When people said they were more productive from home I called bullsh*t. However, once I went remote I say the same thing. No more gossip sessions, annoying coworkers and the time wasted commuting I spend working.
Valuable lesson learned......Right or wrong all depend on which side of the fence you're standing on. Until you've been to both sides you cannot make assumptions. Keep an open mind and grow.
"Face to face mentorship" means they have a tight leasing agreement that can't be corrected. I have worked remotely for the majority of the last 12 years. I am happier at home and I excel. In the last year, because my company understands that working remote is not a disadvantage to either of us, I have been promoted twice and gotten a 50% raise. And I am happy!
I’ve been at ATT for 25 years in one of the engineering departments. I have my own work, I rarely interact with anyone on my team. They are slowly pulling us back to the office for no good reason. I am much more productive without having to spend time commuting to a disgusting and dirty office full of unmasked people coughing and sneezing all day. I believe going back to the office is mainly a result of upper management starting to realize that with no office environment they are not not needed (they’re not needed anyway). It’s a complete waste and thank goodness I’m retirement age and plan to leave this sick world of nasty, miserable managers who take out their personal aggression on the employees. I’m counting the days.
@Alejandro There is nothing wrong with not wanting to waste 1 hour commuting every day and to pay for the car gas. Thats an unreasonable demand from the company if you can do the work from home. Its more like that the company is entitled expecting you to pay for the gas and waste an hour commuting every day without payment even though you can do the job from your home. If a company wants you to do a buisness trip its normal that they pay for the expenses. It should also be normal that they pay for the expenses when they want you in the office without a legitimate reason. Its not entitled to not want to waste money and time for no reason.
@Alejandro Im am sure doing the work at a certain building is not a part of most contracts. If that was the case temporary home office wouldnt even have been possible, since it would break the contract. Whats in a contract is that you need to get a certain type of work done, but not the exact location where you do it. You usally dont have contracts that state that the work must be done at a certain location.
Yes. Let’s get back to the office where these managers can sit “in-person” in meetings and be non-responsive and busy all day. Management seems to have the biggest issue with work and life balance.
"From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matthew 4:17 "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." Matthew 5:38-39.
I've been fully remote since March 2020 with the option of going into the office as of September 2021. It's the main reason I've stayed with my organization. The flexibility has been life changing.
Hybrid feels like a very big part of the future. Go in to be able to have important meetings and collaborate; but also give flexibility to productivity live life
Exactly the same for me. I've been fully remote since March 2020. And I moved to a job whose headquarters is not in my state, so there's no possibility of a manager one day getting the bright idea that I come into the office. I will say this, however: it's been an incentive for my wife and I to pay off debt. I want to be debt free. I don't like my job status being such a source of stress in my life. We're about 5 years away from being able to retire if we want to and that's a much more satisfying feeling than anything else.
Who wouldn't' want to escape the toxicity of today's workplace environment? With the gossips, favoritism, microaggressions, evil managers, throwing people under the bus, etc.. I will take remote work over in-person work any day.
I agree with you. I'm the one of these corporation worker as I can tell ones you mention above are going rampant in our work place. We used to have almost 100 peoples working on our floor but now the company forced us to come back to work after two years work from home & we now have a little more than 50 peoples are working. The most of the emplyoees were never come back to work or took early retirement.
im a college student and i only search for jobs that are fully remote. when i had a job over the summer in office, half of it was just me sitting there because i'd finish my work in a few hours. also as an introvert im fine working from home
My team showed higher productivity working fully remote, but our firm is still pushing for us to be in the office part time. That’s just 2 days a week in the office, but those 2 days are less productive, require the commute, dressing in less comfy clothes, packing lunches ahead of time. I know those are things that people have always done, but they seem absolutely pointless now knowing how much better we performed and balanced our lives at home.
when some people are in the office, you see more away yellow lights from walking around and talking to others. Taking walks, going to the water cooler, walking to the cafeteria, back to the cube/office just to talk to someone again. Not very productive.
Being able to work from home in Ohio for the last two years has not only saved me money, it's saved me time from commuting, especially in the winter. Once my company changed to a hybrid schedule I was upset. I would literally go into work, finish my job within a few hours and literally had nothing to do the rest of the time. I have since found a new job that is fully remote. I am no longer wasting my life doing nothing when I have no work to do. I can accomplish 10x in a day if I am in the comfort of my own home.
I've been managing a remote department for over a year now. It takes effort to maintain alignment on our goals. This business of people not being able to collaborate when working remotely is nonsense. We all utilize Microsoft teams to "Ping" someone and quickly chat about a topic. (Just like we do in our corporate office.)
I work remotely. My son works remotely. My DIL works remotely. We love it. Our employers love it. It’s a win win situation. We feel valued by our employers because we get to choose where we want to live.
Working in the office made me really hate my job, and is quite frankly depressing. You're not meant to be put in a cube for 8 hours a day, and listening to others talk about how they hate their job/life. WFH actually made working enjoyable and fun. In fact, I would argue that it's the lazy employees that want to go back to the office, since they can simply portray themselves as working from merely being physically present.
Yes. Exactly. I’ve found people are more productive from home because, like you said, when people are in the office they seem to feel like they’re earning their paycheck just by being there.
Agree! Management said they could tell who was productive and who wasn’t. Well, if that is the case they should have called those employees in! Simple mathematics! Sad.
Bingo! Copious research already showed in-office employees only spend about 5 hours to actually work. The rest of the hours is filled with social chats by the water cooler or chilling out at a colleague's cubicle.
I retired from a corporate environment over 20 years ago. Believe me, socializing with co-workers was definitely not something I wanted. I worked with these people all week long. My off time was for family and friends and my own time to myself -- period.
Another good point! That’s what it is really about! These companies had building plans in the works prepandemic and they are tied to see those plans through. Even though they had cut their own utilities usage in half and contributed to cleaner air, that doesn’t matter to corporate.
@@pushslice no not really. My company (bosses) are very conservative but my department has been allowed to do semi- hybrid. We only come in 2 days every other week for teamwork meetings. The space is there if we need to meet up outside of that but so far it’s been rare. They are just like if you keep productivity up we don’t care where you work as long as it’s good.
This has been my career for 20 years and it’s so much better than to be stuck in an office with a bunch of gossipy, rude, busybodies. Working from home is not playtime, if anything, it’s work harder to prove yourself. Employers get better employees with happy employees.
When leaders and/or managers make their people work in an office (scope being office workers/computer workers) they are doing it for themselves not for their people. If they are putting their people first they give them the option that makes their employees' lives the most fulfilled.
I honestly don't understand why they wouldn't let people remain remote or at the very least set policies to handle the remote work so it can work like being in the office. There's only two reasons I can think of for remote work to be a hindrance. The first is immediate collaboration, when in the office its much easier to find a fellow employee or supervisor when you have an issue and you can get immediate feedback on that. My understand of remote work is you might not have someone available 100% of the time or they might not respond right away if you're communicating via text (apps like slack or teams etc). The other issue isn't in favor of the employee and its so that the supervisors have more of a sense of control of what's going on in the workplace.
Remote work is the future. Why have people commute and then work in cubes. Mentoring and collaboration in the office is BS. Office buildings are a waste and drain resources that can be used elsewhere. Turn office building into residential spaces like they are doing into LA.
This is hilarious… I have not seen one comment saying that they enjoy working in the office. I have worked remotely since 2009 and it has made my life so much more enjoyable. It is exhausting commuting to a job every morning… Showering… Putting on an expensive outfit… Paying for a lunch during your lunch break… Having to listen to your cubicle neighbors crunching on their Doritos….Avoiding the creepy guy that keeps staring at you when you get out of your seat. It is absolute heaven rolling out of bed in your pajamas and logging in without distractions for eight hours. How can anyone be more productive sitting in a cubicle? It just doesn’t make sense. I gotta say the ONLY positive that came out of Covid was people realizing that work at home made sense.
@Hol Bol - I would quit a job that allows me to work remotely or where the higher-ups are rarely in the office. Making personal connections with the decision-makers will eventually get you ahead because once you reach a certain level, it's the only way to stand out. They'll know you're one of the smart ones because of it, who is capable of bigger and better things then looking down tapping at a keyboard all day. Plus, working in an office in a big city is a great way to make connections all over the place, not just within the business that employs you. It's terrifically exciting and done right, immensely rewarding.
@@willardchi2571 Every job type is different with their built in characteristics and requirements. Your description of the classic corporate latter climber will be true for the employee working in a company interested in advancing up that latter. But not everyone wants to play that game. There is, and there always have been, employees who want to work in a more balanced environment where they can have more flexibility especially if they have growing families or are single parents. This has always been a major concern workers in the US have because of the lack of quality child care across the board. Times have changed now post pandemic and companies need to adapt just as much as they keep demanding that their employees adapt. Not everyone can or even want to climb up the corporate latter, especially now that so many have seen and experienced how they can have a balance of lifestyle and work really for the first time in the history of this country. A radical but necessary change from the traditional corporate business model which is long overdue.
Amen on the creepy coworkers. When I work from home, no one comments on how my clothes fit today, how many times I used the restroom, what is in my water bottle, who microwaved what smelly thing.... now I interact as needed and it is a thousand times more comfortable.
I turned down two jobs because they wanted me in on a mandatory schedule of 3 (or more) days a week, so I waited and went with a company that has reduced their office space down to one floor in a building and offers us to come into the office as much or as little as we wish by reserving a desk. In my decade experience of work I have never seen the “collaboration” these companies yearn for. Everyone is busy, everyone is running in and out of meetings, everyone has their own life they’re trying to manage on top of that.
Everyone is texting as they walk down the halls. There’s no social interaction at work other than toxic cliques. Millennials don’t even make eye contact and say “good morning”.
My office lost about 15% of our employees due to a mandatory return to the office. After a year and a half, lives changed. We’re hybrid now but to add perspective, while remote, the company easily got an extra 2 hours of work each day from us. Our new space is reminiscent of a makeshift call center - open-air, loud, noisy and farm-like. We’d figured out early on that the return wasn’t about getting work done, but ensuring executives would stay employed. The plus side for me is after my return, I’ve been much more reserved, I don’t engage as much (so I’m left out of the typical workplace BS), I’m better focused, less emotional and as long as I get what was agreed upon during my hire, I don’t question or have input. I’m the employee companies would love to have, but can’t afford to admit it out loud.
Currently I work two weeks at home; one week in the office. For those two weeks at home, my car rarely moves out of the driveway and I’m cool with that.
I just started working remotely, it has been instrumental in allowing me as a single mom to care for my daughter if she is sick without missing work and a day out of my paycheck. Also, it lowers my stress being home with my dog. There are just too many benefits to remote work. Save $ on gasoline Save $ on food costs Lower childcare costs Chores done early Dinner ready at a decent hour Lower stress No gossiping or office drama The list goes on and on...
"No gossiping or office drama" and "Chores done early". Two big pluses for me, too. Plus you get to take care of your child. The list really does go one.
Getting more sleep More time and energy for exercise and recreation Taking care of your own children instead of paying strangers to do it More time to make healthier homemade meals More time to keep a tidy house Ability to go to your kids special events no matter what day or time they are Not having to spend all day 5x/week with people you don't particularly like Feeling less harried and pulled in opposing directions Better health and well being I could go on
WFH is everything. It’s really wild that we have been conditioned to go into an office M-F 9-5 when we have technology… it’s such a game. Folks wanna control their people smh
It is always the managers who think people should go back. They want to keep employees under their thumbs and watch them like hawks. They miss having control over others. Company I work for gave us a choice and no one in my department voted to go back to the office. I love working from home and I cannot stand the idea of ever going back
Only time I go back is to have meetings/brainstorm and then disperse again, 2-3 times a week. Those meetings are so laid back and at the same time so much more work has been done. It's better for those relationships, IMO. We actually enjoy each others company and get together at least once a month outside of work. Pre-COVID, none of that was happening. The pandemic really made us evaluate what matters. That compact environment impedes productivity and rapport. It pretty much programs us to treat each other like pieces of machinery, not human beings. I am utterly ashamed of myself that I used to look at people who work from home like they had three heads.....they figured it out a long time ago
Offices are so craptastic even with all the bells and whistles and perks of a modern office. Can't stand the compulsory socializing with people I would never want to know in the first place
I really feel for that AT&T employee. 30 years of hard work and loyalty to them, proved she can do her job from home, and the thanks she gets is to have to go back into a crowded office. I hope she takes her talent elsewhere.
It is definitely a thought, but to have put in so many hours and years to get to a point where you have to make a rash decision it becomes so overwhelming because I have to think of the future of my 3 year old and also taking care of my mom living with me. It is a struggle within myself daily. My emotions and anxiety have been on high ever since the return into and overcrowded office in April 2022.
@V WILSON - It is overwhelming, and I really feel bad for you and for anyone whose employer has put them in such a situation. I just think after 30 years of service, they could and should show their appreciation by allowing you to continue to work from home. Employers don't seem to realize that happy employees are going to be more productive and will remain loyal, and that allowing someone who wants to work from home to do so doesn't cost them a dime. So, here's to hoping AT&T realizes that!😊
My husband works in a startup that is 100% remote since the pandemic that ironically started that way before the lockdown....they plan to stay that way since the founders also like the flexibility with just 1-2 meetups a year...where they just get together...go to a restaurant and drink just to "hang out". Overall, it's his first startup that actually is cash positive and everyone is pleasant to work with he says. He loves how you can hire talent anywhere, do whatever you need to during the day, can do meetings anywhere...it's a balanced life and if he had to find another work, it's easy because he specifically will only request remote openings again from a recruiter.
Yes it has, Old Uncle Bob. But they don't give a crap about pollution. They won't care until the global tsunami wave is heading toward them, at which point they'll scream, "What TF is happening???!!!!"
We need to shift our general perception of the "commute" as a weighty fact of life that should be shouldred by the employee, to one where the companies that profit from our time bear the burden. The time it takes to get to the job site is time that is donated to the business. When housing prices make living close to work nearly impossible, that 2 hours a day adds up to thirteen 40 hour weeks., or more than three months. It is insane that businesses that are primarily computer based are not *majority* WFH. Downtowns could be reshaped into viable communities instead of office tower canyons.
100% I basically treat it like this when I’m asked to come into the office. Enjoy your 4 hours of me because I’m taking my lunch off-site when I’m in the office.
The mainstream work week made me super depressed, angry, miserable. Now that I choose my schedule, I'm finally content again! I'll *NEVER* do the early hours, commute or pretending to like coworkers ever again. It's literally a life in shackles!
I’d rather cultivate my social life through activities that align with my interests and with people of my choosing, not people I am forced to share a work space with.
Some of our offices are just a place to go in and get on a computer all day to do our jobs, and we can do it perfectly fine from home. So yes, some corporations shouldn't have a problem with full time work from home. Wasn't that the big dream of the internet 20 years ago?
It makes it even worse when you have been forced back into the office everyday and are still working from a laptop versus the desktop system. Makes no sense. Where is the logic?
Companies that allow 100% remote work will attract the best employees and will probe able to offer a slight decrease in pay rate. Employees who work from home don’t quit bc it’s a benefit to work from home and not have to deal with shty coworkers.
When you look into the cost of everything you are spending on a daily basis driving into an office you have already taken a pay cut. Ex: gas prices - any where from $300+ a month extra than before; food increased monthly bill $500, then if you have to pay for parking, bus and/or train fares, road rolls, increased daycare or adult care, lunch (these are just some figures for what I know of. Some may be more depending on the size of your vehicle and how many kids one may have). And let's not for now the extra expenses for doctor and counseling bills that are now also becoming a big factor in order for individuals to be able to get assistance with the stress and anxiety just to make it through their day.
I used to get really bad migraines from driving to and from work in Washington, D.C. traffic. Those who know, know it's really stressful. Working from home allows employees to go above and beyond and not stressed out.
Many, maybe even most, office jobs can be WFH, but someone has to make and deliver the stuff you need to live. But for the jobs that *can* be done from home, WFH should be the default, not the exception.
It's absolutely ridiculous to cause people to go into an office when the job can be done remotely from home. Look at how clean the air got in California when we were on lockdown and there were few cars on the streets. With global warming, I think as many people who can work from home should work from home. Any CEO reading this needs to understand that this is the future, not the office.
Exactly !!! This is total BS from real estate mongols who are loosing cash by the billions with empty office spaces not being used. That's what this is about.
I agree. Office leasers and management need to be realistic otherwise they’ll loose great talent that can contribute fine remotely. We’ve been doing it for years
I quit my job that was forcing us into the office and found something remote and they pay for childcare. My new company reimburse for childcare, after-school, and summer camp. I don't know why I stayed with my previous company for so long. There are better companies out there don't be afraid to make that move.
I find it truly head-scratching that so many tech companies (like Google and the aforementioned ATT) have decided that employees have to be back in the office full-time. As the woman at ATT said "we've been doing the work and doing it well remotely for the past 2 yrs!" I spent my career in clinical (pharmaceutical) research, as a member of the small army of ppl who travel (50%+), making regular visits to sites conducting the research. Fortunately, the industry realized abt 25-30 yrs ago that we folks could be home based: at least half the time you're traveling, and the remainder of the time you're writing trip reports and doing other administrative tasks. It's a win-win situation: you live in the region where you're traveling (not to mention no commute, minimal office politics, etc), and your employer has reduced travel costs, needs less office space, etc. Of course, there were the weekly project conference calls (3-4 hrs. worth some Fridays 😝), and endless emails on a daily basis, so you always felt "connected", but remote work, or a hybrid of remote/office, is the only way to go for many industries!!
We had 70% turnover within a year since the company started asking people to return to the office. The challenge of WFH is many older managers are not savvy in using digital tools to measure/oversee staff performance effectively; and new hires don’t know enough on how to communicate effectively via digital tools or “see” how hardworking others are. A hybrid model (1-2 days/wk in office) might be the best and companies should offer more flexibilities to WFH for more skilled/productive employees as a reward.
We do 2 days in the office, which is nice. Thing is, if all your workers do the job from home for 2 years, telling them that they need to come in is clearly not in their interests. I wouldn’t mind a 3rd day. 4 or 5 seems like… why?
Remote work is not a new thing. Its just that most people doing the work @ home positions before covid were licensed, highly skilled employees. Remote work is not for everyone: many people are too irresponsible to work at home effectively. Many have poor time management skills, aren’t self-starters or are just plain lazy. Remote positions need to be earned. Some big corporations who started this WAH practice years ago use it carefully and if an employee fails to meet certain standards is pulled back into the office. WAH should be a reward for hard-working employees; not a “right.”
I program for a living and work from home 100% of the time. Hybrid makes no sense to me, unless you tell everyone they have to come in on the same days. Otherwise, you have people showing up and no one is there. You could have done that at home. And as for managers not knowing how to measure worker performance, I just don't understand that. You give your employee a job to get done during standup on Monday. You're kind of hoping they get it done by Friday. On Thursday, they say, "Done, what's next?" THERE, you've just measured their productivity! This has nothing to do with measuring productivity and everything to do with control. They want to be able to watch you. They want to see butts in the seats. It doesn't matter whether or not you're actually getting work done. They just enjoy looking at you, the product they bought!
@@dontbanmebrodontbanme5403 Yep, working in the office is dumb. If management forces the "return to the office or else", the workers who can quit and go somewhere else, will quit, leaving behind those employees who can't quit.
I would be happy to work at home. The office sucks with all the gossip, politics, and showboating. The aforementioned are at the core of "corporate culture"
Many of us use the time commuting for taking a walk or hitting the gym or getting couple of more hours of sleep. This improves ones health resulting in better quality of life. This aspect is never discussed by employers....
I have been working remote for 15 years. I have done amazing things remotely. Them calling workers back to the office is all about CEOs needing power and control. It's been proven that productivity did not suffer as a part of work from home culture during COVID. SMH. What does it cost corporations to keep their employees happy in this way? Absolutely nothing. They can save tons of money on buildings, electricity, telecom. My company does not pay for my phone or internet but I'm happy as a clam. If the job can be done remotely let people work remotely. SMH.
I was fortunate enough to keep my job throughout the pandemic and didn’t miss a single day. But I had to go into work every day because I am considered essential. Hearing about people working remotely for 2+ years sounds so foreign to me.
Same here. I have a job that cannot be done remotely and do not have the skills needed for remote work. I would love for my daily commute to be a short walk to my desk instead of a half hour drive.
Totally agree with you. My wife and I still have to do our job manually...which means actually going to work. I run a small business, but, if I ran these companies I would farm talent from overseas and downsize my company to reduce costs. They could save millions of dollars on lease costs alone...maybe billions for larger companies. Once one company does it they all will have to follow or be left in the dust.
I worked at AT&T for 18 years and they laid me off when the pandemic hit, I was going to apply to get back on but after working completely remote for other companies I chose not to because I knew they would not be for remote work, I currently work for JPMORGAN working the hybrid model, love it
My company sent us all home March 2020. They decided to keep us all at home by May. They let go of their building and gave us all raises. It took a while but I (with the exception of two people) don’t miss any of my coworkers. I see them all on teams chat, but I do not miss any of the inter-office politics. The office is basically a grown-up version of high school with various clicks. I’ve saved money working from home and am happier. A few of my other coworkers have gone on to other jobs making more money, which is good for them. However I’ve been with the company so long, that I have not been able to find a job that offers me more money. #1stworldproblem
@Hugo Ironically I went to college to become a legal secretary. I did work as a court clerk, but I should’ve packed nicer judges. I make more money now than I did as a court clerk
In some big cities workers don’t even feel safe going back to the office. The walk from a bus or train station to an office building can be scary in some cities. If CEO’s really want workers to come back to the office they will have to address this. Also many office environments are drab and sterile…if you want workers to come back make it a better place to be. Bottom line is a lot of CEO’s don’t understand how much the world has changed. They are used to laying down the law and having people comply. Those days are gone, at least in many industries.
Why does it bother people commenting that companies allow at home work or that people want to? Get a life……seriously how miserable are you that this bothers you?
After working from home a year and 4 months, I didn't want to go back. Mainly because I have to take 2 buses and a long walk going to and from work every day. They made us go back 3 days a week and working at home 2 days a week. I begged to work at home 3 days a week and in the office 2 days a week. They wouldn't budge. I'm 65 and have been dealing with the commute for decades. I was burning out so I decided to retire after 27.5 years. I plan on going back to work part-time.
Since many companies will be permanently remote, there will be lots of commercial real estate sitting vacant. How fortuitous, since we have an affordable housing and homelessness crisis. Convert the empty offices to low cost housing! This is a win-win-win situation!
I thing some managers or ceos like the feeling of power so having everyone go to the office and get that attention makes them feel some type of way to MOTIVATE THEM. WFH is the best
With still way-too-high gas prices there’s no sense in commuting. Plus it kills the environment. Flourescent lighting, bad air quality (sick building syndrome), basically…cubicles are shackles. Remote makes more sense, have office days for those who want them. But people are fed up with the old ways that make no sense & do not foster work/life balance.
I enjoyed working with co-workers, however I've never been into the stress and times of commuting. Too many variables on the roads, times, traffic, road rages and gas, most of all the cost of stress and strains of the drive. If it a long commute, the drive tired you out by the time you get to the office.
It’s waste of space and energy to make people leave their houses to be housed elsewhere for no good reason. It lowers business overhead significantly not just for running cost of the office space but in less insurance cost! What is needed now are tax breaks for remote work, further supported by reimbursement/provision by employers for office furniture and equipment and stringent regulations with penalties that force employers to adhere to breaks and working hour communications (like Germany has). Many people working remotely are putting in many more hours than is reasonable and not everyone has the physical living space to create the healthy separation between work and life. Not everyone can afford to turn on the AC during the day during peak hours but offices with no employees in them are saving a ton turning off the AC and heating because they are vacant. You also need to pay people who must do on site work differently with a differential that covers mileage, wear and tear and hazard pay for exposure to covid. Empty office building can absolutely be converted to house the homeless! We need to think outside the “norm” on this one and asking people to “get back to the office” is not only old thinking it’s actually wasteful. Let’s support this efficient strategy and direct funds to workers who are able to stay home, stop driving around and utilize resources unnecessarily.
The last thing the owners and so called managers want is convenience for all. They'd much prefer you spend countless hours in traffic and being in a noisy stressful environment of crowded cubicles amongst people you wish would disappear. Yep, believe it or not they care more about putting people in unnecessary pain than productivity. And so they will come up with all kinds of BS excuses. 😶
The quote at the end of "we've been doing work from the office for 100+ years" is really poignant. Just because we've been doing something for a long time, doesn't mean that it is the best option available to us as a society. Otherwise, I will ride my horse into the office and use my telegraph to communicate to my co-workers and customers....just like we've done for 100+ years. I may even bring my stone tablet and chisel in for note taking, we've used that tool for thousands of years.
I’m a business owner. I closed my office in 2017 and set all my employees up to work from home. It was a bit of heavy lifting at the beginning but we were “old hat” by the time COVID forced a shutdown. Our biggest challenge was figuring out how to keep our employees with kids doing remote learning at home productive. So we went to split shifts so those folks could work at night or weekends to get their work done. Business owners should be able to trust their employees and have faith in their abilities. Working from home also helps the environment by keeping cars off the road!
The truth is that many of the companies have expensive and extensive lease agreements that cannot be broken without a substantial penalty. They make those agreements sometimes a year or more in advance. Also, a lot of those high-rise buildings are owned by pension funds because they were long considered low risks. That is a huge future problem if they can't get bodies in buildings.
And you get to avoid the nasty after affects of other people in the bathroom, people drinking all the coffee you made, stealing your lunch. Collaboration can happen just fine without the whole open office bs concept. REMOTE WORK FOREVER.
Friday I bought a can of Coke from the hot dog lady in front of our building and stuck it in the office fridge. At 2:30pm I went to retrieve it and it was gone! I spied an open Coke can on my coworkers desk. I didn't raise a fuss, but that is the first time that has happened to me.
I'm tired of telecommuting being framed as working in your pajamas. I'm sure that's what some people do, but that description is used to make the situation seem more leisurely and relaxed than the reality for many people.
Working remotely definitely improves my everyday life and health. Not to mention the amount of money I save from my commute and rent. I just go back to my town and have a comfortable life.
Any company that forces employees back to the office should be responsible for covering their full commuting expenses, lunch, and those hours spent on the road should also be covered for them. Employees have been abused for years. Here we have a clear experiment that clearly works. Before the pandemic I never once brought a report physically to any stakeholder. Ever. You email it! Which can be done from the office, your room, the bathroom, or some random islands with wifi.
I'm finally in a company that allows us to work 100% remote, they call it work from anywhere. We're doing software, it only makes sense. I'm saving a ton of money and I'm more effective. The Yelp CEO is smart. Less foot print = more $ saved. Productivity DOES go up. It IS the future of work.
Maybe it is time to get rid of "corporate culture". Move forward in a better way, if jobs could be done remotely for two years, there is no reason to go back in office. I work for a call center, zero reason to be in office. My mental health is better when wfh, I am not subjected to the perfumes and chemicals that make me sick, not subjected to office politics, not subjected to commuting, office clothes. I spend my breaks and lunch playing with my puppers. I am happier.
I love how stupid the people pushing workers back in to the office think the rest of us are. We all saw how working from home was better for the reasons cited here, not to mention the fact that it has worked for over 24 months. The ones pushing an office setting are mainly those with their own selfish agenda who thrive on toxicity & having things their way. And there will always be back stabbing & conflict-work is still life. But at home it is not in your face for 8 hours a day with a commute and the price of gas adding to your stress level. There are plenty of remote jobs now out there. If you want one it is for the taking. Don't fall for the "or else" bullying tactics.
It's actually better for working relationships because when we do get together for meetings/brainstorming etc. we're refreshed, our batteries are re-charged and we actually enjoy each other's company more. That's my experience anyway....previous years, it hasn't been that way....forget productivity.....that's just soared
@@rampageclover9788 Of course it soared. Hence the stupidity not to mention falsehoods in the other side's arguments. Like I wrote, it's their agenda, not what is best for everyone.
Have worked from home since March 2020. So many benefits. Less office politics, no struggles with one co worker freezing while the rest of the cubes are too hot. Able to open a window and get fresh air. No commute. It benefits my employer also. Minimal heating & cooling in the remaining office space, less coffee, snacks for meetings, less toilet paper, paper towels, tissues. Less cleaning, garbage. We were switching to more remote meetings even before the pandemic. Instead of 3-4 people in a meeting, multiple people from many of our locations could meet remotely via Zoom. It is great when we can meet face to face, but if someone has to drive 200 miles for a 2 hour meeting, that’s a lot of cost and productivity lost.
Remote work = Safer and quieter environment, better lighting, better seating, better air quality, less discrimination, high productivity, no commuting for 4+ hours daily, space for thinking and collaborating, less water cooler gossip, greater work-life balance, better diet options, etc.
The only people wanting employees back in the office is upper management and that's because their job is to harass others. Easier to do in person. Investors in commercial real-estate also want physical return for obvious reasons. 😶
some companies don't want to pay for empty buildings and others have little trust in their employees, remote work works for some but not others. it should be up to the employees to decide if they can work remotely or not. as long as the work is being done and done correctly, remote work is ideal overall.
I had to go back into to the office 5 days a week to sit on zoom all day yet they let administrators work remotely several days a week. I was miserable so decided to take a paycut and work primarily remote for another company and have never been happier.
The fact that during the pandemic there were news stories about how the environment was benefitting is a huge factor for me. The savings on fuel and childcare in some instances is enough to benefit most families. Finally you would think Big Business would be thrilled to save millions of dollars spent on renting and maintaining office space but it seems as though shooting themselves in the foot is preferable... Go figure 🤷♀️
Not necessary. Especially for experienced workers. Retention would be an issue and production would drop. Once you give remote work available, it is tough to take it back. Just reality.
I think companies who think we must come back to office are not progressive enough. As a recruiter; I see more candidates requesting remote ! I think employees should congregate in the office only when there is a reason to be there.
Classic case of companies being n blinkers regarding a seismic, dramatic paradigm shift in how work actually gets accomplished. Many will see top talent leave. They will not have senior staff who ‘came up through the ranks’ to mentor young recent graduates. Companies that aren’t flexible will fold or be greatly diminished. AT&T, take note. Did none of y’all study the first dotcom bubble explosion of the 90’s?! Cautionary tale there. We are living in an unprecedented time for the workforce. Management being FORCED to realize the trench workers actually know more about their customers and product than they do, that workers can produce just as effectively in most fields as they can by coming into an office, workers demanding realistic pay/workload, intolerance of sexual harassment, office politics reduced to ash because productivity is suddenly the only metric. Pay attention, corporate giants.
When the pandemic hit Las year. The childcare center I worked for started offering Zoom sessions for the children enrolled. It was a way for them to see their favorite teachers and their friends again.
The big disconnect here is pretty easy to see. If you're the "boss" who calls people into meetings, then you get a sense of empowerment from being in office. If you' the one who gets called into no-notice meetings, then you don't stand to benefit from being in the office. With the right employees, remote work is far more efficient not just for the employee but for the company.
Real estate companies are probably pressuring the government into pressuring the companies into pressuring employees back to work. You know everything is about $$$.
I work for my town government at an agency where my role is to interact with and to assist the public with accessing our services. I went to graduate school to work in my specific profession. I am no longer comfortable with contact with the public due to CV and monkey pox and any other outbreaks of “new” illness-causing contagions. I am eligible to retire in about 3 yrs, when I turn 62, but I wish I could leave sooner, bec my agency dropped the mask mandate making it optimal. I find that when I am assisting ppl and I explain that I want to maintain social distance while assisting them, I get impatience, eye-rolling and attitude. I realize that a lot of ppl are completely “over” CV. I am not and though fully vaxxed and bolstered, im still terrified of contracting it as this week my mother, who has had the shot 4-times, contracted the virus in a nursing home where she shared a large room with a bedridden patient. There isn’t anything in the room that my mother and her roommate both touch, yet my mother has cv from sharing a room with her! If I can find a way to leave my job before eligibility for retirement, I’m going to leave.
95% of our company went remote in March 2020. While some departments are still working remote, others who are required to interact with our clients frequently went back in late 2020/early 2021. I was able to get permission to move out of state and WFH permanently provided I go back to the office every quarter for a check-in. Between parking at the office and gas I am saving about $500/month. Getting back together with co-workers from my department as well as the entire office are amazing and evoke days of in-person teamwork. However, we have been able to pull off the same teamwork with the advent of Zoom, Microsoft Teams and other online programs that allow us to store our files in the cloud. Plus, it gives our company the opportunity to hire more client-facing employees to occupy the seats of those who no longer come into the office. Bottom line: With the right company, working from home full-time can be done. I give an enormous amount of credit to our IT department for not only allowing us the ability to work from home at the beginning of the pandemic but also being able to do so going forward be it in a part-time or full-time capacity, with other departments having the flexibility to do so on a case-by-case basis.
I agree with you, but when you are in the technical field but all of your work is done over the computer and you are not customer facing, there is no good reason to have the workers in that office space daily, but a power move. It is so depressing.
When people said they were more productive from home I called bullsh*t. However, once I went remote I say the same thing. No more gossip sessions, annoying coworkers and the time wasted commuting I spend working.
This^
Valuable lesson learned......Right or wrong all depend on which side of the fence you're standing on. Until you've been to both sides you cannot make assumptions. Keep an open mind and grow.
Pre game checkin
FINALLY
yep. you have hours left in your day. It was shocking.
"Face to face mentorship" means they have a tight leasing agreement that can't be corrected. I have worked remotely for the majority of the last 12 years. I am happier at home and I excel. In the last year, because my company understands that working remote is not a disadvantage to either of us, I have been promoted twice and gotten a 50% raise. And I am happy!
I’ve been at ATT for 25 years in one of the engineering departments. I have my own work, I rarely interact with anyone on my team. They are slowly pulling us back to the office for no good reason. I am much more productive without having to spend time commuting to a disgusting and dirty office full of unmasked people coughing and sneezing all day. I believe going back to the office is mainly a result of upper management starting to realize that with no office environment they are not not needed (they’re not needed anyway). It’s a complete waste and thank goodness I’m retirement age and plan to leave this sick world of nasty, miserable managers who take out their personal aggression on the employees. I’m counting the days.
@Alejandro thank goodness for me it doesn’t matter anymore I will retire soon to escape this garbage
Yeah! Good for you, Freedom at Last!
@Alejandro If they want you to commute even though there is no rational reason to, it should be the companies problem.
@Alejandro
There is nothing wrong with not wanting to waste 1 hour commuting every day and to pay for the car gas. Thats an unreasonable demand from the company if you can do the work from home.
Its more like that the company is entitled expecting you to pay for the gas and waste an hour commuting every day without payment even though you can do the job from your home.
If a company wants you to do a buisness trip its normal that they pay for the expenses. It should also be normal that they pay for the expenses when they want you in the office without a legitimate reason.
Its not entitled to not want to waste money and time for no reason.
@Alejandro Im am sure doing the work at a certain building is not a part of most contracts. If that was the case temporary home office wouldnt even have been possible, since it would break the contract. Whats in a contract is that you need to get a certain type of work done, but not the exact location where you do it. You usally dont have contracts that state that the work must be done at a certain location.
Yes. Let’s get back to the office where these managers can sit “in-person” in meetings and be non-responsive and busy all day. Management seems to have the biggest issue with work and life balance.
Because managers don’t have anything else to do they been trained that way all there life’s we need to change that
Because they have no life
"From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matthew 4:17
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." Matthew 5:38-39.
What?!?!?! Speak English.
@@rampageclover9788 They would if they didn't have to drive in and drive out to go home. So stupid and wasteful and expensive on us & environment.
I've been fully remote since March 2020 with the option of going into the office as of September 2021. It's the main reason I've stayed with my organization. The flexibility has been life changing.
Hybrid feels like a very big part of the future. Go in to be able to have important meetings and collaborate; but also give flexibility to productivity live life
Wait until the layoffs start
Agree; flexibility is a gift, and I hope organizations listen more to their employees on what matters most.
Exactly the same for me. I've been fully remote since March 2020. And I moved to a job whose headquarters is not in my state, so there's no possibility of a manager one day getting the bright idea that I come into the office. I will say this, however: it's been an incentive for my wife and I to pay off debt. I want to be debt free. I don't like my job status being such a source of stress in my life. We're about 5 years away from being able to retire if we want to and that's a much more satisfying feeling than anything else.
@@dontbanmebrodontbanme5403 You're not 5 years from retiring. Thinking like that is just going to disappoint you when the asset markets crash.
Who wouldn't' want to escape the toxicity of today's workplace environment? With the gossips, favoritism, microaggressions, evil managers, throwing people under the bus, etc.. I will take remote work over in-person work any day.
EXACTLY
I agree with you. I'm the one of these corporation worker as I can tell ones you mention above are going rampant in our work place. We used to have almost 100 peoples working on our floor but now the company forced us to come back to work after two years work from home & we now have a little more than 50 peoples are working. The most of the emplyoees were never come back to work or took early retirement.
They are doing exactly the same thing to you it’s just that you don’t see it because you are remote!
Bingo
Exactly!
im a college student and i only search for jobs that are fully remote. when i had a job over the summer in office, half of it was just me sitting there because i'd finish my work in a few hours. also as an introvert im fine working from home
My team showed higher productivity working fully remote, but our firm is still pushing for us to be in the office part time. That’s just 2 days a week in the office, but those 2 days are less productive, require the commute, dressing in less comfy clothes, packing lunches ahead of time. I know those are things that people have always done, but they seem absolutely pointless now knowing how much better we performed and balanced our lives at home.
when some people are in the office, you see more away yellow lights from walking around and talking to others. Taking walks, going to the water cooler, walking to the cafeteria, back to the cube/office just to talk to someone again. Not very productive.
Being able to work from home in Ohio for the last two years has not only saved me money, it's saved me time from commuting, especially in the winter. Once my company changed to a hybrid schedule I was upset. I would literally go into work, finish my job within a few hours and literally had nothing to do the rest of the time. I have since found a new job that is fully remote. I am no longer wasting my life doing nothing when I have no work to do. I can accomplish 10x in a day if I am in the comfort of my own home.
Where do you work? I've been looking for remote work but am struggling to find a legitimate employer.
Well put! Same situation for me as well.
I'm curious too
Exactly!!!
I feel this so much. I cannot tolerate the "nothing to do" periods of time.
I've been managing a remote department for over a year now. It takes effort to maintain alignment on our goals. This business of people not being able to collaborate when working remotely is nonsense. We all utilize Microsoft teams to "Ping" someone and quickly chat about a topic. (Just like we do in our corporate office.)
I work remotely. My son works remotely. My DIL works remotely. We love it. Our employers love it. It’s a win win situation. We feel valued by our employers because we get to choose where we want to live.
Where do you all work? Are they hiring?
@@KatarinaS. hire me! Lol
Working in the office made me really hate my job, and is quite frankly depressing. You're not meant to be put in a cube for 8 hours a day, and listening to others talk about how they hate their job/life. WFH actually made working enjoyable and fun. In fact, I would argue that it's the lazy employees that want to go back to the office, since they can simply portray themselves as working from merely being physically present.
Agree
no you're meant to sit in front of computer for 8 hours a day at home.
Yes. Exactly. I’ve found people are more productive from home because, like you said, when people are in the office they seem to feel like they’re earning their paycheck just by being there.
Agree! Management said they could tell who was productive and who wasn’t. Well, if that is the case they should have called those employees in! Simple mathematics! Sad.
Bingo! Copious research already showed in-office employees only spend about 5 hours to actually work. The rest of the hours is filled with social chats by the water cooler or chilling out at a colleague's cubicle.
I retired from a corporate environment over 20 years ago. Believe me, socializing with co-workers was definitely not something I wanted. I worked with these people all week long. My off time was for family and friends and my own time to myself -- period.
Well said.😊💯💯💯
Exactly
Thank you!
Funny how the only ones who believe in offices still are those who have financial ties to office real estate.
And the local residential real estate market.
Another good point! That’s what it is really about! These companies had building plans in the works prepandemic and they are tied to see those plans through.
Even though they had cut their own utilities usage in half and contributed to cleaner air, that doesn’t matter to corporate.
Or love Trump.
These companies don’t care about our rent or mortgages when they fire or lay us off, so why should we care about theirs?
@@pushslice no not really. My company (bosses) are very conservative but my department has been allowed to do semi- hybrid. We only come in 2 days every other week for teamwork meetings. The space is there if we need to meet up outside of that but so far it’s been rare. They are just like if you keep productivity up we don’t care where you work as long as it’s good.
This has been my career for 20 years and it’s so much better than to be stuck in an office with a bunch of gossipy, rude, busybodies. Working from home is not playtime, if anything, it’s work harder to prove yourself. Employers get better employees with happy employees.
Hey Amy check out Alejandro above. He is basically saying you're lying and all homeworkers are lazy! I'm with you!
When leaders and/or managers make their people work in an office (scope being office workers/computer workers) they are doing it for themselves not for their people. If they are putting their people first they give them the option that makes their employees' lives the most fulfilled.
That would be better for the environment, and for the people who can't work remotely. I don't get it.
I honestly don't understand why they wouldn't let people remain remote or at the very least set policies to handle the remote work so it can work like being in the office. There's only two reasons I can think of for remote work to be a hindrance. The first is immediate collaboration, when in the office its much easier to find a fellow employee or supervisor when you have an issue and you can get immediate feedback on that. My understand of remote work is you might not have someone available 100% of the time or they might not respond right away if you're communicating via text (apps like slack or teams etc). The other issue isn't in favor of the employee and its so that the supervisors have more of a sense of control of what's going on in the workplace.
Remote work is the future. Why have people commute and then work in cubes. Mentoring and collaboration in the office is BS. Office buildings are a waste and drain resources that can be used elsewhere. Turn office building into residential spaces like they are doing into LA.
Yes, I totally agree💯
This is hilarious… I have not seen one comment saying that they enjoy working in the office. I have worked remotely since 2009 and it has made my life so much more enjoyable. It is exhausting commuting to a job every morning… Showering… Putting on an expensive outfit… Paying for a lunch during your lunch break… Having to listen to your cubicle neighbors crunching on their Doritos….Avoiding the creepy guy that keeps staring at you when you get out of your seat. It is absolute heaven rolling out of bed in your pajamas and logging in without distractions for eight hours. How can anyone be more productive sitting in a cubicle? It just doesn’t make sense. I gotta say the ONLY positive that came out of Covid was people realizing that work at home made sense.
@Hol Bol - I would quit a job that allows me to work remotely or where the higher-ups are rarely in the office. Making personal connections with the decision-makers will eventually get you ahead because once you reach a certain level, it's the only way to stand out. They'll know you're one of the smart ones because of it, who is capable of bigger and better things then looking down tapping at a keyboard all day. Plus, working in an office in a big city is a great way to make connections all over the place, not just within the business that employs you. It's terrifically exciting and done right, immensely rewarding.
@@willardchi2571 Every job type is different with their built in characteristics and requirements. Your description of the classic corporate latter climber will be true for the employee working in a company interested in advancing up that latter. But not everyone wants to play that game. There is, and there always have been, employees who want to work in a more balanced environment where they can have more flexibility especially if they have growing families or are single parents. This has always been a major concern workers in the US have because of the lack of quality child care across the board. Times have changed now post pandemic and companies need to adapt just as much as they keep demanding that their employees adapt. Not everyone can or even want to climb up the corporate latter, especially now that so many have seen and experienced how they can have a balance of lifestyle and work really for the first time in the history of this country. A radical but necessary change from the traditional corporate business model which is long overdue.
If you are single and alone work from home is not good
Amen on the creepy coworkers. When I work from home, no one comments on how my clothes fit today, how many times I used the restroom, what is in my water bottle, who microwaved what smelly thing.... now I interact as needed and it is a thousand times more comfortable.
basically a shy and introverted person like me, this is heaven on earth lol. I'm more productive at home then the office too!
I turned down two jobs because they wanted me in on a mandatory schedule of 3 (or more) days a week, so I waited and went with a company that has reduced their office space down to one floor in a building and offers us to come into the office as much or as little as we wish by reserving a desk. In my decade experience of work I have never seen the “collaboration” these companies yearn for. Everyone is busy, everyone is running in and out of meetings, everyone has their own life they’re trying to manage on top of that.
Everyone is texting as they walk down the halls. There’s no social interaction at work other than toxic cliques. Millennials don’t even make eye contact and say “good morning”.
Very well said.
My office lost about 15% of our employees due to a mandatory return to the office. After a year and a half, lives changed. We’re hybrid now but to add perspective, while remote, the company easily got an extra 2 hours of work each day from us.
Our new space is reminiscent of a makeshift call center - open-air, loud, noisy and farm-like. We’d figured out early on that the return wasn’t about getting work done, but ensuring executives would stay employed.
The plus side for me is after my return, I’ve been much more reserved, I don’t engage as much (so I’m left out of the typical workplace BS), I’m better focused, less emotional and as long as I get what was agreed upon during my hire, I don’t question or have input. I’m the employee companies would love to have, but can’t afford to admit it out loud.
Currently I work two weeks at home; one week in the office. For those two weeks at home, my car rarely moves out of the driveway and I’m cool with that.
Even if it was two week in person, two weeks at home, I could see that making a big difference in quality of life and getting things done.
I just started working remotely, it has been instrumental in allowing me as a single mom to care for my daughter if she is sick without missing work and a day out of my paycheck. Also, it lowers my stress being home with my dog. There are just too many benefits to remote work.
Save $ on gasoline
Save $ on food costs
Lower childcare costs
Chores done early
Dinner ready at a decent hour
Lower stress
No gossiping or office drama
The list goes on and on...
"No gossiping or office drama" and "Chores done early". Two big pluses for me, too. Plus you get to take care of your child. The list really does go one.
The no office drama is huge.
Getting more sleep
More time and energy for exercise and recreation
Taking care of your own children instead of paying strangers to do it
More time to make healthier homemade meals
More time to keep a tidy house
Ability to go to your kids special events no matter what day or time they are
Not having to spend all day 5x/week with people you don't particularly like
Feeling less harried and pulled in opposing directions
Better health and well being
I could go on
WFH is everything. It’s really wild that we have been conditioned to go into an office M-F 9-5 when we have technology… it’s such a game. Folks wanna control their people smh
It is always the managers who think people should go back. They want to keep employees under their thumbs and watch them like hawks. They miss having control over others. Company I work for gave us a choice and no one in my department voted to go back to the office. I love working from home and I cannot stand the idea of ever going back
Only time I go back is to have meetings/brainstorm and then disperse again, 2-3 times a week. Those meetings are so laid back and at the same time so much more work has been done. It's better for those relationships, IMO. We actually enjoy each others company and get together at least once a month outside of work. Pre-COVID, none of that was happening. The pandemic really made us evaluate what matters. That compact environment impedes productivity and rapport. It pretty much programs us to treat each other like pieces of machinery, not human beings. I am utterly ashamed of myself that I used to look at people who work from home like they had three heads.....they figured it out a long time ago
Offices are so craptastic even with all the bells and whistles and perks of a modern office. Can't stand the compulsory socializing with people I would never want to know in the first place
💯. Like those people actually gave a crap about you outside the office
I really feel for that AT&T employee. 30 years of hard work and loyalty to them, proved she can do her job from home, and the thanks she gets is to have to go back into a crowded office. I hope she takes her talent elsewhere.
After 30 yrs who wants to start over elsewhere? I do think she should absolutely be able to work WFH ...at least a hybrid schedule if not FT.
It is definitely a thought, but to have put in so many hours and years to get to a point where you have to make a rash decision it becomes so overwhelming because I have to think of the future of my 3 year old and also taking care of my mom living with me. It is a struggle within myself daily. My emotions and anxiety have been on high ever since the return into and overcrowded office in April 2022.
@V WILSON - It is overwhelming, and I really feel bad for you and for anyone whose employer has put them in such a situation. I just think after 30 years of service, they could and should show their appreciation by allowing you to continue to work from home. Employers don't seem to realize that happy employees are going to be more productive and will remain loyal, and that allowing someone who wants to work from home to do so doesn't cost them a dime. So, here's to hoping AT&T realizes that!😊
AND a HUGE benefit to remote work is less traffic, less pollution, not spending hours commuting every week...
My husband works in a startup that is 100% remote since the pandemic that ironically started that way before the lockdown....they plan to stay that way since the founders also like the flexibility with just 1-2 meetups a year...where they just get together...go to a restaurant and drink just to "hang out". Overall, it's his first startup that actually is cash positive and everyone is pleasant to work with he says. He loves how you can hire talent anywhere, do whatever you need to during the day, can do meetings anywhere...it's a balanced life and if he had to find another work, it's easy because he specifically will only request remote openings again from a recruiter.
But he’s missing out on workplace romances!!!
Whats the company name, and are they hiring?
@@qwonchiak9090 Yes, that's definitely a good question.
@@lewstone5430 🤣🤣🤣
American workers are the most disrespected, disregarded, overworked and never appreciated! I love working from home. It’s literally saving my life.
The mandatory drives to “the office” have been increasingly spiking carbon pollution for decades.
you pushing that old bullcrap hoax of Fat Al Gore. Not one of his predictions has come true.
Yes it has, Old Uncle Bob. But they don't give a crap about pollution. They won't care until the global tsunami wave is heading toward them, at which point they'll scream, "What TF is happening???!!!!"
We need to shift our general perception of the "commute" as a weighty fact of life that should be shouldred by the employee, to one where the companies that profit from our time bear the burden. The time it takes to get to the job site is time that is donated to the business.
When housing prices make living close to work nearly impossible, that 2 hours a day adds up to thirteen 40 hour weeks., or more than three months. It is insane that businesses that are primarily computer based are not *majority* WFH. Downtowns could be reshaped into viable communities instead of office tower canyons.
100%
I basically treat it like this when I’m asked to come into the office. Enjoy your 4 hours of me because I’m taking my lunch off-site when I’m in the office.
The mainstream work week made me super depressed, angry, miserable. Now that I choose my schedule, I'm finally content again! I'll *NEVER* do the early hours, commute or pretending to like coworkers ever again. It's literally a life in shackles!
🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾
Preach it to the rafters
“Pretending to like coworkers” 🤣🤣🤣 I know exactly what you mean. Arguably the most difficult aspect of office culture.
I’d rather cultivate my social life through activities that align with my interests and with people of my choosing, not people I am forced to share a work space with.
Some of our offices are just a place to go in and get on a computer all day to do our jobs, and we can do it perfectly fine from home. So yes, some corporations shouldn't have a problem with full time work from home. Wasn't that the big dream of the internet 20 years ago?
It makes it even worse when you have been forced back into the office everyday and are still working from a laptop versus the desktop system. Makes no sense. Where is the logic?
Companies that allow 100% remote work will attract the best employees and will probe able to offer a slight decrease in pay rate. Employees who work from home don’t quit bc it’s a benefit to work from home and not have to deal with shty coworkers.
When you look into the cost of everything you are spending on a daily basis driving into an office you have already taken a pay cut. Ex: gas prices - any where from $300+ a month extra than before; food increased monthly bill $500, then if you have to pay for parking, bus and/or train fares, road rolls, increased daycare or adult care, lunch (these are just some figures for what I know of. Some may be more depending on the size of your vehicle and how many kids one may have). And let's not for now the extra expenses for doctor and counseling bills that are now also becoming a big factor in order for individuals to be able to get assistance with the stress and anxiety just to make it through their day.
I do think remote work will boost the *housing market.* Ppl will move to more affordable locations with a decent backyard.
I used to get really bad migraines from driving to and from work in Washington, D.C. traffic. Those who know, know it's really stressful. Working from home allows employees to go above and beyond and not stressed out.
I also get migraines from everyone’s scented products in the office.
DC traffic is horrible, much better to work at home.
@@genxx2724 OMG a the overcooked popcorn takes me out every time.
There is literally no point in forcing people back to the office 🙄 This entire pandemic proved that everyone can wfh
Really? So plumbers and electricians can also wfh? This is a white collar thing.
Many, maybe even most, office jobs can be WFH, but someone has to make and deliver the stuff you need to live. But for the jobs that *can* be done from home, WFH should be the default, not the exception.
@@LIFEwithBAVAN the support staff can WFH, booking appointments etc
No not all jobs can be done from home
'You absolutely have to come into the office' Says every single ineffective leader.
Working from home for the past two years has been life changing !
It's absolutely ridiculous to cause people to go into an office when the job can be done remotely from home. Look at how clean the air got in California when we were on lockdown and there were few cars on the streets. With global warming, I think as many people who can work from home should work from home. Any CEO reading this needs to understand that this is the future, not the office.
But what about all of the commercial real estate they need to lease? Ha!
Exactly !!! This is total BS from real estate mongols who are loosing cash by the billions with empty office spaces not being used. That's what this is about.
Also, driving is BY FAR the most dangerous thing we do in our lives.
Yes! I want to work from home and if all this Global Warming B.S. can finally play into my favor then... So be it!
I agree. Office leasers and management need to be realistic otherwise they’ll loose great talent that can contribute fine remotely. We’ve been doing it for years
I quit my job that was forcing us into the office and found something remote and they pay for childcare. My new company reimburse for childcare, after-school, and summer camp. I don't know why I stayed with my previous company for so long. There are better companies out there don't be afraid to make that move.
I find it truly head-scratching that so many tech companies (like Google and the aforementioned ATT) have decided that employees have to be back in the office full-time. As the woman at ATT said "we've been doing the work and doing it well remotely for the past 2 yrs!" I spent my career in clinical (pharmaceutical) research, as a member of the small army of ppl who travel (50%+), making regular visits to sites conducting the research. Fortunately, the industry realized abt 25-30 yrs ago that we folks could be home based: at least half the time you're traveling, and the remainder of the time you're writing trip reports and doing other administrative tasks. It's a win-win situation: you live in the region where you're traveling (not to mention no commute, minimal office politics, etc), and your employer has reduced travel costs, needs less office space, etc. Of course, there were the weekly project conference calls (3-4 hrs. worth some Fridays 😝), and endless emails on a daily basis, so you always felt "connected", but remote work, or a hybrid of remote/office, is the only way to go for many industries!!
We had 70% turnover within a year since the company started asking people to return to the office.
The challenge of WFH is many older managers are not savvy in using digital tools to measure/oversee staff performance effectively; and new hires don’t know enough on how to communicate effectively via digital tools or “see” how hardworking others are.
A hybrid model (1-2 days/wk in office) might be the best and companies should offer more flexibilities to WFH for more skilled/productive employees as a reward.
70%? Wow, goodness.
We do 2 days in the office, which is nice. Thing is, if all your workers do the job from home for 2 years, telling them that they need to come in is clearly not in their interests. I wouldn’t mind a 3rd day. 4 or 5 seems like… why?
Remote work is not a new thing. Its just that most people doing the work @ home positions before covid were licensed, highly skilled employees. Remote work is not for everyone: many people are too irresponsible to work at home effectively. Many have poor time management skills, aren’t self-starters or are just plain lazy. Remote positions need to be earned. Some big corporations who started this WAH practice years ago use it carefully and if an employee fails to meet certain standards is pulled back into the office. WAH should be a reward for hard-working employees; not a “right.”
I program for a living and work from home 100% of the time. Hybrid makes no sense to me, unless you tell everyone they have to come in on the same days. Otherwise, you have people showing up and no one is there. You could have done that at home.
And as for managers not knowing how to measure worker performance, I just don't understand that. You give your employee a job to get done during standup on Monday. You're kind of hoping they get it done by Friday. On Thursday, they say, "Done, what's next?" THERE, you've just measured their productivity! This has nothing to do with measuring productivity and everything to do with control. They want to be able to watch you. They want to see butts in the seats. It doesn't matter whether or not you're actually getting work done. They just enjoy looking at you, the product they bought!
@@dontbanmebrodontbanme5403 Yep, working in the office is dumb. If management forces the "return to the office or else", the workers who can quit and go somewhere else, will quit, leaving behind those employees who can't quit.
Maybe tear down a huge building and build a park with lots of trees
Imagine all those office spaces being turned into housing units- best of both worlds
My employer has mostly remote workers and I LOVE working from home.
Biggest benefit of working remote. You don't have to endure the bathrooms at the office, especially after lunch.
And cheap toilet paper 😂😂😂
I would be happy to work at home. The office sucks with all the gossip, politics, and showboating. The aforementioned are at the core of "corporate culture"
Many of us use the time commuting for taking a walk or hitting the gym or getting couple of more hours of sleep. This improves ones health resulting in better quality of life. This aspect is never discussed by employers....
All my team members are out of state but my employer insists in going to office twice a week to do the exact thing I do at home.
Same!
I have been working remote for 15 years. I have done amazing things remotely. Them calling workers back to the office is all about CEOs needing power and control. It's been proven that productivity did not suffer as a part of work from home culture during COVID. SMH. What does it cost corporations to keep their employees happy in this way? Absolutely nothing. They can save tons of money on buildings, electricity, telecom. My company does not pay for my phone or internet but I'm happy as a clam. If the job can be done remotely let people work remotely. SMH.
I couldn’t care less where you work from, just get your work done!
-Our office boss
👍🏼
Common sense.
Nothing more needs to be said
I was fortunate enough to keep my job throughout the pandemic and didn’t miss a single day. But I had to go into work every day because I am considered essential. Hearing about people working remotely for 2+ years sounds so foreign to me.
Same here. I have a job that cannot be done remotely and do not have the skills needed for remote work. I would love for my daily commute to be a short walk to my desk instead of a half hour drive.
Totally agree with you. My wife and I still have to do our job manually...which means actually going to work. I run a small business, but, if I ran these companies I would farm talent from overseas and downsize my company to reduce costs. They could save millions of dollars on lease costs alone...maybe billions for larger companies. Once one company does it they all will have to follow or be left in the dust.
Yelp has it right! ATT get a clue! I work 100,%remote and I love it and appreciate my employer.
I worked at AT&T for 18 years and they laid me off when the pandemic hit, I was going to apply to get back on but after working completely remote for other companies I chose not to because I knew they would not be for remote work, I currently work for JPMORGAN working the hybrid model, love it
You made the right choice
My company sent us all home March 2020. They decided to keep us all at home by May. They let go of their building and gave us all raises.
It took a while but I (with the exception of two people) don’t miss any of my coworkers. I see them all on teams chat, but I do not miss any of the inter-office politics. The office is basically a grown-up version of high school with various clicks. I’ve saved money working from home and am happier.
A few of my other coworkers have gone on to other jobs making more money, which is good for them. However I’ve been with the company so long, that I have not been able to find a job that offers me more money. #1stworldproblem
@Hugo Ironically I went to college to become a legal secretary. I did work as a court clerk, but I should’ve packed nicer judges. I make more money now than I did as a court clerk
In some big cities workers don’t even feel safe going back to the office. The walk from a bus or train station to an office building can be scary in some cities. If CEO’s really want workers to come back to the office they will have to address this. Also many office environments are drab and sterile…if you want workers to come back make it a better place to be. Bottom line is a lot of CEO’s don’t understand how much the world has changed. They are used to laying down the law and having people comply. Those days are gone, at least in many industries.
Yelp deserves an EXCELLENT review on Yelp. 👍
They won't be around in 5 years
@@KK-pm7ud That long? 🤣
Why does it bother people commenting that companies allow at home work or that people want to? Get a life……seriously how miserable are you that this bothers you?
Their life IS complaining and worrying about other people's lives that have nothing to do with them. 😆
After working from home a year and 4 months, I didn't want to go back. Mainly because I have to take 2 buses and a long walk going to and from work every day. They made us go back 3 days a week and working at home 2 days a week. I begged to work at home 3 days a week and in the office 2 days a week. They wouldn't budge. I'm 65 and have been dealing with the commute for decades. I was burning out so I decided to retire after 27.5 years. I plan on going back to work part-time.
Since many companies will be permanently remote, there will be lots of commercial real estate sitting vacant. How fortuitous, since we have an affordable housing and homelessness crisis.
Convert the empty offices to low cost housing!
This is a win-win-win situation!
Being "on site" a few days a week means I can't live where I want to live.
I thing some managers or ceos like the feeling of power so having everyone go to the office and get that attention makes them feel some type of way to MOTIVATE THEM. WFH is the best
With still way-too-high gas prices there’s no sense in commuting. Plus it kills the environment. Flourescent lighting, bad air quality (sick building syndrome), basically…cubicles are shackles. Remote makes more sense, have office days for those who want them. But people are fed up with the old ways that make no sense & do not foster work/life balance.
I enjoyed working with co-workers, however I've never been into the stress and times of commuting. Too many variables on the roads, times, traffic, road rages and gas, most of all the cost of stress and strains of the drive. If it a long commute, the drive tired you out by the time you get to the office.
But it's NOT a crazy idea, it's a no-brainer. Working from home works.
The internet made it possible.
@@yvonneplant9434 Precisely!
I work in construction so I can't work at home lol. I build infrastructure to keep society functional.
I can tell you're not in management
@tiki98 I know thanks.
It’s waste of space and energy to make people leave their houses to be housed elsewhere for no good reason. It lowers business overhead significantly not just for running cost of the office space but in less insurance cost! What is needed now are tax breaks for remote work, further supported by reimbursement/provision by employers for office furniture and equipment and stringent regulations with penalties that force employers to adhere to breaks and working hour communications (like Germany has). Many people working remotely are putting in many more hours than is reasonable and not everyone has the physical living space to create the healthy separation between work and life. Not everyone can afford to turn on the AC during the day during peak hours but offices with no employees in them are saving a ton turning off the AC and heating because they are vacant. You also need to pay people who must do on site work differently with a differential that covers mileage, wear and tear and hazard pay for exposure to covid. Empty office building can absolutely be converted to house the homeless! We need to think outside the “norm” on this one and asking people to “get back to the office” is not only old thinking it’s actually wasteful. Let’s support this efficient strategy and direct funds to workers who are able to stay home, stop driving around and utilize resources unnecessarily.
The last thing the owners and so called managers want is convenience for all.
They'd much prefer you spend countless hours in traffic and being in a noisy stressful environment of crowded cubicles amongst people you wish would disappear.
Yep, believe it or not they care more about putting people in unnecessary pain than productivity. And so they will come up with all kinds of BS excuses. 😶
Amen to that
Driving to work gave me anxiety people drive like race car drivers. Glad to be 90% working from home 10% in the office if I need to go in.
The quote at the end of "we've been doing work from the office for 100+ years" is really poignant. Just because we've been doing something for a long time, doesn't mean that it is the best option available to us as a society. Otherwise, I will ride my horse into the office and use my telegraph to communicate to my co-workers and customers....just like we've done for 100+ years. I may even bring my stone tablet and chisel in for note taking, we've used that tool for thousands of years.
At its most basic level, working remote is a time saver and good for the environment. I'd like to see an end to the Great American Commute.
I’m a business owner. I closed my office in 2017 and set all my employees up to work from home. It was a bit of heavy lifting at the beginning but we were “old hat” by the time COVID forced a shutdown. Our biggest challenge was figuring out how to keep our employees with kids doing remote learning at home productive. So we went to split shifts so those folks could work at night or weekends to get their work done. Business owners should be able to trust their employees and have faith in their abilities. Working from home also helps the environment by keeping cars off the road!
The truth is that many of the companies have expensive and extensive lease agreements that cannot be broken without a substantial penalty. They make those agreements sometimes a year or more in advance. Also, a lot of those high-rise buildings are owned by pension funds because they were long considered low risks. That is a huge future problem if they can't get bodies in buildings.
And you get to avoid the nasty after affects of other people in the bathroom, people drinking all the coffee you made, stealing your lunch. Collaboration can happen just fine without the whole open office bs concept. REMOTE WORK FOREVER.
Friday I bought a can of Coke from the hot dog lady in front of our building and stuck it in the office fridge. At 2:30pm I went to retrieve it and it was gone! I spied an open Coke can on my coworkers desk. I didn't raise a fuss, but that is the first time that has happened to me.
@@KarlDahlquist I know some places are starting to place cameras in their office breakrooms because of this issue.
@@KarlDahlquist Ugh so sorry. Yeah nothing is safe.
30 years of service and no respect from AT&T. Shame on AT&T.
I'm tired of telecommuting being framed as working in your pajamas. I'm sure that's what some people do, but that description is used to make the situation seem more leisurely and relaxed than the reality for many people.
Working remotely definitely improves my everyday life and health. Not to mention the amount of money I save from my commute and rent. I just go back to my town and have a comfortable life.
Any company that forces employees back to the office should be responsible for covering their full commuting expenses, lunch, and those hours spent on the road should also be covered for them. Employees have been abused for years. Here we have a clear experiment that clearly works. Before the pandemic I never once brought a report physically to any stakeholder. Ever. You email it!
Which can be done from the office, your room, the bathroom, or some random islands with wifi.
I'm finally in a company that allows us to work 100% remote, they call it work from anywhere. We're doing software, it only makes sense. I'm saving a ton of money and I'm more effective. The Yelp CEO is smart. Less foot print = more $ saved. Productivity DOES go up. It IS the future of work.
Maybe it is time to get rid of "corporate culture". Move forward in a better way, if jobs could be done remotely for two years, there is no reason to go back in office. I work for a call center, zero reason to be in office. My mental health is better when wfh, I am not subjected to the perfumes and chemicals that make me sick, not subjected to office politics, not subjected to commuting, office clothes. I spend my breaks and lunch playing with my puppers. I am happier.
Can’t believe “corporate culture” is seen as a pro
I love how stupid the people pushing workers back in to the office think the rest of us are. We all saw how working from home was better for the reasons cited here, not to mention the fact that it has worked for over 24 months. The ones pushing an office setting are mainly those with their own selfish agenda who thrive on toxicity & having things their way. And there will always be back stabbing & conflict-work is still life. But at home it is not in your face for 8 hours a day with a commute and the price of gas adding to your stress level. There are plenty of remote jobs now out there. If you want one it is for the taking. Don't fall for the "or else" bullying tactics.
It's actually better for working relationships because when we do get together for meetings/brainstorming etc. we're refreshed, our batteries are re-charged and we actually enjoy each other's company more. That's my experience anyway....previous years, it hasn't been that way....forget productivity.....that's just soared
@@rampageclover9788 Of course it soared. Hence the stupidity not to mention falsehoods in the other side's arguments. Like I wrote, it's their agenda, not what is best for everyone.
Working from home is always a good idea to keep people productive, and it looks just like at the office.
Have worked from home since March 2020. So many benefits. Less office politics, no struggles with one co worker freezing while the rest of the cubes are too hot. Able to open a window and get fresh air. No commute. It benefits my employer also. Minimal heating & cooling in the remaining office space, less coffee, snacks for meetings, less toilet paper, paper towels, tissues. Less cleaning, garbage. We were switching to more remote meetings even before the pandemic. Instead of 3-4 people in a meeting, multiple people from many of our locations could meet remotely via Zoom. It is great when we can meet face to face, but if someone has to drive 200 miles for a 2 hour meeting, that’s a lot of cost and productivity lost.
Remote work = Safer and quieter environment, better lighting, better seating, better air quality, less discrimination, high productivity, no commuting for 4+ hours daily, space for thinking and collaborating, less water cooler gossip, greater work-life balance, better diet options, etc.
The only people wanting employees back in the office is upper management and that's because their job is to harass others. Easier to do in person.
Investors in commercial real-estate also want physical return for obvious reasons. 😶
some companies don't want to pay for empty buildings and others have little trust in their employees, remote work works for some but not others. it should be up to the employees to decide if they can work remotely or not. as long as the work is being done and done correctly, remote work is ideal overall.
great to see the Yelp CEO so upbeat & sending a positive message that companies should just do it & not look back!
I had to go back into to the office 5 days a week to sit on zoom all day yet they let administrators work remotely several days a week. I was miserable so decided to take a paycut and work primarily remote for another company and have never been happier.
The fact that during the pandemic there were news stories about how the environment was benefitting is a huge factor for me. The savings on fuel and childcare in some instances is enough to benefit most families. Finally you would think Big Business would be thrilled to save millions of dollars spent on renting and maintaining office space but it seems as though shooting themselves in the foot is preferable... Go figure 🤷♀️
Not necessary. Especially for experienced workers. Retention would be an issue and production would drop. Once you give remote work available, it is tough to take it back. Just reality.
ATT being unreasonable? NOT surprising!
I think companies who think we must come back to office are not progressive enough. As a recruiter; I see more candidates requesting remote ! I think employees should congregate in the office only when there is a reason to be there.
AT&T has the opportunity to do right by their employees. We're paying attention to these decisions....
Classic case of companies being n blinkers regarding a seismic, dramatic paradigm shift in how work actually gets accomplished. Many will see top talent leave. They will not have senior staff who ‘came up through the ranks’ to mentor young recent graduates. Companies that aren’t flexible will fold or be greatly diminished. AT&T, take note. Did none of y’all study the first dotcom bubble explosion of the 90’s?! Cautionary tale there.
We are living in an unprecedented time for the workforce. Management being FORCED to realize the trench workers actually know more about their customers and product than they do, that workers can produce just as effectively in most fields as they can by coming into an office, workers demanding realistic pay/workload, intolerance of sexual harassment, office politics reduced to ash because productivity is suddenly the only metric. Pay attention, corporate giants.
I have worked from home part of the time since March 2020. I hope I can continue working in this manner.
Property Management firms hate it. Less office space to lease. ☺️
When the pandemic hit Las year. The childcare center I worked for started offering Zoom sessions for the children enrolled. It was a way for them to see their favorite teachers and their friends again.
The big disconnect here is pretty easy to see. If you're the "boss" who calls people into meetings, then you get a sense of empowerment from being in office. If you' the one who gets called into no-notice meetings, then you don't stand to benefit from being in the office. With the right employees, remote work is far more efficient not just for the employee but for the company.
These companies have to be saving money without these crazy NYC rents.
Real estate companies are probably pressuring the government into pressuring the companies into pressuring employees back to work. You know everything is about $$$.
I work for my town government at an agency where my role is to interact with and to assist the public with accessing our services. I went to graduate school to work in my specific profession. I am no longer comfortable with contact with the public due to CV and monkey pox and any other outbreaks of “new” illness-causing contagions. I am eligible to retire in about 3 yrs, when I turn 62, but I wish I could leave sooner, bec my agency dropped the mask mandate making it optimal. I find that when I am assisting ppl and I explain that I want to maintain social distance while assisting them, I get impatience, eye-rolling and attitude. I realize that a lot of ppl are completely “over” CV. I am not and though fully vaxxed and bolstered, im still terrified of contracting it as this week my mother, who has had the shot 4-times, contracted the virus in a nursing home where she shared a large room with a bedridden patient. There isn’t anything in the room that my mother and her roommate both touch, yet my mother has cv from sharing a room with her!
If I can find a way to leave my job before eligibility for retirement, I’m going to leave.
95% of our company went remote in March 2020. While some departments are still working remote, others who are required to interact with our clients frequently went back in late 2020/early 2021. I was able to get permission to move out of state and WFH permanently provided I go back to the office every quarter for a check-in. Between parking at the office and gas I am saving about $500/month.
Getting back together with co-workers from my department as well as the entire office are amazing and evoke days of in-person teamwork. However, we have been able to pull off the same teamwork with the advent of Zoom, Microsoft Teams and other online programs that allow us to store our files in the cloud. Plus, it gives our company the opportunity to hire more client-facing employees to occupy the seats of those who no longer come into the office.
Bottom line: With the right company, working from home full-time can be done. I give an enormous amount of credit to our IT department for not only allowing us the ability to work from home at the beginning of the pandemic but also being able to do so going forward be it in a part-time or full-time capacity, with other departments having the flexibility to do so on a case-by-case basis.
I agree with you, but when you are in the technical field but all of your work is done over the computer and you are not customer facing, there is no good reason to have the workers in that office space daily, but a power move. It is so depressing.