|
Post by easye on Mar 27, 2023 14:22:35 GMT -5
There have been a lot of articles in the business press, trying to prime the pump for the Great Office Return. Essentially, they are arguing that we need to end the WFH experiment, just like we ended it back in 2001 after 9/11 will the Results Only Work Environment (i.e. WFH) was still a infant of an idea in the crib. Here is a sample; Is Working From Home Really Working?www.nytimes.com/2023/03/22/opinion/remote-work-salesforce-meta-working-from-home.htmlWraning: Payroll blocked. Activate Stealth mode. The basic premise is.... because they can not see you, they assume that no one is working hard enough. I guess the fact that productivity keeps rising, while wages stay stagnate or behind inflation since 1977; don't matter to these titans of industry. They know we are not working hard enough because if they weren't in the office.... I guess they wouldn't be working hard enough? Anyway, how long do you think until WFH is eliminated for white collar jobs despite the savings in commercial real estate, benefits to the workers, and increases in productivity?
|
|
|
Post by Disciple of Fate on Mar 27, 2023 14:31:21 GMT -5
You know, I didn't expect that control would lead to the end of WFH. I would have assumed the need for control would lead to having to connect to a server based workstation with some variety of a keylogger.
|
|
|
Post by maddocgrotsnik on Mar 27, 2023 14:31:57 GMT -5
They’ll have a job doing that, as it would require a significant percentage of such jobs to end it at once. If it’s tried in dribs and drabs? The Best Employees will look for jobs with WFH, leaving less efficient workers to be in the office.
Example? I do one day a week in the office. As well as 100% on quality, I’m on 122% of target. With the financial year ending on Friday.
|
|
herzlos
Ye Olde King of OT
Posts: 700
|
Post by herzlos on Mar 27, 2023 16:44:34 GMT -5
I'm not sure they *can* end it now, because the staff that are already working from home aren't going to willingly go back in. At my place we've officially been back in the office since maybe July, but virtually no-one actually comes in. If people were forced to come in, then I suspect some of them would leave and some would just be incredibly difficult; pointing out at every step how they could work better from home, how they've got faster internet at home and so on.
I know of a few smaller businesses that have given up on having a dedicated office and moved everyone to WFH. As I understand it, they just rent a function suite in a hotel when they need to have in person meetings every few months, and given they were in central Edinburgh they probably saved a small fortune in rent, parking, utilities etc.
It will depend very much on the industry though, in IT it's pretty much standard to offer at least partial WFH if you want to get anyone to apply, with the exception of support staff who actually need to be running cables etc. Even our IT support staff WFH where they can and just drive in if they need to do something.
Sadly, just like all the studies that show that a 4 day working week is more productive than a 5 day week, the benefits of WFH will be completely lost on a lot of bosses who don't want to move into the future or give up control.
|
|
|
Post by pacific on Mar 28, 2023 5:34:59 GMT -5
The problem is for those trying to bring this about is that the end of WFH is not based on any sort of empirical evidence, and in fact the opposite is true; I read a study saying that within IT it was something like a 30% increase in productivity when working from home. The downside is that there were more mental health-related absences were people are burning themselves out as there is the temptation to work longer hours. I know I get one hell of a lot more work done when working from home, you have far less distractions from desk-wanderers, and I'm not knackered from a 90 minute motorway commute before I've even started work.
And within the IT industry (or others actually where face-to-face is not essential) it would need every company in that industry to all collude to not offer WFH, otherwise staff will just jump ship and go to someone that does - at a time when companies in many industries are struggling to find staff. And that is exactly what is happening. A friend of mine that works in Finance for a car manufacturer, they had a new CEO come in who tried to lay down the law, scrap hybrid working and insist upon office attendance five days a week. They have lost something like 50% of their workforce, people just aren't prepared to go back to using up so much of their life in commuting.
|
|
|
Post by maddocgrotsnik on Mar 28, 2023 6:26:04 GMT -5
Let’s be honest. All the arguments are coming from those who own office buildings. They’re struggling to rent the space out.
Yes there is a knock-on effect to cafes, Prets and sandwich places near office blocks, as they will have seen a sharp drop off in trade. But. That is balanced by workers not paying for lunches, coffee etc during the week, meaning that money is available for take out, restaurant meals etc in their local area. Or indeed putting that cash saving in to actual savings, or hobby/interests budget.
For the worker, not only do we have greatly reduced travel costs, but we no longer need to dedicate weekend hours to housework and chores, as those can be done on the fly. For instance, yesterday I was trying to shake a thought loose on a case. So I did a couple of chores. Stripped the bed and put the sheets in the wash. Had a general sort out of my boudoir. Maybe 20 minutes, tops. The distraction worked letting me progress the case nicely, and I got a chore done at the same time. And because I have that freedom, I genuinely get more work of a higher quality done. I’m just not stuck staring at my screen whilst Mr Brain Goes On Holiday for an hour.
As a service, we’ve resolved more cases this financial year than ever before. We’ve drastically reduced wait times as a result. So any argument “being in the office = peak efficiency” is clearly bollocks. Hell, the only reason I think they want hybrid is because we’ve a Tory Grandee on the board, who is clearly just looking out for the interests of their donors and fuck everyone else.
|
|
herzlos
Ye Olde King of OT
Posts: 700
|
Post by herzlos on Mar 28, 2023 10:41:26 GMT -5
The flexibility is great for productivity too. Take a doctor or dentist appointment; if I was working from the office I'd probably need to take at least a half day off depending on what time it was. If I'm working from home, the doctor/dentist are a 5 minute walk from the house so I literally only need to be out of work for maybe 20-30 minutes.
Ditto just being able to stop for stuff. As mentioned, hit a block on something and need 5 minutes? In the office that means a coffee break or a walk, which almost certainly turns into 10, 20+ minutes as you bump into folk. At home it means going to do a bit of housework or something.
I also get a huge amount of housework, gardening, etc. done whilst listening into conference calls; I pay more attention if my hands are busy, and if I'm sat at my desk on a call I'll almost certainly go back to doing emails/work and ignoring the call until I'm summoned.
I'm kind of surprised by the burnout/stress thing; I'd have thought WFH took a lot of the pressure off, since they can take a break more, but I understand a lot of people struggle to switch off. I'd just assumed that being in the office was worse for it, since the pressure to be in the office and looking productive is high.
The knock on consequences are drastic though; car buying has changed and the pollution levels came down with Covid. My commute (now 1-2 times a week rather than 5) takes me about 2 hours and at about 2 gallons of diesel every time. So I'm saving a significant amount of pollution whilst also saving time and being more productive. It's win-win for everyone but commercial landlords (admittedly mostly pension companies) and middle management.
I do fear that the lack of socialization will have a negative impact on people; I don't really talk to anyone on the days I'm not in the work, but at the same time I don't think it's offices responsibility to provide socialization. But then I've also been at the same place for 20 years and have a lot of work friends from pre Covid that doesn't really apply to those that we hired during or after covid, some of whom didn't visit the office in their first year of employment.
|
|
|
Post by Disciple of Fate on Mar 28, 2023 10:55:15 GMT -5
With the pressure thing, I assume that for some people it was the 'neutral' commute, that at least to some degree seperated home from office.
It might be a lot harder for some to seperate home and 'office' mindset when it is the same space. If so, it would be worth looking into the difference between people who do and don't have a seperate room at home to use as an office.
Edit: to clarify, for example it might help people WFH to take a 5 minute walk outside, so that the end of the workday is clearly seperated from time off/not-work.
|
|
|
Post by maddocgrotsnik on Mar 28, 2023 10:59:02 GMT -5
It is worth noting I for one took to WFH like a duck to water. On at 8am. Laptop off at 4pm, unless I’m right in the middle of something which is gonna take maybe 15 more minutes.
Socialisation is why I moved towns around this time last year, to be closer to friends. But work wise we use MS Teams. I’m always happy, when my current task allows, to jump on a call with a colleague for some mithering and case discussion.
About the only thing I truly miss from Office Work would be Pod (Division, Department) Food Days. For it was by such I discovered the joys of Jollof Rice.
And remember folks! When served Jollof Rice, it is alway the best Jollof you’ve ever had. If like me you’re blessed enough to have two or three local takes on Jollof, and are asked to state your favourite? You Spontaneously Combust. It’s the only correct answer in such a quandary.
|
|
|
Post by easye on Mar 28, 2023 11:56:16 GMT -5
After the tiny recession in 2001, all "major" companies experimenting with WFH/ROWE (Results Only Work Environments) took the excuse to kill the use of it on a large scale. I expect we are one recession away from the same thing happening again.
Conspiracy Theory time! This may be a reason why we have heard the confusing scare-mongering around a coming recession (in the US) that has never really materialized the way the pundits have been pushing. Consumer confidence and spending is still high, and employment rate is high. The only problem has been corporate greed (Well documented) on raising prices (inflation) that the Fed has tried to tackle by punishing workers with interest rate increases. Despite all this, the economy in the US has stubbornly NOT gone into recession to get these damned workers back in line!
|
|
skyth
OT Cowboy
Posts: 344
|
Post by skyth on Mar 28, 2023 12:38:55 GMT -5
Well, the Republicans are trying their best to kill the economy with the debt ceiling thingy.
|
|
herzlos
Ye Olde King of OT
Posts: 700
|
Post by herzlos on Mar 28, 2023 12:55:19 GMT -5
With the pressure thing, I assume that for some people it was the 'neutral' commute, that at least to some degree seperated home from office. It might be a lot harder for some to seperate home and 'office' mindset when it is the same space. If so, it would be worth looking into the difference between people who do and don't have a seperate room at home to use as an office. Edit: to clarify, for example it might help people WFH to take a 5 minute walk outside, so that the end of the workday is clearly seperated from time off/not-work. Good point actually. Whilst I work from home, I have an office in a garden room, so I need to physically leave the house. A lot of the staff who WFH during covid had desks in bedrooms, kitchen tables and so on. I've definitely seen it suggested before that people try a faux commute; go out the front door, walk round the block, in the back door and then work, or similar. I always intend to go for a walk outside every day but it almost never happens.
|
|
|
Post by maddocgrotsnik on Mar 29, 2023 3:24:00 GMT -5
Having a separate room can help.
I’ve adapted to having the telly on whilst I work, mostly for background noise and even certain distraction. This came about as in my previous flat, my spare room became my office. Got a proper chair, and made sure I got up and dressed as if for work.
Currently flat does have a spare room, but it’s too small to be practical for me, as there’s no room for a Telly. Yes I can watch my iPad, but that’s off to one side which I found too distracting. So that’s now my hobby and crafting space for now,
|
|
|
Post by squidhills on Mar 29, 2023 3:32:50 GMT -5
I'm the opposite to the majority of people I've spoken to on this topic. I took to WFH like a fish takes to a bicycle. I get distracted easily, so I really benefitted from the structured environment of an office that I had to drive to every day. When COVID sent my office home for a few months, my productivity took a noticeable dip. When we went back to the office, my output bounced back. This may be partially related to my home environment being such that I did not have a separate room to claim as an office and had to work from my bedroom (rental apartment with two other roommates), or the fact that I was trying to do a job that I used two monitors for at the office on just the one monitor on my laptop, but whatever the cause; I preferred working from the office. But I totally get where most everybody else is coming from on this. Commuting to work basically sucks (I was lucky with a 'my bed to my desk' travel time of 20 minutes) and if you can do the job from home (as most white collar jobs can be done) then why the hell not? Especially if it increases productivity for the majority of the work force.
|
|
herzlos
Ye Olde King of OT
Posts: 700
|
Post by herzlos on Mar 29, 2023 4:18:26 GMT -5
I brought my desk setup home with me when covid struck, so I've actually got a bigger desk and dual monitor set up at home than I do in the office. But I appreciate that I'm in a particularly privileged position there since I can get away with that and don't need to share a space. I've come across some articles showing that landlords are starting to suffer due to the WFH thing, which I think is the main driver for trying to get people back into the office. fortune.com/2023/02/14/remote-work-los-angeles-office-building-default-brookfield/I've seen a few more articles talking about the growing trend but they are all paywalled.
|
|