Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a dumb article but there are some valid points. The people who suffer most from telework are the more junior staff that just don’t get as much professional development. I’m a senior person and would love to continue to just work from home most of the time but it’s not really fair to the junior folks. I know they are struggling. Face time for face time’s sake is dumb but the truth is that most humans are better at developing connections in person. We are struggling with finding the balance, as an office.

I also think that many employers will just hire peoole in lower COLA locations rather than people around here, if they are going to be primarily remote. That happened years ago with customer service and then with IT support, when businesses realized how someone could do it from Ohio for 50K just as easily as someone in DC doing it for 80K.

Only works for fully remote jobs. If those are plentiful, many DC-based workers would gladly move to lower cost-of-living states and take/keep these jobs.

In reality, I suspect even the most pro-WFH bosses will almost always want people to be able to come into the office from time to time.

At my federal office in DC, we required 100% teleworking remote staff to come into our agency's DC office for one week every 10 weeks. That's 5 trips to DC per year, paid for by my agency. This was so they could maintain a personal connection to their bosses and colleagues living in the Capital region.

98% of remote workers would have no issue with that stipulation. All expenses-paid week in DC away from their kids and home responsibilities? LOL

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a dumb article but there are some valid points. The people who suffer most from telework are the more junior staff that just don’t get as much professional development. I’m a senior person and would love to continue to just work from home most of the time but it’s not really fair to the junior folks. I know they are struggling. Face time for face time’s sake is dumb but the truth is that most humans are better at developing connections in person. We are struggling with finding the balance, as an office.

I also think that many employers will just hire peoole in lower COLA locations rather than people around here, if they are going to be primarily remote. That happened years ago with customer service and then with IT support, when businesses realized how someone could do it from Ohio for 50K just as easily as someone in DC doing it for 80K.

Only works for fully remote jobs. If those are plentiful, many DC-based workers would gladly move to lower cost-of-living states and take/keep these jobs.

In reality, I suspect even the most pro-WFH bosses will almost always want people to be able to come into the office from time to time.

Anonymous wrote:It’s a dumb article but there are some valid points. The people who suffer most from telework are the more junior staff that just don’t get as much professional development. I’m a senior person and would love to continue to just work from home most of the time but it’s not really fair to the junior folks. I know they are struggling. Face time for face time’s sake is dumb but the truth is that most humans are better at developing connections in person. We are struggling with finding the balance, as an office.

I also think that many employers will just hire peoole in lower COLA locations rather than people around here, if they are going to be primarily remote. That happened years ago with customer service and then with IT support, when businesses realized how someone could do it from Ohio for 50K just as easily as someone in DC doing it for 80K.

Anonymous wrote:

At the office, it's important that my birthday is acknowledged/celebrated and time is given to reflect on it. I also like to acknowledge the birthdays of my coworker and direct reports.

As a supervisor, I take note of enthusiasm and interest. It's hard to guage that over Teams, so I am asking higher management to have all workers back five days a week. I will not be allowing my employees to telework.

I'm 90% but not 100% sure... this is satire right?

At the office, it's important that my birthday is acknowledged/celebrated and time is given to reflect on it. I also like to acknowledge the birthdays of my coworker and direct reports.

As a supervisor, I take note of enthusiasm and interest. It's hard to guage that over Teams, so I am asking higher management to have all workers back five days a week. I will not be allowing my employees to telework.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best response I saw to this was that if your employees are spending 20 percent of their time on activities that "promote office culture," you should just institute a four-day workweek and you'd have the highest employee retention and satisfaction levels.

Ha! That's fantastic.

It's amazing how few employers are taking the overwhelming clamor for more WFH has pretty alarming feedback on that "office culture" this person is touting. If many of your employees are desperate to get away from the office, then maybe you've done a terrible job of creating a positive workplace culture.

I've always been more productive and happier working from home because there is less time wasted on dumb office BS. Who likes office birthday parties? Other than the cake, which honestly has been ruined anyway because everyone has so many dietary restrictions this days that you are as likely to be offered sugar-free, gluten-free cupcakes and OMG, I would much rather be at my desk working so that I can leave on time.

I manage 10 people and used to love doing a monthly birthday celebration where I'd bring in a store bought dessert. I had a boss who did this at my first job, and it always a nice 30 minute break in the day and a chance for some bonding/socializing. This became much more un-fun about 10 or so years ago, and then finally quietly quit doing it. So many diet restrictions. Either eat it or don't. I DGAF about your current "allergies" or diet.

You people are the worst. Food allergies are real. I mean I agree office birthday parties aren’t much fun but this isn’t the reason.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best response I saw to this was that if your employees are spending 20 percent of their time on activities that "promote office culture," you should just institute a four-day workweek and you'd have the highest employee retention and satisfaction levels.

Ha! That's fantastic.

It's amazing how few employers are taking the overwhelming clamor for more WFH has pretty alarming feedback on that "office culture" this person is touting. If many of your employees are desperate to get away from the office, then maybe you've done a terrible job of creating a positive workplace culture.

I've always been more productive and happier working from home because there is less time wasted on dumb office BS. Who likes office birthday parties? Other than the cake, which honestly has been ruined anyway because everyone has so many dietary restrictions this days that you are as likely to be offered sugar-free, gluten-free cupcakes and OMG, I would much rather be at my desk working so that I can leave on time.

I manage 10 people and used to love doing a monthly birthday celebration where I'd bring in a store bought dessert. I had a boss who did this at my first job, and it always a nice 30 minute break in the day and a chance for some bonding/socializing. This became much more un-fun about 10 or so years ago, and then finally quietly quit doing it. So many diet restrictions. Either eat it or don't. I DGAF about your current "allergies" or diet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Serious question: does anyone enjoy the birthday celebrations?

No. I don't want to sing to you, I don't want you to sing to me.

The best company I worked for gave birthdays off instead of cake or lunch.