4 ms·

> it’s far higher for certain subgroups. ... and deskless workers I'm still happily doing a fully remote job, but I've noticed that a number of my friends have

> it’s far higher for certain subgroups. ... and deskless workers I'm still happily doing a fully remote job, but I've noticed that a number of my friends have been forced to return back to the office 2 or 3 days a week. The irony is that many of their companies have scaled back office space due to decreased natural demand when people had the choice of full-time WFH, but now there isn't space for everyone to come back to the office full-time, even if those employees wanted to. So now, they've lost their desks but have to come in and hot-desk twice a week. One friend has to carry around a heavy laptop (not a powerful one, just a heavy one), the power supply AND a dock (because the hot desk docks aren't compatible), plus all the pens and stationary he needs to and from work twice a week. He used to love being in the office and now hates it. If desklessness really does lead to increased rates of burnout, companies will be setting themselves up for an even bigger problem a year or two down the line.

pas 2y ago
> carry around a heavy laptop ... By car or by public transportation? Can you elaborate what the fancy pens and the heavy laptop are for? :o Seems like a very special job/position. Hot desking sucks ass, because spatial routine is very helpful for many people, and starting the day with this bullshit destroys routine.
- ralferoo 2y ago
  He's a team leader in a company's internal finance department. He doesn't have anything specialised on his computer that he's mentioned, I'm guessing just Word, Excel and whatever he uses to connect to their finance back-office to extract the data he needs for his reports which I guess might even be web-based. He drives by car, which is admittedly less inconvenient than travelling by public transport, but still requires a walk across a fairly large car park, potentially in the rain. The heavy laptop is his company-issued laptop that he has to do his work on, and he longer has a desktop PC because (like everyone else in the office) he no longer has a permanent desk. From what I inferred from the conversation, it's heavy because it's old, not because it's anything special and when we're in the pub bitching about work, he frequently complains how slow it is. It's also not compatible for whatever reason with the docks they've put on the hot desks. Maybe he has an old laptop and they since standardised on a different type of laptop since implementing this policy. Maybe he was given a newer computer for some reason, although I got the impression he's had this since at least before COVID. Anyway, I didn't ask further, as I trust that's he's smart enough to have decided for himself that the provided docks don't work and that it's worth the hassle of unplugging everything from the dock at home and bringing the dock in, and then unplugging the work monitors from the work dock and plugging them into the dock he brought from home. If the dock on the desk just worked, I'm sure he'd use it. I don't believe he has any fancy pens. He does, however, frequently need to make handwritten notes during meetings and so he brings in his pens and notebook to work and takes them home at the end of the day. Again, this is because he longer has a permanent desk, so nowhere else he could store stuff. I'm sure they have a stationary department he can get new pens and a notebook from, but he'd still have to take them home each day if he wanted to keep the notes, and I can't imagine he'd get away with asking for a new pen and pad every day. I also imagine that he wouldn't want to leave his pen behind and then when he's a different hot desk the next day, just pick up someone's half-chewed pen and work with that. I'm just speculating though, I only know for sure that he told me about having to take his laptop, dock and pen and paper into work each day. Maybe he just decided that it's easier to shove the pad and pen into his rucksack along with everything else each day and traipse over to wherever the stationary is kept every morning. TBH I wasn't expecting there to be to follow-up questions, so rather than asking about the full specifications of his computer, the quality of the stationary and whether he preferred 2B or HB pencils, I just said "yeah man, that sucks".
  - pas 2y ago
    Thanks for the details! Really! (I'm remote/WfH since ... 2018.) > so nowhere else he could store stuff That's just really fucking sad. I mean companies are so cheap they don't even provide a locker. I remember packing and unpacking each day, and it sucks. And the commute stealing time is just unforgivable nowadays.

pas 2y ago

> carry around a heavy laptop ... By car or by public transportation? Can you elaborate what the fancy pens and the heavy laptop are for? :o Seems like a very special job/position. Hot desking sucks ass, because spatial routine is very helpful for many people, and starting the day with this bullshit destroys routine.

ralferoo 2y ago
He's a team leader in a company's internal finance department. He doesn't have anything specialised on his computer that he's mentioned, I'm guessing just Word, Excel and whatever he uses to connect to their finance back-office to extract the data he needs for his reports which I guess might even be web-based. He drives by car, which is admittedly less inconvenient than travelling by public transport, but still requires a walk across a fairly large car park, potentially in the rain. The heavy laptop is his company-issued laptop that he has to do his work on, and he longer has a desktop PC because (like everyone else in the office) he no longer has a permanent desk. From what I inferred from the conversation, it's heavy because it's old, not because it's anything special and when we're in the pub bitching about work, he frequently complains how slow it is. It's also not compatible for whatever reason with the docks they've put on the hot desks. Maybe he has an old laptop and they since standardised on a different type of laptop since implementing this policy. Maybe he was given a newer computer for some reason, although I got the impression he's had this since at least before COVID. Anyway, I didn't ask further, as I trust that's he's smart enough to have decided for himself that the provided docks don't work and that it's worth the hassle of unplugging everything from the dock at home and bringing the dock in, and then unplugging the work monitors from the work dock and plugging them into the dock he brought from home. If the dock on the desk just worked, I'm sure he'd use it. I don't believe he has any fancy pens. He does, however, frequently need to make handwritten notes during meetings and so he brings in his pens and notebook to work and takes them home at the end of the day. Again, this is because he longer has a permanent desk, so nowhere else he could store stuff. I'm sure they have a stationary department he can get new pens and a notebook from, but he'd still have to take them home each day if he wanted to keep the notes, and I can't imagine he'd get away with asking for a new pen and pad every day. I also imagine that he wouldn't want to leave his pen behind and then when he's a different hot desk the next day, just pick up someone's half-chewed pen and work with that. I'm just speculating though, I only know for sure that he told me about having to take his laptop, dock and pen and paper into work each day. Maybe he just decided that it's easier to shove the pad and pen into his rucksack along with everything else each day and traipse over to wherever the stationary is kept every morning. TBH I wasn't expecting there to be to follow-up questions, so rather than asking about the full specifications of his computer, the quality of the stationary and whether he preferred 2B or HB pencils, I just said "yeah man, that sucks".
- pas 2y ago
  Thanks for the details! Really! (I'm remote/WfH since ... 2018.) > so nowhere else he could store stuff That's just really fucking sad. I mean companies are so cheap they don't even provide a locker. I remember packing and unpacking each day, and it sucks. And the commute stealing time is just unforgivable nowadays.