Who should not work remote?

[Anonymous]

I read this in-depth study by university of Virginia on remote work and was quite interesting. Some surprising things.

Males over 45 had the highest productivity increase, but were actually working way less than pre-Covid, around two hours less a day. In office they gets lots of questions from staff how to do things, provide training, mentorship, have staff meetings, but in remote barely do it. Their productivity is up but long term impacts younger workers

Younger women with kids it was a great blessing short term. But younger women in particular need a senior women mentor to move up. The women over 45 like the men over 45 stopped doing their mentorship etc., so hurts the younger women.

[Anonymous]

Yup. Remote made it easier for senior staff. Took away a lot of the work they did in bringing up younger teammates. So unless they are specifically tasked to do this and evaluated on it, its not done. Its much easier to just be an individual contributor especially when you are efficient and have trust of management to leave you alone and get stuff done. Management and people are the hardest. When management works remote a lot, everything else suffers eventually. Unless they were bad management to begin with

[Anonymous]

If you give people credit for mentoring (or seeking mentorship) at review and bonus time, they will do it. If you don't, it will be something they do only when forced by circumstance and they will resent it as a time waste - hence senior ICs commonly hiding from questions when in office, pre-covid.

People in midlife are busy, and experienced people are chronically overworked. Management needs to consciously build in time and opportunity for mentorship if they are serious about it's value.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yup. Remote made it easier for senior staff. Took away a lot of the work they did in bringing up younger teammates. So unless they are specifically tasked to do this and evaluated on it, its not done. Its much easier to just be an individual contributor especially when you are efficient and have trust of management to leave you alone and get stuff done. Management and people are the hardest. When management works remote a lot, everything else suffers eventually. Unless they were bad management to begin with

DH and I have both worked for fully remote orgs with no home office anybody could go to. You have weekly meetings with your manager, your team, your clients. Usually there is an active chat where people can post questions or joke around. There's plenty of camaraderie even among people who have never met.

IMO, hybrid with 3+ in-office days is the worst arrangement because people don't treat their WFH days as regular working days the way remote workers do.

[Anonymous]

Do many junior staffers actually want to be heavily mentored by over 45s though?

I my experience the 22/23 ish fresh graduates tend to gravitate toward collegues slightly older and senior than them, so experienced enough to show them the ropes but young enough to interact with as peers. Obviously, they need to spend some time with the senior management too but that doesn’t need to be every day or even every week to get enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you give people credit for mentoring (or seeking mentorship) at review and bonus time, they will do it. If you don't, it will be something they do only when forced by circumstance and they will resent it as a time waste - hence senior ICs commonly hiding from questions when in office, pre-covid.

People in midlife are busy, and experienced people are chronically overworked. Management needs to consciously build in time and opportunity for mentorship if they are serious about it's value.

This is a real issue I am going through. There is no reward for this sort of work. I am resentful of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yup. Remote made it easier for senior staff. Took away a lot of the work they did in bringing up younger teammates. So unless they are specifically tasked to do this and evaluated on it, its not done. Its much easier to just be an individual contributor especially when you are efficient and have trust of management to leave you alone and get stuff done. Management and people are the hardest. When management works remote a lot, everything else suffers eventually. Unless they were bad management to begin with

DH and I have both worked for fully remote orgs with no home office anybody could go to. You have weekly meetings with your manager, your team, your clients. Usually there is an active chat where people can post questions or joke around. There's plenty of camaraderie even among people who have never met.

IMO, hybrid with 3+ in-office days is the worst arrangement because people don't treat their WFH days as regular working days the way remote workers do.

Agree on hybrid. Plus, you still have to live close by.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: Do many junior staffers actually want to be heavily mentored by over 45s though?

I my experience the 22/23 ish fresh graduates tend to gravitate toward collegues slightly older and senior than them, so experienced enough to show them the ropes but young enough to interact with as peers. Obviously, they need to spend some time with the senior management too but that doesn’t need to be every day or even every week to get enough.

Dc graduated post COVID and got their first job. Work is come in the office whenever you want. They went into the office when they knew senior leaders had meetings in the office. Quickly met most of them and sought the most senior female 8n the office to mentor her. Because of this bond is given special projects that others are not. Will be great for grad recommendations.

[Anonymous]

I'm a senior staff and huge individual contributor. But guess what, much of my "younger, greener" team is offshore. So I mentor, train, laud, etc. remotely. What do you suggest?

[Anonymous]

gooners shouldnt

[Anonymous]

I'm torn. I'm senior in my org. and pretty inundated with responsibilities. Half of our staff was hired during covid and they did not have the benefit of face to face time. I feel some responsibility to mentor, but at the same time, my plate is pretty full.

[Anonymous]

lol that younger women get mentors

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:lol that younger women get mentors

My child two years out of school first job was fully remote with a 45-50 single mom in another state who was barely engaged. She get deliverables but on average they talk 15-20 minutes a week. Half the time she was actually doing her job she suspects

She quit and new job in person. Her 30 year old boss is tasked with building a new team. He is ex Amazon and ex Microsoft. They are all in office Tuesday to Thursday.

She is learning at such a faster pace. She is still home remote Monday and Friday. Sounds odd but last month when she started new job it was first time ever physically in an office since 2010 take your kids to work day! Even her two internships were remote.

[Anonymous]

Working remote is really difficult for anyone taking a new job they have never done before. Like outside your previous career path. I would know.

It's great for anyone who has been doing their job successfully for a long time and doesn't spend a lot of time managing people or managing noobs. Just getting your work done and lapping up the accolades.