turbanplanner
Active Member
Thread about the topic of workers returning to offices
I get why the government pushed back to the office. Pretty much every service regular people use that is run by the federal service has gotten 10x worse than before the pandemic.There's been a lot of press on the federal civil service having to return to the office. Leave it to the government to take a comparatively straight forward process and screw it up, but from some of the quotes of impacted employee, there seems to be an assumption that they feel they have a say in the matter.
Just because this isn't the experience you had, doesn't mean it's false. I've been pretty accepting of the idea that the place you work at has had a different story, but the reality is there are many places where employees are itching to go back to work. This differs from company to company as cultures can vary massively, but there are many workplaces where you can just walk up to someone's cubicle to ask for favours, amongst other cultural choices that make working in an office preferably to being at home. While I'm not going to deny that some people find themselves being more productive at home, this isn't everyone, and when you're sitting at a desk you watch Netflix or play games on, it's far easier to get distracted than in a work environment. Psychology related to location absolutely affects people's work patterns.Laughably false, sorry.
I don't understand how anyone can claim this given everything we know about open concept offices. Edit to add: I've seen people shopping, browsing social, listening to their music, reading random stuff online, watching video game clips on YouTube, going for relentless coffee breaks, etc at the office. Distraction at home is a total red herring.it's far easier to get distracted than in a work environment.
I've been in several different places and it was the same story everywhere. At some point, it's a case of where there's smoke, there's fire.I've been pretty accepting of the idea that the place you work at has had a different story
@ARG1 As I see it, the issue is that most office work consists of calls and emails. Many people rightly resent being forced to wake up early and commute just to sit at their desk and do things that can be done from anywhere.
As for people itching for the office, that may well be people sucking up to management because of poor job security (or just the usual braindead HR/management narrative). I currently work somewhere with significantly better job security than standard corporate; you should hear how honest and straightforward people are about not needing/wanting to be in office. Turns out once the pressure to ass kiss is gone, you find out what people really think; and it's quite unfavorable toward the office.
I don't understand how anyone can claim this given everything we know about open concept offices. Edit to add: I've seen people shopping, browsing social, listening to their music, reading random stuff online, watching video game clips on YouTube, going for relentless coffee breaks, etc at the office. Distraction at home is a total red herring.
I've been in several different places and it was the same story everywhere. At some point, it's a case of where there's smoke, there's fire.
Have you worked in a hot/hotel desk environment? It is brutal. Constant noise, irrelevant conversations, people taking conference calls at their desk, etc. I have to listen to music to drown it out. I have some banal instrumental jazz as I find anything with vocals too distracting. I prefer to work in quiet, given the choice. Working in such an environment is antithetical to focus work. Flow states are pretty fragile and that is when many people get most of their productive work done.it's far easier to get distracted than in a work environment.
Ya, it sounds like typical government short-sighted (or perhaps more accurately - disjointed) government planning. If people were directed to work from home 'temporarily', and in the meantime the employer unloaded office space, then told every body to come back, what did they expect to happen.I get why the government pushed back to the office. Pretty much every service regular people use that is run by the federal service has gotten 10x worse than before the pandemic.
I know their offices lost some floors and people are now hotellng desks which is where part of the screwyness comes from.
I'm wondering if we didn't have a pandemic, would we even be having this discussion? Or did the pandemic simply accelerate an inevitable trend? True that, pre-Covid, there were probably pockets of employers with flexible work arrangements but I don't get the sense that it was particularly widespread. I know several people in different areas of IT from network management to software development and support to customer support and, pre-Covid, they went into their shops every day.As I see it, the issue is that most office work consists of calls and emails. Many people rightly resent being forced to wake up early and commute just to sit at their desk and do things that can be done from anywhere.
That's definitely an over-generalization. There are many industries (computer engineering) which is more than just calls and emails.@ARG1 As I see it, the issue is that most office work consists of calls and emails. Many people rightly resent being forced to wake up early and commute just to sit at their desk and do things that can be done from anywhere.
That's a lot of assuming. If you read my post in the other thread, you probably would've noticed that the employees are more in favour of returning to office than management is. We literally do not have enough office space for everyone, and management needs to convince people to stay at home, or to have people share cubicles and work in a hybrid environment.As for people itching for the office, that may well be people sucking up to management because of poor job security (or just the usual braindead HR/management hacks). I currently work somewhere with significantly better job security than standard corporate; you should hear how honest and straightforward people are about not needing/wanting to be in office. Turns out once the pressure to ass kiss is gone, you find out what people really think; and it's quite unfavorable toward the office.
I don't recall ever saying anything about open concept offices. I've never worked in one, and looking at them, I don't want to ever.I don't understand how anyone can claim this given everything we know about open concept offices.
I can also anecdotally confirm that I've seen the complete offices across many companies.I've been in several different places and it's been the same story at all of them. At some point, it's a case of where there's smoke, there's fire.
Not every office is a hot/hotel desk environment.Have you worked in a hot/hotel desk environment? It is brutal. Constant noise, irrelevant conversations, people taking conference calls at their desk, etc. I have to listen to music to drown it out. I have some banal instrumental jazz as I find anything with vocals too distracting. I prefer to work in quiet, given the choice. Working in such an environment is antithetical to focus work. Flow states are pretty fragile and that is when many people get most of their productive work done.