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Once you show people a taste of freedom, there is no going back voluntarily. I went back to work in the office for a couple of weeks and it was dreadful, while

Once you show people a taste of freedom, there is no going back voluntarily. I went back to work in the office for a couple of weeks and it was dreadful, while i enjoyed the interactions with my coworkers, the commute and lack of personal freedom while in office was dreadful. I want to sit on my couch and watch tv for an hour or exercise in the middle of the day if i feel unproductive without being judged or trying to keep up appearances. I work for an extremely forward thinking company but it is instinctive that you feel the need to somewhat keep up appearances.

yabones 4y ago
I agree completely. After having the freedom to tailor my environment precisely to how I do my best work, going to an office feels entirely performative. It feels like doing a show and dance to make other people feel important rather than increase anybody's actual outputs.
bko 4y ago
I'm in my mid-30s and by now most of my friends are people I had worked with. A lot of people used to meet their future spouse at work. The friends from work have been a lot stickier than those I had made in college due to similar interest and experience and overall level of maturity. After college I was socialized at work. I got a lot of hard won lessons about how to interact with people and maintain professionalism. I couldn't imagine leaving college to just spend 8 hours a day at home in front of my computer. I fear a generation of young people growing up with wfh won't be socialized. At many jobs you have to interact with a wide variety of people. You learn about power dynamics, office politics and effective/poor leadership. You could think this stuff is BS, and maybe it is, but its important to understand. Work is also great moderator. Many young people live in a bubble and surround themselves with people exactly like them, with their same politics and beliefs. It's easier to be an activist on slack, and without the awkward looks from your colleagues, you won't realize its not being well received. At this point in my life wfh is convenient. I have dishes to do, kids to pick up, a relationship with my wife to maintain, but I still miss work from home. I'm just glad I had the chance to experience in person work when I was younger
- j245 4y ago
  On the point of meeting people and socialising.. Have you considered that it might be a self correcting problem ? The 2 hours you save by not commuting can be used to join a local running club. Suddenly you’re meeting a lot of new people you would have never met before.
  - jraph 4y ago
    My biggest social network is indeed a choir. By far. Most of my friends are from there and many couples are forming there. It's also way bigger than any team I could be working in. Also, in my current company (many people WFH, at least partly), actually several couples formed because people meet at the seminars, at a time there is no stress related to work, in a relaxed setting. So remote work can be suitable for this too with the right ingredients. The company was not as remote as today before covid, but has been spread across two countries (mostly) for years so this is similar in this respect since the couples are mostly people from the two countries. I've also built friendships from by previous work, when I was at the office, so this is also true. I'm sure with time I'll make long lasting relationships at my current company too. We are already happy to see each others when it happens.
    - j245 4y ago
      I’m the same as you, I’ve made good relationships in office and remote. I think the social contact aspect is only an issue if you don’t understand or avail the new opportunities you have. We’ve been WFO for so long, some folks are struggling to adjust to this new reality. That’s understandable !
  - atwood22 4y ago
    I hate running but I like my job so that’s not a good trade off for me.
    - j245 4y ago
      Hopefully it’s clear that running is just an example that can be replaced with any other social activities you enjoy. My point is you’re not stripped of every opportunity to socialise if you choose to go remote, and it’s entirely feasible to replace the loss of office based social interaction with some other social interaction.
tallanvor 4y ago
The problem is that your idea of freedom is somebody else's idea of torture. I don't mind working from home once or twice a week, but being forced to work from home 5 days a week was awful and both my mental and physical health suffered significantly. For me being able to go to the office is freedom - unless I need to have my laptop for an evening meeting, I can leave it in the office and not have to think about work problems when I'm not there. The 25 minute walk in the morning starts to get me into the office mindset, and the walk home helps me leave the work problems behind. Economically it's also better for me to go to the office. Lunches are subsidized, so I'd be very hard pressed to eat cheaper at home without having to eat the same thing every day, and in the office I don't have to pay for my beverages. Utilities are also something that I save money on by going to the office. I saw many colleagues start during the WFH period that are still way behind in terms of where they would have been if they had been in the office, surrounded by others who can help them easily. --No matter how much we tell them to ping us, or how much we try to be proactive and reach out to them, it's simply much harder to learn remotely. I'm not saying that everyone needs to be in the office 5 days a week, but pretending that there are no benefits to going to the office is just as disingenuous as pretending that there are no benefits to letting people work from home.
- strikelaserclaw 4y ago
  Remote work is all about choice and personal freedom, if you want to go into the office, you should do that but the problem arises where you are in the office and you feel lonely (due to your choice) and you start a crusade to get everyone back in the office.
  - tallanvor 4y ago
    Personal freedom is great, but you're still a member of society, which means you have to compromise. That may very well mean accepting that you do need to go into the office sometimes in order to help ensure that your coworkers' needs are also being met.
    - danaris 4y ago

yabones 4y ago

I agree completely. After having the freedom to tailor my environment precisely to how I do my best work, going to an office feels entirely performative. It feels like doing a show and dance to make other people feel important rather than increase anybody's actual outputs.

bko 4y ago

I'm in my mid-30s and by now most of my friends are people I had worked with. A lot of people used to meet their future spouse at work. The friends from work have been a lot stickier than those I had made in college due to similar interest and experience and overall level of maturity. After college I was socialized at work. I got a lot of hard won lessons about how to interact with people and maintain professionalism. I couldn't imagine leaving college to just spend 8 hours a day at home in front of my computer. I fear a generation of young people growing up with wfh won't be socialized. At many jobs you have to interact with a wide variety of people. You learn about power dynamics, office politics and effective/poor leadership. You could think this stuff is BS, and maybe it is, but its important to understand. Work is also great moderator. Many young people live in a bubble and surround themselves with people exactly like them, with their same politics and beliefs. It's easier to be an activist on slack, and without the awkward looks from your colleagues, you won't realize its not being well received. At this point in my life wfh is convenient. I have dishes to do, kids to pick up, a relationship with my wife to maintain, but I still miss work from home. I'm just glad I had the chance to experience in person work when I was younger

j245 4y ago
On the point of meeting people and socialising.. Have you considered that it might be a self correcting problem ? The 2 hours you save by not commuting can be used to join a local running club. Suddenly you’re meeting a lot of new people you would have never met before.
- jraph 4y ago
  My biggest social network is indeed a choir. By far. Most of my friends are from there and many couples are forming there. It's also way bigger than any team I could be working in. Also, in my current company (many people WFH, at least partly), actually several couples formed because people meet at the seminars, at a time there is no stress related to work, in a relaxed setting. So remote work can be suitable for this too with the right ingredients. The company was not as remote as today before covid, but has been spread across two countries (mostly) for years so this is similar in this respect since the couples are mostly people from the two countries. I've also built friendships from by previous work, when I was at the office, so this is also true. I'm sure with time I'll make long lasting relationships at my current company too. We are already happy to see each others when it happens.
  - j245 4y ago
    I’m the same as you, I’ve made good relationships in office and remote. I think the social contact aspect is only an issue if you don’t understand or avail the new opportunities you have. We’ve been WFO for so long, some folks are struggling to adjust to this new reality. That’s understandable !
- atwood22 4y ago
  I hate running but I like my job so that’s not a good trade off for me.
  - j245 4y ago
    Hopefully it’s clear that running is just an example that can be replaced with any other social activities you enjoy. My point is you’re not stripped of every opportunity to socialise if you choose to go remote, and it’s entirely feasible to replace the loss of office based social interaction with some other social interaction.

tallanvor 4y ago

The problem is that your idea of freedom is somebody else's idea of torture. I don't mind working from home once or twice a week, but being forced to work from home 5 days a week was awful and both my mental and physical health suffered significantly. For me being able to go to the office is freedom - unless I need to have my laptop for an evening meeting, I can leave it in the office and not have to think about work problems when I'm not there. The 25 minute walk in the morning starts to get me into the office mindset, and the walk home helps me leave the work problems behind. Economically it's also better for me to go to the office. Lunches are subsidized, so I'd be very hard pressed to eat cheaper at home without having to eat the same thing every day, and in the office I don't have to pay for my beverages. Utilities are also something that I save money on by going to the office. I saw many colleagues start during the WFH period that are still way behind in terms of where they would have been if they had been in the office, surrounded by others who can help them easily. --No matter how much we tell them to ping us, or how much we try to be proactive and reach out to them, it's simply much harder to learn remotely. I'm not saying that everyone needs to be in the office 5 days a week, but pretending that there are no benefits to going to the office is just as disingenuous as pretending that there are no benefits to letting people work from home.

strikelaserclaw 4y ago
Remote work is all about choice and personal freedom, if you want to go into the office, you should do that but the problem arises where you are in the office and you feel lonely (due to your choice) and you start a crusade to get everyone back in the office.
- tallanvor 4y ago
  Personal freedom is great, but you're still a member of society, which means you have to compromise. That may very well mean accepting that you do need to go into the office sometimes in order to help ensure that your coworkers' needs are also being met.
  - danaris 4y ago