I mean, if everyone in a workplace is almost always working from home, there’s basically no way for new people to get into the job. I know that commutes can be brutal in some parts of the world, but maybe you should fix that instead of putting on the bandaid that everyone should just work remotely.
You do get a lot more done by actually interacting with your colleagues. Plus it can be pretty nice as well. We should expect it to be nice to go to work and interact with the people who do the same job. If it’s not nice, something is wrong and we should fix it.
Also, if we don’t see our colleagues, how in the fuck are we going to organize?
It depends on your type of job. I have been working remotely on and off for a bit more than a decade, and video calls are a thing. Virtual meetings are a thing. I can call my coworkers, see them, talk to them. Even if I’m not in front of them. We can organize just fine without the needs to smell each others farts.
And as an introvert, I prefer it that way. We’re not all extroverts that want to waste multiple hours of our life, unpaid, stuck in traffic, just so others can “interact face to face” with us.
In fact, you kind of sound like my manager that wants me to go back to the office a few days a week for “team spirit”. My team is all remote and we’ve been working like this for years. But now, suddenly, it’s not good enough. She wants to see our faces to foster team spirit. And to be quite honest, I will quit before being forced to needlessly spend energy to go to the office.
I know a lot of other people in that situation. In my country, federal workers that could do their job remotely were given that right during the pandemic. And now, after a few years, apparently, they really really need to be in an office and supervised for their job to be done.
To me, again, depending on your type of work, the organization “problem” is made up BS just so managers can surveil and monitor “their” employees.
See here’s the thing. The commute doesn’t need to be the nightmare that you’re describing. A country with developed infrastructure can get you to your job on foot or by bicycle in 5-10 minutes. A culture that doesn’t expect and demand that has a problem, and the fix isn’t to just do all interaction by screen.
I know I sound like your manager, because managers get talking points that have been distilled for them by PR firms, that have picked out the reasonable and good arguments for their position, and then they corrupt it for their own agenda. But I am not your manager, and I’m not some “extrovert” either. I’m just someone who doesn’t want to interact with other people only through a screen and only at designated times, i.e. a normal person.
When I talk organization, I don’t mean organizing the work, by the way. I mean: organizing the anti-work.
Yeah no that’s just plain wrong. Even in countries with good infrastructure/public transport it can still take ages to get to work, even if you live in the same city. Cities are just too big; you can’t really choose to live close to your workplace, especially in this current housing crisis.
You make it sound it’s a black or white thing (not racially ofc, but in a binary sense). Hybrid working would solve both issues; it reduces traffic without losing the social component completely. Most people don’t need/want 100% home office; just having 2-3 days a week where you can work from home would already be a complete gamechanger, because you gain a lot of flexibility.
I never said that nobody should ever work from home. I fully agree that working from home should be an option, and I think there are multiple good ways to do it. Might be you can do half the day from home, or as you suggested 2/5 days from home.
I’m just saying that the demand that workplaces should basically be deserted as senior workers work almost entirely remotely is unsustainable. New people aren’t going to actually learn how to do their jobs properly that way. And I don’t think most people want to spend their lives at home.
I mean, if everyone in a workplace is almost always working from home, there’s basically no way for new people to get into the job. I know that commutes can be brutal in some parts of the world, but maybe you should fix that instead of putting on the bandaid that everyone should just work remotely.
You do get a lot more done by actually interacting with your colleagues. Plus it can be pretty nice as well. We should expect it to be nice to go to work and interact with the people who do the same job. If it’s not nice, something is wrong and we should fix it.
Also, if we don’t see our colleagues, how in the fuck are we going to organize?
It depends on your type of job. I have been working remotely on and off for a bit more than a decade, and video calls are a thing. Virtual meetings are a thing. I can call my coworkers, see them, talk to them. Even if I’m not in front of them. We can organize just fine without the needs to smell each others farts.
And as an introvert, I prefer it that way. We’re not all extroverts that want to waste multiple hours of our life, unpaid, stuck in traffic, just so others can “interact face to face” with us.
In fact, you kind of sound like my manager that wants me to go back to the office a few days a week for “team spirit”. My team is all remote and we’ve been working like this for years. But now, suddenly, it’s not good enough. She wants to see our faces to foster team spirit. And to be quite honest, I will quit before being forced to needlessly spend energy to go to the office.
I know a lot of other people in that situation. In my country, federal workers that could do their job remotely were given that right during the pandemic. And now, after a few years, apparently, they really really need to be in an office and supervised for their job to be done.
To me, again, depending on your type of work, the organization “problem” is made up BS just so managers can surveil and monitor “their” employees.
See here’s the thing. The commute doesn’t need to be the nightmare that you’re describing. A country with developed infrastructure can get you to your job on foot or by bicycle in 5-10 minutes. A culture that doesn’t expect and demand that has a problem, and the fix isn’t to just do all interaction by screen.
I know I sound like your manager, because managers get talking points that have been distilled for them by PR firms, that have picked out the reasonable and good arguments for their position, and then they corrupt it for their own agenda. But I am not your manager, and I’m not some “extrovert” either. I’m just someone who doesn’t want to interact with other people only through a screen and only at designated times, i.e. a normal person.
When I talk organization, I don’t mean organizing the work, by the way. I mean: organizing the anti-work.
Yeah no that’s just plain wrong. Even in countries with good infrastructure/public transport it can still take ages to get to work, even if you live in the same city. Cities are just too big; you can’t really choose to live close to your workplace, especially in this current housing crisis.
You make it sound it’s a black or white thing (not racially ofc, but in a binary sense). Hybrid working would solve both issues; it reduces traffic without losing the social component completely. Most people don’t need/want 100% home office; just having 2-3 days a week where you can work from home would already be a complete gamechanger, because you gain a lot of flexibility.
I never said that nobody should ever work from home. I fully agree that working from home should be an option, and I think there are multiple good ways to do it. Might be you can do half the day from home, or as you suggested 2/5 days from home.
I’m just saying that the demand that workplaces should basically be deserted as senior workers work almost entirely remotely is unsustainable. New people aren’t going to actually learn how to do their jobs properly that way. And I don’t think most people want to spend their lives at home.