[Johnny Au]

Here is a thread where we vote in the poll above. It is great to state your rationale and circumstances.

Me, I work from home ever since the pandemic began. Normally, I would work in an office.

Even after the pandemic is over, I would continue to work from home.

 

[christiesplits]

My employer will likely move to a hybrid model, where we split our time between home and office.

 

[Tuscani01]

We're all working from home with no return date set. The future is hybrid for us, but there will be no mandated number of days to be in the office, and some have already said they wont ever return.

I love how we went from being a dinosaur of a company, to complete flexibility overnight. And all it took was a pandemic.

 

[Videodrome]

I now work from home on a permanent basis. A few people wanted to come in a few days a week but most just wanted to stay home.

 

[evandyk]

WFH right now most of the time. I'm allowed to go into the office as much as I want, but there are almost no people there, so the usual benefits of being in the office don't materialize. I usually coordinate with a few colleagues to all go in together once a week.

But I'm looking forward to most people being back more of the time and being there myself probably 3-4 days a week.

 

[afransen]

Should have added hybrid as an option. My employer recently went to mandatory 2 days per week. I would choose to come maybe one day per on average, and only as needed. I do think there is value in seeing people in person, and we have been coasting during the pandemic on relationships and rapport built beforehand. It's a big organization and it is hard to meet people and build rapport fully remotely.

 

[Undead]

My company is forcing a 5 day return to the office in January. Thankfully I insisted on my contract (inked a little while back) allowing 3 days work from home. But once my contract is up at the end of February, it's hasta la vista, baby. Leaving that dinosaur management behind.

 

[Johnny Au]

Should have added hybrid as an option. My employer recently went to mandatory 2 days per week. I would choose to come maybe one day per on average, and only as needed. I do think there is value in seeing people in person, and we have been coasting during the pandemic on relationships and rapport built beforehand. It's a big organization and it is hard to meet people and build rapport fully remotely.

Hybrid option is now added.

You can change your vote.

 

[evandyk]

I do think there is value in seeing people in person, and we have been coasting during the pandemic on relationships and rapport built beforehand. It's a big organization and it is hard to meet people and build rapport fully remotely.

I agree with this. I've found it very hard to build rapport with new people over the last year. But going to the office 1-2 days a week doesn't really tackle this, unless most people go on the same days, which kills the real estate savings. I expect most people will settle into a 3-4 day a week routine, or the office will just be a drop-in kind of place.

 

[Undead]

I understand many people are social and that outings with coworkers are a normal thing.

BUT. As an introvert and someone raised to believe in a complete separation of church and state personal and professional, I can't fathom why one would want to spend social hours with coworkers.

Usually you can't discuss anything meaningful or controversial because you don't know the person well enough, don't want to get in trouble with HR, etc. You can't get drunk and sh*t talk for the same reason.

These people don't have your back and you don't have theirs, because they're not close friends or family, like the toxic HR types like to pretend.

Just another drain on my personal time already strained with unnecessary commuting and time spent at the office.

Your colleagues sound very different from my colleagues!

@evandyk I want to clarify what I meant. I like to think that, in isolation, most people are decent. They go to work, pay their taxes, support their families and generally do the best they can.

But, for whatever reason, modern corporate environments are chock-full of assorted BS like fluffy "culture building", toxic activist politics/initiatives, ass kissing, tremendous waste and so on.

In other words, groups can be easily hijacked by a small number of vocal and motivated fools pushing bad ideas. I think this is what has happened in the work world and our society more broadly, especially in education and the media.

And that's why I want to get my work done in the peace of my home, free from unnecessary commuting, excessive down time at the office, unwanted social interaction, etc.

In other words, it's just a job that pays the bills and there's nothing wrong with that. Let's not pretend it's anything else for the vast majority of people.

Indeed, I'd say it's much worse dressing it up with all the fluffy BS broadly known as "corporate culture." But there's a taboo against being honest about these things.

 

[evandyk]

@evandykBut, for whatever reason, modern corporate environments are chock-full of assorted BS like fluffy "culture building", toxic activist politics/initiatives, ass kissing, tremendous waste and so on.

In other words, groups can be easily hijacked by a small number of vocal and motivated fools pushing bad ideas. I think this is what has happened in the work world and our society more broadly, especially in education and the media.

That hasn’t been my experience anywhere I have ever worked.

Other than the tremendous waste. I do have to attend a huge number of meetings that seem to be completely unnecessary, but that’s even worse when working from home, since you can‘t just go to someone’s desk and solve your problems by chatting for 2 minutes.

 

[afransen]

Other than the tremendous waste. I do have to attend a huge number of meetings that seem to be completely unnecessary, but that’s even worse when working from home, since you can‘t just go to someone’s desk and solve your problems by chatting for 2 minutes.

I have found it actually pretty effective working from home. If you have a good rapport, it is easy to ask them if they are busy through IM and give them a call in MS Teams. Super easy to show them a screen if needed rather than having to go back and grab a laptop and squint at its screen, or loop in a third person if needed. Also a lot easier to multitask in bloated conference calls without looking like a total ass for zoning out.

 

[evandyk]

Also a lot easier to multitask in bloated conference calls without looking like a total ass for zoning out.

This is very true. the second biggest benefit of working from home, after being able to take little breaks throughout the day to prepare dinner.

 

[christiesplits]

I work for a charitable organization, where bringing down administrative costs like real estate is paramount.

Everyone is currently working from home. Our office lease ends in April, and afterward we are going to a permanent remote model, with access to a Toronto co-work space - like Regus - for the occasional team meeting.

 

[Soop]

Worked from home during lockdown and started back at the office as soon as I could. My workspace in the office is so much more comfortable and I get so much more work done there with all of the files and tools right where I need them.

Our company is pretty much 100% back in office.