...why do you do it?
Is it because your manager is forcing you?
Is it because you truly believe working from home is bad for collaboration and effectiveness?
Is it because you can micromanage better?
Is it because you enjoy alienating your reports?
15 replies (most recent on top)
“Supervisors that force everyone to work in the office every day...”
Nobody is forcing anybody to do anything. You can get up and walk out at anytime.
As to why middle-managers want people in the office, the question basically answers itself. The minor perks that come with middle-management, like a nameplate on an office door, or preferred parking, evaporate with remote work.
Additionally, salaried remote workers effectively self-managed for the past two years, driving record corporate profits and eliminating the need for an entire level of management. This did not go unnoticed, and many companies have started quietly reducing middle management through attrition - perhaps one of the few good things to come of the pandemic.
I think anyone who has ever worked in an office knows that nothing productive or collaborative happens there.
Besides, they try to control the people. Sometimes, it is a contract with the city where there is a contract to keep certain amount of people in the office. You know how the contract are, everybody tries to take an advantage from everybody, EM does as well.
It has nothing to do with productivity but has everything to do with control. They control you and making you wfo is how they show it.
Everyone will be replaced by AI bots soon, so continue to wfh as much as possible.
My group is been forced as well
And when I need to interact with someone in my team we do via IM.
Why to come then???
I have a colleague at BTC that I interact with several times a week. On every zoom call he is at the office with a mask on, when I asked if coming to the office was optional, the response was management was forcing people back with no hybrid option even up for discussion.
One has to love XOM logic, ok we can send your work from site to overseas however once overseas the work has to be done in the XOM office.
It is VERY important we are working close together.
Until our job moves 8000 miles away.
I've just finished working a full day in the office. Didn't speak to anyone F2F because everyone is wfh in my function. My project team are in other countries.
On the upside, I wasn't woken up often...
The right answer is it depends on the rhythm of the work group. A certain amount of face time is necessary for proper relationship building, developing mutual trust,etc. We don't need to be on top of each other all the time. Any manager insisting on full return to office is paranoid and distrustful. Be very bad for morale
I like the young newbie supervisors who perform bedchecks at 420 pm to see if any one snuck out early. They don't usually do morning arrival checks because THEY need the flexibility. Hahhaaa
Personally, I like the office. I don’t really like working from home everyday. A balance would be nice but permanent 100% work from home, for me, would not be fun.
Besides, when I joined I knew where my office was and it’s location didn’t change in the last 2 years.
I think people need to either quit and get a job working from home or as the others have said, grow up a bit. Clearly the OP is unhappy in their job and work from home won’t fix that. Perhaps the person needs to quit.
In IT, there was one supervisor (SDM) that was “arrival checking” their team and was explicitly told to stop because it was bad for team morale. So there’s that…
If you work in an interdisciplinary team, you need face time with your team at least a substantial portion of the time. I think people are forgetting, or willfully ignore, how much information is passed informally. Unless you have a predominantly task based position, or your job inherently involves distant communication, there is a benefit to working in the same office that can't be ignored. That being said everyone is expected to be adults and get their work done. Part of treating people like adults is giving them room to manage how they accomplish work and giving them room to step on their own toes. Exxon does not teach any leadership skills, and part of leadership is developing subordinates. That development requires some room for them to think and act on their own while providing some steering corrections and insight as to their performance and development...routinely.
Exxon has a terrible culture and it won't get better until DW is out.
It is worse than having workplace flexibility no questions asked.
Grow up.
It is better than being unemployed. Grow up.