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I am returning to office 1-2 days a week right now. I think it is pretty nice.

iamjake648 5y ago
This is what I've been doing too, coordinated with other team members. We usually go in on planning or big meeting days. I sure don't want to go in every day but 2 - 3 days is perfect to get out of the house and see some new people.
sg47 5y ago
Is everyone back there? Maybe it's nice because it's quiet? That's how I felt when I went back but to imagine being with 1000s of people in there is scary
- cmrdporcupine 5y ago
  I'm in my office (Google Waterloo) about 3 days a week and yeah, it's pretty quiet. Maybe 20% capacity and I can always get an EV charger, which isn't normal. Right now this is awesome. I'd like to see more of my teammates, but I don't look forward to when the crowds return.
- karmasimida 5y ago
  > Is everyone back there? To some degree yes, everyone had at least back to the office to some extent on weekly basis, but people aren't all appearing at once on a single day, so it is still pretty nice and quiet. Definitely not crowded, the utilization isn't even close to 10% per my current experience.
anonporridge 5y ago
This is the perfect compromise. Forcing your employees to commute to the office 5 days a week just isn't a tenable proposition anymore. Hell, even the 40 hour workweek is becoming less and less acceptable. 1-2 days a week is a perfectly reasonable amount of time to put up with in office bullshit and still get most of the benefit that comes with it.
- matthewmacleod 5y ago
  This can indeed work well for some people, but for others it's the worst compromise. It means they can't benefit from moving to a lower CoL area or nearer to family etc., because they still have to be within a reasonable commute distance. But at the same time, it can mean they still have to keep the necessary equipment and space setup for remote working at home, may no longer have a permanent desk/office, lose the benefit of reduced-cost season tickets for public transport etc. It's hard to come up with something that's going to work for everyone.
  - mrkstu 5y ago
    I just took a job that specifically allowed remote but I'm flying onsite a (work) week a month. To me that is a great compromise, especially since I don't have to pay for the flights/hotel/car.
  - anonporridge 5y ago
    A different, similar compromise is 1 full week in the office once a month or two. That's fairly easy to manage if you still want to live in a LCOL area, with a minimum 3 nights in a hotel. Coordinate with your team and project stakeholders to all converge on the same week where you can collaborate and plan more efficiently. Then break and work remotely to actually execute. Many small businesses won't even need to maintain a consistent workplace. They could cycle the meetups in more flexible co-working spaces as needed. Larger megacorps could still justify maintaining their own space that ends up being designed for more modularity and flexibility.
    - Johnny555 5y ago
      Make it 3 days once a quarter and you've got a deal. Leaving my wife home alone for a week every month to take care of the household by herself is not really feasible, I'd need to live close enough to commute if I were going to do that, so that kind of eliminates the chance to live far away when it's cheaper.
- xahrepap 5y ago
nnm 5y ago
Similar here. I tried to be in office 3 days a week, I am actually enjoying it.
- karmasimida 5y ago
  Yup To see colleagues face to face, from time to time, it is really chill. I don't realize how much I miss that experience until I did lol
bingohbangoh 5y ago
Doesn't this limit you to still living near a specific area?
r00fus 5y ago
I was of the same mindset pre-Omicron. If antibody evasion shows to be problematic I am going to hunker down and only come in occasionally. Still not going to indoor restaurants/bars or indoor parties or exercise rooms.
- benjaminwootton 5y ago
  Not sure if we are going off topic, but doesn’t it make you sad to miss 2+ years of life experiences to save a relatively small chance of injury or death? Most people are doing all of the things in your list by now. I can’t comprehend hiding from this thing for years. Would feel like an awful waste of some of my prime years. I got bored after a few weeks!
  - r00fus 5y ago
    > doesn’t it make you sad to miss 2+ years of life experiences to save a relatively small chance of injury or death? I think we'll have to disagree on the "small" bit. Long COVID is a reality. Apparently 33% of all people infected suffer from it [1]. Last thing I want to do is my kids getting infected and having ongoing heart or lung conditions for the rest of their lives. Plus, lots of stuff you can do without going indoors to eat/play/workout. We've done lots of picnics with friends and enjoy the outdoors a lot more as well. I don't feel I've "lost" life experiences, just replaced them with different ones. [1] https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/monumental-acknowledgment-cdc-reports-long-term-covid-19-patients-n1234814 https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/monumental-acknow...
  - kataklasm 5y ago
    I can't believe we still have to bring this up two years into this shitshow... Being cautious isn't just about you. It's about the people around that may be nore vulnerable than you. Show solidarity, be cautious.

This is what I've been doing too, coordinated with other team members. We usually go in on planning or big meeting days. I sure don't want to go in every day but 2 - 3 days is perfect to get out of the house and see some new people.

sg47 5y ago

Is everyone back there? Maybe it's nice because it's quiet? That's how I felt when I went back but to imagine being with 1000s of people in there is scary

cmrdporcupine 5y ago
I'm in my office (Google Waterloo) about 3 days a week and yeah, it's pretty quiet. Maybe 20% capacity and I can always get an EV charger, which isn't normal. Right now this is awesome. I'd like to see more of my teammates, but I don't look forward to when the crowds return.
karmasimida 5y ago
> Is everyone back there? To some degree yes, everyone had at least back to the office to some extent on weekly basis, but people aren't all appearing at once on a single day, so it is still pretty nice and quiet. Definitely not crowded, the utilization isn't even close to 10% per my current experience.

anonporridge 5y ago

This is the perfect compromise. Forcing your employees to commute to the office 5 days a week just isn't a tenable proposition anymore. Hell, even the 40 hour workweek is becoming less and less acceptable. 1-2 days a week is a perfectly reasonable amount of time to put up with in office bullshit and still get most of the benefit that comes with it.

matthewmacleod 5y ago
This can indeed work well for some people, but for others it's the worst compromise. It means they can't benefit from moving to a lower CoL area or nearer to family etc., because they still have to be within a reasonable commute distance. But at the same time, it can mean they still have to keep the necessary equipment and space setup for remote working at home, may no longer have a permanent desk/office, lose the benefit of reduced-cost season tickets for public transport etc. It's hard to come up with something that's going to work for everyone.
- mrkstu 5y ago
  I just took a job that specifically allowed remote but I'm flying onsite a (work) week a month. To me that is a great compromise, especially since I don't have to pay for the flights/hotel/car.
- anonporridge 5y ago
  A different, similar compromise is 1 full week in the office once a month or two. That's fairly easy to manage if you still want to live in a LCOL area, with a minimum 3 nights in a hotel. Coordinate with your team and project stakeholders to all converge on the same week where you can collaborate and plan more efficiently. Then break and work remotely to actually execute. Many small businesses won't even need to maintain a consistent workplace. They could cycle the meetups in more flexible co-working spaces as needed. Larger megacorps could still justify maintaining their own space that ends up being designed for more modularity and flexibility.
  - Johnny555 5y ago
    Make it 3 days once a quarter and you've got a deal. Leaving my wife home alone for a week every month to take care of the household by herself is not really feasible, I'd need to live close enough to commute if I were going to do that, so that kind of eliminates the chance to live far away when it's cheaper.
xahrepap 5y ago

nnm 5y ago

Similar here. I tried to be in office 3 days a week, I am actually enjoying it.

karmasimida 5y ago
Yup To see colleagues face to face, from time to time, it is really chill. I don't realize how much I miss that experience until I did lol

bingohbangoh 5y ago

Doesn't this limit you to still living near a specific area?

r00fus 5y ago

I was of the same mindset pre-Omicron. If antibody evasion shows to be problematic I am going to hunker down and only come in occasionally. Still not going to indoor restaurants/bars or indoor parties or exercise rooms.

benjaminwootton 5y ago
Not sure if we are going off topic, but doesn’t it make you sad to miss 2+ years of life experiences to save a relatively small chance of injury or death? Most people are doing all of the things in your list by now. I can’t comprehend hiding from this thing for years. Would feel like an awful waste of some of my prime years. I got bored after a few weeks!
- r00fus 5y ago
  > doesn’t it make you sad to miss 2+ years of life experiences to save a relatively small chance of injury or death? I think we'll have to disagree on the "small" bit. Long COVID is a reality. Apparently 33% of all people infected suffer from it [1]. Last thing I want to do is my kids getting infected and having ongoing heart or lung conditions for the rest of their lives. Plus, lots of stuff you can do without going indoors to eat/play/workout. We've done lots of picnics with friends and enjoy the outdoors a lot more as well. I don't feel I've "lost" life experiences, just replaced them with different ones. [1] https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/monumental-acknowledgment-cdc-reports-long-term-covid-19-patients-n1234814 https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/monumental-acknow...
- kataklasm 5y ago
  I can't believe we still have to bring this up two years into this shitshow... Being cautious isn't just about you. It's about the people around that may be nore vulnerable than you. Show solidarity, be cautious.