Thoughts on working from home?

[OkieSnuffBox]

Originally Posted by EricVR4

I've loved most of it. I'm a lot more efficient and it's obviously more comfortable working from home. I enjoy the time saved too. I live 15 minutes from the office but just not having to get dressed, pack up my stuff/lunch/, drive, park, walk to the building, etc is so nice. I'm fairly introverted too so I like being able to do things my own way at home without people everywhere.

What I don't like is the expectation that's slowly crept in of everyone being available 24/7. I've been working 50+/week since January of 2019 but that's increased since March to upwards of 70+/week at times.

Going forward I'm doing what I can to manage workloads as it's pretty apparent that my employees (including myself) are suffering from work-from-home burnout. It's a fine line to walk though. We want to make the client happy and keep the work coming given the economy, but at the same time the whole work/life balance has never been more necessary than this year. People need a break.

That f------ sucks. In our last all hands meeting, our Senior VP of Product Development actually told us he could tell by our productivity that we were working too much and reminded everyone to ensure they take time for themselves and their families to not sit behind the screen so much.

Yes, our bosses have told us to work less so we don't get burned out. They've started implementing "no meeting days" to help with Zoom fatigue as well.

Thankfully we don't have that type of culture and never have. It would be impossible anyway since we have offices all over the world. So we just ensure we are available during normal-ish hours (our time) and for meetings.

Just our group has people in California, Waterloo (Canada), OKC, Austin, London, Atlanta, Raleigh, Barcelona, Brno, Montevideo, and Manila

[S65Hunter]

Id take a 15% pay cut if they let me work from home.

[zgood4u]

I have 2 years to the day that I retire and I hope I never see the office again. I didn't realize how much incessant blathering goes on till I am away from it. The solitude and peace I get makes me more productive than I've ever been. I thought I might miss the human interaction but, nah. I'm doing just fine with my dog all day till the wife comes home.

[pennsiveguy]

I design and build software, and run a consulting agency of a couple dozen other software people. Pre-COVID I was on-premises to varying degrees, depending on the projects I was working on and the clients' expectations; probably 70% on-premises, I would guess. I have a nice office at my apartment in the city, and I bought an extra monitor to give me some additional screen real estate. And a nicer chair, due to a rash of complaints from my ass. The office is important, to maintain a separation of work and personal time and head-space. Symbolic, but important.

I'm able to work remotely and be completely effective from a purely functional point of view. What's missing, being that there are no face-to-face interactions, are the bonds that I used to form with colleagues and co-workers. I really, really miss the water cooler conversations and the inside jokes and the camaraderie. I may be an introvert, but I'm far from a loner. I miss joking with the security guards and flirting with the cafeteria staff. I miss being able to stop by a teammate's cube or office and say "Hi" or "Did you read so-and-so's latest email? WTF? He needs to put down the crack pipe."

[EricVR4]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

That f------ sucks. In our last all hands meeting, our Senior VP of Product Development actually told us he could tell by our productivity that we were working too much and reminded everyone to ensure they take time for themselves and their families to not sit behind the screen so much.

Yes, our bosses have told us to work less so we don't get burned out. They've started implementing "no meeting days" to help with Zoom fatigue as well.

Thankfully we don't have that type of culture and never have. It would be impossible anyway since we have offices all over the world. So we just ensure we are available during normal-ish hours (our time) and for meetings.

Just our group has people in California, Waterloo (Canada), OKC, Austin, London, Atlanta, Raleigh, Barcelona, Brno, Montevideo, and Manila

I would love it if our program would implement stuff like that. My company and the client talk a good game about how work/life balance is important but they couldn't give two shits less about it. It's all about short-term, quarterly profits.

I'm in the oil and gas industry which is about as toxic as it gets though. It's awful when it comes to how companies treat employees. It's certainly not isolated to just this industry obviously, but it's magnified quite a bit.

Originally Posted by zgood4u

I have 2 years to the day that I retire and I hope I never see the office again. I didn't realize how much incessant blathering goes on till I am away from it. The solitude and peace I get makes me more productive than I've ever been. I thought I might miss the human interaction but, nah. I'm doing just fine with my dog all day till the wife comes home.

My dad is in the same boat. He's got 2 years and some change left and he hopes to never set foot in an office ever again. He's hoping he can just ride this out and then call it a day.

I'm incredibly jealous too

[fubarian]

I had been "whenever" remote for a good part of my career and it was a nice offset. My now wife and I would travel to places, we'd both work all day and then go see stuff in the evening. It was a great way to balance cost and "vacation" (I'm horrible at it, I never do the vacation thing so it was usually me working the entire time)

That said...

Originally Posted by pennsiveguy

I'm able to work remotely and be completely effective from a purely functional point of view. What's missing, being that there are no face-to-face interactions, are the bonds that I used to form with colleagues and co-workers. I really, really miss the water cooler conversations and the inside jokes and the camaraderie. I may be an introvert, but I'm far from a loner. I miss joking with the security guards and flirting with the cafeteria staff. I miss being able to stop by a teammate's cube or office and say "Hi" or "Did you read so-and-so's latest email? WTF? He needs to put down the crack pipe."

100% Same. I've been working with ~15 teams over the past year, and it just simply isn't the same, and people are not really handling it well.

People are burnt. the f. out, plus those that aren't really built for WFH (kids, completely alone, housing situation doesn't support it, they don't have the right mindset or mental fortitude to separate work, etc) ... it's not going well for a lot of people, the nostalgia has worn off and they're taking it out on their family, coworkers, anyone that happens to show up at the wrong time. It's a f'in problem.

[CTinline-six]

Originally Posted by erickonphoenix

Ditto that here, definitely noticed a lot more off hours requests and I've been feeding the horse a bit by responding to them so I'm to blame as well. I guess technology really does cause about the same amount of problems it solves.

I used to be bad about this as well, especially when the lockdown was in full force here. There wasn't really anywhere to go or anything to do, so I'd respond to work e-mails if I had free time at night. That was bad, because it went from being extra to being expected. I put a stop to that by completely turning off my work laptop after work hours and physically using a different laptop with no work software on it if I was going to be doing something online.

[gtmassive75]

Love it, don't ever want to see Manhattan or take Subway and buses anymore.. Now is to get approved to work from home permanently so i can move to Florida.

[Hawkeye]

I'm indifferent. But I have a similar setup at home as I do in the office, I hang out with office friends outside of work (so just see friends less when WFH), and the commute isn't bad even when I am going into the office.

We are 50/50 and that's a nice mix for me.

[M_Six]

We got to WFH from the outbreak in March until late July. Now that the current spread of the disease is 1000x worse, we're still required to be in the office. Go figure. There are about 2000 students (my rough guess) on campus, yet we've had roughly 450 cases of the virus. Mostly students, but 50 or so employees.

I live 3 miles from the office. My setup at home is better than my office. There is nothing I can do at the office that I can't do from home. Yet the powers-that-be have demanded our presence in the office unless we have a verifiable medical reason to WFH. Faculty all have the choice w/o needing a doctor's letter, but staff don't have that option. So I go in every day and lock myself in my office. All my meetings are on Teams. I work via Teams, email, and the phone, just as if I were sitting at home. I wear a mask to go into and out of the building and on my hourly walk around the hallway. There are usually 3 or 4 other people on my floor as my floor is mostly faculty offices and 99% of them are working from home.

I'm retiring at the end of April, so I have less than 6 months left to deal with this stupidity. Can't wait.

[BMW F22]

Some days I like wfh and some days I want to be in the office. When we go back I will probably split my time: 3 in office and 2 wfh.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by BMW F22

Some days I like wfh and some days I want to be in the office. When we go back I will probably split my time: 3 in office and 2 wfh.

I'd WFH 100% of the time, given the choice.

[gatorfast]

I love working from home. I get to spend more time with my family and I actually end up working more too. Save a lot of money and time by not commuting (roughly 1.5 hours total in car). Still 100% functional working at home with constant contact with teammates via Teams.

I have been going in to my office 2 days a week lately which is essentially pointless since I just close my office door and don't have much face to face interaction anyway because I'm not trying to get covid.

[ASAP]

I love it... could always do it... tech allows for it and offers full flexibility on the part of the employee... A certain side of me says that there are powers above us that are doing everything to prevent this transition i.e.-

1) micro managers that are power crazy and always need to see their employees
2) Gas companies - less driving
3) office spaces - less need
4) business around offices and general city centers - less business as a whole

Covid has proven it's do able and very much so... WFH resolves traffic, emissions, congestion and about 50 other issues... anyone against it needs to get their head checked unless their individual situation doesn't allow for it (kids, space etc). The only thing missing is the social aspect... which you should not be doing at work anyways.

I wonder what would happen if they let people choose... they did a survey at my work place and literally out of like 25 in my office, 3 or 4 said they want to be in the office. Also, on a totally separate note; I have no idea why there is insistent need to consistently have meetings about everything... I try to schedule as few as possible...nothing ever gets resolved and meetings are rarely productive... send me a powerpoint about your nonsense and i'll let you know what I think.

[ASAP]

Originally Posted by pennsiveguy

I design and build software, and run a consulting agency of a couple dozen other software people. Pre-COVID I was on-premises to varying degrees, depending on the projects I was working on and the clients' expectations; probably 70% on-premises, I would guess. I have a nice office at my apartment in the city, and I bought an extra monitor to give me some additional screen real estate. And a nicer chair, due to a rash of complaints from my ass. The office is important, to maintain a separation of work and personal time and head-space. Symbolic, but important.

I'm able to work remotely and be completely effective from a purely functional point of view. What's missing, being that there are no face-to-face interactions, are the bonds that I used to form with colleagues and co-workers. I really, really miss the water cooler conversations and the inside jokes and the camaraderie. I may be an introvert, but I'm far from a loner. I miss joking with the security guards and flirting with the cafeteria staff. I miss being able to stop by a teammate's cube or office and say "Hi" or "Did you read so-and-so's latest email? WTF? He needs to put down the crack pipe."

You notice sooner or later that most people are at the office just to gossip... sooner or later someone will backstab you no matter who it is or how close to them you are. That sounds negative but its true.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by M_Six

We got to WFH from the outbreak in March until late July. Now that the current spread of the disease is 1000x worse, we're still required to be in the office. Go figure. There are about 2000 students (my rough guess) on campus, yet we've had roughly 450 cases of the virus. Mostly students, but 50 or so employees.

We have had < 40 cases so far this fall, on an FTE of about 2500. Last month, we had a two-week "pause" around Columbus Day where classes went online, but the students remained in their dorms with dining options offering only take-out.

Staff have been working within NY State guidelines all fall, which are offices cannot be more than 50% staffed in-person. Other than 4-5 trips to my office to do things that I can't access from home (paper files and huge data exports/copies), I have been 100% WFH since March.

Last Monday, we did another "pause," because the infection rate in areas surrounding the campus was climbing again. On Thursday, Governor NoNo declared the area a yellow zone, which put the local school district into online-only classes and upped restrictions on religious and other gatherings.

Most private colleges/universities in the state had decided back in the summer that the fall semester would be on-campus until Thanksgiving, and then shift online for the last two weeks and finals after that so that students didn't bring COVID back from their Thanksgiving trips home. Staff were still expected to be in their offices, per the 50% state limits. Governor NoNo liked this idea so much that he adopted it for all state schools in the SUNY system, and added on an additional step of requiring *all* resident schools to test students within 72 hours of their departure for Thanksgiving. Long story short, last Monday's pause ended in-person classes for the fall semester, but offices can still staffed at 50%.

In November of last year, I was one of six IT employees to strike the proverbial jackpot and get moved from a cramped office suite into a 100% vacant 3-story building off the beaten path. We have a whole parking lot to ourselves, and seldom see a visitor other than security making their rounds. With only one other person on the entire first floor, my office is probably just as safe as working from home! So, I was more or less dealing with working "remotely" since the move, and it really wasn't a big jump to WFH from there. FWIW, my new office at work is larger than the president's office, and more than 1/2 the square footage of our entire small 2BR house. On my visits to the office, I could see no evidence that any of my five colleagues were in the building since March.

The biggest issue with WFH for me is our house. My DW's job went WFH a month after my job did. Since her job involves large monitors and editing maps, I relinquished our only desk for her non-portable computer setup and have been working portable while migrating all over the house. I have thought about setting up a temporary office in my race car hauler in the driveway, but I don't know how viable it would be with no insulation, windows, or heat/aircon.....

[DETRoadster]

I absolutely love it. Hope I never have to go back. I'm in a bit of a unique situation though in that I have direct reports in the UK, US, Philippines, and China. I typically work 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM so that I can catch my UK team in my morning and my China team at the end of my day. Not having to commute is huge and allows me to keep in closer contact with my team over Teams video chats instead of just e-mails sent from my phone on the bus ride to or from work.

[NickyC]

I worked remote for years, got out of it with the opportunity to move to Miami and run an office there (onsite obviously). Loved it for a few months.

Convid

Back home working in STL for same company as in Miami, but remote making about 70% of what I did with the prior job. I could get the old job back, but new job has wonderful people and I'm leading a massive long term project right now and it would be a serious dick move to those nice folks to jump ship right now.

My timing has always been impeccable.

[rebekahb]

Originally Posted by NickyC

I worked remote for years, got out of it with the opportunity to move to Miami and run an office there (onsite obviously). Loved it for a few months.

Convid

Back home working in STL for same company as in Miami, but remote making about 70% of what I did with the prior job. I could get the old job back, but new job has wonderful people and I'm leading a massive long term project right now and it would be a serious dick move to those nice folks to jump ship right now.

My timing has always been impeccable.

Well, where in the hell have you been?

[NorCalAthlete]

Originally Posted by ASAP

You notice sooner or later that most people are at the office just to gossip... sooner or later someone will backstab you no matter who it is or how close to them you are. That sounds negative but its true.

Best piece of work advice I ever got from a mentor : "Always have more dirt on everyone else than they have on you." Hope you never have to use it, but be prepared for mutually assured destruction as a deterrent if you need it. Also, always have an exit strategy. That way, if things ever do get to the MAD point, you'll still come out ok.

[OkieSnuffBox]

Originally Posted by NorCalAthlete

Best piece of work advice I ever got from a mentor : "Always have more dirt on everyone else than they have on you." Hope you never have to use it, but be prepared for mutually assured destruction as a deterrent if you need it. Also, always have an exit strategy. That way, if things ever do get to the MAD point, you'll still come out ok.

That's horrible. I worked at a place like this and it was shit.

I'm glad I work with adults now and not those still stuck with a high school mentality.

[NorCalAthlete]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

That's horrible. I worked at a place like this and it was shit.

I'm glad I work with adults now and not those still stuck with a high school mentality.

Agreed, but it got me through a few years at the time. I feel like most people tend to start off in jobs like that before finding better adult jobs / careers.