Working from home vs. commuting to work during and after the pandemic

[afransen]

So much easier to just go to their desk.

I spend a lot of my day away from my desk. And my workplace switched to hot desks, so you'd first need to find me. Best way to find me... IM.

Frankly, I hate people just showing up at my desk and expecting me to drop everything to deal with whatever they perceive to be an emergency.

 

[Undead]

It's also a very weak reason to force people to commute.

 

[Bayer]

I was talking to one of my Ontario govt clients; she moved 2 hours away to take care of her mother last March and now she's being asked to show up at the office one day a week after working at home with no problems for 18 months. There is strictly no reason for her to be there. She'll retire early if they force her to go back.

 

[christiesplits]

The management team is still fine tuning the details, but the word is that we are moving to a split model, with our employer requiring us to come into office at least three days a week. Remote and sales staff who worked away from the office pre-COVID can continue to do so.

I work in an office by the 401/404. Some people commute as far as Brooklin and Bradford. Between gas and the 407, some have saved more than $10,000 since March 2021.

 

[evandyk]

I just walk to the office, so there are no time or money issues for me, though I recognize that those can be significant for people. I just like being able to get together and talk through problems with my colleagues without having to set up a call. But we are going to have a lot of flexibility going forward to move between working in the office and from home, which is also really good for people with kids, other caregiving responsibilities, etc.

 

[lenaitch]

I saw this in The Star and wondered if it will impact on folks who have escaped to the weeds in the hopes of working from home.

Cottage country snow plows are frozen in place. Why Haliburton roads may be a nightmare this winter

Soaring insurance costs have forced many Haliburton county snow plow operators out of business this year.

www.thestar.com

I have heard anecdotally that some who were thinking of moving out to the cottage or country didn't even consider whether the places they were looking at were even on a year-round road or school bus route.

I have a friend who used to do contract snow removal. He gave up on residential work in the City of Barrie because of hounding by bylaw enforcement for depositing snow on municipal property (with a narrow lot in the snow belt, where else does it go?) then finally gave up entirely because of insurance premiums.

 

[tripwire]

So much easier to just go to their desk.

No!, ok, most of the time I'm OK with it, but as a developer, it can be very disruptive. Email/message me, and give me time to finish my current coding thought and I'll get back to you.

 

[Admiral Beez]

I was thinking today as I WFH how lucky I am to have this four storey, five bedroom house to myself. All day it’s just me, the dog and the cats whilst I spend the day calling customers and leading the sales, product development and marketing. When I get bored I change rooms, or take a break to head to the basement to work on https://modelshipworld.com/topic/30...eller-1150-kit-bashing-the-heller-le-superbe/

It must be awful for WFH people stuck in small condos.

 

[evandyk]

Our condo is not small, but it did get pretty hairy in here for a while when we had two adults WFH, a toddler and a nanny. Things are a lot better now that he's in daycare

 

[Videodrome]

The biggest plus of me working from home is that if our kids are sick or have to stay home for whatever reason, it is basically business as usual for me. I get paid, do my work and the kids have a parent around!

 

[superelevation]

Not to shift the thread but one of my favorite things about the previous discussion was mention of return to office plans and reports on how busy downtown is, keep it coming folks!

 

[Jonny5]

Not to shift the thread but one of my favorite things about the previous discussion was mention of return to office plans and reports on how busy downtown is, keep it coming folks!

I was down today. First time in my new workplace office since I was hired in July. It's just west of University, south of King. It's actually been open the whole time I've been working there, but I didn't go in for purely logistical reasons like the fact I don't have a building pass and someone from management would have to be there to help me get in and setup with security. I finally got that done today, and I am planning on going in a few more times this month, if only because the desk setup there is much more comfortable than what I can have in my small apartment. They have those desks with a built in motor to easily raise or lower the height at will, which I like as sometimes I want to work sitting, and sometimes standing. It was great to be in a proper professional office chair again too!

I didn't get in the PATH, but at street level there was certainly a further uptick in activity. Still not yet at 50% of normal. I'd say about 35%, up from 25% back in October. There's definitely people "in the office" part days too. People seem to be arriving and departing at mid-day, so that traffic patterns are more steady throughout the whole day rather than bulging at rush hour. I had lunch at a restaurant and it was fairly busy, probably 80% of capacity, with a lot of that taken up by larger groups of 8-12, which could be office holiday lunches.

The streetcar on King going home (eastbound) at 5:00 p.m. was about a full COVID seated load, though there's extra streetcars on King East right now because of the 501 diversion, so there might be standees again whenever they finally get Queen open across to Bathurst. Certainly the east side will get busier if George Brown opens up again, but we'll have to wait to see if that actually happens.

 

[Northern Light]

Not to shift the thread but one of my favorite things about the previous discussion was mention of return to office plans and reports on how busy downtown is, keep it coming folks!

Going to cross-post my reply to Allen George in the Pinnacle One Commercial thread.

Life Finds a Way: Toronto Office Market Makes Steady Return

Confidence in the economy and rebounding employment levels, businesses have begun to return to the office en masse.

www.cbre.ca

**************

All of which is to say...........its going to get a lot busier in the months and years ahead!

 

[jayme2016]

From comments many big players made this week Google/Apple/Facebook and others i don't think people will ever return to the office like before.

 

[yrt+viva=1system]

I’m probably of the minority here but I much prefer commuting to work than working from home. Commuting allows me to decompress and disconnect from work; whether that be just browsing on my phone and reading this forum, listening to music or stare aimlessly out the window while on transit. The actual involvement of having to get up earlier, get ready and walk to the bus stop is a routine that I find to helps jump start the day. That’s on top of actual in person socializing with coworkers.