6 ms·

I really hope it doesn’t. I miss the office. Workplace environments prevent myself from socially isolating beyond weekends at best — I know I’m not alone in tha

I really hope it doesn’t. I miss the office. Workplace environments prevent myself from socially isolating beyond weekends at best — I know I’m not alone in that.

aisengard 6y ago
There will always be jobs with offices. There just may be fewer of them, which is a good thing, because it means there are more jobs that allow for flexibility of location, which benefits those who are disadvantaged in where they happen to choose to live.
devoutsalsa 6y ago
I miss parts of the office. But I sure as hell don’t miss commuting, staying until the of end of the day because I feel like I need to, and being forced to wear pants.
- tjr225 6y ago
  There are benefits to working remotely- nobody is questioning that.
tjr225 6y ago
I’m with you in regards to missing the office. I posted this before but I wonder how many of the newly WFH are merely in the honeymoon phase of remote work. We should have flexibility however.
- thebigman433 6y ago
  Yea I personally think a lot of the WFH hype is just people wanting to do it because times are stressful and its still new. I have a feeling after the pandemic is over and times seem more "normal", many people will want to return to work because it can provide a decent social setting throughout the day. Hopefully there will be flexibility both ways
- ghaff 6y ago
  The thing with "flexibility" is that it may mean that you can come into the office but a lot of your co-workers won't be there. (Of course that is already the case with people who work on very geographically-distributed teams.)
  - tjr225 6y ago
    I think it can be done right. My situation before I went fully remote a few years ago was a pretty flexible policy where you could wfh 2 days a week. I think you could extend this to 3 days a week or maybe even just have a mandatory 2 days at the office. The effect is you spend most of your time at home but still get to go into the office. Think everyone is in office T W TH or T W F or something. I miss that setup and have since returned to that job and I hope I can go back in this year.
JMTQp8lwXL 6y ago
What might your (social) life look like without work? It's good to diversify opportunities to socialize. Better to avoid putting all eggs in one basket.
chrisseaton 6y ago
> Workplace environments prevent myself from socially isolating beyond weekends at best — I know I’m not alone in that. Can't you choose to go out and socialise if you want to outside work? (After COVID.) If we get rid of working from an office, then people who don't want to go out don't have to, and people who want to can still do anyway socially. Doesn't that sound like the best solution? Lets everyone choose what they want nothing forced.
- throwaway45349 6y ago
  When I commuted to work, I was already in the centre of a huge city with lots of social opportunities after work (with friends who are nearby in other jobs). If I wanted to socialise daily it's likely I'd be doing something akin to a work commute anyway. That's partly why I enjoyed going out to work in the first place.
  - chrisseaton 6y ago
    This sounds like you're annoyed your work no longer subsidises your social life. But why should it do that?
    - throwaway45349 6y ago
      Because work is a huge part of my life? At the end of the day, I choose the job that's best for me, not the other way around.
andrei_says_ 6y ago
I do not miss the office one bit. I socialize much mire with my colleagues via zoom meetings than I did via emails while we were in the office. Conference room meetings felt less organized than web conferencing. Saving 80min in daily commute on top of that gives me over 7 free hours per week, over 250h per year, enough to get an extra education. 30% or more of my colleagues commute over 2.5h per day, 12.5h per week, 48+h/month. To send emails and make phone calls from an office. Let that sink in. No way. Maybe also because I don’t come from a culture where work expands to take 100% of someone’s life. Work is work. Socializing is outside of that.
- bradlys 6y ago
  I think it also depends on your commute. I look forward to the office because I’ll always live 15 minutes away. I’ll either take my bicycle or a motorcycle. (Both of which can be fun - wheelies on either are great!) The in person meetings were more frequent for me because I could just stop by a persons desk to see how they were doing. I can’t do that online and the culture is much more closed down. Forget about going offsite to get lunch and really hear how things are. No weekly basketball games with various people from other departments to see what’s brewing. There are plenty of benefits to the office and I would like them to still exist. And they won’t as soon as you go remote because they rely on everyone being in one area. If you go remote, chances of seeing anyone in person will fall off a cliff compared to office life. I’ve made some of my best friends through work and I plan to continue doing that.
  - greedo 6y ago
    (Assuming COVID is solved), why couldn't you meet up with a coworker for a lunch?
    - bradlys 6y ago
      Why do you assume anyone would live near each other in a remote heavy environment?
  - andrei_says_ 6y ago

I really hope it doesn’t. I miss the office. Workplace environments prevent myself from socially isolating beyond weekends at best — I know I’m not alone in that.

aisengard 6y ago

There will always be jobs with offices. There just may be fewer of them, which is a good thing, because it means there are more jobs that allow for flexibility of location, which benefits those who are disadvantaged in where they happen to choose to live.

devoutsalsa 6y ago

I miss parts of the office. But I sure as hell don’t miss commuting, staying until the of end of the day because I feel like I need to, and being forced to wear pants.

tjr225 6y ago
There are benefits to working remotely- nobody is questioning that.

tjr225 6y ago

I’m with you in regards to missing the office. I posted this before but I wonder how many of the newly WFH are merely in the honeymoon phase of remote work. We should have flexibility however.

thebigman433 6y ago
Yea I personally think a lot of the WFH hype is just people wanting to do it because times are stressful and its still new. I have a feeling after the pandemic is over and times seem more "normal", many people will want to return to work because it can provide a decent social setting throughout the day. Hopefully there will be flexibility both ways
ghaff 6y ago
The thing with "flexibility" is that it may mean that you can come into the office but a lot of your co-workers won't be there. (Of course that is already the case with people who work on very geographically-distributed teams.)
- tjr225 6y ago
  I think it can be done right. My situation before I went fully remote a few years ago was a pretty flexible policy where you could wfh 2 days a week. I think you could extend this to 3 days a week or maybe even just have a mandatory 2 days at the office. The effect is you spend most of your time at home but still get to go into the office. Think everyone is in office T W TH or T W F or something. I miss that setup and have since returned to that job and I hope I can go back in this year.

JMTQp8lwXL 6y ago

What might your (social) life look like without work? It's good to diversify opportunities to socialize. Better to avoid putting all eggs in one basket.

chrisseaton 6y ago

> Workplace environments prevent myself from socially isolating beyond weekends at best — I know I’m not alone in that. Can't you choose to go out and socialise if you want to outside work? (After COVID.) If we get rid of working from an office, then people who don't want to go out don't have to, and people who want to can still do anyway socially. Doesn't that sound like the best solution? Lets everyone choose what they want nothing forced.

throwaway45349 6y ago
When I commuted to work, I was already in the centre of a huge city with lots of social opportunities after work (with friends who are nearby in other jobs). If I wanted to socialise daily it's likely I'd be doing something akin to a work commute anyway. That's partly why I enjoyed going out to work in the first place.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  This sounds like you're annoyed your work no longer subsidises your social life. But why should it do that?
  - throwaway45349 6y ago
    Because work is a huge part of my life? At the end of the day, I choose the job that's best for me, not the other way around.

andrei_says_ 6y ago

I do not miss the office one bit. I socialize much mire with my colleagues via zoom meetings than I did via emails while we were in the office. Conference room meetings felt less organized than web conferencing. Saving 80min in daily commute on top of that gives me over 7 free hours per week, over 250h per year, enough to get an extra education. 30% or more of my colleagues commute over 2.5h per day, 12.5h per week, 48+h/month. To send emails and make phone calls from an office. Let that sink in. No way. Maybe also because I don’t come from a culture where work expands to take 100% of someone’s life. Work is work. Socializing is outside of that.

bradlys 6y ago
I think it also depends on your commute. I look forward to the office because I’ll always live 15 minutes away. I’ll either take my bicycle or a motorcycle. (Both of which can be fun - wheelies on either are great!) The in person meetings were more frequent for me because I could just stop by a persons desk to see how they were doing. I can’t do that online and the culture is much more closed down. Forget about going offsite to get lunch and really hear how things are. No weekly basketball games with various people from other departments to see what’s brewing. There are plenty of benefits to the office and I would like them to still exist. And they won’t as soon as you go remote because they rely on everyone being in one area. If you go remote, chances of seeing anyone in person will fall off a cliff compared to office life. I’ve made some of my best friends through work and I plan to continue doing that.
- greedo 6y ago
  (Assuming COVID is solved), why couldn't you meet up with a coworker for a lunch?
  - bradlys 6y ago
    Why do you assume anyone would live near each other in a remote heavy environment?
- andrei_says_ 6y ago