Work-From-Office Mandate? Expect Top Talent Turnover, Culture Rot (cio.com) 95
CIO magazine reports that "the push toward in-person work environments will make it more difficult for IT leaders to retain and recruit staff, some experts say."
"In addition to resistance, there would also be the risk of talent turnover," [says Lawrence Wolfe, CTO at marketing firm Converge]... "The truth is, both physical and virtual collaboration provide tremendous value...." IT workers facing work-from-office mandates are two to three times more likely than their counterparts to look for new jobs, according to Metaintro, a search engine that tracks millions of jobs. IT leaders hiring new employees may also face significant headwinds, with it taking 40% to 50% longer to fill in-person roles than remote jobs, according to Metaintro. "Some of the challenges CIOs face include losing top-tier talent, limiting the pool of candidates available for hire, and damaging company culture, with a team filled with resentment," says Lacey Kaelani, CEO and cofounder at Metaintro...
There are several downsides for IT leaders to in-person work mandates, [adds Lena McDearmid, founder and CEO of culture and leadership advisory firm Wryver], as orders to commute to an office can feel arbitrary or rooted in control rather than in value creation. "That erodes trust quickly, particularly in IT teams that proved they could deliver remotely for years," she adds. The mandates can also create new friction for IT leaders by requiring them to deal with morale issues, manage exceptions, and spend time enforcing policy instead of leading strategy, she says. "There's also a real risk of losing experienced, high-performing talent who have options and are unwilling to trade autonomy for proximity without a clear reason," McDearmid adds. "When companies mandate daily commutes without a clear rationale, they often narrow their talent pool and increase attrition, particularly among people who know they can work effectively elsewhere."
McDearmid has seen teams "sitting next to each other" who collaborate poorly "because decisions are unclear or leaders equate visibility with progress... Collaboration doesn't automatically improve just because people share a building."
And Rebecca Wettemann, CEO at IT analyst firm Valoir, warns of return-to-office mandates "being used as a Band-Aid for poor management. When IT professionals feel they're being evaluated based on badge swipes, not real accomplishments, they will either act accordingly or look to work elsewhere."
Thanks to Slashdot reader snydeq for sharing the article.
There are several downsides for IT leaders to in-person work mandates, [adds Lena McDearmid, founder and CEO of culture and leadership advisory firm Wryver], as orders to commute to an office can feel arbitrary or rooted in control rather than in value creation. "That erodes trust quickly, particularly in IT teams that proved they could deliver remotely for years," she adds. The mandates can also create new friction for IT leaders by requiring them to deal with morale issues, manage exceptions, and spend time enforcing policy instead of leading strategy, she says. "There's also a real risk of losing experienced, high-performing talent who have options and are unwilling to trade autonomy for proximity without a clear reason," McDearmid adds. "When companies mandate daily commutes without a clear rationale, they often narrow their talent pool and increase attrition, particularly among people who know they can work effectively elsewhere."
McDearmid has seen teams "sitting next to each other" who collaborate poorly "because decisions are unclear or leaders equate visibility with progress... Collaboration doesn't automatically improve just because people share a building."
And Rebecca Wettemann, CEO at IT analyst firm Valoir, warns of return-to-office mandates "being used as a Band-Aid for poor management. When IT professionals feel they're being evaluated based on badge swipes, not real accomplishments, they will either act accordingly or look to work elsewhere."
Thanks to Slashdot reader snydeq for sharing the article.
CEOs don't listen to experts (Score:5, Insightful)
And they *certainly* don't listen to their people.
Well, unless they say what the CEO already thinks.
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If it's good for the stock price, the MBAs will do it. They'll exercise their options and be long gone before the damage becomes obvious.
On Friday I had to drive into the office at -34C to make Teams calls to the rest of my team who live hundreds of miles away. But I probably added 0.0000001 cent to the stock price by doing so.
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Writing off the value of building leases that would be redundant with WFH is a bigger short-term hit to the bottom line.
Also, the CEO may have investments in commercial (office) property.
Re: CEOs don't listen to experts (Score:2)
Re: CEOs don't listen to experts (Score:2)
Consultants are often brought out with a mandate to tell the company that the answer is X.
"Do the work, but the answer needs to be X"
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Here's the thing. The more "Corporate structure" a company has, the most waste is has.
There should never be more than 1 person running interference for anything. If I, J-random-IT-worker is talking to J-random-idiot-employee, I should be talking to HR not directly to them. Likewise I should not be running to the CEO for every stupid thing. This is what the "manager"'s entire existence is supposed to be, the person who schedules staff, makes sure staff like each other before putting them together on the same
Work from home in bad weather (Score:5, Interesting)
My work sent out an email on Friday saying anyone who physically reports to the office at several locations would not have to report on Monday or Tuesday due to incoming snowstorm. However, the email also stated that anyone who teleworked was required to work on Monday or Tuesday or use leave to take those days off.
Guess who is upset they have to work on Monday and Tuesday.
Re:Work from home in bad weather (Score:5, Informative)
Guess who is upset they have to work on Monday and Tuesday.
An hour-long commute (one-way) for a person working full-time (not unrealistic given average traffic burden and the distance one can afford housing in relation to a decent paying job), equates to two hours every day sitting behind a steering wheel.
Ten hours every week. An entire workweek wasted sitting behind a steering wheel every month. An entire fiscal quarter, wasted every year.
Guess who's not too upset about a temporary inconvenience in the big picture. Did I forget to mention they also didn't put $200 worth of RTO gas in their cars this month? $2400 a year buys a nice vacation. And I don't mean one behind a fucking steering wheel.
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Did I forget to mention they also didn't put $200 worth of RTO gas in their cars this month?
What vehicle are you driving that you put $200 worth of gas in each month, a gas-guzzling pickup truck? You're getting paid to come to work whether you drive, take a train, bus, or taxi. It's always been like that. Besides, with all the people now driving electric or electric hybrids, they're not paying anywhere near that amount to go to work.
But thanks for missing the point.
Re:Work from home in bad weather (Score:4, Insightful)
and at $4 per gallon (thanks Seattle Democrats) or $144 per month.
Washington state does not have an income tax, which means public infrastructure must be maintained by sales and gas tax revenue. Oregon state does not have sales tax, which means their public infrastructure must be maintained by income tax revenue.
The two side-by-side states have opposite revenue methods. Which is better? That depends on who you ask. Living in Washington state, it is easy to complain about high sales and gas taxes while silently enjoying the benefits of no income tax. It is difficult to sympathize you blaming something on Democrats that is the result of laws codified in the state's Constitution.
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"2025 mileage rates Self-employed and business: 70 cents/mile"
??? Does that include all the car maintenance and insurance. But still that is almost 2x more expensive than using car sharing service around here, which provides cars for rent for prices from 25 cents/km. And this is in Europe, where fuel is 1.5-2 €/l.
And if that's just fuel, than it is insane... I am paying 5-10 ct/km for my current PHEV, which is quite thirsty for fuel.
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That was the official IRS rate. I believe it covers insurance, amantenance and depreciation over wha the IRS considers the lifetime of the car.
"WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today announced that the optional standard mileage rate for business use of automobiles will increase by 2.5 cents in 2026, while the mileage rate for vehicles used for medical purposes will decrease by half a cent, reflecting updated cost data and annual inflation adjustments."
"Beginning Jan. 1, 2026, the standard mi
Re:Work from home in bad weather (Score:4, Insightful)
Did I forget to mention they also didn't put $200 worth of RTO gas in their cars this month?
What vehicle are you driving that you put $200 worth of gas in each month, a gas-guzzling pickup truck?
I've logged over 700,000 miles in cars I've owned. My commutes averaged at least 45 minutes one way for 30 years. Not sure what car you're driving that gets 100MPG, but do the math. Hardly takes a gas guzzler to eat up $200 worth of gas every month. That's basically a fill-up every week, and gas prices were averaging higher than what we're paying today for many years. (For the record, I was driving cars getting 30 - 38MPG for most of that time. With commutes like that, I was hardly interested in wasting more money on "guzzlers" for fucks and fashions sake.)
You're getting paid to come to work whether you drive, take a train, bus, or taxi. It's always been like that. Besides, with all the people now driving electric or electric hybrids, they're not paying anywhere near that amount to go to work.
But thanks for missing the point.
Salaried people are getting paid to drive. Hourly people are not. But a CEO of a 100-employee organization completely failing to justify RTO mandates is a CEO missing out on an entire fiscal quarter worth of human effort wasted sitting behind a steering wheel every year. Multiplied one-hundred times over, because that is a measured waste per employee. Thank the ignorant RTO-mandating CEO protecting corrupt interests for missing the point. Time is the resource being wasted every time RTO is not justified, no matter how green your transport is.
Oh, and how about a fucking golf clap for the "go green" hypocrisy by forcing employees to suck on tailpipe fumes they mandated to return into the atmosphere with RTO. Nothing like a completely fucking pointless waste of resources we don't have to burn anymore. Yes, there are more EVs on the road. Doesn't offset the fact that COVID validated WFH in many ways and took a LOT more polluting tailpipes off the roadways and out of the atmosphere.
If RTO doesn't work for your organization, start with firing the grown-ass children working in HR who are hiring grown-ass children. Adults know how to work. Anytime. Anywhere.
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You're getting paid to come to work whether you drive, take a train, bus, or taxi.
Huh? No I get paid to work, or be at a location. There's virtually zero jobs out there who pay you to travel to and from work.
It's always been like that.
Things said about: 80 hour workweeks. 16 hour workdays. Child labour. No holidays or weekends. No sick leave. No injury compensation. I mean if we take "It's always been like that" as an excuse to not do something why don't you stop being a hypocritical piece of shit and work like a real employee from the 1800s?
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Move to Europe and take the train, or walk, to work. Moron.
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Move to Europe and take the train, or walk, to work. Moron.
Taking the train all the way from Europe would take too long. buy a globe!
Sheesh.
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Re: Work from home in bad weather (Score:2)
I wouldn't be upset.. because I like working from home that much. Also if I was to take a couple days off I would just fall behind on my work and have to do more in fewer days.
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A policy like that is so stupid it could only come from a government agency.
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My work sent out an email on Friday saying anyone who physically reports to the office at several locations would not have to report on Monday or Tuesday due to incoming snowstorm. However, the email also stated that anyone who teleworked was required to work on Monday or Tuesday or use leave to take those days off.
Guess who is upset they have to work on Monday and Tuesday.
Wait - so the company said "if you work out of the office you get to take the day off", not "you can remote in"? The former is just good practice. The latter is playing favorites.
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I guess my situation applies to very few people, but I am paid by the hour (and have a certain quota of hours to fill), so I would not lift an ibrow, where Eye in this situation. (Sorry. Have to take humor where I can find it, even if it's half-assed like this....) They are quick to send out mails: office not available today, please work from home.
However, the 2 hours or so per day spent commuting to an office are not part of that hourly quota. (We mostly WFH but have a certain quota of office days to fill,
It depends (Score:5, Insightful)
A company implementing a "return to office" mandate, without any other consideration, will both lose top talent and lose dead weight.
Top talent loves working from home, dead weight loves working from home as well.
The elephant in the room: Managers can't differentiate between the two.
no (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:It depends (Score:5, Interesting)
If I were Dead weight I would probably stay and commute knowing three things
1) I can manage to be dead weight here but what are the chances another company will just let me slide in and slack as soon as I get hired? The lazier deadweightier option is to stick to it
2) When the other people leave my positon here is more secure.
3) Its actually easier to do nothing at the office, because there's so much other junk going on, more meetings that kinda looks like work, more socializing that kinda looks like work.If you have charisma its much more easy to manipulate your manager. If I want I can just make ai quarter-ass the little work I do and spend the rest of the time flirting with Jessica in the accounting department.
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Re:It depends (Score:4, Insightful)
In an office it's easier to do performative productivity where you look busy buy aren't actually doing anything productive. It just looks like you're not deadweight because you're getting something done.
Deadweight is easier to hide in an office than it is WFH - because things often get passed around more informally as in "Hey Joe, can you get me those X numbers for the week" instead of doing them yourself. WFH those kinds of people would be constantly asking for stuff over Teams and such and be much more annoying and easier to point fingers at.
The top talent leaves. The deadweight hangs around.
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"2) When the other people leave my positon here is more secure."
When small numbers of other people leave your position is more secure. If large numbers of other people leave your position is *less* secure.
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If I were Dead weight I would probably stay and commute knowing three things
1) I can manage to be dead weight here but what are the chances another company will just let me slide in and slack as soon as I get hired? The lazier deadweightier option is to stick to it
2) When the other people leave my positon here is more secure.
3) Its actually easier to do nothing at the office, because there's so much other junk going on, more meetings that kinda looks like work, more socializing that kinda looks like work.If you have charisma its much more easy to manipulate your manager. If I want I can just make ai quarter-ass the little work I do and spend the rest of the time flirting with Jessica in the accounting department.
This,
The dead weight didn't become dead weight overnight by magic when they started working from home... they were always there and ironically have been champions of RTO because working from home highlights people who don't deliver much. It's much easier to brown nose and look busy when you can physically move around and bother other people (and steal credit for the work of others). Pointless meetings, "water cooler" inspiration and other such nonsense.
RTO will result in the dead weight rushing back i
Re:It depends (Score:4, Informative)
I have always preferred going to the work site and working, so that there is a clear delineation b/w work and home. Somehow, working at home, the demarcation looks fuzzy
When my kid was a toddler, there were some occasions when I worked from home, so that I could free his mom up for tasks she needed to do, while I took care of him. Other than that, I have only worked from home when I needed to have international conference calls w/ colleagues in Japan, which for me was past midnight. Otherwise, I prefer being at the work site
I do understand the reasons people prefer to work from home, such as the long commute times, among others
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While not even the office dress code requires a shirt and tie, I still wear them when WFH, as well as smart trousers. At the end of my working day I change into casual clothes. That's how I delimit being "at work" and being "at home".
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I work with someone that does this. I've never been on a video call with this person where he hasn't been wearing a suit, in his home office. I have my camera disabled in the BIOS and I am working on my 6th pair of socks and 3rd bathrobe. I haven't dressed for work in my home office ever, and I've been working from home for thirteen years.
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I like your style. But how's the missus?
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Re: It depends (Score:2)
I really don't understand people who say they love their families yet seem to do everything they can to get away from them.
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I have always preferred going to the work site and working,
You're not the only one. I prefer working from the office to the point that when I was a contractor/consultant working fully remote for random clients. I got so fed up working from home that I ended putting a coworking space as a business expense so I had somewhere else to work. As well as small companies, there were quite a few others like me in the space. It was 100% worth it. I learned some stuff from my fellow coworkers that lead to a startup. A
Re: It depends (Score:4, Insightful)
It is important to remind everyone that no one is saying you HAVE to work from home. Just that there should be the choice to work from home if there is no reason to forbid it. Also that everyone should be judged by their productivity and skill, not by their ability to befriend the boss.
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Otherwise, I prefer being at the work site
And that's 100% cool. I have staffers who go in a couple times a week just to get out of the house. Others come in because their spouse also is remote, and it's just easier to split up. Some just don't have the space at home for dedicated office areas. It's a personal choice.
My (again, personal) logic goes thusly - if I'm spending the hour on the commute, what am I and the company getting out of it? In my case, our team is spread out across the country - there's no-one else in my province. So all my meet
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No. Dead weight tends to stay because they don't have the sort of CV that gets them a nice WFH job elsewhere. Top talent is a lot more mobile.
So you'll see top talent flee and dead weight slogging to the office and pulling down morale because they hate it.
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If the majority of companies return to some in office days where are the "top talent" going to flee to exactly? Also most places don't want anti social basement dwelling mushrooms anymore even in development, those days are gone particularly with the squeeze in the jobs market. The autists will just have to find some other career.
Re: It depends (Score:2)
There will always be developers gifted enough that they will be sought after.
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To the minority of companies, naturally.
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A company implementing a "return to office" mandate, without any other consideration, will both lose top talent and lose dead weight.
You can get rid of dead weight by performance managing people properly based on the task they have been assigned. If you can't do that your problem isn't dead weight.
Also there's no evidence that dead weight would quit. The problem with dead weight is their talent isn't easily transferable because of how useless they are. They are more than likely to stay and annoy the hell out of your talented employees by having loud conversations next to the watercooler for hours on end.
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A company implementing a "return to office" mandate, without any other consideration, will both lose top talent and lose dead weight.
Top talent loves working from home, dead weight loves working from home as well.
The elephant in the room: Managers can't differentiate between the two.
Good and even mediocre managers absolutely can differentiate between the two. Bad managers can't, but that's the same whether people are WFH or in the office.
However, firing people is hard and most dead weight employees know to do just enough to keep themselves from becoming fireable. Even if that means doing the daily slog to the office. Meanwhile, top talent can easily leave, and does.
Duh (Score:2)
But somehow I expect CEOs will not listen to the obvious being stated time and again. They are certainly not smart enough to recognize it themselves.
This always the case (Score:5, Insightful)
During many rounds of voluntary incentives, I watched the good people go and the weak people say.
This just a different type of incentive.
Tokyo (Score:4, Interesting)
Reasons people want to work from home in the US:
- Commuting cost savings
- Commuting stress
- Commuting time savings
- Comfortable home working environment
- Undesirable office working environment
Interestingly these are not quite the same in Tokyo:
- Commuting cost savings - [N/A] The company pays for commuting costs
- Commuting stress - [Similar] "Traffic" stress replaced by crowded train stress
- Commuting time savings - [Similar]. Although Tokyo commute times are more predictable.
- Comfortable home working environment - [Worse] Less spacious Tokyo homes means less comfortable home working environment
- Undesirable office working environment - [Better] Tokyo office and after work city life is more appealing than some industrial park office
Re: Tokyo (Score:5, Interesting)
You missed one: taking care of family.
I have an elderly father, who is doing pretty good for his age, but is unable to live by himself. I was luckily enough to talk my boss into full time remote work. It makes a huge difference in my fatherâ(TM)s life.
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You missed one: taking care of family.
I have an elderly father, who is doing pretty good for his age, but is unable to live by himself. I was luckily enough to talk my boss into full time remote work. It makes a huge difference in my fatherâ(TM)s life.
Good point.
And respect to both you and your boss.
Re: Tokyo (Score:2)
I appreciate you helping your dad but let's be honest - you shouldn't really be doing on your work time, unless you always make up your hours to the amount you're contracted for.
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Re: Tokyo (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Tokyo (Score:2)
Why? In most technical roles they can expect you to work at night for things that are important enough to the company. What are "work hours" in this scenario?
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you shouldn't really be doing on your work time
Who dictates the work time? Does work start at 8am and finish at 5pm like it's the 1980s or something? My work time is counted in hours of the week. How I work is up to me. Those useless fuckers complaining that I take a 1 hour lunch are the same useless fuckers who clock off at 5pm while I am still on my own designated "work time".
Also helping someone? Do you have an alarm that goes off and tells you when you can go pee or get a coffee? That doesn't sound like you're doing work. The concept of "work time"
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You missed the following:
- Playing with kids instead of working, and no one can see that you're doing so.
- Doing chores you'd normally have to complete after work, and no one can see that you're doing so.
- Potentially working a second job, and your employers don't know you're doing so.
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- Traveling overseas for six months on a tourist visa while "working from home".
Re: Tokyo (Score:2)
So one person out of a million takes advantage and you want to take it out on the million. In other words, you will only accept work from home once all people are infallible. When there are no con artists.
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Oh, hell no. My commute was a bitch. Work from home was a blessing.
Though, since I worked in the design end of construction, and construction was considered an essential service, even during the Covid work-from-home mandate I was still getting out of the house a couple of times a month to visit construction sites. I feel that workin
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Did he still do his work?
Then whats the problem where he did it from?
Sounds like you're jealous he got to do his work while sitting on a beach, while you had to waste hours of your time trekking into a miserable office every day.
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Did he still do his work? Then whats the problem where he did it from?
Sounds like you're jealous he got to do his work while sitting on a beach, while you had to waste hours of your time trekking into a miserable office every day.
I agree, up to where the company runs into tax implications (because now you're employing someone working in another country, and they'd really like their share of payroll taxes and such.)
But within those boundaries? I don't see why I should fuss that my staffer got to house-sit for a couple weeks, so long as they're getting the work done and getting their hours in.
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If the company doesn't operate in $COUNTRY then they're not liable for anything there at all.
If the employee is working in $COUNTRY then he is responsible for his own tax affairs as an employee of a foreign company. This is nothing new, people have worked for foreign companies that have no local presence for many years.
Also for this to apply you have to spend a significant amount of the year in the country, typically between 90 and 180 days depending on the country before you become liable for local taxatio
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Sort of. At that point he wasn't really trying too hard to do a good job.
Inevitably he was going to be asked to visit a job site, come into the office for some upgrade to his laptop, or any number of things that he couldn't do from overseas.
LOL. I don't think he was sitting on
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- Playing with kids instead of working, and no one can see that you're doing so.
- Doing chores you'd normally have to complete after work, and no one can see that you're doing so.
- Potentially working a second job, and your employers don't know you're doing so.
So what? In exchange, you're not:
So you likely spend more time doing useful work, or at least not less. And if that's n
Re:Tokyo (Score:5, Interesting)
- Commuting stress - [Similar] "Traffic" stress replaced by crowded train stress
Can't speak for Tokyo trains specifically, but for me unless you're, like, standing for an hour or more a crowded train beats bad traffic.
Driving is particularly horrible, you're operating in one mode, moving, with high awareness, thinking fast then you slam into a traffic jam and are stopped, and your brain's completely jacked up with suddenly nothing to do. I think that experience is horrible and why people get so rage filled. There's something uniquely unpleasant about heavy traffic and it makes people awful.
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- Commuting stress - [Similar] "Traffic" stress replaced by crowded train stress
Can't speak for Tokyo trains specifically, but for me unless you're, like, standing for an hour or more a crowded train beats bad traffic.
Driving is particularly horrible, you're operating in one mode, moving, with high awareness, thinking fast then you slam into a traffic jam and are stopped, and your brain's completely jacked up with suddenly nothing to do. I think that experience is horrible and why people get so rage filled. There's something uniquely unpleasant about heavy traffic and it makes people awful.
I agree.
Being stuck in traffic, particularly when you think it is going to make you late, is pretty stressful, and brings out the worst in people.
Being on a crowded train means you have to define a smaller personal space, but you can listen to a podcast, or music, read a book, and you are confident that you will arrive at the expected time. It's actually quite a luxury to not have to continuously focus on driving.
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When living in the city, I could read the paper when on a crowded "L" train, even when standing, and the hour commute was only 20 minutes on the train, 20 minutes on a bus, some walking and some waiting.
When living in the suburbs it was an hour and a quarter train ride, with seats almost always available, and I could read, work, play on my laptop, or sleep. Much better (and cheaper) than driving, even if driving would cut off 15 to 30 minutes of commute time.
If you work IT (Score:4, Interesting)
If you are an IT worker most of your work hours are going to be spent sitting in a chair in front of a keyboard and a monitor. Maybe just a laptop, maybe several screens, and you gotta come up with some software there. If you have to drive in and work in a bullpen office environment it will be much the same scenario. People are mainly just trying to get their work done with the computer interfaces in front of them.
But on the other hand there reportedly are those who work multiple jobs remotely without the employers being aware of it. And these days maybe it is easier to do. If you know how to use AI assistance effectively you can generate the coding output of 2-3 unboosted humans without undue effort.
Re: If you work IT (Score:3)
If you know how to use AI assistance effectively you can generate the coding output of 2-3 unboosted humans without undue effort.
Wouldn't it be nice to take advantage of such productivity boost by having 3 day weeks, and then those guys who want loads of money could work 2 jobs?
Most companies ignore it (Score:2)
RTO is a form of attrition (Score:3)
CEOs are unconcerned about employee retention. They just want to reduce labour costs for their shareholders.
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This is exactly it. When the economy and labor markets shift and employers again care about hiring people, expect to see RTO mandates suddenly become a lot more flexible. Especially if it coincides with the office lease coming to an end and the company realizes it can drastically downsize the square footage of the office they decide to rent next.
Consistent work environment (Score:5, Interesting)
What matters for me the most while working remotely is being at the same desk every day, with all the little things that help me stay focused and productive. Same screens, same positions, same landscape. Same chair, same comfortable lightning. No needless commotion and passing shadows. An environment where I can feel psychologically familiar with the surroundings and be actually be productive.
Fuck hot-desking with insufficient screens, new seat and a new problem every day. And if you get in even 15 minutes late, all the best spots are gone.
Who's top talent? (Score:2)
Since forever and way before the pandemic, truly top talent has been able to work from home or wherever they want. But that's only for truly top talent where the guy would be hired even if there's no position. Most people who think they're top talent actually aren't because the company can find other people who are equally competent.
Might all be true. (Score:2)
But unfortunately today the swing of the pendulum is granting the power to the employer. As industries collapse and jobs are wiped out at all seniority levels, the flood of available talent makes going elsewhere more difficult. Even the best may be reluctant to take a stand against things like return to office mandates.
No problem (Score:3)
AI is going to replace all these folks within the next 5 years anyway, right? /sarc
If LLMs and whatever successors come along are as good as the tech bros keep telling us, most programmers and managers will be replaced by machines and WFH won't be an issue.
Conversely, if there's a panic around losing workers because of back-to-the-office mandates, then the C-levels in those companies must not have very much confidence in the AIs they're trying to shove down everyone's throats. That would suggest that a lot of the buzz around AI must be bullshit, right? /notsarc
They can pull it off during slumps (Score:2)
but as soon as the market improves, employees will bolt away faster than a rear-ended Pinto.
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Could be. Even longer if the AI bubble pops, tanking the entire economy. At least we could finally buy PC parts.
cio.com (Score:2)
The amount of marketing crap on that web page is beyond belief. Easily one of the top 3 worst web pages I encountered in the past 12 months.
Work From Home (Score:5, Interesting)
Where I work, we had two senior developers retire a couple years ago. We posted the job openings, and got a few applicants. In the interviews, they all asked about our work-from-home policy. I had to tell them that we don't have one officially, but it does happen (we actually had an unofficial hybrid policy after COVID ended). Two of the three weren't interested, and the one we hired left for a fully work-from-home company a year later. I told the boss that we would likely get more applicants with an officially endorsed work from home benefit.
When replacing the one who left, we officially adopted and advertised the hybrid model. After posting the job opening with the hybrid model officially endorsed, we got dozens of applicants.
COVID proved that working from home obviously works perfectly well, and the labor market is clamoring for it as a standard benefit.
Re: (Score:2)
Employment At Will means the employer can "Alter the deal" at any time they wish. This means they can hire a bunch of new employees touting the hybrid work policy , and once they are on board [with non competes signed] they can eliminate the hybrid work policy and watch the employees try to find other jobs with the non compete in place.
At least in the United States and outside of California and a handful of other states which prohibit non competes.
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Its one or the other. Hybrid sucks (Score:3)
Look, there are pros and cons to working from office and working from home. Everyone knows what they are, so I am not going to rehash what is already widely known and understood. Neither of these models is perfect. Different ones will work for different companies depending on their size, stage of growth, what they do, and geographical location.
However, ONE OF THE TWO needs to be selected for any given company, because this whole "hybrid" model is what sucks FOR EVERYONE.
NO ONE wants to commute to an office to sit on Zoom calls - it is entirely counter productive and THE ABSOLUTE WORST combination of both models - however, this is EXACTLY where you end up with a "hybrid" workplace, because you can never guarantee who is exactly in the office and who is not so you are all on Zoom all the time regardless of where you are.
"Hybrid" is what truely needs to die.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: Its one or the other. Hybrid sucks (Score:2)
Right, so now its a clusterfuck and they might as well close the office because anyone who does put in the commute time is now being fucked.
This is PRECISELY my point. Pick one or the other. Hybrid doesnt work.
Re: Its one or the other. Hybrid sucks (Score:2)
I know I would be specifically trying to pick times when no one is there if I was in a hybrid situation.
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Hybrid done wrong can be bad, but done right it's the best.
I've done fully remote, hybrid, and full in-office. I like hybrid the best. You get the face-to-face interaction and socialization without being totally chained to a commute. The 5 days in-office job I had actually still had mostly remote meetings because it was a large corporate campus and people didn't want to hoof it 10 minutes for every meeting. The hybrid job had mostly in-person meetings.
The key: you need conference rooms with good video suppo
A hotter job market would end this RTO push (Score:2)