Companies Finally Admit They Don't Know When They're Returning to Offices (business-standard.com) 127
Google, Apple, CNN, and Ford have all postponed their "Return to Office" date, reports the New York Times. (Alternate URL here.) The Times also cites a Gartner survey of 238 executives in late August which found two-thirds of organizations were delaying returning to offices because of coronavirus variants.
The chief people officer at DocuSign even said "I can't even remember all the dates we've put out there, and I'm the one who put them out there," while Lyft said the earliest that workers would be required to return to the office is 2023. Return-to-office dates used to be like talismans; the chief executives who set them seemed to wield some power over the shape of the months to come. Then the dates were postponed, and postponed again. At some point the spell was broken. For many companies, office reopening plans have lost their fear factor, coming to seem like wishful thinking rather than a sign of futures filled with alarm clocks, commutes and pants that actually button. The R.T.O. date is gone. It's been replaced with "we'll get back to you."
"The only companies being dishonest are the ones giving employees certainty," said Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford professor who advises dozens of chief executives. "As a parent you can hide stuff from your kids, but as a C.E.O. you can't do that to adult employees who read the news."
Some workers have returned to their cubicles in recent months, with office occupancy across the United States rising from 33 percent in August to 40 percent this month, according to data from Kastle Systems, a building security firm. But the visions of full-scale reopenings and mandatory returns, which formed as vaccines rolled out last spring, have remained nebulous...
"Folks have hedged appropriately this time around and they understand that it's a dialogue with their employees, not a mandate," said Zach Dunn, co-founder of the office space management platform Robin.
Thanks to Long-time Slashdot reader theodp for submitting this story!
The chief people officer at DocuSign even said "I can't even remember all the dates we've put out there, and I'm the one who put them out there," while Lyft said the earliest that workers would be required to return to the office is 2023. Return-to-office dates used to be like talismans; the chief executives who set them seemed to wield some power over the shape of the months to come. Then the dates were postponed, and postponed again. At some point the spell was broken. For many companies, office reopening plans have lost their fear factor, coming to seem like wishful thinking rather than a sign of futures filled with alarm clocks, commutes and pants that actually button. The R.T.O. date is gone. It's been replaced with "we'll get back to you."
"The only companies being dishonest are the ones giving employees certainty," said Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford professor who advises dozens of chief executives. "As a parent you can hide stuff from your kids, but as a C.E.O. you can't do that to adult employees who read the news."
Some workers have returned to their cubicles in recent months, with office occupancy across the United States rising from 33 percent in August to 40 percent this month, according to data from Kastle Systems, a building security firm. But the visions of full-scale reopenings and mandatory returns, which formed as vaccines rolled out last spring, have remained nebulous...
"Folks have hedged appropriately this time around and they understand that it's a dialogue with their employees, not a mandate," said Zach Dunn, co-founder of the office space management platform Robin.
Thanks to Long-time Slashdot reader theodp for submitting this story!
Returned to office in September ... (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3)
And I'm so glad of it ... working from home is BORING and ISOLATING. 95% of our staff are vaccinated, and we've had less than 1% test positive this year. It's amazing!
Well, we thought it was great in the UK. Then in the last week things went mad with cases almost doubling in a day yesterday. Might be worth reconsidering so you get some time to decide how to react.
No idea if your company needs work from home that much - depends very much from job to tjob, but this is really going to be the new not wearing masks in other people's spaces thing isn't it. "We're special and we need to work from the office; who cares about the cost of lockdowns and ICU overload to everyone
Re: (Score:2)
So what?
I'm vaccinated and boosted. Wear a mask at work. At this point, I value the social interaction and sense of normalcy more than I value a 0% chance of getting COVID. If I get it, it is what it is.
But I'm working with mostly-vaccinated people in a city that has a 90% adult vaccination rate, so I'm not too worried. I'm done with being stuck at home.
Re:Returned to office in September ... (Score:5, Interesting)
At the company end-of-the-year party I was glad to see my coworkers.
My boss told me I looked happier than I ever did in over 2 years working with me.
I've also lost 10 kilos.
I no longer get heartburn... my omeprazole has expired.
I barely get any mouth sores from stress. All of this because I don't have to drive in crazy traffic, or listen to coworkers talk, or tap on keyboards in a small office all day.
The weight I lost is because I got back 1 hour of my day in commute, which I now use for sports. For the first time in 15 years, I was able to run 5km.
I don't need to pack my food and eat at my desk anymore.
You do you. I don't plan on returning to the office ever again. I can get social interaction outside work.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I lost 10 pounds since I started working in person ... I walk or bike to work. It's nice.
You didn't work in person? How did you do that?
Re: (Score:2)
I can get social interaction outside work.
This! I find it strange the people who complain that they are "stuck at home" and lack interaction just because they can't work. Do these people not go to work for work? Do they have no lives at all outside of work?
Since COVID started I joined several clubs, I go out more, I do more of the activities I used to do such as squash, tennis, running, etc. The single best part about this is actual social interaction *WITHOUT WORK*, and no risk of an accidental work conversation starting.
I also lost 40 pounds, but
Re: (Score:2)
This! I find it strange the people who complain that they are "stuck at home" and lack interaction just because they can't work. Do these people not go to
work for work? Do they have no lives at all outside of work?
Speaking as someone who has felt the same way as the GP, I'd say it boils down to two things for most people:
- Immediate family or other long-term cohabitants are not "social interaction".
- Introverts don't typically actively seek a lot of external social interaction whereas work is "forced" on them, thus becoming a primary (and, over time, often important) source of it.
That combined with what the sibling commenter said about free time make a big difference to a lot of people.
Re: (Score:2)
- Immediate family or other long-term cohabitants are not "social interaction".
I agree, but I wasn't talking about cohabitants, rather that the lack of ability to attend your workplace should in no way be hampering social interaction unless you really truly have no friends or life outside of work. And THAT is a far bigger issue than COVID causing work from home.
If anything COVID and WFH has massively increased the amount of social interaction I have. I found new hobbies to enjoy with others, joined new clubs, met new people in the neighbourhood since we're out and about a bit more. et
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Returned to office in September ... (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm not fucking wearing a mask all day at work. What the hell is that insanity?
Re: (Score:2)
Lots of people voluntarily wear a mask all day at work in Japan. Some actually like it, they can "hide" behind the mask and don't have to worry about controlling their facial expressions or not doing things like licking their lips when others are watching.
Each to their own, if you don't want to that's fine, just don't get upset if I decline to join you at the office.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
So what?
I'm vaccinated and boosted. Wear a mask at work. At this point, I value the social interaction and sense of normalcy more than I value a 0% chance of getting COVID. If I get it, it is what it is.
But I'm working with mostly-vaccinated people in a city that has a 90% adult vaccination rate, so I'm not too worried. I'm done with being stuck at home.
What we don't know yet, but should do in the next few weeks, is the death rate for omicron in those who are vaccinated. We already know that the infection rate is high among those who have been double vaccinated [theguardian.com] with half of hospital admissions in the UK now being people who have had the two jabs. Until we know that I'm working from home, though I admit it's easy for me as I enjoy it; an hour and a half each day not spent commuting plus I can walk my dogs in the countryside in my lunch break. I know people
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Returned to office in September ... (Score:4, Informative)
https://i.postimg.cc/8zhbB0YL/Screenshot-2021-12-01-at-11-17-53.png
Re: (Score:2)
Cases are BS. The WHO have reported ONE death in the entire world from Omicron. I've been following the Office of National Statistics stats and weekly death rate in England and Wales are running roughly in line with 1997 and lower than 1993.
In a sense, cases are actually good. If we want to build up disease driven immunity in the anti-vaxx population then we want more cases. However, firstly we don't know yet about the death rate since we have only seen Omicron in young populations with a different health and genetic mix from the UK.
Secondly and more importantly right now, it seems the hospitalisation rate with Omicron is still high. That will overload the health service and block other health care, indirectly leading to deaths and other prob
Re:Returned to office in September ... (Score:4, Informative)
Total known omicron cases in the world on 11/25: 87, nearly 9/10 of them in South Africa where the population is much younger than in the west.
Re: (Score:2)
Omicron in the UK has a crazy growth rate. And because deaths follow with a three week delay. the death numbers will always seem tiny compared to the infection
Re: (Score:2)
If the booster results in a vaccine efficacy (VE) of 75% against symptomatic illness, it means that (on average) the risk that a vaccinated person catches the illness is a quarter (100%-75%=25%) of the risk that an unvaccinated person would catch it.
If we similarly were to guess a VE against death of 90%, it'd mean that a vaccinated person has only a tenth of the risk of dying compared to the risk an unvaccinated person would have.
So the VE doesn't give you absolute risks, but it does allow for statistical
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Returned to office in September ... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
working from home is BORING and ISOLATING
Cool. Good to hear it's working for you. WFH has been a godsend for productivity on my end. No more idiots casually walking into my cube to tell me bullshit I don't care about, already know about, isn't my job to begin with, blasting me with their "great idea", updating me with what they did on the weekend that I care less about than the bowl movement I had this morning, or anything else. Just blissful silence. Wonderful, beautiful, majestic silence.
Re: (Score:2)
This is a problem when... (Score:5, Insightful)
"As a parent you can hide stuff from your kids, but as a C.E.O. you can't do that to adult employees who read the news."
This is the kind of problem you run into when you treat your employees as slaves instead of partners.
Re: (Score:3)
This is the kind of problem you run into when you treat your employees as slaves instead of partners.
They're not slaves, if they were you'd have to spend enough to keep them alive or you'd lose the value of your investment. They're merely disposable, use once and discard.
Re: (Score:2)
This is one of the most insightful comments about the job market I have seen.
It only took 20 months to accept reality (Score:5, Interesting)
My employer is at what they call stage 2 of return to work. Nonessential employees can come into the office and work provided they are not obligated to, and respect a 30% occupancy limit. I wouldn't be suprised if they roll back on that after the holidays due to the new variant. A plurality, if not a majority of our employees have no desire to return to full-time office work. In the first six months, I couldn't wait to get back to the office. Now I don't care if I ever go back as long as we don't have the insanity-inducing lockdowns, inter-provincial border closures and other measures that were taken before widespread vaccination. All I do is write scrpts, surveys and make dashboards. All I need is a laptop and a good internet connection. I have that at home.
I've given up any hope that I can plan for a day that masks will not be stuffed in my purse, the glove-box of my cars and at home just in case. It would be nice to continue the work from home while not expecting those don't have the option or desire to stay home have to risk this stupid virus just to earn an income.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
I've given up any hope that I can plan for a day that masks will not be stuffed in my purse, the glove-box of my cars and at home just in case.
I like the masks. They've really pushed down the numbers on cold and flu cases.
Re:It only took 20 months to accept reality (Score:5, Informative)
I've given up any hope that I can plan for a day that masks will not be stuffed in my purse, the glove-box of my cars and at home just in case.
I like the masks. They've really pushed down the numbers on cold and flu cases.
They have also had a substantial effect on keeping covid infection rates and deaths down [nytimes.com] where mandates were implemented. Wearing a mask helped keep infections and deaths down so much, the governor of Missouri quashed a study from his own state saying just that. Then complained the facts were being misconstrued [bangordailynews.com].
Re: (Score:3)
Then why have the states with mask mandates followed the exact same Covid curves as the similar states with no such mandates?
Masks "work" on some level, but there is zero evidence that all-encompassing statewide mandates have done anything to help with Covid.
Re: (Score:2)
I won't claim to know anything about whether they work or not.
That said, you would expect the curve to be the same regardless. What would change is the amplitude.
Re: (Score:2)
I like the masks. They've really pushed down the numbers on cold and flu cases.
Also less makeup smeared on pillows when with your gf - definite win.
Re: (Score:2)
I've given up any hope that I can plan for a day that masks will not be stuffed in my purse, the glove-box of my cars and at home just in case.
I like the masks. They've really pushed down the numbers on cold and flu cases.
I like them, also. I've been to Japan where masks have been ubiquitous since forever. And they don't see masks as an instrument to protect themselves, but as a sign of common courtesy (and hygiene) to avoid getting other people sick.
Pandemic or not, I plan to keep my masks handy for a very long time. Here in the land of the freedumbs, we just need to learn to be more hygienic, that is all.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Last month my company finally admitted they're not going to make any future plans for return-to-office. Every time they made plans in the past year, we got hit with another surprise wave that nixed them. So, this time, they're just going to see how things go, which seems reasonable.
At the moment, most people are working from home, but a few people are choosing to come in. You need to either be vaccinated or get tested weekly.
There are some downsides to working from home, but I personally think there are
Re: (Score:2)
"Surprise" wave. It's been going in two month cycles for a year and half now, who is still surprised by these waves?
Re: (Score:2)
You described it perfectly, the first six months were hard but then people got used to WFH and found other ways to maintain social contact. As the lockdowns ended the better work/life balance and lower cost of not committing became apparent.
With the current labour shortages giving people the opportunity to switch employer if they don't like the drive to get them back to the office, WFH is here to stay.
Re: (Score:2)
With the current labour shortages giving people the opportunity to switch employer if they don't like the drive to get them back to the office, WFH is here to stay.
Taking advantage of the higher city-tier wages to pay off my mortgage about 35 years early as well.
Re: (Score:2)
My company is all in, 100% remote, office is gone, no plan to return.
We instead starting hiring the best workers anywhere we could find them. Multiple countries now and the smartest and most driven group of people I've ever worked with. The money saved on the office rent has been moved to supplying us each with a daily lunch stipend and funds for on-site meetups to build the culture.
I've personally been remote for 6 years. I'll never go back to an office.
Dell: Optional Jan 4th (Score:5, Interesting)
I work for Dell in the USA.
There was never a plan to require people to come back. It's always been optional, and for as many days a week as each person feels comfortable with. We were going to go back in the US on September 18th, if I recall correctly, but Delta canceled that date. Now they've added a vaccination mandate (with a few exceptions if approved by HR, more exceptions if you're not supporting a federal contract, but they won't tell you if you are unless you open a ticket with HR, as I expect most people are in some way), and pushed the date back to January 4th. I haven't heard anything yet about pushing that date back, but I wouldn't be surprised if it slips a few weeks.
I personally want to wait a few weeks after the opening to miss any glitches in the cube reservation system (we don't have reserved spaces anymore), and avoid anyone bringing an extra surprise back from the holidays.
Re: (Score:2)
There was never a plan to require people to come back.
That you knew of. One thing that was clear after the 3rd wave is that most companies talking about "the new normal" were in fact in the background pretty damn eager to go back to the old way of doing things.
That you think that there's "never a plan" just means your CEO was waiting out if other companies were going to be successful.
Re: (Score:2)
As an ex Dell employee (got hit by a "Workforce Reduction" last year) I will say that Dell has always been a proponent of WFH for the majority of its staff. Since a large portion of Dell's employee base is in sales, technical or other similar roles they can absolutely WFH more effectively than at an office. Hell, in St. Louis we only had an office for a short time because EMC had one that they had just renewed the lease on. Guess which office closed last year and isn't coming back?
Yes, there are plenty of r
Miserable article (Score:4, Insightful)
Interviewing DocuSign and their need to return to the office is beyond ironic. The interesting thing to read though are reader comments. Any CEO that thinks they will ever be “back to normal” is in for a surprise.
We have a new normal. Companies will need to have some office space for the people that want to use it, but they are going to need to work around the challenges that remote work and a distributed workforce pose.
And to employees: understand that while remote work is good for you, it can also benefit your employer by allowing them to offshore even more jobs that had traditionally been insulated from it. The labor shortage gets solved one of several ways, but it will be solved.
My company has gone for a hybrid, 2-day at the office schedule, along with whatever work is required at customer sites. People can come to the office 5 days a week if they want (and a few do), and there are a few exceptional cases where people are 100% remote. This is our “new normal.” We would rather have more of the staff in the office more of the time, but we can get by with this as a minimum. We had a few employees that suffered from depression working 100% from home, and a couple that quit because they couldn’t see their career path anymore, so we believe that some level of physical contact is needed for our team.
Re: (Score:3)
It can also benefit your employer by removing boundaries between office and home ... the time you save commuting will be spent working from home 10-12 hours a day.
BTW, my employer has gone back to about 80% work-from-office and it hasn't resulted in a spike in cases ... the trick is that we have close to 100% vaccination rates by government mandate.
Re: (Score:2)
the time you save commuting will be spent working from home 10-12 hours a day.
Stuff that, when my day finishes my day finishes. I have a work and personal mobile with different numbers, and whereas my manager does have my personal number she does know that it is for emergencies only - the only time she used it was a text asking if I could start an online meeting first thing next day as she had to miss it.
Re: (Score:2)
And to employees: understand that while remote work is good for you, it can also benefit your employer by allowing them to offshore even more jobs that had traditionally been insulated from it.
If the only thing keeping your job from getting offshored is which chair your butt was in, it was never safe to begin with.
In a related comic ... (Score:3)
Just saw this about garbage collectors working remotely [dilbert.com].
Now admit you do not know the "why" either (Score:2)
Then we can finally get a real change done. But no.
Mandatory return to office (Score:2)
Through most of 2020 of the pandemic, essential employees have been at work with non-essential telecommuting. Then in early 2021 non-essential were allowed on site. And now we are all employees on site a minimum of 3-days per week. Vaccine mandates in place with weekly on-site testing required for those with exemptions. Masks required for all except when working alone at your desk or when eating in the break room. No reported infections since this all started.
The sense I get from everyone is that we ar
Re: (Score:2)
My company went 100% on-site back in May. High rise open office plan with ~150 employees.
No mask mandate. No proof of vaccine required (the word was, basically, "You're all grown ups, get your shots and get back to work").
Zero COVID cases. None. It's business as usual.
I'm trying to figure out what everybody else is so afraid of. I got my booster shot on Saturday and I'm done with wuflu.
Meanwhile, in Sweden (Score:4, Interesting)
I work for a publicly traded multinational company in Gothenburg, and they have been pretending COVID doesn't exist. For months, we have been expected to treat the office as our primary place of work. Any work from home arrangement is at the discretion of your manager. This wouldn't be such a huge problem if there was a vaccine or mask mandate, or regular testing, or enough seats for all employees, but there is none of that. I am at risk of serious complications from COVID due to an immune condition. Right now, while the case rate is increasing, our team manager insists on bringing the whole team together in one room for a full day meeting including Christmas lunch, while the public health agency recommends against this and most other companies are cancelling events like this.
It is incredibly frustrating to be somewhere with so many educated people that put their head in the sand.
Re: (Score:2)
1. I'm sorry for your immune condition.
2. I'm envious that you're in a country that's basically rejected the "new normal" of social isolation.
3. Doesn't Sweden have one of the highest vaccination rates in all of Europe at this point?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Are we looking at the same Our World In Data (OWID)? I see 71.5% as fully vaccinated for Sweden, not 75% - typo?
It's generally tricky with fractions based on the population size if you start ordering countries based fractions that are close. E.g., OWID uses a value for the size of the Swedish population that's a little to low (for 2020: 10.1 M vs 10.35 M IIRC). I think this because they like many other sites are using data published by a UN agency that work on models predicting population sizes decades int
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
2. I'm envious that you're in a country that's basically rejected the "new normal" of social isolation.
That's only because, in Sweden, social isolation was *already* the norm.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I have friends in manufacturing where work from home is not possible (well until they let you drive a forklift over the internet). A guy came in with covid because he doesn't believe it's real. My buddy got sick as well as about a dozen others. One older gentlemen also refused to take it seriously and kept coming to work. He passed out on a forklift and almost killed someone.
Because there's a new variant? (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
So yesterday, Omicron was about 1200 new infections out of 50,000. The numbers are not a problem, they growth rate is.
Re: (Score:2)
Extrapolation [xkcd.com]
While Omicron is on the upswing right now, with all the variables involved no one can really know where it will peak. But every other wave of COVID so far has peaked well short of "everyone", especially with help of masks and social distancing. So it's unlikely this variant will be different.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It was always inevitable that everyone would be exposed. Some form of SARS-CoV-19 has likely been endemic nearly everywhere since early 2020.
But for previous variants at least, people with healthy immune systems and healthy metabolic function RARELY got seriously sick.
If the same holds true for Omicron, cases will reach a peak, at something less than the totality of the population, very soon. Then, it will fall with corresponding rapidity.
That peak will probably be a little higher than previous ones becau
Re: (Score:2)
It's winter, it's getting colder & Christmas is coming.
All of which is irrelevant, we saw the stats globally that it doesn't matter if it's winter or summer, hot or cold, but the waves of the variants effect countries equally.
Or at least they would. In reality we're seeing resurging cases precisely because COVID was done, at least in the eyes of the government. Wooo we got our 75% vaccination numbers, open the borders, toss away your masks, kiss your colleagues, lick the subway handrail! We beat it!!!
Wait why are the numbers going up again?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
A very large percentage of the most populous areas of the northern hemisphere get cold at this time of year.
Indeed they do. And yet there's no correlation between how cold those areas get, when they get cold, and the severity of COVID. Nor is there such a correlation which likewise explains the equal rising cases on the other side of the hemisphere very much getting hot this time of year.
The only thing worse than lies and damn lies is statistics, especially when you intentionally bias them.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Also grossly insufficient vitamin D, which for most people is only produced in sufficient quantities in the presence of sufficient amounts of direct sunlight.
This is such an easily fixable problem. Take supplements. Ideally, with occasional blood tests to determine the optimal amounts thereof.
Re: (Score:2)
A huge but often overlooked reason for seasonal infections is that other than in summer, most people don't get enough vitamin D.
We need a lot of vitamin D to have optimal immune health, the US government recommends far too little for most people, and there aren't a lot of good dietary sources. Sunlight is how people get most of it, and there isn't an optimal amount of that except in summer. In excessively high or low latitudes, and in people of color (which most people in the world are), even then, suffic
Just stay closed until safe to open (Score:4, Interesting)
My employer has done something which I think is pretty sensible. Offices are closed until both the CDC and state/local health authorities drop their indoor masking recommendation. That way there is no flip-flopping about being open or closed depending on whether there is a spike in cases this week or not. The only people who go in regularly are those who need access to labs. Also anyone who wishes to enter our offices has to have an up-to-date vaccine record on file.
Re: (Score:3)
Complete waste of money (Score:4, Interesting)
If a company have operated with most of its staff working from home for almost 2 years, it could operate like that practically forever.
Continuing to rent the office spaces at pre-covid level is a complete waste of money that could be better spent elsewhere. If your company still had not reduced its offices, especially back-end where most work could be done remotely, it only showed how your management were stuck in their old ways and unable to change with the times. Not a good sign in a vastly changing world.
Would people work more effectively if forced to go to the same office everyday, or some days a week? Maybe. Does that compensate for the time wasted on commute, the money spent of office rents, and the loss of talented staff who left for companies that allowed 100% working from home? Very unlikely.
Sure, some people liked working in offices, let them. Let those who don't want to go to offices stay home. The company saved on office rent, the workers saved on commuting, win-win for all.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
"Operated" =/= "Operated at full efficiency". Have you ever thought of reasons for some of the degradation of services we've seen over the last two years?
Apparently you replied after only reading the first sentence. My 3rd paragraph already addressed that: "Would people work more effectively if forced to go to the same office everyday, or some days a week? Maybe. Does that compensate for the time wasted on commute, the money spent of office rents, and the loss of talented staff who left for companies that allowed 100% working from home? Very unlikely."
And no, I did not notice any degradation of services in the last 2 years, except at the beginning when peo
Re: (Score:3)
Office rents are usually on terms (3 to 5 years, or longer if you're large and can plan that far out) so the "complete waste of money" is baked into budgets and there's no backing out. Certainly the landlords aren't giving out COVID discounts because you choose not to fully utilize your rented space.
There is a major disturbance in the office space rental market coming though. As leases come up for renewal I expect some downsizing from companies that operate in such a way that offices are more meeting spaces
Re: (Score:2)
If a company have operated with most of its staff working from home for almost 2 years, it could operate like that practically forever.
Define operated. Did they do it well? Did the potential cost savings of a smaller office outweigh any potential efficiency losses?
Simply operating is not the standard by which a company is judged. The question is how does working from home affect the balance sheet.
The big change I saw (Score:2)
As time went on the people who wanted to go back to the office figured out that
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Currently, most U.S. transit systems I know of are operating something in the rough ballpark of pre-pandemic levels of service.
But I agree that if current patterns of remote work prove to be the "new normal," transit will have to adapt, and probably in ways that will accelerate the already-existing death spiral of less funding, hence fewer service, hence fewer riders, hence less funding, lather, rince and repeat. I don't see a permanent solution to that problem absent either (a) massive investment, and/or
I just feel sorry for ... (Score:2)
Was the one the pandemic started everyone was eager to get back into the office and it was likely that those of us who didn't want to go back would be dragged back in by the ones who did.
I work in a SCIF (Score:2)
We never stopped going in to the office.
How about never (Score:4, Interesting)
I've had all the vaccinations and tested negative. Yet I'm still being asked to wear those stupid masks and keep six feet away from everyone and lather on hand gel. Every time i enter or exit the office building someone will greet me with one of those forehead thermometers. Bathrooms and door handles are being scrubbed, OCD style, every hour of the day. Some of the perks we used to enjoy have been discontinued for "safety" reasons. Welcome to the new office building.
Contrast that to my work from home environment. No masks, no temperature checks, no social distancing from my wife is mandated. Every perk I enjoyed before I still enjoy. Even more so because I'm here more to enjoy them. In the office I sit in a soul-sucking cubicle looking at grey fabric panels all day long. In my home office I look out the large picture window and see the plants and flowers in my front yard, hummingbirds and butterflies buzzing about, the mountains in the distance.
Do I miss seeing some of my workmates in person? I suppose so but keep in mind that your work friends are just that - work friends. When you change jobs the vast majority of them you will never hear from ever again. You might for a little while and then they will fade. If you happen to bump into them years later they will tell you how "busy" they have been and pretend to have missed you. And you will smile. They will promise to "catch up" but they won't. You will part with a handshake knowing you will never hear from them again - unless you have a similar chance encounter.
When I seek social interaction I look to family and friends - real friends not friends of happenstance. I like the people I work with but I don't like them enough to endure all the downsides of the modern office.
Companies that announce return to office dates are just fooling themselves. Just when we think Covid is over along comes some other variant and the media spin machine spools up right on queue and the hysteria continues. It's a free country (sort of) and you all can do what you like but I'm not going to back to the office. Work from home is the only option I will accept. When recruiters contact me it is the first question I ask. And no, I'm not willing to "work towards" it.
Re:How about never (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: How about never (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You won't find God if you are not looking for Him. But He still might find you.
In the meantime, though I'm not willing to endorse them, there are a number of institutions that outwardly resemble churches, but with no particular focus on, or requirement for, belief in God. If that sounds like it could be your thing, and you live someplace big enough to have buses and trains, I'm sure you can find one.
Re: (Score:3)
nor do I have close friends
I'm starting to see the sense in all your comments. Seriously have you considered joining some clubs? There are many ways out there to interact with people outside work, and clubs that suit any kind of thing you're into, be that gardening, board games, sports, cooking, kinky fetishes.
As an extrovert it's important to have social interaction and while reading through your comments I though you were some kind of weirdo, but here at the bottom of the screen it's starting to make sense.
I'm an extrovert too, and
Office renovations... (Score:2)
I'm not in the US, but in the UK - so, I guess, a very similar story, the same level of infection, very similar corporate infrastructure.
I work for a large corporate and there's no moves right now to go "back to normal", in fact, it's the complete opposite.
As the months of working from home have passed, we've had regular updates about the renovation of the branch of the offices I work at.
Everything is being repurposed toward less occupancy, regardless of the length of the pandemic.
Offices and work station s
Managers want people in office. Here's why (Score:3)
Turns out there's a reason why managers want a warm body in the office, while workers generally don't and want to work remotely.
The office experience is different for both groups of people.
Manages and executives overwhelmingly want people to return to the office, and workers generally don't. It's not anecdotal, it's based on real data. And it boils down to the fact that the two groups have vastly different experiences in the office.
Manages, executives, etc, typically have offices, windows, etc. Working in an office, besides the ego aspect, isn't a bad experience. It's very pleasant, actually. So to them, going to the office isn't a bad deal. Overwhelmingly, they have a very positive outlook at the office - it's a nice place to work.
On the other hand, those forced to work in cattle class, find the office a very bad place to work - between the noise, the lack of privacy, the disturbances, etc. The office experience rating is extremely low among workers - few like being stuff into an crowded cubicle (if you still have them) hot desking, or open-plan layouts .Add to that a commute and the office generally isn't an inviting place people would go to.
Next time you do visit an office, do a survey - check out who has an office, and who doesn't, and the occupancy level of each. You'll find those with an office, or even a shared office, will probably be back working at the office, while those in the cube farms, will be mostly empty.
Oh yeah, managers and executives, even if they "rose through the ranks", have forgotten what it's like to work at the cube farm, and thus have no clue about how unpleasant the office environment is for workers. That's why they have very strong "return to office" urges - they believe everyone has a rosy view of the office like they do, while undervaluing things like a door you can shut.
Smaller established (non-startup) companies who likely have offices for most of their workers are probably already back in the office and have been for months.
Surprise, surprise, make the office a pleasant place to work and people will likely willingly come to it. However, in general, the office is not a nice place to work.
Re: (Score:2)
You say managers want people in the office. Do you have a source?
I'm a manager, I have no wish to go back to the office. I don't know any managers at my company that want this. Like everybody else, we appreciate not having to commute.
Why the push? (Score:2)
Why is there such a push to return to the office? I was on a IEEE webinar recently that pointed out all the advantages to the employee and employer for remote work, and how itâ(TM)s to the employerâ(TM)s advantage to promote it.
-no commute time means more family time
-less office space required and the savings that go with it (utilities, maintenance, etc.)
-easier to focus without the office chatter
-improved morale
I saw somebody suggest somewhere that a good option would be to allow the employees t
Re: (Score:2)
The lights are on, supermarkets are stocked, and there's food in the refrigerators because of people that require physical presence to do their job.
They can't do their jobs remotely, meaning that 'working from home' would be not working at all.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
... forget blackjack.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)