re: The future of the 8-5, M-F, daily work commute?

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That said we all best watch out...if your job in New York can be done from Alabama, for instance, there is usually no reason it can't be done from India.

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this. Many years ago, a VP (guest speaker) from an energy company (our customer) said it point blank at a large business conference . “You think you are special? I can hire three Indians for the cost of one of you.”

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There are mechanisms for monitoring and managing this remotely. You have to have clear performance expectations and cut people loose when they don’t meet them.

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Absolutely. But a large percentage of people suck without on site management. They just do, it’s never going to change. Not everyone can be the top 25% of employees.

Those people will never be able to work from home efficiently or will just float around from job to job.

WFH is here to stay. But this idea it’s for everyone and all offices will be gone is laughable. Companies will have to plan better and not just put a huge office in a shite location or risk employees not wanting to be there.

Not everyone has long commentes. I know plenty of people that go home for lunch 3-4 days a week and work a standard 8-5 job.

ETA: there’s also something to be said to not work at home, and keep your business separate. I think a great schedule is a short commute to a 9-9 type schedule where you have every other Friday off so half the office works every Friday. Hell you could do that with Mondays too. Go in, bang your work out, be with employees, then leave and leave work at work.

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Leaving our homes to do things we dread with people we really don't like, amost everyday for decades! How have we gotten to this point and is it finally beginning to change?

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Yeah. Staying at home by yourself and only interacting with people via Teams or Zoom is WAY better for you.

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this. Many years ago, a VP (guest speaker) from an energy company (our customer) said it point blank at a large business conference . “You think you are special? I can hire three Indians for the cost of one of you.”

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You're gonna put 3 indians in front of executive level stakeholders in order to determine the parameters of system changes that need to be made?

Social life? Hell, I try to stay away from as many people as I can.

The problem with many of these posts, and im guilty as well- is that we should all end our posts with the words “FOR ME”.. if you’re one of those who needs office social interaction, you should say that it works for you, but dont expect the rest of us to fall in line.. same with people like myself who have WFH for years since well before the Virus.. i make good money, but you could literally offer to double my salary and it wouldnt be enough money for me to sit in traffic and deal with gossipy coworkers and water cooler BS.. but again, that’s what works FOR ME… let’s stop assuming we’re all the same .

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They also suck with on site management, they just present differently. If I'm in an office I will be less effective. Why? I can't sit weird. I can't make weird noises. I have to make sure I say hi to everyone when I get up. I have to work within the confines of an 8 hour day. I work better in short spurts.

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Sure, but most jobs aren’t like this…

It’s amazing how the WFH people think that everyone can work from home.

Here’s my issue as a small business owner. I have to have phone hours, when I open and close. So people know. That’s great Joe blow works from 5:30 to 2, but guess what I can’t have that.

I also have operations staff that do the work on job sites. Then I have office staff. The operations staff get pissy as they can’t WFH. The shitty office staff without a college degree are unreliable at home. Miss phone calls, slow to email, etc. it’s also hard to have an office phone ring at multiple locations. Sure, fire them because they suck? Rinse and repeat. Not every employee is an all star. Someone takes a shite at 10:30am at home and doesn’t answer it do I answer in my office? Or are they washing their hands and getting it next ring? Not everything is handled by technology.

You guys assume most jobs are Fortune 500 college degree office jobs. They aren’t. Even the degrees engineers, accountants, etc. likely work with a lot of operations and office staff that are extremely unreliable without direct supervision.

Once you allow one person to WFH it’s bad moral for others to not be able to, that can’t.

My point is, if you can do it and get paid and be happy than that’s fantastic. But pull your head out of your arse and realize that a huge portion of businesses can’t.

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Here’s my issue as a small business owner.

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could we ask what you do, that requires this level of on site commitment ?

and if some of your employees MUST work in the warehouse, and your office people can't cut it at home, that is a you problem

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Some corporate paper pusher is going to say you don’t know how to run your company

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I sit at a desk a good part of my day, and i could literally be sitting anywhere in the world...I get that a doctor has to work in a building designed for him, but his receptionist doesnt have to..
Someone that builds firetrucks, has to be on site to weld, but that whole front office can work from home..

the arguments are there for too many jobs to be remote, to even consider that its a temporary thing

I find that most people arguing against it, have realized that if they work from home, their oversight on site will not be missed, and what will they have then

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I find that most people arguing against it, have realized that if they work from home, their oversight on site will not be missed, and what will they have then

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But it's not like management disappears just because you work remotely, we still have managers and my company is 100% remote.

What kind of business do you own and how many employees do you have?