5 ms·

Could start with not making them such awful places to work by getting rid of those awful open floor plans. Want people back in offices? How about building some

Could start with not making them such awful places to work by getting rid of those awful open floor plans. Want people back in offices? How about building some rather than having big cattle herd areas where every sound and germ travels for miles in every direction.

BrazzVuvuzela 5y ago
It's also important to consider that many people don't have homes that are conducive to working, because there are many other people in the house, or because they don't have the space for a dedicated office, or any other number of reasons. This isn't applicable to everybody obviously, but offices should be able to compete on these fronts.
- toomuchtodo 5y ago
  Provide a coworking space stipend to everyone, obtained with a corporate group rate. It's not "work from home", but rather "work from anywhere."
  - BrazzVuvuzela 5y ago
    That assumes your town has such coworking facilities. Maybe a safe assumption in cities, but definitely not in all towns nor for people living in more rural areas. And if you're going to commute to a coworking office in the same city that your normal office would be in anyway, it seems a bit pointless. A commute is a commute.
    - DarylZero 5y ago
      Whether you have a "coworking facility" or not, if you're simply paid enough money, you can solve the home office problem with it.
      - BrazzVuvuzela 5y ago
        With construction or moving? I'd rather keep my home the way it is, thanks.
        DarylZero 5y ago
        Construction, moving, daycare, etc. You can have your preferences but there still exists an amount of compensation at which the average employee's preferences are offset.
- Guest42 5y ago
  My experiences in offices have generally involved being surrounded by many people who talk rather consistently. When coupled with surprise meetings that don’t pertain directly to my projects and the inability to multitask, I think that the home office is a net positive.
  - BrazzVuvuzela 5y ago
    Yes well, open office plans and cubicles are awful, no argument there. But a real office with a door can be attractive relative to the situation many people have at home.
    - decafninja 5y ago
      The odds that employers will offer employees below the executive or managerial level private or even semi-private offices is extremely low. Personally, I think the odds of such a thing happening are lower than WFH becoming mainstream.
      - BrazzVuvuzela 5y ago
        I guess I got lucky then.
    - falcolas 5y ago
      Speaking for myself, I haven't had an office with a door for a decade now. And if you go back to the top of my white collar career (that is, jobs done from an office (or notably, a warehouse)), I've had a door twice. Ironically enough, I do have a door at home.
      - dragonsky 5y ago
        The last office with a door I had was in the old morgue of the hospital we supported. Was actually a pretty good location once you got used to the funky smells. Quiet, cool, dark and nobody came knocking on the door asking for us to fix there computers.
    - 5y ago
- wintermutestwin 5y ago
  >many people don't have homes that are conducive to working That's because (up until this shift) they have been forced to live in close proximity to offices. For the price of a downtown apartment, you can live in a suburb or rural area with more space that you could need. The longer this forced shift (pandemic) goes on, the more people will move away from the poor quality of life cities. Once they get the taste of a life without tiny overpriced apartments and time sucking commutes, they will only go back if they are forced - i.e. don't have the skills to easily jump ship.
2pEXgD0fZ5cF 5y ago
> open floor plans This is the part where I personally experienced the most friction between the management/lifestyle/trend bubble and "boots on the ground" people/devs. All of a sudden blog posts and news posts popped up that claimed how open space is better, everybody loves it and everyone should be able to look every coworker in the eye and on his monitor, 0 barriers etc. Meanwhile I have yet to meet a coworker in real life that prefers or even likes this trend, personally I hate it. Makes it hard to focus, turns the distractions and noises up to 11 and makes overall for a terrible workplace. It was a major reason to quit my last job, and I am much happier with my current one. Similarly I believe that homeoffice has probably sensitized many people to terrible workplace environments.
- nostrebored 5y ago
  My best workplaces have always been open offices with high quality coworkers!
  - falcolas 5y ago
    And mine have been closed offices with high quality co-workers. Followed by closed office with OK co-workers. I don't think it's the floor plan.
- tick_tock_tick 5y ago
  > Meanwhile I have yet to meet a coworker in real life that prefers or even likes this trend, personally I hate it. I just don't believe this. I would say a good 2/3rd of employee's at every job I've worked at preferred the open floor plan. The only way I could possibly see not a single, not even one, person you've worked with preferring it is if you front run the conversation with such a vicious condemnation of it that they didn't feel comfortable sharing with you. > Similarly I believe that homeoffice has probably sensitized many people to terrible workplace environments. I'll take a guess that you have extra space and no kids or some combination? The feedback I've seen is the exact opposite with people realizing how poorly their home setup is and how little ability they have to make better.
  - 5y ago
marcosdumay 5y ago
Nearly all of my short term resistance is because of the environment temperature and low quality of drinking water (bad tasting mineral water and often contaminated by plastic bottles).

BrazzVuvuzela 5y ago

It's also important to consider that many people don't have homes that are conducive to working, because there are many other people in the house, or because they don't have the space for a dedicated office, or any other number of reasons. This isn't applicable to everybody obviously, but offices should be able to compete on these fronts.

toomuchtodo 5y ago
Provide a coworking space stipend to everyone, obtained with a corporate group rate. It's not "work from home", but rather "work from anywhere."
- BrazzVuvuzela 5y ago
  That assumes your town has such coworking facilities. Maybe a safe assumption in cities, but definitely not in all towns nor for people living in more rural areas. And if you're going to commute to a coworking office in the same city that your normal office would be in anyway, it seems a bit pointless. A commute is a commute.
  - DarylZero 5y ago
    Whether you have a "coworking facility" or not, if you're simply paid enough money, you can solve the home office problem with it.
    - BrazzVuvuzela 5y ago
      With construction or moving? I'd rather keep my home the way it is, thanks.
      - DarylZero 5y ago
        Construction, moving, daycare, etc. You can have your preferences but there still exists an amount of compensation at which the average employee's preferences are offset.
Guest42 5y ago
My experiences in offices have generally involved being surrounded by many people who talk rather consistently. When coupled with surprise meetings that don’t pertain directly to my projects and the inability to multitask, I think that the home office is a net positive.
- BrazzVuvuzela 5y ago
  Yes well, open office plans and cubicles are awful, no argument there. But a real office with a door can be attractive relative to the situation many people have at home.
  - decafninja 5y ago
    The odds that employers will offer employees below the executive or managerial level private or even semi-private offices is extremely low. Personally, I think the odds of such a thing happening are lower than WFH becoming mainstream.
    - BrazzVuvuzela 5y ago
      I guess I got lucky then.
  - falcolas 5y ago
    Speaking for myself, I haven't had an office with a door for a decade now. And if you go back to the top of my white collar career (that is, jobs done from an office (or notably, a warehouse)), I've had a door twice. Ironically enough, I do have a door at home.
    - dragonsky 5y ago
      The last office with a door I had was in the old morgue of the hospital we supported. Was actually a pretty good location once you got used to the funky smells. Quiet, cool, dark and nobody came knocking on the door asking for us to fix there computers.
  - 5y ago
wintermutestwin 5y ago
>many people don't have homes that are conducive to working That's because (up until this shift) they have been forced to live in close proximity to offices. For the price of a downtown apartment, you can live in a suburb or rural area with more space that you could need. The longer this forced shift (pandemic) goes on, the more people will move away from the poor quality of life cities. Once they get the taste of a life without tiny overpriced apartments and time sucking commutes, they will only go back if they are forced - i.e. don't have the skills to easily jump ship.

2pEXgD0fZ5cF 5y ago

> open floor plans This is the part where I personally experienced the most friction between the management/lifestyle/trend bubble and "boots on the ground" people/devs. All of a sudden blog posts and news posts popped up that claimed how open space is better, everybody loves it and everyone should be able to look every coworker in the eye and on his monitor, 0 barriers etc. Meanwhile I have yet to meet a coworker in real life that prefers or even likes this trend, personally I hate it. Makes it hard to focus, turns the distractions and noises up to 11 and makes overall for a terrible workplace. It was a major reason to quit my last job, and I am much happier with my current one. Similarly I believe that homeoffice has probably sensitized many people to terrible workplace environments.

nostrebored 5y ago
My best workplaces have always been open offices with high quality coworkers!
- falcolas 5y ago
  And mine have been closed offices with high quality co-workers. Followed by closed office with OK co-workers. I don't think it's the floor plan.
tick_tock_tick 5y ago
> Meanwhile I have yet to meet a coworker in real life that prefers or even likes this trend, personally I hate it. I just don't believe this. I would say a good 2/3rd of employee's at every job I've worked at preferred the open floor plan. The only way I could possibly see not a single, not even one, person you've worked with preferring it is if you front run the conversation with such a vicious condemnation of it that they didn't feel comfortable sharing with you. > Similarly I believe that homeoffice has probably sensitized many people to terrible workplace environments. I'll take a guess that you have extra space and no kids or some combination? The feedback I've seen is the exact opposite with people realizing how poorly their home setup is and how little ability they have to make better.
- 5y ago

marcosdumay 5y ago

Nearly all of my short term resistance is because of the environment temperature and low quality of drinking water (bad tasting mineral water and often contaminated by plastic bottles).