Biden wants RTO

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I trained, mentored, and built lifelong relationships with new employees during the pandemic and I don’t understand the dinosaurs who can’t imagine how this could be possible. It takes a more deliberate effort but losing a commute is worth it.

You think you did. You did not.

I had a job where I used to travel a lot, work late a lot. But we were huge on mentoring, training, going to conferences. I spent maybe 2,000 hours a year working with my co workers, had around 200 lunches a year with then maybe 60-70 dinners, went on 5-10 business trips, 10-20 happy hours, had maybe 40 mentoring sessions upwards and downwards and 40-60 hours formal training. We all work together on projects. I did that 8 years.

Remote, really? People forget what I described is how 21 year olds started career pre pandemic. Not sitting in mommy’s basement zooming with some broken down boomer on a once a week status call

Based on my experience as a woman in the white collar workforce, as well as the experience relayed to me by others....those mentoring sessions, dinners, happy hours etc were not evenly distributed. People tend to mentor and socialize with people like them, and unintentionally exclude others.

One of the appeals of remote work is that it forces mentoring to be pre-planned and structured, and thus that mentoring is far more evenly distributed.

It would be very interesting to see a breakdown by race and by gender of those who prefer remote versus RTO. I sometimes feel like those promoting the many values of in-person collaboration are those who gained and maintained an advantage in that structure, and thus are reluctant to see it go. And I don't think those who support RTO for that reason realize it either. They assume everyone had the same experience and opportunities from in person work.

I had a ton of in person mentoring when I was a junior employee and we had lunches and coffees with more senior staff. Now that I’m the manager I willingly do the same for junior staff in the office but not those who are remote. I’m not trying to exclude them but if they won’t make any effort for their careers then neither will I.

[Anonymous]

Yeah right PP. My boss, and his boss, are NEVER in the office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah right PP. My boss, and his boss, are NEVER in the office.

Ok, so are you saying that your boss and his boss equal everyone?

[Anonymous]

That list of trips, lunches, and happy hours sounds exhausting. And that type of expectation excludes so many people. Parents, especially mothers. People with visible and invisible disabilities. People who can't drink or are members of religions that don't. People with dietary restrictions, including religious ones. People who care for aging parents. People with anxiety or mental health issues. I get that PPs will say they did it and anybody can do it and it doesn't matter. I'm glad that remote offers the opportunity for focus to be on work product and aptitude rather than socializing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good remote work relationships are hindered by FOIA. Everything we say to each other is FOIA'd. They even ask for personal conversations. I guess the answer is more zoom meetings?? It's not the same as in the private sector.

Or maybe you shouldn’t be having those conversations. Just do your job and follow the rules.

Agreed! You should never ask a coworker or employee how their weekend was, how they're feeling or what they thought of the last presentation. Zero chatter.

[Anonymous]

I wish remote people realized that the onus is on them to reach out, make contacts and figure things out. It is harder than being in the office, sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good remote work relationships are hindered by FOIA. Everything we say to each other is FOIA'd. They even ask for personal conversations. I guess the answer is more zoom meetings?? It's not the same as in the private sector.

Or maybe you shouldn’t be having those conversations. Just do your job and follow the rules.

Agreed! You should never ask a coworker or employee how their weekend was, how they're feeling or what they thought of the last presentation. Zero chatter.

Brilliant! All of our work could be done by bots. No need for human interaction at all, what could go wrong for us workers?

I know that relationships are fraught with bias and challenges, but there is something nice about working with other humans and forming relationships. I also hate my commute, but does no one else see any value in some sacrifice here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good remote work relationships are hindered by FOIA. Everything we say to each other is FOIA'd. They even ask for personal conversations. I guess the answer is more zoom meetings?? It's not the same as in the private sector.

Or maybe you shouldn’t be having those conversations. Just do your job and follow the rules.

Agreed! You should never ask a coworker or employee how their weekend was, how they're feeling or what they thought of the last presentation. Zero chatter.

Ever heard of a telephone? I text and chat with my coworkers all day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I trained, mentored, and built lifelong relationships with new employees during the pandemic and I don’t understand the dinosaurs who can’t imagine how this could be possible. It takes a more deliberate effort but losing a commute is worth it.

You think you did. You did not.

I had a job where I used to travel a lot, work late a lot. But we were huge on mentoring, training, going to conferences. I spent maybe 2,000 hours a year working with my co workers, had around 200 lunches a year with then maybe 60-70 dinners, went on 5-10 business trips, 10-20 happy hours, had maybe 40 mentoring sessions upwards and downwards and 40-60 hours formal training. We all work together on projects. I did that 8 years.

Remote, really? People forget what I described is how 21 year olds started career pre pandemic. Not sitting in mommy’s basement zooming with some broken down boomer on a once a week status call

Yes, lots of us did that, but the corporate road warrior is a thing of the past. No company is going to pay for your travel and bar tab when most of those meetings could be virtual now. That trend was happening even before covid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I trained, mentored, and built lifelong relationships with new employees during the pandemic and I don’t understand the dinosaurs who can’t imagine how this could be possible. It takes a more deliberate effort but losing a commute is worth it.

You think you did. You did not.

I had a job where I used to travel a lot, work late a lot. But we were huge on mentoring, training, going to conferences. I spent maybe 2,000 hours a year working with my co workers, had around 200 lunches a year with then maybe 60-70 dinners, went on 5-10 business trips, 10-20 happy hours, had maybe 40 mentoring sessions upwards and downwards and 40-60 hours formal training. We all work together on projects. I did that 8 years.

Remote, really? People forget what I described is how 21 year olds started career pre pandemic. Not sitting in mommy’s basement zooming with some broken down boomer on a once a week status call

Based on my experience as a woman in the white collar workforce, as well as the experience relayed to me by others....those mentoring sessions, dinners, happy hours etc were not evenly distributed. People tend to mentor and socialize with people like them, and unintentionally exclude others.

One of the appeals of remote work is that it forces mentoring to be pre-planned and structured, and thus that mentoring is far more evenly distributed.

It would be very interesting to see a breakdown by race and by gender of those who prefer remote versus RTO. I sometimes feel like those promoting the many values of in-person collaboration are those who gained and maintained an advantage in that structure, and thus are reluctant to see it go. And I don't think those who support RTO for that reason realize it either. They assume everyone had the same experience and opportunities from in person work.

This. I’ve been in the workforce for a long time, and yes, I’ve seen how people are excluded and marginalized because they aren’t able to participate or not invited to participate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I trained, mentored, and built lifelong relationships with new employees during the pandemic and I don’t understand the dinosaurs who can’t imagine how this could be possible. It takes a more deliberate effort but losing a commute is worth it.

You think you did. You did not.

I had a job where I used to travel a lot, work late a lot. But we were huge on mentoring, training, going to conferences. I spent maybe 2,000 hours a year working with my co workers, had around 200 lunches a year with then maybe 60-70 dinners, went on 5-10 business trips, 10-20 happy hours, had maybe 40 mentoring sessions upwards and downwards and 40-60 hours formal training. We all work together on projects. I did that 8 years.

Remote, really? People forget what I described is how 21 year olds started career pre pandemic. Not sitting in mommy’s basement zooming with some broken down boomer on a once a week status call

Based on my experience as a woman in the white collar workforce, as well as the experience relayed to me by others....those mentoring sessions, dinners, happy hours etc were not evenly distributed. People tend to mentor and socialize with people like them, and unintentionally exclude others.

One of the appeals of remote work is that it forces mentoring to be pre-planned and structured, and thus that mentoring is far more evenly distributed.

It would be very interesting to see a breakdown by race and by gender of those who prefer remote versus RTO. I sometimes feel like those promoting the many values of in-person collaboration are those who gained and maintained an advantage in that structure, and thus are reluctant to see it go. And I don't think those who support RTO for that reason realize it either. They assume everyone had the same experience and opportunities from in person work.

This. I’ve been in the workforce for a long time, and yes, I’ve seen how people are excluded and marginalized because they aren’t able to participate or not invited to participate.

This is absolutely true. But if not everyone has equal opportunities for relationships then should no one should have them? I think we should broaden the conversations and try to be more inclusive, my worry is when we never see each other we just don’t build these relationships at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah right PP. My boss, and his boss, are NEVER in the office.

Ok, so are you saying that your boss and his boss equal everyone?

I don't even know what you guys are bickering about but, regardless, that's one dump thing to say. LOL.

- np

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are most people anticipating 2 or 3 days a week? I am ok with 2 but really dread 3.

NSF wants 4 days in the office; so going back to pre pandemic measures. Total bummer.

[Anonymous]

They should make a new version of The Office which is The Entirely Virtual Office where none of the fun or interesting things that happened on that show ever happen. The couple who would have married only send each other zoom messages and never meet, and people are just doing all of their goofing off from home alone. Young people are so sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are most people anticipating 2 or 3 days a week? I am ok with 2 but really dread 3.

NSF wants 4 days in the office; so going back to pre pandemic measures. Total bummer.

Per WEEK? For NSF? Yikes.