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> This rhetoric that remote work is bad for business seems to always come from people whom I suspect have an ulterior motive This sort of perspective is killin

> This rhetoric that remote work is bad for business seems to always come from people whom I suspect have an ulterior motive This sort of perspective is killing any real chance of having a productive conversation about the topic. There's a chance a person very similar to you simply disagrees with you on a very complex topic. There's pros and cons to the office and WFH alike. You clearly do well with WFH, and have good reasons for it. A junior engineer like me did not, so I have a different perspective. The next exhaustive part of the debate (which you didn't bring up, I'm simply anticipating), is the retort that my team just didn't do WFH correctly, or that Covid was a confounding factor.

judge2020 3y ago
The issue is that, for those that do work well remote, they're going to either have to sacrifice[0] by going hybrid or on-site to ensure they can enable team members like yourself, or further limit their group of candidates to those who feel like they'll do well working remote[1]. 0: which is a big sacrifice, since even 2 day hybrid can mean spending tens of hours a month sitting in a car or on transit, not engaging in either productive or self-sustaining activity, and it actively limits where people can live, further propping up cities with housing supply issues due to single-family zoning and a lack of rent control. 1: Not to say this is you, but I can imagine many candidates saying "yes" / "I excel in remote and on-site" to "do you believe you'll be productive in a remote role" even if they aren't sure this is the case for them, in order to look qualified for every open position.
8note 3y ago
It's an easy one to rectify - the decision makers can be clear about what conflicts of interest they have about these decisions, and shareholders need to push them on it. There are pros and cons to RTO, and benefiting your investment portfolio is one of them
makingstuffs 3y ago
IMHO that is where the autonomy comes in. If you personally know that you perform better within an office the onus is on you to express that. Granted it does pose the bigger question about a cohesive solution which meets everyone’s needs. When I was in my previous role one of the engineers and I would literally jump on a video call and just leave it on while we worked. If he had a question it could be asked naturally and we could also have the workplace chitchat. One of my close friends is a firm believer in hybrid working and we discuss this a lot. I think the important thing is communicating with each other and trying to provide an environment which enables your staff to do their best work. The complexity is added by the fact someone like myself going into the office would be less beneficial to a junior. This is solely as the WFH preferring employee would not be in the best place to provide advice due to them feeling like they are not being given the working conditions they require. It’s a tough balancing act. For me, personally, I am happy to go to social meetings and make it known to everyone they can message/call me on slack anytime — even if I am offline give it a crack. Workshops are another tool which I feel bridges the gap. Instead of forcing people to go to the office on the off chance they might have a conversation with someone, make a day of it. Provide the grounds for those conversations to happen. As we dive deeper and the debate is opened it will be interesting to see how it all pans out but I know a lot of devs/engineers are not going to budge on this one.

judge2020 3y ago

The issue is that, for those that do work well remote, they're going to either have to sacrifice[0] by going hybrid or on-site to ensure they can enable team members like yourself, or further limit their group of candidates to those who feel like they'll do well working remote[1]. 0: which is a big sacrifice, since even 2 day hybrid can mean spending tens of hours a month sitting in a car or on transit, not engaging in either productive or self-sustaining activity, and it actively limits where people can live, further propping up cities with housing supply issues due to single-family zoning and a lack of rent control. 1: Not to say this is you, but I can imagine many candidates saying "yes" / "I excel in remote and on-site" to "do you believe you'll be productive in a remote role" even if they aren't sure this is the case for them, in order to look qualified for every open position.

8note 3y ago

It's an easy one to rectify - the decision makers can be clear about what conflicts of interest they have about these decisions, and shareholders need to push them on it. There are pros and cons to RTO, and benefiting your investment portfolio is one of them

makingstuffs 3y ago

IMHO that is where the autonomy comes in. If you personally know that you perform better within an office the onus is on you to express that. Granted it does pose the bigger question about a cohesive solution which meets everyone’s needs. When I was in my previous role one of the engineers and I would literally jump on a video call and just leave it on while we worked. If he had a question it could be asked naturally and we could also have the workplace chitchat. One of my close friends is a firm believer in hybrid working and we discuss this a lot. I think the important thing is communicating with each other and trying to provide an environment which enables your staff to do their best work. The complexity is added by the fact someone like myself going into the office would be less beneficial to a junior. This is solely as the WFH preferring employee would not be in the best place to provide advice due to them feeling like they are not being given the working conditions they require. It’s a tough balancing act. For me, personally, I am happy to go to social meetings and make it known to everyone they can message/call me on slack anytime — even if I am offline give it a crack. Workshops are another tool which I feel bridges the gap. Instead of forcing people to go to the office on the off chance they might have a conversation with someone, make a day of it. Provide the grounds for those conversations to happen. As we dive deeper and the debate is opened it will be interesting to see how it all pans out but I know a lot of devs/engineers are not going to budge on this one.