re: Bosses’ opinions of remote work changing quickly

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Explain who the people are on the teams call, if not people? Do you only talk to people if you are facing them, in the same room? I mean, are you slapping arse and harrassing female co-workers or what? I think there's some element that is missing here.

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I work and lead better in the physical presence of other humans, not staring at a screen from my bedroom. I'm sorry that offends so many of you. It's actually kind of strange how personal you all are taking it.

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Sure but the more apt comparison is that there is no discernible difference between taking 30 minutes to go for a swim and dilly dallying for 30 minutes in the office and not getting any work done.

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I can agree with this. I meant more extended time away that you wouldn't have taken "off" in a different context. Sure some people will ghost at the office too for extended periods, but it's just as wrong there as it is at home. It doesn't become right simply because you're at home.

I like my hybrid schedule (usually two days a week in the office) because it allows me to get out of the house for a couple days while still having the flexibility of being remote. In my field, for the most part, it's very easily adaptable to being remote.

And, honestly, if a manager needs to physically supervise his/her employees, then that manager needs to re-evaluate how they hire employees in the first place. Good hiring practices should eliminate the need for constant supervision.

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I work and lead better in the physical presence of other humans, not staring at a screen from my bedroom. I'm sorry that offends so many of you. It's actually kind of strange how personal you all are taking it.

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I don’t think anyone is taking this personally. You just sound like a boomer who either can’t change or refuses to change their management style to fit the changing landscape of the work environment. It sounds like you’re saying, “I can’t (or don’t know how to) manage you from home, so I’m going to make you all come into an office”. Essentially you think everyone should cater to your preferred management style, regardless of who it benefits.

Many of my counterparts have been transitioned to ticketing systems to account for work we do. I consistently lead my team of 14 in the most tickets worked every month. As long as I'm #1, even if it only takes me 3.5 hours a day of actual real work, I'm good.

By the way, in the office, I assure you more work isn't being done. Before WFH, people fricked around half the day or more, surfing the web, chit chatting, long lunches, gotta leave early to pick up kid from school, etc. There's no way more work was getting done, in my business in my department, than what is getting done now with remote. In fact, the remote workers are much more flexible when something comes in afterhours. IT-related field.

I get more done with WFH, but the broader team functions better as a whole on-site for cross functional topics. I also think team morale improves with at least occasional on site work.

Caveat here is that my WFH day can be meetings and working sessions that take all day sometimes. Our mornings are usually really intense but things slow after 3, which happens on site too. So after 3 is heads down time when I can actually get things done. When the culture was to be on site, that quiet heads down time when I could actually get some things done without interruption was in the AM before most of the people arrived.

I’ve found myself taking meetings after hours more during WFH. So I have to consciously try to combat that. I also set my office up in a room with a door so I can keep work separate from home. My happy toddler still runs in to give me a hug around 6pm when she gets home from her grandparents house, but I love that hug more than you can imagine. And it reminds me that I’m not saving lives and the bullshite can wait for tomorrow.

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long lunches

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This is a big one.

Obviously only directly speaking for myself but I've worked at multiple places where half the team leaves for 2 hours for lunch. I've done the same, going with coworkers, and half the time, going with my bosses or other exec folks...it's the norm to get out for lunch and take your time and be out for 2-2.5 hours.

But WFH, half the time my "lunch" is 5-10 minutes. I heat up food, then take it back upstairs and work while I eat. I honestly don't feel a need to take an hour off or away from work when I'm home. Granted, the days I brought my lunch when I worked in the office I did the same. But half the time I didn't bring lunch so I had to get out to get lunch and that takes time.

Email from corporate this morning stated that everyone must be in the office twice a week now.