Three days is less than five days. I still get to stay home two days a week. It could be worse.
16 replies (most recent on top)
"It could be worse" LOL. You can say that about anything.
I was hired as WFH 100%. If Wells wants to me to spend a few hours communting, something that was not part of our original agreement, they can pay me for my time.
Or, I'll work five and a half hours a day, commute for two, and call the extra half hour of my eight gas and wear and tear on the car fee.
I don't have some expenses others have, like child care, dry cleaning, lunches, tolls, parking fees, etc.
I wish more people would think things through before they comment.
I'm not opposed to leadership making decisions on this. If they believe RTO is helpful to the business, "ok". They can make their decisions and if they are poor, it will hurt the company, and it will continue to hurt worse until they resolve the issue. What offends my sensibilities is the complete lack of acknowledgement that a one size fits all approach is flawed. RTO is not ideal for productivity, resiliency, retention etc. for ALL groups. This is something that needs to be managed by the first couple lines of management, based on the group's needs and what makes sense, not from the top of the ivory tower in NYC. If the approach was actually tailored and we'll thought out, I think there'd be much less resistance. When you tell people to come in 3 days a week to take Skype calls they could have done just as easily at home, it's offensive to our intelligence.
"They got used to fitting in work in between child care, soap operas, ..."
Even if that were true, productivity still did go up (certainly it did not go down), so why not continue to "fit work between other activities" as you claim? The objective here, that you don't seem to realize, is increased productivity, not keep track of who is doing what during company time.
If it's not a big deal, why not let managers decide?
I worked easily 10-12 hr days 3/2020-3/2022. Now that I’m forced back, it’s 8. At best. You know, with all the water cooler talk and other exciting collaboration with people I don’t actually work with and need to know anything about, I waste maybe 2 hours chatting. That, added to the time it takes for restroom visit, coffee refills, grabbing lunch, I’d say I’m putting in a good 5 hour day when I’d been putting in at least 10 before 🤷
I started to start WFH in 2018 due to case load and the shift that all time zones were in play and I did not ask for approval. Started between 6 and 7 AM to catch the east coast and work the west coast in the afternoon. Worked 10 to 11 hrs a day and multiple weekends. No one checked badge reports or ip logins because the work was getting done. I am in position to walk away if they enforce RTO. The current case load will not not work with a 3 hr a day commute.
Thank you Charlie for posting.
Sweet, i’ll start the new thread on Monday. Love Groundhog Day!
It could also be better.
Charlie, PLEASE stay off this forum. You're only embarrassing yourself further.
Go back to playing with your crayons, your guitars, or your... whatever you do with your hands.
To those that worked full-time in the office pre-pandemic, I can totally understand why you can see this as a “win”. To those who works remotely for years and years pre-pandemic (and likely worked more hours remotely than those who worked in an office), it’s considered a tremendous burden and a loss of trust and autonomy they once had. Are there people who worked from home and slacked off? Most definitely, but don’t try to convince me people in the office didn’t do that as well because when I used to be based in an office I saw people ALL the time leaving to go to the gym, leaving to run errands, going out to lunch, standing around talking half the day with coworkers instead of butts in seats getting the work done. I don’t judge and say all people in the office were slackers, so it’s pretty aggravating to assume all those who worked from home were slackers. I know so many people who worked from home who would have to put their phone on mute just to use the restroom because there was never a break in meetings or work needing to be done. I hardly ever had a day where I could even remember to stop and eat, let alone think about going to run errands, going for a walk, etc. I’m so sick of the mentality that being in the office is the only way to make sure people are productive. I gave 10-12 hours a day non-stop to the job at home day in and day out. I know people who did that in the office too. Just like I know people who spent time in the office and didn’t get barely anything done and people who worked from home who did the same. It’s those people who could be trusted working from home that are so upset. Because to go into an office now means even more time taken away by a commute both ways to not even be around anyone they work with due to their teams being spread all over the place. If you have your team in one location and you can’t or won’t do your fair share of work at home, fine, go to the office. But for those of us who put in more than our fair share of work and did so without fail, yeah, we’re understandably upset.
Agreed, all these bad apples are going to ruin it for the rest of us. By you not showing up in protest, you're bringing the hammer harder on everyone and now we have to go in FIVE DAYS A WEEK.
The big deal is that people are no longer used to working during working hours. They got used to fitting in work in between child care, soap operas, dishes, laundry, lawn care, grocery shopping, Pilates class, and whatever else they prefer to do on company time.
Why would they want to go back to how it was?
Sure, no big deal. Uproot your family, kids start new schools in a different state with no friends; spouse has to start a business over from scratch. Buy a house in record high prices with low inventory. Just so you can keep your job at the same position and pay, and spend more to go into the office.
Not a big deal at all.
It’s a big deal because some of us are no longer in a convenient location and spend extra gas and time every week commuting for zero benefit.
OP - how bad is your home life that pointlessly spending time, gas, wear and tear, risking accidents, etc. somehow constitutes an improvement over working from home?
Get a better home life, and you'll instantly understand the 'big deal'.
yawn