4 ms·

I went from ~3-4 days in the office to full remote during the pandemic.. and then we gave up our office space since it was going "so well". I'm not quite ready

I went from ~3-4 days in the office to full remote during the pandemic.. and then we gave up our office space since it was going "so well". I'm not quite ready to quit, but the office had tons of perks -- nice cafeteria / nice espresso / gym / beautiful setting in SF / casual face-time with the leadership / coworkers in different departments sharing a common space. Sure there was a commute involved, but I enjoyed getting out of the house. Hopefully things will be better post-pandemic and I'll get some of the social interaction by working out of coffee shops and from parks, but the quality of life improvement from changing from a "5 days/week in the office" to "3 days/week in the office" was substantially larger for me than going full remote.

toomuchtodo 6y ago
Most workers don't have the perks you mention. It's an edge case for a small cohort of Silicon Valley tech workers out of the entire cohort of those who had to go remote. If your office experience was blah, or you had a long commute, you likely realized a lot of utility and benefit having your employer forced to support remote work.
- decafninja 6y ago
  So much this. My office (investment bank) is dull, dreary, depressing, dystopian, Dilbertesque. Everyone must wear at least business casual (dress shirt, dress pants, dress shoes). We have none of the perks mentioned above. The commute is miserable. Very little sunlight. Even our coffee is an atrocity. This is probably standard fare for most old school non-tech companies. I've visited the offices of quite a few Silicon Valley tech companies. The atmosphere could not be more different. If I had to use an analogy, coming into my office is like checking into the local cheap motel. Going to a SV tech company office feels like it would be akin to checking into a hip and luxurious boutique hotel. I've said this before, and I know grass is greener on the other side, but if my office environment were better, I could imagine myself enjoying being at the office more. As it stands currently, it is outright depressing.
  - currymj 6y ago
    this raises the question, what are the companies where going into the office is like checking in to the Four Seasons?
    - decafninja 6y ago
      Lol, if I had to take a guess, I'd wager the C/executive suites at some top hedge funds. I've heard some stories about Steven Cohen's office suite at SAC for example. Despite being wealthy, tech company execs don't seem to be at that level of ostentatious old school display of wealth. Edit: I've been at some hedge funds too - and most of the lower employees, especially in tech (cost center) still get the cheap motel experience.
    - BruiseLee 6y ago
      Four Seasons Total Landscaping.
    - alchemism 6y ago
      The hospitality industry, obviously. (sorry)
      - decafninja 6y ago
        I've actually interviewed at Hilton for a SWE role. The office was pretty depressing haha.
- mikeyouse 6y ago
  Yeah no doubt - I used to commute to Hayward from SF and it nearly killed me, even though the office perks were still nice (though that was a 5-day/week office job). Post GFC, it was manageable with the decreased Bay Area traffic but as the economy heated up, my 45min 8am commute turned into a 1.5hr 7am commute. My current org was 90% remote to begin with, there was just a "main office" with a few dozen employees working out of their casually, and regular department gatherings in the space when a number of people had to be in SF. So going full remote was easier for our org than others, but I wouldn't mind a few days back in an office.

toomuchtodo 6y ago

Most workers don't have the perks you mention. It's an edge case for a small cohort of Silicon Valley tech workers out of the entire cohort of those who had to go remote. If your office experience was blah, or you had a long commute, you likely realized a lot of utility and benefit having your employer forced to support remote work.

decafninja 6y ago
So much this. My office (investment bank) is dull, dreary, depressing, dystopian, Dilbertesque. Everyone must wear at least business casual (dress shirt, dress pants, dress shoes). We have none of the perks mentioned above. The commute is miserable. Very little sunlight. Even our coffee is an atrocity. This is probably standard fare for most old school non-tech companies. I've visited the offices of quite a few Silicon Valley tech companies. The atmosphere could not be more different. If I had to use an analogy, coming into my office is like checking into the local cheap motel. Going to a SV tech company office feels like it would be akin to checking into a hip and luxurious boutique hotel. I've said this before, and I know grass is greener on the other side, but if my office environment were better, I could imagine myself enjoying being at the office more. As it stands currently, it is outright depressing.
- currymj 6y ago
  this raises the question, what are the companies where going into the office is like checking in to the Four Seasons?
  - decafninja 6y ago
    Lol, if I had to take a guess, I'd wager the C/executive suites at some top hedge funds. I've heard some stories about Steven Cohen's office suite at SAC for example. Despite being wealthy, tech company execs don't seem to be at that level of ostentatious old school display of wealth. Edit: I've been at some hedge funds too - and most of the lower employees, especially in tech (cost center) still get the cheap motel experience.
  - BruiseLee 6y ago
    Four Seasons Total Landscaping.
  - alchemism 6y ago
    The hospitality industry, obviously. (sorry)
    - decafninja 6y ago
      I've actually interviewed at Hilton for a SWE role. The office was pretty depressing haha.
mikeyouse 6y ago
Yeah no doubt - I used to commute to Hayward from SF and it nearly killed me, even though the office perks were still nice (though that was a 5-day/week office job). Post GFC, it was manageable with the decreased Bay Area traffic but as the economy heated up, my 45min 8am commute turned into a 1.5hr 7am commute. My current org was 90% remote to begin with, there was just a "main office" with a few dozen employees working out of their casually, and regular department gatherings in the space when a number of people had to be in SF. So going full remote was easier for our org than others, but I wouldn't mind a few days back in an office.