Working in office severely crimping productivity

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If my office wants me in and my productivity down, that's on them. It's constant chit chat and breaks.

i mean, thats clearly what they were asking for. if i have to go in, that's what they're gonna get. I'm gonna collaborate all day until it's time to go home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today, I had to listen to 2 people in the office drone on and on and on and on and on for 50+ minutes BSing about everything from their kids, to traveling, to school projects, to how cute their outfits are. Worst yet, a 3rd person saw the other two BSing and also stopped by to BS. All of the noise ruins productivity and your ability to focus when people around are so loud all of the time and are BSing to kill time between meetings.

So much more productivity at home where it is quiet and you don't have people stopping into your office to BS or people around you BS for hours per week while annoying everyone around them. But hey, I guess you got team building and 'culture' when your employees waste 50 minutes talking about shoes and their kids while ruining the productivity of everyone around them.

We were told that's a good thing. Called "collaboration"... fancier word for BSing.

+1

Also, nothing like coming back to the office, only to have all your meetings….on Zoom.

The collab stuff is all such BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today, I had to listen to 2 people in the office drone on and on and on and on and on for 50+ minutes BSing about everything from their kids, to traveling, to school projects, to how cute their outfits are. Worst yet, a 3rd person saw the other two BSing and also stopped by to BS. All of the noise ruins productivity and your ability to focus when people around are so loud all of the time and are BSing to kill time between meetings.

So much more productivity at home where it is quiet and you don't have people stopping into your office to BS or people around you BS for hours per week while annoying everyone around them. But hey, I guess you got team building and 'culture' when your employees waste 50 minutes talking about shoes and their kids while ruining the productivity of everyone around them.

We were told that's a good thing. Called "collaboration"... fancier word for BSing.

+1

Also, nothing like coming back to the office, only to have all your meetings….on Zoom.

The collab stuff is all such BS.

I was at a job like that before the pandemic. Since I lived in the DC area, I had to report into the office along with other DC people. But the field people didn't. This made no sense. I traveled an hour into DC to have conference calls with people in North Carolina, Ohio, and California--who all worked from home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like to BS and chit chat being gone is torture for me and I barely get 30-60 minutes work done a day.

In office I get in chit chat 20-40 minutes then get to work till lunch, chit chat at lunch 20-40 minutes get to work then chit chat 10-20 minute around 3 pm while getting coffee.

I had two introverts in my dept whose productivity went way up WFH as i distracted them, the majority of us it fell a lot.

I don’t like WFH as forced on me. Pre WFH 99 percent of company WFH on Friday I went to office 100 percent of time. I talk to guard, lunch people, coffee person, facilities. I was a VP making 500k a year and everyone loved me at clerical level. I rarely bother other VPs or SVPs.

I have been like this my whole life. Even at 18 I had a moving job, I get McDonalds and coffee and chit chat with. I workers first. I normally get to work one hour early to have time for this.

I’m like you, talkative and friendly. Wish I had a job that paid me $500k! I make $125k. I miss office culture a bit — the positive interactions. But I do think the negatives often outweighed the positives if I’m being honest. It’s just damn depressing to stay home all day and have to talk only to your cat or your spouse who’s avoiding you.

[Anonymous]

Put on noise canceling headphones. Even if you aren’t listening to anything, less people will bother you. And then if someone does approach, just point to the headphones and your phone and act like you are on a call.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today, I had to listen to 2 people in the office drone on and on and on and on and on for 50+ minutes BSing about everything from their kids, to traveling, to school projects, to how cute their outfits are. Worst yet, a 3rd person saw the other two BSing and also stopped by to BS. All of the noise ruins productivity and your ability to focus when people around are so loud all of the time and are BSing to kill time between meetings.

So much more productivity at home where it is quiet and you don't have people stopping into your office to BS or people around you BS for hours per week while annoying everyone around them. But hey, I guess you got team building and 'culture' when your employees waste 50 minutes talking about shoes and their kids while ruining the productivity of everyone around them.

We were told that's a good thing. Called "collaboration"... fancier word for BSing.

+1

Also, nothing like coming back to the office, only to have all your meetings….on Zoom.

The collab stuff is all such BS.

I was at a job like that before the pandemic. Since I lived in the DC area, I had to report into the office along with other DC people. But the field people didn't. This made no sense. I traveled an hour into DC to have conference calls with people in North Carolina, Ohio, and California--who all worked from home.

This is me. I don't really interact with anyone in the office at all beyond maybe a polite smile in the kitchen. I do have to be a full time scheduler trying to find open rooms and offices to take those calls, which is a huge distraction and time suck in an office space with no assigned seating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like to BS and chit chat being gone is torture for me and I barely get 30-60 minutes work done a day.

In office I get in chit chat 20-40 minutes then get to work till lunch, chit chat at lunch 20-40 minutes get to work then chit chat 10-20 minute around 3 pm while getting coffee.

I had two introverts in my dept whose productivity went way up WFH as i distracted them, the majority of us it fell a lot.

I don’t like WFH as forced on me. Pre WFH 99 percent of company WFH on Friday I went to office 100 percent of time. I talk to guard, lunch people, coffee person, facilities. I was a VP making 500k a year and everyone loved me at clerical level. I rarely bother other VPs or SVPs.

I have been like this my whole life. Even at 18 I had a moving job, I get McDonalds and coffee and chit chat with. I workers first. I normally get to work one hour early to have time for this.

You sound like a nightmare for everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like to BS and chit chat being gone is torture for me and I barely get 30-60 minutes work done a day.

In office I get in chit chat 20-40 minutes then get to work till lunch, chit chat at lunch 20-40 minutes get to work then chit chat 10-20 minute around 3 pm while getting coffee.

I had two introverts in my dept whose productivity went way up WFH as i distracted them, the majority of us it fell a lot.

I don’t like WFH as forced on me. Pre WFH 99 percent of company WFH on Friday I went to office 100 percent of time. I talk to guard, lunch people, coffee person, facilities. I was a VP making 500k a year and everyone loved me at clerical level. I rarely bother other VPs or SVPs.

I have been like this my whole life. Even at 18 I had a moving job, I get McDonalds and coffee and chit chat with. I workers first. I normally get to work one hour early to have time for this.

Do you think disrupting your colleagues is ok?
What a nightmare .

[Anonymous]

People are back in the office?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yet you have time for DCUM

Company policy is 1 15-minute break per day, which I use for coffee, checking the stock market and DCUM. Calm down Cassandra.

[Anonymous]

Does no-one work in an actual collaborative way? With whiteboard and discussing what would work to approach a problem? Drawing the concept, equations. Explaining to people in person how something works? Training new hires fresh from college on a system and making sure they are engaged and not lost? This is what we do. Granted we have no WFH options given the nature of the work anyway.

[Anonymous]

The open office plan killed productivity and collaboration - employers were facing a crisis point pre pandemic realizing this - the evidence was mounting and they had all gone all in with this floor plan. I work in consulting and read the studies and was privy to many large employers freaking out about it.

Hybrid is a decent solution if done well - give people time to work away from the office for a few days so they can do their focus work, a few days in the office to collaborate. I work FT from home and will never go back to more than once a week.

[Anonymous]

My sweet spot would be home: 3, office: 2 days. My homebody side would prefer 4:1, but I recognize there is value for me heading in an extra day.

To the pp who hates listening to loud coworkers, I keep a pair of headphones on my desk. When the voices go up, the headphones go on. It usually passes in 5-10 minutes and I take them off again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does no-one work in an actual collaborative way? With whiteboard and discussing what would work to approach a problem? Drawing the concept, equations. Explaining to people in person how something works? Training new hires fresh from college on a system and making sure they are engaged and not lost? This is what we do. Granted we have no WFH options given the nature of the work anyway.

There are white board apps/platforms. Use them from my phone on the beach a couple times a day. Better than a white board in the wall. I don’t need to be sitting next to someone or within a thousand miles of them to talk
/discuss/engage/review…,

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like to BS and chit chat being gone is torture for me and I barely get 30-60 minutes work done a day.

In office I get in chit chat 20-40 minutes then get to work till lunch, chit chat at lunch 20-40 minutes get to work then chit chat 10-20 minute around 3 pm while getting coffee.

I had two introverts in my dept whose productivity went way up WFH as i distracted them, the majority of us it fell a lot.

I don’t like WFH as forced on me. Pre WFH 99 percent of company WFH on Friday I went to office 100 percent of time. I talk to guard, lunch people, coffee person, facilities. I was a VP making 500k a year and everyone loved me at clerical level. I rarely bother other VPs or SVPs.

I have been like this my whole life. Even at 18 I had a moving job, I get McDonalds and coffee and chit chat with. I workers first. I normally get to work one hour early to have time for this.

Do you think disrupting your colleagues is ok?
What a nightmare .

I had a coworker like this. She would trap and corner people in their offices with incessant, meaningless conversation and then brag that she “worked” longer hours than everyone else. It truly seemed as though she relied on the workplace for socializing instead of getting work done. Such a distraction and really hampered others’ productivity.