Working From Home

[Tamas]

Have you thought about using a chat system such as Teams? If you are if a generation taking these for granted, straight up calllng somebody can feel very rude, but sending a text message wouldnt.

Plus if they are intimidated by the boss it's easier to handle when they can read your non-verbal communication face to face.

[Josquius]

Conventional meetings are broadly terrible and not much is lost letting those be remote.

The collab that I imagine these tech companies are talking about, what I encounter in my work, is more design thinking sessions.
This can be done remotely  with miro. But it's just nowhere near as good.
 It really loses the "yes and" factor and the sense of play and break from the everyday that is vital.

[crazy canuck]

Have you thought about using a chat system such as Teams? If you are if a generation taking these for granted, straight up calllng somebody can feel very rude, but sending a text message wouldnt.

Plus if they are intimidated by the boss it's easier to handle when they can read your non-verbal communication face to face.

Yes, we use Teams extensively for talking to our clients.  But I can't get our younger folks to use it for what I described.

I don't think there is any intimidation involved.   Everyone wants me as their mentor.  And a lot of the visits I get to my office are from juniors working for other partners, and they just want to run something by me.  If anything they want to talk to me because I am safer than talking to the partner for whom they are doing the work.

[viper37]

I seldom work from home now at my new job.

When I do, you'd almost swear it's as if I was on vacation.

My boss ignores my e-mails, doesn't provide feedback, doesn't approve the payments to the suppliers (including the employees) that I e-mail him.  He only answers to text message.

Last Wednesday, I e-mailed an urgent billing report for a client and asked him to specify which of the projects he wanted.  I e-mailed the cost report I usually provide. No feedback at all.

Once I'm back in the office Monday morning, I arrived earlier than usual: "I'm so glad you're here early, I need those urgent billing report I asked last week".

[Caliga]

My boss ignores my e-mails, doesn't provide feedback, doesn't approve the payments to the suppliers (including the employees) that I e-mail him.  He only answers to text message.

Make sure your resume is up-to-date.  It's common for bosses (I guess ones who are nonconfrontational) to start avoiding their employees with no explanation prior to terminating them.

[crazy canuck]

Ouch, I was going for a less sinister explanation.  If your boss is anything like me, he hates email and would very much appreciate just getting a quick call from you to let him know that what he has been waiting for is waiting for him in his in box.

[HVC]

My boss ignores my e-mails, doesn't provide feedback, doesn't approve the payments to the suppliers (including the employees) that I e-mail him.  He only answers to text message.

Make sure your resume is up-to-date.  It's common for bosses (I guess ones who are nonconfrontational) to start avoiding their employees with no explanation prior to terminating them.

Probably wouldn't be hunting him down personally on a Monday and would rather email if he's just trying to avoid an awkward situation. More likely he's just a lazy emailer.

[viper37]

My boss ignores my e-mails, doesn't provide feedback, doesn't approve the payments to the suppliers (including the employees) that I e-mail him.  He only answers to text message.

Make sure your resume is up-to-date.  It's common for bosses (I guess ones who are nonconfrontational) to start avoiding their employees with no explanation prior to terminating them.

In person, it's okay. He answers text messages.

But there's never any follow up to administrative tasks unless I keep bugging him in person and put the papers in front of him on his desk when he's there.

I talked to one of the person who was there before me, and apparently it's always been like that.  He's not really "stressed" about any stuff like that, he's concerned about production, industrial design and ordering parts online, that's it.  I managed to have a sit down and convince him to adopt the hard line with one client who refused to pay, but it took me two months to convince him to abandon the site.

I was kinda used to this with my father (he didn't use a computer at all though), but at least, I could manage most of the company myself without him.

I'm really not in the mood to change job again.

[Barrister]

My boss ignores my e-mails, doesn't provide feedback, doesn't approve the payments to the suppliers (including the employees) that I e-mail him.  He only answers to text message.

Make sure your resume is up-to-date.  It's common for bosses (I guess ones who are nonconfrontational) to start avoiding their employees with no explanation prior to terminating them.

Probably wouldn't be hunting him down personally on a Monday and would rather email if he's just trying to avoid an awkward situation. More likely he's just a lazy emailer.

Both are options.

When I'm in the office, I hate sending an email to what is otherwise a simple question.  It means I have to wait maybe hours or even days for a response (if I get one at all) - when I'm immersed in the file RIGHT NOW.

I'd much rather walk the 50' to my co-workers office and say "hey - let me ask you about this file", get a response immediately, and then move on.

[Savonarola]

Alstom North America is required to spend Tuesday-Thursday in office and can work from home Monday and Friday.  In the Toronto office there are more employees than there are desks, so the employees have to reserve a desk every day.  Most people are assigned their own desk and Alstom relies on enough people being on site or on vacation to have enough vacant cubes.  Sometimes people forget to register their own desk, I had a guy who looked like he wanted to fight me last time after he found me was sitting in "His" desk (that I had reserved and he had not.)  I really need to bring nunchuka to that office, it would solve a lot of problems.

In France they have (or had, it may have changed) three days in the office, though it's not set, the only stipulation is that you can't work from home both Monday and Friday.  Whatever merit that may have it does seem to undercut the "Collaboration" argument that's usually presented.

At Knorr-Bremse we're supposed to be in office Tuesday-Thursday, but our office has always done things our own way so many people simply work from home unless one of the big bosses are in town.  They're our yeti employees; everyone has heard of them, but no one has ever seen them.

[The Brain]

With all the in-house resources in different cities, consultants, often international suppliers and customers etc, an organization that needs (not requires) people to be in the office to get the job done seems to me to have serious problems.

[HisMajestyBOB]

We are required to be in three days a week. We have to be in on our practice's "core" day, and the other days are of our choosing.

In practice, it's not clear how this is tracked, and so far there's no clarity on how it's enforced. Plus, there are the edge cases: how is PTO or sick time treated? If I'm coughing but otherwise fine to work, am I penalized for logging in at home? If I'm working from home because the kids are sick, will I be penalized? Only vague answers to any of these. So I try to hit an average of 3 days in a week and I track it, but basically treat it as it was before: flexible to WFH as needed.

Our CEO seems to be big on return to office 5 days a week, but is getting a lot of pushback from senior leaders (many of whom are fully remote). There are some benefits to being in the office, especially for training new staff, but we've also been just as productive while WFH as we were pre-pandemic. So we'll see how things shake out.

[Syt]

From Fortune via Yahoo:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/employees-spending-equivalent-month-grocery-112500356.html?guccounter=1

Employees are spending the equivalent of a month's groceries on the return-to-office—and growing more resentful than ever, survey finds

Despite the benefits of remote work for employees, many organizations are abandoning it in favor of returning to the office full-time–or part-time in a hybrid model. A 2024 survey from BetterUp shows that the number of primarily remote roles has been cut in half–and one out of four organizations cite improved connection and culture as the business rationale behind mandated office returns.

However, our research found that returning to an office often is a major disruption to one's routine, foundational work, and overall life experience. We surveyed 1,400 full-time U.S. employees who were mandated to return to in-office work and found that they had higher burnout, stress, and turnover intentions. They also had lower trust in their organization, engagement, and productivity levels. Our results indicate that if the return-to-office transition is not handled with a high level of humanity, sensitivity, and empathy, workplace culture suffers, and the workforce's sense of belonging plummets.

We also found that RTO results in pressure on employees' flexibility, time, and even bank accounts. If you are struggling to adjust to a mandated return to the office, know that you are not alone.

The main challenges of RTO
There are benefits that come from working in person. For example, research BetterUp has done in partnership with the University of California, Riverside found increased life satisfaction and social connectedness as benefits of in-person interaction over technology-mediated interaction.

While it seems intuitive that people form better working relationships in person, poorly communicated and implemented return-to-office mandates breed resentment toward employers. Resentful employees are less likely to bring their authentic selves to the workplace and less likely to invest in those around them.

The most challenging aspect of returning to the office is the commute. This isn't surprising because commutes of only 30 minutes are linked to higher stress and anger, while 45 minutes or more is linked to poorer overall well-being, daily mood, and health.

What is surprising is the second most challenging aspect of returning to work: the loss of flexibility to switch between work and home tasks for things like accepting a delivery or switching over the laundry between meetings. In a time-starved world, even the smallest time savings can be very important as people attempt to "do it all."

While some leaders might read this and think "Ah-ha! I knew people were multi-tasking when they should be working!", the truth is, that remote work is actually a net gain for the organization. Research has found that people in remote work give more total hours to the company.

With disruption comes opportunity
Evidence from BetterUp suggests agency in choice of work arrangement enables people to find a way of work that can optimize performance and well-being.

We also saw that an organization's decision to require in-office work represents a financial burden for employees. The average employee returning to the office spends $561 per month on transportation, additional child and pet care, and domestic assistance. That is comparable to the average two-person household's grocery bill in the U.S. for the entire month.

So what can you do if your employer mandates your return-to-office?

First, focus on maximizing the benefits of this life change, including the opportunity to deepen your relationships and collaborate more with your coworkers. Take advantage of the hybrid work model to connect with the people who are physically there as much as possible (rather than only logging on to virtual meetings).

Second, consider if returning to the office represents an opportunity for better work-life balance. If you are back in the office full-time, can you embrace leaving work at work? Can you create desirable new habits or routines like going to the gym on your way in each day? Shifting back into in-person work is a major systemic disruption, but with that disruption comes the opportunity to design healthier habits.

Finally, ask for what you need to thrive while returning to the office. Do you need a late start so you can continue to drop your kids off at school? Do you need better commuter benefits to offset financial costs? Do you need a coach to support you as you make the transition back to the office? Thoughtfully raise these needs with your manager.

Return-to-office mandates can affect employees– and not necessarily in the ways that leaders are hoping. If you are in a situation where you are being asked to dramatically shift your way of working, know that it's normal to find this transition difficult, to have a mix of emotions about it, and most importantly, that it's never wrong to ask for what you need.