Why is returning to “in person” work such a huge problem?

For myself, it's a big deal, and a vast improvement.

My drive to work was anywhere from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours depending on traffic and toll roads, I have a 14 Nissan Titan so MPG is not ideal and the tolls add quickly. Typically, I found myself leaving 30 minutes earlier than I typically would so I could take non-toll roads and get on them before traffic was a bitch. Being on the road for that long started to feel sketchy, 3 weeks in a row I saw massive wrecks and was thinking, had a left the home 10 seconds earlier, that would be me.

Now I get to set my schedule. If my kids have something going on in the morning at school, I can pop out of the office for a few minutes and check it out, i'll just have to work a little longer that day, that wasn't possible before. 

Of course, you're thinking yeah, WFH benefits you, but how does that help the company? If overtime is needed, it used to be a debate for me, do I want to drive 2 hours to work 4 hours? Now it's, do I want to walk 40 feet to work 4 more hours, no brainer. Lunch was a big deal when I was at the office, you really just wanted to get away for awhile, now, I hardly ever need to take a lunch, grab a light snack and just work right on through it. The biggest advantage for me is working whenever I want to, big ass presentation due, but also non-stop meetings? Who f'ing cares, i'll get on it after my kids go to bed.

My company is pretty damn strict about metrics, and they've seen no drops in performance since moving to WFH (around feb 2020).

Safety meetings are quite a bit easier and more regular. 

i'm sure it is very much dependent on the person, I just meant for our company it seems to be working well

Wife and I moved out of silly-con valley more than 20 years ago.  I went into my employer to give notice, was bummed, because they were a great employer....but we were moving closer to family.      To my surprise, the company said they would set me up to work from home.  Basically, they did not want to lose me.   I did that for 4 years before the economy took a downturn and was laid off (along with the people back in the valley).    I went to another company locally and was back in an office environment. 

Why the story?   Working from home effectively all depends on the individual.   Even some of the most responsible people are unable to work from home, there can be too many distractions or other reasons.   Then, of course, you have the deadbeats who are only going to take advantage.   Me, I get a shit ton of work done without all the office interruptions.   The hardest part is the lack of social interaction.   Sure, we meet on Teams/Zoom/whatever, but that's not the same. 

With my latest job, I've been working from home again for the last 10 years...long before the GREAT FLU made it a thing.   In fact 98% of our employees work from home, all over the country.   In this company, you don't produce, you don't stay employed.  

Working from home works for some people.     

I happily work in an office setting, including all through COVID, because it's how I can get my best work done. I've had days where I had to work from home and I just can't get as much done. It could just be that I have a really nice setup at my desk, and maybe it could be the same if I brought it all home. It also doesn't hurt that my commute is only 10 minutes.

But the biggest reason why I don't want to work from home is because I enjoy leaving and then returning home. My workday didn't feel like it had a start and end on the days I've worked from home, and it would quickly start to feel like a prison if I'm there all the time.

Some peeps will over produce no matter the environment,  some folks need the supervision. It's too bad we have to treat everyone the same and apply the same rules to everyone that are NOT the same. The undisciplined ruin it for the rest of the peeps. Got a few bad apples? Let's make a new rule that restricts everyone. 

For me personally it sucks ass. I work from home or in peoples yards so my routine didn’t change, but the property management companies I work for are driving me freaking crazy.  The part I don’t understand is if they’re not in the office and they’re working from home why the fuck can they not pick up the goddamn phone ? 
 There’s no more voice communications with the management companies I work for, everything and I mean fucking everything has to be done through email. No more quick calls to get an approval for a heater or a filter or whatever. Send an email. Everything is email.  It makes wonder how many people won’t even know how to have a face to face conversation in the future because the only way they ever communicate is through written language.  
 

Who would have thought working from home in your pajamas, spanking the monkey at a moment's notice--would leave to NON productive days. 

 I ran into an ol co-worker about a year ago and he was pissed off because he now had to go into the office 1 day a week and his home is 15 minutes away. 🙄

Even if I ‘could’ work from home, I probably wouldn’t. I’d be so distracted by anything and everything, I’m sure that I’d be less productive. I don’t really have to worry about that too much though as I really need to be able to get to the plant floor regularly so it’s a non issue. 

My wife, however, can work from home most of the time and her productivity actually goes up. She’s in medical coding and she’s found that she gets far fewer interruptions in her day and her cases worked is substantially higher when working remotely. 

The only reason her employer didn’t go to full remote is because newer employees didn’t have those same results. They need the interaction from the more experienced employees in order to progress and get up to speed.  

 

Let everyone work from home and see who's productive and who's not. If you're not productive get productive or return to the office. If you're productive, keep on keeping on. I don't like the "some people aren't being productive, so everyone has to come back" mentality. 

I'm not sure it works best in general but I can say it works better for me. A few points that help: 1) I'm self motivated and I care about doing quality work and 2) I am 10-15 minutes from the plant so if someone absolutely needs help in person then I can drive in and help them within the same time another person could walk across the property.  To have days where I can do remote work and not NEED to drive in is great. I have days at home where I easily get more work done per hour.  It's surprising how much managers don't care about people actually in the office just walking around and shooting the shit most of the day.

My wife is a database developer and gets WAY WAY more work done from home.  Not only more,  but she writes better, more bug-free code when alone and not being interrupted by the office chatty-kathy(s) all day long.  Her employer knows she is uber conscientious and not a gold brick.

I work a mix of office and home (aka hybrid)… 2-3 days in the office. Always work from home Monday and Friday. 

Most of my days are spent on meetings and on the phone with coworkers, dealers and customers all over the world so for me it often doesn’t matter if I am home or in my office. Some days I may be in my office all day with the door closed. When I am on a Microsoft Teams meeting nobody knows/cares where I am and it doesn’t matter..

Of my 16 direct reports, only 3 are actually located here where I work. The rest of the team is 100% remote in different states and countries. 

Companies being more accepting of work from home has significantly opened up our pool of candidates we can hire from. For example, in the past we mostly hired local WI people which left us limited in who we could hire. Now I can hire good talented people no matter where they live. 

I also have a 40 min drive to work, so why waste time driving. 

Being in the office is more symbolic for me..

When Covid hit I didn’t think I could be productive working from home, then after months I never thought I could deal with working in the office, then I got sick of being at home every day. The hybrid is a perfect compromise for me. 

 

I should probably clarify that I ‘work remotely’ for a couple of hours before I arrive at the plant, and sometimes ‘work remotely’ after I leave in the late afternoon, but I don’t think that is what the main topic is about. And now that I am in Central Time instead of Pacific Time, I don’t have quite as much ‘pre-arrival’ work going on as I did 6 months ago.  I am definitely grateful for the advancements that have made it possible to attend meetings from home, the commute, etc. 

As a plant manager with 200+ employees, I’d never be able to, nor want, to be primarily working from home. But having the ability to do some of the admin work and meetings remote is a true godsend. 

I'm hybrid. Office days has a sort of pressure to be productive even if I'm not busy. Home days I can be just as, if not more productive (nobody talking to me, can work while food is cooking instead of going home for lunch), but only if I'm busy. If I got time I'll dick around.

I'd like to be fully remote. I've gotten sick twice this year from being in the office. That alone is reason to stay away from the people with school children lol

This is my wife and I as well. When I worked from home during COVID, the distractions were a bit too much for me (man the floor is dirty/how far is it to the end of the internet), but my wife is ultra-productive at home because there aren't the normal office distractions. 

That’s one issue I have when I go to the office- And it’s actually my boss. There are days he will spend 1-2 hrs + sitting in my office chatting. 15% work and 85% about what’s going on in his life/his kids life..etc. He is a great guy, but some days it’s hard to deal with..

So figure ..

1.5 hours driving to and from work

1.5 hours my boss chatting 

1 hour others stopping in my office to chat

1.5 hours work lunches (50% work talk / 50% chatting)

Total = 5.5 hours non-productive in office work days

Worst idea ever .  Not sure how they got the elite status that were so important. 98% if they never showed up for work the co would still run its self. I,ve been in offices of any kind of buisness you could think of. The ceo , owner , president, etc really don’t do anything. I,ve stood in the door way they don’t even realize there is anyone there. They usually r lister sport reports or spaced out staring at an aquarium.  I had so many work from home people medical, insurance, banking give me an attitude. That how dare anyone call them and make them do there job.  Usually they don’t even know that. Very flustrating expiences. Most gross revenue co in the 90,s we blew the office people off. We made the billions a job no one else could do. When 5 of us refused to leave the hotel in Phily until we got our double time   We shut the strongest hhg rig down on a world record 783 mil project in 94.  Verbal & physical threats, yelling , swearing. I said watch your f ing mouth when you talk to me. Or better yet fly out to Phily & say it. Remember I,m the 1 paying the mob 250k a week and hv the meetings. This guy Really don’t like you.  So F you and pay our money.  We fired every military guy we hired. Nobody could physically or mentally handle this job. I stood up for some local guys & talked them up . Saying Pauly is a great worker , etc we need him on the other 3 projects. The locals knew we where getting screwed on our union money. And called me a pussy , etc. I said your right . so I organized 5 of us that worked for the co. To get out money.  A huge strike  with baseball bats gotta Love Phily & Jersey boys was going on when we got there. Kinda set the tone for my plan later. They hated loosing . We got our money that’s ours anyway. Paying us a 1/3 of our wages b4. 1 of the brothers ran for governor for the 2nd time & lost . That makes you a 3 time looser you f ing pile.  Ha a 20 something yr old shut your co down.  I,m still very proud of that 1. And a 1,400 ft statue should be raised with a plaque that states. This is what a man with balls looks like. 

Nice story pro!

 I especially like this: . 

"I had so many work from home people medical, insurance, banking give me an attitude. "

 I was trying to make some camping reservations at a campground and it's obviously people are working from home.

One time this girl must have forgotten I was on the phone and her kid was acting up she called him every name in the freaking book while she had me on the line I couldn't believe it! 

 I wanted to say something but I didn't want her to fuck up my reservation so I kept my lip shut but it was so unprofessional. 😬

 I hate it when you have to jump through so many AI hoops to finally talk to an actual person and it's some housewife with unruly rug rats running around.

Total bullshit if you ask me.🤬

Work from home and air b n b has ruined every cool remote mountain town in the US

I ran workforce for a major retailer in the mc business and we sent guys that did online chat home almost 10 years ago and I know for a fact that it didn't work as well. We were forced to send chatters home as we didn't have enough room in the facility, so it had nothing to do with a plandemic. I know for a fact that it did not work nearly as well as in person because some people need in person supervision. I had guys that I absolutely know woke up and rolled over to log in to start the day and then went unavailable for 10 minutes while they got ready to start their workday. We unfortunately were in such desperate need that we couldn't fire underperformers. I caught guys chatting with themselves so they could take a break while they clogged up their line. 

The bad thing about working from home is the underperformers have nothing to keep them going and the top performers who are self-motivated are better off in a facility where they can serve as a good example and mentor to others. 

17 years in biz for myself and working from home.  Wouldn't have it any other way!

"I had guys that I absolutely know woke up and rolled over to log in to start the day and then went unavailable for 10 minutes while they got ready to start their workday"

But in person you have guys (probably gals too) that clock in and (every day) 10 min later spend 20 min in the shitter. As an employer, you can't reprimand someone for that or even say anything about it. What do you do with that? Back in the day when I had people work for me I'd change their hours. You obviously have personal business you need to take care of every day at 8:10 so how about you start your work day at 9:00? We have a certain amount of money to pay and need that mill running more hours per day. At 8:00 your just not prepared to start work and keep the machines running.

As mentioned above, it really does depend on the individual. Personally, I am far more productive WFH. In my business, the days can easily drag into the 14-16 hour a day range for weeks (sometimes months as on my last show), and you throw in at least a 1.5 hour r/t commute to the office and you're into the 18 hour range. 6 hours a day to try and sleep and get all the other life stuff you need to get done is impossible. Now I can do some laundry, pop out to a doctors appt, eat lunch with my wife, etc... and still get far more done than if I was at the office.

I wonder how much of this 'back to office' stuff has to do with companies who hold long term office leases, or own the building, who are now left holding a very expensive bag with nothing to put into it?

Yeah Manny, there is a serious office space reckoning coming soon. I know Warner Bros. just completed a huge building complex off of the 134 in Burbank last year that was started long before covid that is now sitting basically empty. Even in my home town of Thousand Oaks the amount of office space for lease signs are plentiful, and must be a huge drag on the bottom line. When we were in office the studios would charge their own individual shows upwards of 2k a month PER room the show occupied. Funny money accounting I know, but there was still a revenue source for their overhead.

Some independents rented space from the larger office owners/studios, but they realized they got more out of us WFH with less overhead so they are staying remote, but us Editors/Post people are much happier and creatively productive not being locked in an office.

Now my wife on the other hand "works" from home two days a week and cannot concentrate on anything work related when she does. 

I think flexibility is more important than anything. I'm in the office 4 days a week these days, but I could be at home more if I wanted to. I've been across the whole spectrum. In office full time, then spent several years managing a team from home (to great success, was super lucky to have a motivated team). Was back in office full time after I took another position, then back home for covid.

Now, flexibility is key. I MOSTLY like being in the office, but I also hold great importance to having a choice.

Yeah there's some people who work from home, are MIA half the day, and don't get anything done... Those same people suck at the office as well. Dead weight is dead weight.

I have no doubt most employees love it, why wouldn't they?...I also have no doubt that every employee will say they are the highly self motivate employees who take pride in their work and are honest with their time and far more efficient and effective working from home...so I find it interesting that more and more employers are finding it to be less efficient and not as effective and trying to move the work force back to the office...

To me that says that not all work from home employees are honest when they say they are self motivated, and are more efficient and effective when working from home.  (Not saying anyone in this thread is lying...dirt bike riders are, by nature, more self motivated than the average human...in my experience). I think, by and large, most employees are going to take the path of least resistance, and least amount of supervision.  That will inherently lead to the majority of employees being less productive...

I moved all my employees remote right before covid, actually, when it was time to renew the office lease in Feb 2020...they love it...I love not needing a huge office rent bill due every month...but all of them are less productive (some more than others), though I'm sure if you were to ask them that they all feel they are more productive...which is the paradox I'm getting at.