Is Everyone Still Getting Remote Work Wrong? (zdnet.com) 129
ZDNet asks: why is everyone getting remote working wrong?
Researchers at tech analyst Gartner believe a rigid requirement to return to offices is a mistake. But the researchers also believe so-called "hybrid" schedules often are also flawed: "Most of those work models delivered below-average outcomes," the research found, and the common factor was some kind of rigid on-site requirement. Much more successful was a "hybrid-flexible" set-up offering leaders and employees the opportunity to choose where they work from. But most successful by far were workplaces that offered this flexibility and also included elements of "intentional collaboration and empathy-based management", where bosses don't force staff to come to the office just to keep an eye on them.
How the working week is organized matters: get it right, and staff are more likely to want to stay, and more likely to perform well. Autonomy also reduces fatigue, which in turn means workers are likely to sustain good performance over time.
ZDNet also tested virtual reality meetings — concluding they're "still undeniably somewhat clunky and can make you feel a bit awkward."
But at the same time, "I was also surprised by how much benefit they could potentially deliver." Sure, a meeting with avatars that only look a bit like your colleagues, in a fantasy meeting room that wouldn't look out of place in a Bond villain's lair does feel a bit ridiculous. But it also — and this was the revelation to me — adds a level of engagement that you just don't get from a video meeting of colleagues occupying flat tiles on a screen. It provides a sense of being there (wherever 'there' was) that adds meaning beyond what you get from staring into a monitor.
I'm not saying I want to have every meeting in VR from now on: far from it. But we have to see the present state of hybrid and remote working as just the current state of the art, and to keep experimenting, and thinking, about the way we work.
Researchers at tech analyst Gartner believe a rigid requirement to return to offices is a mistake. But the researchers also believe so-called "hybrid" schedules often are also flawed: "Most of those work models delivered below-average outcomes," the research found, and the common factor was some kind of rigid on-site requirement. Much more successful was a "hybrid-flexible" set-up offering leaders and employees the opportunity to choose where they work from. But most successful by far were workplaces that offered this flexibility and also included elements of "intentional collaboration and empathy-based management", where bosses don't force staff to come to the office just to keep an eye on them.
How the working week is organized matters: get it right, and staff are more likely to want to stay, and more likely to perform well. Autonomy also reduces fatigue, which in turn means workers are likely to sustain good performance over time.
ZDNet also tested virtual reality meetings — concluding they're "still undeniably somewhat clunky and can make you feel a bit awkward."
But at the same time, "I was also surprised by how much benefit they could potentially deliver." Sure, a meeting with avatars that only look a bit like your colleagues, in a fantasy meeting room that wouldn't look out of place in a Bond villain's lair does feel a bit ridiculous. But it also — and this was the revelation to me — adds a level of engagement that you just don't get from a video meeting of colleagues occupying flat tiles on a screen. It provides a sense of being there (wherever 'there' was) that adds meaning beyond what you get from staring into a monitor.
I'm not saying I want to have every meeting in VR from now on: far from it. But we have to see the present state of hybrid and remote working as just the current state of the art, and to keep experimenting, and thinking, about the way we work.
This message brought to you by Meta (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
I was just thinking that, this second part reads like a thinly veiled ad and attempt to prop up Metastasis' failed bullcrap so it doesn't crash and burn too obviously. Let's test the waters if we maybe can sell it to some corporations instead, since nobody wants to use it if they're not forced to, maybe bribing some gullible C-levels to buy it and force it onto their staff will work.
Re:This message brought to you by Meta (Score:5, Insightful)
This is SUCH a shitty article. You absolutely don't need VR to do remote work. Seems to me it would be a real PITA.
Then again, it's zdnet, so what do you expect? Pretty much what we got - a crap article.
Instead of having multiple screens, you're looking through a pothole? And the batteries in your headset die after a few hours at best? And you're in the half of the population who can't really use VR for any extended period of time, same as 3d tv (remember that flop?).
If I want an immersive experience, I'll just buy a bunch of big screens.
We're in the middle of a climate crisis. We should be closing every office we can, and insisting on full remote work where feasible. Let me sleep in, not commute, not waste time with bullshit meetings when it's far more efficient to say "send me an email and I'll itemize why your email is full of shit/useless/a really bad idea/etc." Meetings, unless recorded, lack the same accountability as an email chain, which is why managers love meetings - no accountability.
I can stare at a screen just as easily at home as in an office. People should only go in to the office if they feel there's a specific need - and usually, the "benefits of collaboration" can be had a lot easier by just having the people directly involved meet at someone's home. You don't need a whole gang of warm bodies only distantly connected to the topic at hand in attendance. They want to attend? Put them on zoom, and mute them. You got something to say, put it in writing, put it in writing, and put it in writing.
Tech gives us so many ways to do things, and management finds a way to fuck it up.
The most productive startups were the ones with no offices - just a few people working on kitchen tables, in their garages, or their basements. Even the Wright Brothers got their start in a bicycle shop.
Re:This message brought to you by Meta (Score:4, Insightful)
This is SUCH a shitty article. You absolutely don't need VR to do remote work. Seems to me it would be a real PITA.
Used to do project management with people spread out over several cities. I quickly killed video conferencing because it was too distracting and generally led to inefficient use of time for all involved. Voice only phone conferencing worked really well and allowed people to manage their local activities accordingly. Everyone is a responsible adult, right? Put your mike on mute if you are clattering away at something and pay attention for when your input is required.
If you are doing some kind of long distance creative collaboration then some eyeball elements can be useful or necessary, like say electronic whiteboards. Often just a common web document suffices.
I just don't see how VR would do anything positive for any business meeting I have ever been in. Well, unless we turned the decision process into a FPS game where the winner gets to decide.
IMHO, unless there is a real concrete requirement anything beyond voice conferencing is counter productive.
Re: (Score:2)
I just don't see how VR would do anything positive for any business meeting I have ever been in. Well, unless we turned the decision process into a FPS game where the winner gets to decide.
This would help things out in a lot of office meetings too. Fear of getting shot would keep them quick and to the point.
Re: (Score:2)
Yup. Gotta love the thought.
I have found that setting a time limit in the agenda for each item keeps things on pace and after the first time when the meeting ends early or on time, nobody objects to the time limit.
Doesn't kill as many people.
Re: (Score:3)
Doesn't kill as many people.
And that's the problem. The sustainability is way higher if you eliminate the time waster altogether rather than having to do it every single time.
Re: (Score:2)
That's sort of the goal with the original Agile daily "stand ups". Except it evolves and becomes something else. I'm scrum master and I try to keep it short; but the boss will inevitably ask follow up questions and we can be 30 minutes into something else. Or someone asks "do you know how X works" for some legacy technical debt issue that can drag on. I do need to be more proactive to cut this off and table longer discussions until after everyone's given status, but he's the boss... When he's not there
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I am ruthless with the clock and I have a number of ways to deal with time wasters.
Plus I give trouble makers toffee candy before contentious agenda items. Usually local management. Remote folk are never a problem really.
I do a lot of issue solving outside of meetings. Problem resolution should involve only those who need to be there. Part of the trick is knowing what path to take.
Re: (Score:2)
> I just don't see how VR would do anything positive for any business meeting I have ever been in.
Oh I don't know. Some of the crappy meetings I've been in could have done with some sort of gimmick or other distraction (fire drill, flash flood, volcano in the stairwell, etc) because they were so interminably dull without them.
Re: This message brought to you by Meta (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
If you could project yourself like in Star Wars, sure that would be useful.
Having the full body view for body language, but still being remote.
Re: (Score:2)
I am NOT selling anything Just sick and tired of the second-level service organizations like the Canadian Institute for the Blind and the Montreal Association for the Blind pushing "solutions" from 1980 in 2022.
And yep. in retrospect it's painfully obvious. But nobody was doing it. Why not? Because half their employees would be out of a job when all a person has to do is get a BFS (big fucking screen) and plug it into the internet, instead of 3 year to g
Re: (Score:2)
I have wanted 4k monitors for over 20 years now. They are FINALLY available and at a reasonable price. For over 20 years, people have been telling me things like, "you don't need 4k", "4k is a waste of time", etc. Fuck them. We have them and they are desirable.
Would 8k be better? Hell yeah, but 4k is where things start to get interesting as far as display devices go. I am tired of the constant headaches caused from jagged fonts and incompetent font smoothing to stop that effect. With 4k, it mostly disappear
Re: (Score:2)
I'll try to reply to the concerns you expressed in your last paragraph.
I have no idea what you are trying to get a patent on.
Neither do I. Because I'm not trying to get a patent on anything. I make that very clear on my website. The patent system is broken, and there's always someone looking to make a quick buck by taking something that already exists, finding a new application for it, and patenting it. Drugs are the best example: Take an existing drug whose patent is about to expire, and patent it as a way to treat something else. I even gave an example of
Re: (Score:2)
Seems like fair play to me... if WeWork and LoopNet can buy stories saying that Work From Home is bad for productivity, why can't Meta buy stories saying that VR meetings improve it?
Of course, Meta isn't exactly a great source of truth when it comes to working from home, considering that they don't allow most of their own employees to do it most of the time.
Re:This message brought to you by Meta (Score:4, Insightful)
Here's the thing.
It has never been financially viable to "maintain an office", not since at least the 60's when people stopped having "offices" and offices tried to minmax space with cubicles and "open concept" disease-spreading layouts.
To that end, many businesses don't own the property, they lease it from another company, who hires like one underpaid person to maintain it. The company who leased the building or the floor then hires their own custodial staff, which is also underpaid.
There's a complete lack of responsibility in the entire "office building" concept today. In the 40's-60's, companies owned the building, and treated workers with a level of respect. One of the things I found most profoundly gross about current buildings is that a building from the 80's might have offices all along the exterior wall/windows, and maybe only the reception area is series of desks. An office building from the 2010's? "open concept" along the walls, most of the space is given to the conference rooms.
Pretty much "the office" today is a disgusting disease pit. People come to work sick, because they don't want to "miss work", thus spreading it to everyone.
Most "office jobs" have never needed being in "the office" because computers made this obsolete in the 90's. With everyone having broadband internet by the end of the 2000's, any company still requiring people to come to the office is profoundly running their office ass-backwards and uncompetitively with people who can work at home.
However, here's where the other side of the coin comes up. Many people's homes have "shrunk" since the 80's as well. People who live in apartments in the city, who commute to an office in the city? That's suffering. Going from one disgusting, poorly-maintained place to another.
Re: (Score:3)
Sorry, but I think you are wrong on both counts, although it could be based on where you live/work. In general, homes have gotten dramatically larger since the 60's, and more importantly, the size of bedrooms has increased. They might not be universally designed for home offices, but most can adapt reasonably well.
As for offices, most companies I have worked with or for over the years look at offices as a pride thing. Even the worst bank I ever dealt with spent a lot of money to try to make sure its off
Re: (Score:3)
You would be surprised. I have been lucky to work in decent environments where they had cubes, and one person to a cube. However, before 2020 when I interviewed, there were a ton of places going with open office area and standing-only tables for people to put their laptop and stuff, with everyone doing the hot-desking dance. There were no places where people could chat quietly, so during the interview, I wondered how people could actually work with how loud the noise floor was there. In any case, I nope
Re: (Score:2)
homes have gotten dramatically larger since the 60's
And families have gotten smaller. The average household in the 60s had five people. Today, it has three.
People today have way more space.
Re: (Score:2)
As for offices, most companies I have worked with or for over the years look at offices as a pride thing.
That's either a luck thing or a European thing. It's certainly not a Silicon Valley thing. Around here, we have open offices, not as a pride thing, but as a moronic thing. People think it's better without evidence. Probably because it lets you have better decorations.
Re: (Score:2)
It's funny to me with all the wingeing over open plan. My company switched to a variant of it right before the pandemic, a similar layout to what I had in Hong Kong in the late 90's. While I like privacy, the person responsible for the remodel picked this and it works pretty well for us. Most of the time engineers are pretty quiet, so it helps turn a silent office into something with modest life and collaboration.
I work remotely almost all the time, which is better for me getting tasks done. It is the time
Re: (Score:2)
It is the time in the office though that builds the team and makes the company successful.
What are you talking about?
Re: (Score:2)
Just my observations from our team. The younger folks were lost and un-engaged remotely early in the pandemic, now they work like friends again and challenge each other. I would hope a day per week is enough, but that seems hard thus far.
Re: (Score:2)
Interesting.
Re: (Score:2)
Most of the time engineers are pretty quiet, so it helps turn a silent office into something with modest life and collaboration.
You say that as I am sitting here listening to two engineers discussing things while another is on a conference call that I am part of (and hearing echoes) while the person on the other side of the cubicle wall keeps asking if I am talking to them (they are new).
I am glad cubicles are so awesome and life inspiring for you. For most everyone else, they are a distracting noisy hell which is inescapable except through remote work.
Re: (Score:2)
What I've found that contributes considerably to productivity is the rather ignored aspect of people needing food.
In a recent meeting I found out curiously that I'm not the only one who suffers from a new pattern of work. In the office, it was generally starting in the morning, having lunch, then around 4 you start to get hungry again, you somehow eke out another hour or two, then you pack your shit and go home because, well, you want to have dinner.
At home, what happens is that you get hungry around 4, gra
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
No, it's an excuse for me to work 12 hours a day. Or rather, it enables me to do it.
Yes, some people actually enjoy their work. What I don't like about the office is the environment, not the work.
Re: (Score:2)
Here's the thing.
It has never been financially viable to "maintain an office", not since at least the 60's when people stopped having "offices" and offices tried to minmax space with cubicles and "open concept" disease-spreading layouts.
To that end, many businesses don't own the property, they lease it from another company, who hires like one underpaid person to maintain it. The company who leased the building or the floor then hires their own custodial staff, which is also underpaid.
There's a complete lack of responsibility in the entire "office building" concept today. In the 40's-60's, companies owned the building, and treated workers with a level of respect.
The lease model has nothing to do with it not being financially viable to "maintain an office" and more to do with the fact that owning an office doesn't make sense for the majority of businesses. Firm size is too fluid to lock into a location for the 10+ years where ownership would make sense, not to mention the lifespan of many firms is much too short.
The only people who owned buildings are/were long running established firms (a garage) that are expecting to stay at that size and location for decades or h
VR literally makes me want to FUCKING HURL (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm not saying this as a metaphor. It makes me motion-sick.
I'd much, much rather meet with actual humans than wear a fucking headset or sit behind a STINKING SCREEN and scream inside from neck pain from keeping my head within the view of the camera.
Thank God that I work in person and don't have to deal with any of that virtual BULLSHIT!
Re: (Score:2)
I agree.
I can't even stomach people in a VR environment, let's stick with text communication. Voice if we really have to. There's no need for me to see your ugly mug, thank you very much.
If you need to see mine, I can send you a picture.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Why, because they would free up your hands because you could use a headset instead of holding your phone and you'd be compelled to do some meaningful work while the narcissist who loves himself talk drones on and on endlessly?
That's exactly why I like them. I tune the bozo out and get some shit done.
Re: (Score:2)
You need a better camera with a wider angle if you're having trouble keeping your face on-screen. You can easily get on cheap on Amazon.
I don't get a big motion sickness problem from VR, but do get eyestrain. I don't see how VR really helps anything here.
Re: (Score:1)
I'd rather just work in person. It's nice to get out of my apartment and interact with other people.
My commute is 20 minutes' walk or 10 minutes by transit. (I live in a real city, not a suburban intellectual desert). I find both walking and riding transit relaxing.
Re: (Score:2)
I'm OK with walking, but being in the city rapidly takes on that fingernails on a chalkboard vibe.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I have friends for that. I meet them after work to engage in a social situation I enjoy.
I have no idea what you do at work, but I'm there to work. Not to socialize. And to be honest, I find people who go to work to socialize kinda distracting and a nuisance. In essence, these people are one of the reasons I prefer WFH.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
I disagree. My commute is 5 minutes. And I still prefer working from home.
It's not the commute. It actually is the people.
Re: (Score:2)
(1) Dogs are needy, stinky, annoying little shit machines. I don't know why people like the bloody things.
(2) I need more constant human interaction to be happy. Not tastes of it for 15 minutes 3x per day.
Re: (Score:3)
Dogs are needy, stinky, annoying little shit machines. I don't know why people like the bloody things.
We found something we agree on.
I need more constant human interaction to be happy. Not tastes of it for 15 minutes 3x per day.
I recommend getting friends. The added benefit is that they actually want to have a social interaction with you rather than being forced into it by circumstances, which is the case in workplace situations. The interactions are a lot more enjoyable and that's even generally mutual. Plus, it's an interaction you can actually enjoy without feeling like you should be doing something more productive since there's someone paying for the time you're doing it.
Re: (Score:1, Troll)
The moment that 'the French' are used as an example of good workplace practices, you know that the premise is wrong.
Re:VR literally makes me want to FUCKING HURL (Score:4, Insightful)
The French have better social and sex lives than Americans.
The French have more time off to enjoy themselves (and no, "remote work" doesn't qualify as free time).
The French have a public health system that's basically the envy of the world.
You're just jealous.
Re:VR literally makes me want to FUCKING HURL (Score:5, Insightful)
I see. You enjoy interacting with people. Have you ever entertained the idea that there may be people who don't feel that way and who actually loathe that aspect of work?
Re: (Score:3)
That's why offices with doors are a thing. Or "do not disturb" signs on a cube, for places that don't have individual offices.
Commutes suck, yes, but managers should stand up for employees' ability to say "leave me alone" (within reason, which should be pretty broad). The bandwidth advantages of being able to chat or draw on a whiteboard in person are huge.
Re: (Score:2)
It's way easier to enforce something like that if the solution is the mute button or simply not picking up the call.
I found out that people generally disapprove of muting people in real life. The tools to do so are also generally far more clumsy and lead to stains that the cleaning staff disapproves of.
Re: (Score:2)
The tools to do so are also generally far more clumsy and lead to stains that the cleaning staff disapproves of.
Hydrogen peroxide can help with this. ;)
Re: (Score:2)
Instructions unclear, tried cleaning with acetone before trying hydrogen peroxide. Stains are much more noticable now.
Re: (Score:2)
The virtual whiteboard has the advantage that you can store it and don't have to take awkward pictures with your cellphone to preserve the content.
It's also much easier to clean.
Re: (Score:2)
That has been a solved problem for best part of two decades now. Two words "Interactive whiteboard".
Re: (Score:2)
Only if everyone has am their own pen input device and touch-sensitive screen. Trying to draw stuff with a mouse is a pain.
So do people (Score:3, Insightful)
Part of the joy of work is actually interacting with other humans in person.
For a lot of us, that is the most stressful part of work. I like interacting with other humans now and then, but day to day for 8-10 hours a day? Hellish.
For most people it's very similar to jail as leaving is not a great option even if you don't like others around you.
cowering at home
You misspelling "being productive".
Which is probably why the French hate it.
Re:So do people (Score:4, Insightful)
See, that's where people are different. To you, human interaction is good. To me, it's torture. You feel trapped behind a stinking, fucking screen, I feel liberated.
Have you ever entertained the idea that people could be different from you, and that not everyone likes and dislikes the same things you do?
Re: So do people (Score:2)
Posting low IQ screeds about how people who donâ(TM)t conform to your idea of working are just cowards does not make for a good argument on your part. It is little more than a low effort shaming tactic that fails miserably.
Most of us who prefer to work from home just do not want to deal with people like you. The kind of idiot that thinks work is supposed to be synonymous with socializing. The intrusive dickwad who tries to force himself into your life because he wants to be your work friend.
We have fri
Re: (Score:2)
I don't want to be the center of attention. I just don't want to be lonely.
I'm not in good enough shape or coordinated to do amateur sports.
I'm an atheist and not churched.
I don't have a family and I'm not sure that I want kids.
That already removes a few avenues of adult socialization that are popular in the US.
I think that I'd be better off moving to Europe, where many countries have a bigger pub drinking/coffee/clubbing culture, even for adults. Loneliness for American adults is real, and the trend towa
Re: (Score:2)
Ah. If I had just kept reading, I would have understood better; however, this is a different comment than the last one I responded to. There are numerous ways to approach this, but I will start with this one, just to keep it clean and clear:
Your issues with loneliness can not be solved satisfactorily by forcing others into social situations. Do not try to make your issues into other peoples' issues.
That being said, I have compassion for you. I know true loneliness and it is painful. Being hungry, cold, and
Re: (Score:2)
spend another two years cowering at home
Ummm, relax bro. Not everyone is "cowering" at home. Some like to be home and it has nothing to do with cowardice. Your focus on cowardice is ... hm, concerning. It sounds like you are programming yourself in a negative manner. That is not healthy. Cowardice is one of many reasons someone might want to stay home. It is not the primary reason and certainly not the only reason. Chill.
Re: (Score:2)
Not every job requires being physically present. Not every person who goes into do a job that they can do anywhere interacts with other humans in person when they do go in. The fact that you do not consider either of these suggests you are pretty close minded regarding the subject. Also the fact that you believe anyone preferring this is a coward, is even more suggestive you are just a jerk or a manager/control freak..
Before the pandemic we were working up to more WFH days per week. Why? Not because any
Re:VR literally makes me want to FUCKING HURL (Score:5, Insightful)
Work from home isn't about fear these days. It's about hating traffic, other people's phones ringing incessantly and that guy two cubes down that has an addiction to crunchy chips and an inability to chew with his mouth shut, CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH.
Going to the office always sucked, it's just that post-pandemic, it's impossible to claim that WFH can't work. It did, so it can.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
It's more like most people breaking out of Stockholm Syndrome once they were pulled out of tyhat environment long enough.
Most people like to be with people sometimes, so invite friends to dinner, go see a movie with someone or join a club. Personally, I don't need to threaten loss of livelihood to get people to hang out with me.
Re: (Score:2)
New normal? That was already what I got if I had the chance. It may be impossible to fathom for you, but there are actually people to whom going to work was the torture that you feel from not being able to go there.
Yes, I know, the "old normal" pandered to the extroverts who wanted to be surrounded by people. This was as painful to us introverts as the lockdown was to you.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3)
And I do not. Who are you to dictate what I should do?
If you want to go to the office, go. I'm not stopping you. But how the FUCK do you feel entitled to tell me what to do?
Oh. Right. You'd be alone at the office if you can't force us to come there as well. In other words, you don't give a flying FUCK how anyone else is feeling, as long as your feelings are catered to.
Ok, extrovert.
Re: VR literally makes me want to FUCKING HURL (Score:2)
I suspect this person has no friends, and so forced interaction with colleagues is the only social interaction they get.
Re: (Score:3)
I just like having my own bathroom.
Re: (Score:2)
I just like having my own bathroom.
You and I seem to agree on little else, but Holy Shit, are we of one accord on this one. There's nothing like working next to your own John... and kitchen, and porch, etc.
Re: (Score:2)
USA where you commute to work in horrific traffic for hours .... this is not the experience in the rest of the world
Meetings are unproductive, but in most jobs being able to talk to people is amazingly productive - and no chat, video, or VR is not a viable substitute -
Re: (Score:2)
It is the experience in many places other than the U.S. as well, just not everywhere. In some countries substitute crowded public transit.
Meetings are unproductive no matter if it's in person or virtual, though virtual is actually less productivity destroying.
Given good equipment and good connectivity, many people find video chats to be quite good. Perhaps occasional agreed-upon in-person meetings can augment that, but 8 hours a day every work day is clearly not necessary.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Work from home isn't about fear these days. It's about hating traffic, other people's phones ringing incessantly and that guy two cubes down that has an addiction to crunchy chips and an inability to chew with his mouth shut, CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH.
Going to the office always sucked, it's just that post-pandemic, it's impossible to claim that WFH can't work. It did, so it can.
Correct.
Moreover, WFH is not a new phenomenon that was born during the pandemic. Many of us in IT or software worked remotely or in hybrid schedules for a long time, since the mid-2000s for me.
Remote collaboration has been a thing since companies had global teams. And remote all-hands-on-deck calls were common with large brick-and-mortar corporations when making big, cross-company deployments during off-hours.
People have been making WFH and hybrid schedules work productively for over two decades. Peo
Re: (Score:2)
Work from home isn't about fear these days. It's about hating traffic.
Done in one.
I got up way early today and got here in 42 minutes - not a record, but in the ballpark. Honestly, I would be less braindead if I spent the normal ~70 minutes one-way actually doing work So, since we have this death-grip on watching me . . chop chop on inventing those Star Trek transporters or George Jetson transport tubes.
Who needs legs to work? (Score:2)
But it also — and this was the revelation to me — adds a level of engagement that you just don't get from a video meeting of colleagues occupying flat tiles on a screen. It provides a sense of being there (wherever 'there' was) that adds meaning beyond what you get from staring into a monitor.
It's not like anyone is actually doing work with their legs....
Sometimes, Return to Office just don't work. (Score:4, Interesting)
First of all, the team is spread through several countries, and even the small sub-team I am doing shift rotation for is spread through three countries, and because of labor laws, it has three different bosses, as everything HR related can legally only be handled by a boss in the same country. Just before the pandemic, the rent for my local office ran out, and because of the pandemic, it did not get renewed. Instead, the company rented a small space which is mainly used for storage, has two desks for 10 people, and does not even have Company LAN.
My nearest office would be about 200 miles away from my home town, but my contract says that I am working from here, with only the storage room. If I would go to the actual office, it would officially be a business trip, and I could bill the company for all expenses for Returning to Office, including the trip, and the stay in a hotel. And no one of my team is actually working there, so it still would be remote work, just from an office instead of my desk at home. In the neighboring country, the team members are assigned to three different offices, and one of them would have a similar 150 miles trip to the nearest office, as the office he was originally assigned to closed during the pandemic for good, and also, he would be the only one from the team in his office. Another guy was assigned to an office where he would be the sole member of our team, but he was hired under the premises that he does not need to come to the office to begin with.
Currently, the boss for the team at large tries to fight the Return to Office rule, and has collected all those mismatches between Company Policy and feasibility. I wonder how it turns out.
Re: (Score:2)
I worked in an office before, but as I wrote, the rent ran out on this office in Summer 2020, and it closed without replacement due to the pandemic. For logistics reasons (many of my colleagues are Field Service technicians), the company rented a single room in an office building and uses this mainly as a storage room and an address for deliveries of spare parts, but it has two desks meant for people doing some paper work. Ten persons are contractually assigned to this si
fantasy meeting room stil does not fix useless one (Score:2)
fantasy meeting room still does not fix useless ones.
Also what about cutting that useless PHB?
So let people hybrid work... (Score:3)
But don't be an overbearing jerk about it. Hard truths for the middle management class.
Re: (Score:2)
you mean screen captures and video recording won't make them more productive?
Surely it depends on the occupation (Score:4)
The work environment makes a huge difference. Someones home is probably a far more efficient workspace that an open-office where discussions just distract other people, but with private offices, the close collaboration that is possible can be a lot more efficient than home work.
No (Score:2)
No. And No, we don't want to rent office space. (Score:2)
Christ on a bike (Score:5, Insightful)
"Everyone is getting it wrong." I love blanket statements like this. If this was true, remote work would've vanished within a week. So I highly doubt everyone is "getting it wrong".
Re: (Score:2)
"Leaders and amployees"? (Score:2)
offering leaders and employees the opportunity
I'll tell you what you are getting wrong. Most leaders ARE employees. Don't worry though, most "leaders" are getting this wrong as well, and feel that they are a separate class..
Remote work for who? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
lots of people want to be like Elon so they will do what he does
They want to be considered idiots that waste their money chasing unicorns and want to become an internet meme?
That's only not embarrassing when you have a few billions to your name. Or rather, yes, it's also embarrassing, but at least you still have the billions. Copying Musk only makes you the same buffoon, but without the money.
Re: (Score:2)
Copying Musk only makes you the same buffoon, but without the money.
I don't understand the hate for Elon Musk. He was the first mega-wealthy person to start selling electric cars and sending stuff into space. What have all the other mega-wealthy done? Sure, the dude has plenty of human failings, but to hate on someone doing something that is actually interesting and succeeding at it seems ... hm, weird.
Re: (Score:2)
It's not really hate, I just don't understand the admiration for someone who just got damn lucky with one of the turd he threw against the wall. Because it's obvious that that is what he does, he throws shit against the wall and checks what sticks. That's not genius, that's just pure luck.
I don't admire luck.
Is there a single universal work model that works? (Score:4, Insightful)
Why do we seem to assume that a single universal work model exists that will be optimal or work best for all companies and workers? It seems quite obvious that the best work model depends on the position and work responsibilities, the personal qualities and abilities of the worker, the characteristics of the boss and corporate structure, and the available technology and workspace desirability at home or office. That is, it should be obvious that saying that work from home is always best should be just as wrong as work at the office is always best. It depends.
The answer is no, not everyone (Score:3)
The article itself (what's quoted here) clearly says that not everyone gets it wrong. I hate these attention grabbing titles.
Not everybody has the same mindset (Score:2)
The problem with hybrid (Score:2)
Yes, some of them are getting it wrong. Feh. (Score:2)
'My' CEO encourages us to come into the office, and I quote, "when it make sense".
For me, that means once a week when the majority of the team is also in office. We still have our stand-up online since two team members are offshore, but then planning is more face to face, and this is very good indeed.
I prefer the office but have learned to wfh the past 3 years, and it's ok. But I also miss the interaction. Idiots on WebEx are still idiots.
From what I can tell most outfits are indeed getting it wrong. Our fr
Virtual meetings can work (Score:2)
Linden Lab, the company responsible for Second Life (yes, it's still around) has been doing most of its meetings in the virtual world for over 15 years. It took the company a while to reach a stable and profitable place, but whatever mistakes they made were not the result of the virtual meeting process, which works well for them. Linden Lab's workforce is scattered among multiple offices, in addition to people who work primarily or entirely from home, so conventional in-office meetings have been impractical
Re: (Score:2)
Funny thing, I'm a boomer, some of the people I work with are too young to be qualified as millennials - heck, one of them was born this century. NONE of them have ever said "OK Boomer" because I treat them as equals. I let them know I value their input and their work. You might want to try it - I hear it works for most people who aren't raging control freak pricks.
Mind you, it also help that I've got a HUGE stock of jokes and funny stories relevant to every situation. Keep them laughing, they're more re
Re: (Score:2)
good luck!!
i am assuming there are some who are staying because, no other choice currently.