous - but I would face the same system if I was physically present, except I would also have to lock up my workplace if I so much as visit the restroom. And it means I never see a co-worker even if I am IN THE OFFICE. My job doesn't change.
PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
I know this is old, but there is a certain group that failed at all of this before working from home. Their policy was to look at the caller ID to see if it was worth answering the phone, if not ignore it, ignore emails, etc. I got to where I would call from my cell and go to their office and stand behind them and watch them do it, they didn't like that lol. I guess that would make returning to the office better.
Whenever I actually have to get something done the best thing is for me to go home and do it, otherwise I have people popping in "how do I do this", wanting me to go to a 2 hr meeting that could have been a simple email etc, whining about getting yelled at etc. I get far more done without coworkers around me needing their noses wiped.