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personally I go to the office every day even though I have a long commute. I hate working from home. Mandates for RTO don’t universally make the job worse. Of c

personally I go to the office every day even though I have a long commute. I hate working from home. Mandates for RTO don’t universally make the job worse. Of course I acknowledge it does for some people but not everyone.

danielbln 2y ago
Your comment would be more informative if you were to actually tell why you hate working from home, what about the office makes it worth the long commute etc.
- pjc50 2y ago
  Plenty of people don't have good spaces to work at home and it's actually quieter at their office. Of course, there's also people in the other direction.
- xyx0826 2y ago
  My job involves 60% writing software and 40% testing with hardware. I work about 5% of my days from home, when I’m sick or have other obligations. I don’t have the space, time or incentive to set up a home office in the place I live. This unfortunately means all the stuff around me become distractions. I find it harder to sustain long work sessions at home. I miss having quick chats with coworkers by their desk. Sometimes I hit an issue and all I need is a 30-second talk with the dev 2 aisles over. And it’s mutual: I find these quick chats great for helping folks out and keeping myself in the loop. Instant messaging is not an adequate substitute. And lastly this is tied to my work and company policies but usually I can only access test hardware at the office, due to logistics or confidentiality.
saagarjha 2y ago
They absolutely do, because they're mandates. If you want to work from the office you are more than welcome to do so, and nobody here is telling you to stop doing that.
- jprete 2y ago
  Working from the office gets more useful when more people do it, because of easier communication with teammates, so mandates can absolutely make the work environment better for someone who wants to work in the office.
  - HPsquared 2y ago
    Not worth the cost. If I want to talk to someone I'll screen share, it's better than going to their desk anyway.
  - willcipriano 2y ago
    I wouldn't hire someone who wants to work in a office if they gave me this explanation, sounds like they really lean on the other team members to get day to day work done and probably struggle working independently.
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
    - charlie0 2y ago
      I have some doubt as to how much work extroverts get done, especially if the office is full of them.
  - PillCosby 2y ago
    ” easier communication with teammates" for some people this is true.
coldpie 2y ago
I also hate WFH and go in every day even though my company allows full WFH, but RTO mandates suck. The WFH option means the only people who come in, are the people who want to be there. It makes the experience much more pleasant (and less crowded!). I think it'd be nice if more people chose to come in, and I support making changes so more people choose to do that (travel compensation, free child care, more private offices & cubes). But a mandate only makes it worse for everyone.
- Aeolun 2y ago
  Being in the office is only nice if it’s not crowded. Having 40-50% occupancy is the sweet spot for me. Any higher and I’ll autocorrect to working from home.
  - kkfx 2y ago
    Allow me a small observation: people is not in office or WFH for pleasure, well, at least in most case, but because they need to work, even most talented who in general like they jobs have to accept many not so pleasant aspects of them. This to say a thing: it's not viable stating "allow those who want the office or WFH individually decide", it's simply too costly for a company, that's why office spaces are often crowded, because being larger cost much more. So, if a company decide to go remote it MUST go remote PERIOD, if a company decide to have offices it must use them, there is no point in Zoom-in from the office because some coworkers are at home or abroad. Long story short it's about time to admit that the need of the office is essentially ended, and for certain activities where it's still a thing there is no hybrid option. Companies mandating RTOs prove only to pursue external interests maybe of some inside the company against the interest of the company itself.
    - Aeolun 2y ago
      > it's simply too costly for a company, that's why office spaces are often crowded That’s nonsense. My company pays 25x more for my salary than the office space that houses me. Increasing the cost, or decreasing the utilization there is not going to move the needle. At least, not considering how much extra salary would be needed for me to accept working in an overcrowded office.
dt3ft 2y ago
Do you have small kids? Do you not like spending more time with them?
- 10u152 2y ago
  I’m not the person you’re replying to but I do. And absolutely yes, I do. When I work from the office I’m gone longer (maybe 1.5 hours a day) but I’m significantly more present when I’m at home. If I WFH I’ll spend the evening ducking back into my home office to send that email or check that document etc and my mind will be 50% thinking about work all evening. I like a hard cutoff, when I’m home my phone goes off and I’m 100% there for dinner, bath and story time.
  - thunky 2y ago
    > If I WFH I’ll spend the evening ducking back into my home office to send that email or check that document etc and my mind will be 50% thinking about work all evening If you can resist checking emails after your commute I'm sure that with some self discipline you could also do it without the commute. You're basically admitting that there is no good reason or expectation for you to be working after hours anyway.
    - vel0city 2y ago
      It's a state of mind thing, and I can easily fall into the same thing. When I predominantly work at the office, I can kind of compartmentalize my working mindset to that place. When I leave, I'm done, finished, checked out. Laptop closed, in a bag (or even left at the office). It takes actual effort to return to that state. When my office is just another room in the house, it's far easier to be stuck in that work mindset. The computer is all set up, it's just a quick password away to getting back exactly where you were when working. It's easy for me to think about a problem I was working on and easily slip back into it. Not so if I need to go grab my backpack, clear off a space for the work computer, hop back on, etc. During COVID I was in a small apartment. My office was my living room. It felt like I was just always in the office, always working, never at home.

danielbln 2y ago

Your comment would be more informative if you were to actually tell why you hate working from home, what about the office makes it worth the long commute etc.

pjc50 2y ago
Plenty of people don't have good spaces to work at home and it's actually quieter at their office. Of course, there's also people in the other direction.
xyx0826 2y ago
My job involves 60% writing software and 40% testing with hardware. I work about 5% of my days from home, when I’m sick or have other obligations. I don’t have the space, time or incentive to set up a home office in the place I live. This unfortunately means all the stuff around me become distractions. I find it harder to sustain long work sessions at home. I miss having quick chats with coworkers by their desk. Sometimes I hit an issue and all I need is a 30-second talk with the dev 2 aisles over. And it’s mutual: I find these quick chats great for helping folks out and keeping myself in the loop. Instant messaging is not an adequate substitute. And lastly this is tied to my work and company policies but usually I can only access test hardware at the office, due to logistics or confidentiality.

saagarjha 2y ago

They absolutely do, because they're mandates. If you want to work from the office you are more than welcome to do so, and nobody here is telling you to stop doing that.

jprete 2y ago
Working from the office gets more useful when more people do it, because of easier communication with teammates, so mandates can absolutely make the work environment better for someone who wants to work in the office.
- HPsquared 2y ago
  Not worth the cost. If I want to talk to someone I'll screen share, it's better than going to their desk anyway.
- willcipriano 2y ago
  I wouldn't hire someone who wants to work in a office if they gave me this explanation, sounds like they really lean on the other team members to get day to day work done and probably struggle working independently.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - charlie0 2y ago
    I have some doubt as to how much work extroverts get done, especially if the office is full of them.
- PillCosby 2y ago
  ” easier communication with teammates" for some people this is true.

coldpie 2y ago

I also hate WFH and go in every day even though my company allows full WFH, but RTO mandates suck. The WFH option means the only people who come in, are the people who want to be there. It makes the experience much more pleasant (and less crowded!). I think it'd be nice if more people chose to come in, and I support making changes so more people choose to do that (travel compensation, free child care, more private offices & cubes). But a mandate only makes it worse for everyone.

Aeolun 2y ago
Being in the office is only nice if it’s not crowded. Having 40-50% occupancy is the sweet spot for me. Any higher and I’ll autocorrect to working from home.
- kkfx 2y ago
  Allow me a small observation: people is not in office or WFH for pleasure, well, at least in most case, but because they need to work, even most talented who in general like they jobs have to accept many not so pleasant aspects of them. This to say a thing: it's not viable stating "allow those who want the office or WFH individually decide", it's simply too costly for a company, that's why office spaces are often crowded, because being larger cost much more. So, if a company decide to go remote it MUST go remote PERIOD, if a company decide to have offices it must use them, there is no point in Zoom-in from the office because some coworkers are at home or abroad. Long story short it's about time to admit that the need of the office is essentially ended, and for certain activities where it's still a thing there is no hybrid option. Companies mandating RTOs prove only to pursue external interests maybe of some inside the company against the interest of the company itself.
  - Aeolun 2y ago
    > it's simply too costly for a company, that's why office spaces are often crowded That’s nonsense. My company pays 25x more for my salary than the office space that houses me. Increasing the cost, or decreasing the utilization there is not going to move the needle. At least, not considering how much extra salary would be needed for me to accept working in an overcrowded office.

dt3ft 2y ago

Do you have small kids? Do you not like spending more time with them?

10u152 2y ago
I’m not the person you’re replying to but I do. And absolutely yes, I do. When I work from the office I’m gone longer (maybe 1.5 hours a day) but I’m significantly more present when I’m at home. If I WFH I’ll spend the evening ducking back into my home office to send that email or check that document etc and my mind will be 50% thinking about work all evening. I like a hard cutoff, when I’m home my phone goes off and I’m 100% there for dinner, bath and story time.
- thunky 2y ago
  > If I WFH I’ll spend the evening ducking back into my home office to send that email or check that document etc and my mind will be 50% thinking about work all evening If you can resist checking emails after your commute I'm sure that with some self discipline you could also do it without the commute. You're basically admitting that there is no good reason or expectation for you to be working after hours anyway.
  - vel0city 2y ago
    It's a state of mind thing, and I can easily fall into the same thing. When I predominantly work at the office, I can kind of compartmentalize my working mindset to that place. When I leave, I'm done, finished, checked out. Laptop closed, in a bag (or even left at the office). It takes actual effort to return to that state. When my office is just another room in the house, it's far easier to be stuck in that work mindset. The computer is all set up, it's just a quick password away to getting back exactly where you were when working. It's easy for me to think about a problem I was working on and easily slip back into it. Not so if I need to go grab my backpack, clear off a space for the work computer, hop back on, etc. During COVID I was in a small apartment. My office was my living room. It felt like I was just always in the office, always working, never at home.