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Personally, I'm looking forward to going back to the office. I am an extremely introverted person and during the pandemic, I've gone upwards of 5 months without
by apocalyptic0n3 5y ago
Personally, I'm looking forward to going back to the office. I am an extremely introverted person and during the pandemic, I've gone upwards of 5 months without saying another word to a person face-to-face. I personally prefer that and don't feel lonely or anything; I just don't need social interaction in my day-to-day life. But I know that in the long term, it's going to have negative consequences for me in terms of networking and just friendships in general. These are basic things that you need that I am completely incapable of achieving without it being forced upon me in an office environment.
Yes, I hate driving. But I'll move closer to the office (which we're relocating to a much further location currently) and I'll get it to <20 minutes each way, which is acceptable.
Just because you can't find arguments for it in your life doesn't mean others can't. I need that environment and if my job went remote-only, I'd quit without any hesitation just as employees are quitting after being asked to return to the office. We shouldn't go from one extreme (everyone has to be in an office) to the other (there is no office at all).
We need to accept hybrid solutions where an office exists and maybe you're expected to be there once every week or two or something. We need to accept that some people work better remote and others work better in an office. We're trying to build the most efficient working environment for the team in general, not just one or two people one way or the other.
- antonzabirko 5y agoWhat sort of work do you do? Why don't they have any online meetings?
- apocalyptic0n3 5y agoI'm a software engineer like 90% of HN. I have plenty of online meetings (I'm actually on a team call right now listening to someone discuss a solution to a problem). It doesn't fill the needs, though. Without the in-person and more frequent interaction, I can feel my social skills slipping even further. And I rarely interact with non-developers and non-managers now. It's not ideal for me. It 100% does not work and I need to go back to an office. I fear if I don't, my already-limited social abilities will zero out and I'll have to rebuild them. I now know I can go months without speaking to anyone and be okay with it; that itself is a problem in my mind that I need to address and an office environment fulfills those needs.
- antonzabirko 5y agoHmm makes sense. I used to be the same way in my college days.
- Apocryphon 5y agoAs a compromise it'd be nice once things are opened up for companies without fixed offices to subsidize passes into coworking spaces, so people can work in public areas more quiet and professional than cafes around others, but not necessarily the actual office.
- j4yav 5y agoI don’t think we need to do anything of the sort. Companies will sort themselves into all remote/all office/hybrid before “lets make everyone moderately miserable equally” becomes the mandated approach for everyone.
- devonbleak 5y agoIf everybody's only there once every week or two you're looking at something like 10-20% attendance on any given day. Some teams or individuals might coordinate being on-site the same day but so far our experience is that you basically sit in the office talking to the same people as always on Zoom all day. Unless you're in an industry that requires actual physical presence I don't think you're going to see the same office experience any more. Companies aren't going to keep an office big enough for 100% attendance when there's only a need for a smallish fraction of that. I'd start looking for other ways to scratch that socialization itch.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- ghaff 5y agoI suspect that will be pretty common even if there's more people than that. Which means that people who want to get back to the office of the before times (as opposed to just some office outside of the house) aren't going to like the ghost town very much.
- matwood 5y ago> I'd start looking for other ways to scratch that socialization itch. Also, having a social aspect outside of work makes job changes way less scary and stressful.
- mancerayder 5y agoI'm not an extrovert but like the office because I live in a one bedroom apartment and I don't like working from my living room, and at the end of the day, being in my living room. I do like the social interaction and joking, or venting, with co-workers, even as an introvert. The best approach is a hybrid model.