Alex P Keaton
Footballguy
Nearly identical to my company. Global insurance company with US headquarters in Chicago.
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Get Your Butt Back To The Office (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter BassNBrew
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TLEF316
Footballguy
Back in the office for the first time the past 2 days (midtown manhattan). Global insurance company.
Started in this role (same company, new job) 2nd week of March last year, so I was in for a week and then remote for a year+. I was pretty nervous about it, both because learning a new gig remotely is hard and I never thought I'd have the motivation to work from home.
But I got up to speed pretty quickly and the nature of the role doesn't really leave much room to hide. If I dont do my job, it stops everything and then a bunch of very high level people are asking what happened on some pretty high profile accounts. So it was very much sink or swim. Some bumps in the road, but overall went well. Working from home is actually good for my job, as I need long periods of quiet time to work through and analyze lots of data.
The plan was always part-time in NY anyway, so nothing has really changed (the expectation right now is everyone in the office 3x a week). I'm hoping I can eventually get that down to 2 days (with 1 day in our NJ office and 2 days at home) but they're not allowing "cross contamination" right now.
Not gonna lie....the commute is rough. Hard to go from a 10 second walk down my basement stairs to basically 2 hours door to door. Never done it before (my longest previous commute was like half an hour) and I hate basically losing 4 hours of my day. Thankfully its starting now when the weather is perfect. Not sure how I'll do this during the winter months.
Our CEO has made it VERY clear that he wants things mostly back to normal (to the point where he basically said "If you dont like it, you can go somewhere else")
Started in this role (same company, new job) 2nd week of March last year, so I was in for a week and then remote for a year+. I was pretty nervous about it, both because learning a new gig remotely is hard and I never thought I'd have the motivation to work from home.
But I got up to speed pretty quickly and the nature of the role doesn't really leave much room to hide. If I dont do my job, it stops everything and then a bunch of very high level people are asking what happened on some pretty high profile accounts. So it was very much sink or swim. Some bumps in the road, but overall went well. Working from home is actually good for my job, as I need long periods of quiet time to work through and analyze lots of data.
The plan was always part-time in NY anyway, so nothing has really changed (the expectation right now is everyone in the office 3x a week). I'm hoping I can eventually get that down to 2 days (with 1 day in our NJ office and 2 days at home) but they're not allowing "cross contamination" right now.
Not gonna lie....the commute is rough. Hard to go from a 10 second walk down my basement stairs to basically 2 hours door to door. Never done it before (my longest previous commute was like half an hour) and I hate basically losing 4 hours of my day. Thankfully its starting now when the weather is perfect. Not sure how I'll do this during the winter months.
Our CEO has made it VERY clear that he wants things mostly back to normal (to the point where he basically said "If you dont like it, you can go somewhere else")
Leeroy Jenkins
Footballguy
AAABatteries
Footballguy
Office open to everyone starting in September but it will only be open 3 days a week to start and most folks with be either fully remote still or hybrid and only in 1-2 days. Not sure when that will change. I’m hoping for permanent WFH with maybe 1 day a month in the office.
JaxBill
Footballguy
belljr
Footballguy
TLEF316
Footballguy
And I think a lot of people will. Our industry tends to see people jump around a LOT until they get to a certain level. But once you've advanced to a certain point (and are making a certain amount of money) its not nearly as advantageous to move. I'm just kinda getting there. My current job is very specialized (only about 6 people doing it in a company of over 30K employees) and I enjoy the work. I get a lot of visibility with people very high up (many of whom I worked directly for in the past, so they all know me) so its been a great opportunity to build up my network. Could lead to a really nice bump in the next year or 2. So at this point, I'm not going somewhere else and building up all over again.
But yeah, if I was still in my 20's/early 30's (or was doing a job that has openings all the time at other companies) I would definitely have to consider jumping for a more flexible arrangement.
I left this company a few years back (for a big raise) and it turned out to be a huge mistake. (other than financially) Learned my lesson and came back as soon as there was an opening for me. Wont pull that move again. I'm in the right spot.
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JaxBill
Footballguy
IT contractor for DoD. Still no word when/who will go back to office. My boss has done a 180 from "no WFH ever" to "if you want to WFH permanently, let me know".
To give you an idea of the ghost town of our office, the secure Navy network was down at our old building for 2.5 days. That's right days. The only time people go into the office is when they need a hard wire connection. So if that network was down...:tumbleweeds:
Long range, I think management goes back into office in Fall and they rotate teams (products) on site periodically so they can review. So remote teams that visit onsite for say 4 days every 6 to 8 weeks.
To give you an idea of the ghost town of our office, the secure Navy network was down at our old building for 2.5 days. That's right days. The only time people go into the office is when they need a hard wire connection. So if that network was down...:tumbleweeds:
Long range, I think management goes back into office in Fall and they rotate teams (products) on site periodically so they can review. So remote teams that visit onsite for say 4 days every 6 to 8 weeks.
I work for a large Insurance company as well. The plan hasn't changed since late last year. Back to the office after Labor Day. However, we are still not sure how many days per week yet. They closed the office we were working in and moved everyone to the HQ in Newark. I doubt there is enough space for everyone so I am assuming we will have free addressing cubes and have to be in the office a few days a week.
Dr. Octopus
Footballguy
AAABatteries
Footballguy
My list (in order) of reasons to WFH permanently:
1. Eliminate commute/commute cost
2. Eliminate water cooler talk
3. Sitting on calls at my desk at home instead of on calls at my desk at work.
4. Lunch and breaks at home to do small things around the house
5. Eliminate commute
Scoresman
Footballguy
Reasons not to.
1. Cat sitting on keyboard.
2. Kids running in yelling "I just barfed!" in the middle of a call.
3. Playing Call of Duty during a call.
4. Missing out on the front receptionists killer jello mold at office potlucks.
AAABatteries
Footballguy
culdeus
Footballguy
For meeting I had to pay sort of attention to I used my home gym to workout at the same time.
gianmarco
Footballguy
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Alex P Keaton
Footballguy
Yep. For people who are efficient and competent, going to the office every day is largely a waste of time.
I recognize that not every job can be 100% remote, but the pandemic has proven that productivity won’t suffer overall.
gump
Footballguy
No, we're open on a limited basis now by headcount. July we'll open up the max capacity, but still no expectation to be in. Sept we'll be expected to be in.
The General
Footballguy
Generally speaking this feels to me what places will be doing with that in office timeline being pushed back longer in many cases.
There will be many WFH jobs created that were not before, but if an office has some people in and you work on these teams, that things will slowly transition back to an in office or hybrid as this gets in our rear view mirror.
People being in the office working with people choosing to WFH will cause too many issues.
JaxBill
Footballguy
The other advantage that I've used is if I have some routine menial task (update software, change my user database password in multiple environments, etc). I'll spend half an hour on my day off doing this so I have a clean start the following week.
Example is that today is my alternate Friday off ( Govt alternate wirk schedule). I logged on for an hour to finish and clean up some code, then pushed it up so folks can look at it Tuesday.
No way would I do that if I had to drive 40 minutes each way.
NutterButter
Footballguy
Regardless how this all plays out, it was a good run. I really came to enjoy full time wfh. We used to do one day a week wfh so if it gets me another day, that's gravy. A MWF in the office schedule would still be pretty solid. Still hoping for the full time as it was an option on the survey they sent out, but I'm not getting my hopes up.
TLEF316
Footballguy
Yeah, I can't imagine it is.
Thankfully I'm only on the subway for 1 stop (Penn to Times Square).
Take NJ transit into Penn. Last couple of days have been fine but I imagine that it will be rough sitting there in more crowded cars (and more trains overall, so delays) once things fully open up.
NutterButter
Footballguy
I always wanted to work in Times Square as I took the bus in so it was just a couple of blocks away. Instead I had to take the E train across town.
Van Dyman
Footballguy
Tons of pushback at my office as well. In my department all but one person want to continue 100% WFH as we've done for over a year now.
Starting next week everyone must be in office on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. No vaccination requirement, no mask requirements. At least one person in our group has chosen to remain unvaccinated.
Worse yet, since we were all working from home, the owners rented out half of the first floor and shrunk our total workspace so now we'll also have people from other departments crammed into the space that used to be our department. Probably more crowded than pre-Covid.
I really don't get it. Ownership thinks we'll collaborate better in person and that people need to interact with other people. I have a kid too young to get the jab, so I'll be masked up for 8 hours a day just to have zoom meetings from that office instead of from home. It just seems so dumb.
Corporation
Angry Bovine
Have been 100% WFH since the pandemic started. We will be going back after Labor Day with flexibility based on what your team does. We're looking like a 2 or 3 day per week in office team, so I think that will work well. WFH has been great, but I do think there is something to be said for building the culture and teamwork in person. I think this hybrid solution will work well.
Peak
Footballguy
Been WFH for the last year. Heard the office may be opening back up in the Fall. Still waiting on details.
Wife (teacher) and kids have been back at school all year. Last year when I WFH over the summer, I was told that I ruined her summer because I was home everyday. Not sure how that happened. First day of break today. I stayed in my home office while the wife stayed in her room. We talked maybe twice all day. She walks by at the end of the day and tells me I need to go back to the office because I'm not ruining her summer break by being in the house.
Still not sure how that works. She knows I can't go back in as the building is locked down. Kids are all teenagers, with two of them working during the week. Just her and our youngest (13). I have no desire to go back into the office. I'm an IT Contractor, and the team I work with have been much more efficient working from home than in the office. I don't see our management rushing us back in anytime soon.
May end up working from my car or in a park. Not a big "sit at Panera's" kind of person.
Wife (teacher) and kids have been back at school all year. Last year when I WFH over the summer, I was told that I ruined her summer because I was home everyday. Not sure how that happened. First day of break today. I stayed in my home office while the wife stayed in her room. We talked maybe twice all day. She walks by at the end of the day and tells me I need to go back to the office because I'm not ruining her summer break by being in the house.
Still not sure how that works. She knows I can't go back in as the building is locked down. Kids are all teenagers, with two of them working during the week. Just her and our youngest (13). I have no desire to go back into the office. I'm an IT Contractor, and the team I work with have been much more efficient working from home than in the office. I don't see our management rushing us back in anytime soon.
May end up working from my car or in a park. Not a big "sit at Panera's" kind of person.
Mister CIA
Footballguy
Can't wait for WFH to end for my boss, as he will struggle to work two jobs at once. I don't have receipts, but I have a very particular set of skills - I drink and I know things.
wlwiles
Footballguy
A little story:
One of my primary customers is a 59 year old man who has been allowed to WFH 4 days a week since last April. He's the type of guy who eats, sleeps, lives, breathes his job, was often at the office until 7-8 pm, sole breadwinner, SAH wife who ran the house & kids (now grown), one of those type guys. Been there 37 years, working 60+ hours a week, had a 1.25 hr commute each way and did it every single day. Everyone at the site assumed he'd work until he died, never complained, just by all accounts appeared to LOVE his job.
His boss told everyone two weeks ago that they had to come back to the office full time starting June 1. Within 6 hours, my guy handed in his retirement papers. He got a taste of WFH, and when that wasn't an option anymore, he basically decided on a whim "yep I'm not doing that again"....and now the folks at the site are begging him not to retire, "How about we let you work from home 3 days a week?", "Can we offer you a raise?", etc. etc.
Gotta figure that's happening a lot across the country...
One of my primary customers is a 59 year old man who has been allowed to WFH 4 days a week since last April. He's the type of guy who eats, sleeps, lives, breathes his job, was often at the office until 7-8 pm, sole breadwinner, SAH wife who ran the house & kids (now grown), one of those type guys. Been there 37 years, working 60+ hours a week, had a 1.25 hr commute each way and did it every single day. Everyone at the site assumed he'd work until he died, never complained, just by all accounts appeared to LOVE his job.
His boss told everyone two weeks ago that they had to come back to the office full time starting June 1. Within 6 hours, my guy handed in his retirement papers. He got a taste of WFH, and when that wasn't an option anymore, he basically decided on a whim "yep I'm not doing that again"....and now the folks at the site are begging him not to retire, "How about we let you work from home 3 days a week?", "Can we offer you a raise?", etc. etc.
Gotta figure that's happening a lot across the country...
Corporation
Angry Bovine
Not sure how you being in the house ruins her summer. If you were setup in the kitchen, living room, or bedroom I could see it but how does it impact her with you staying in your home office all/most of the day? Are you dropping some bombs in a common bathroom? I'd have a problem with being told "get out of the house" especially if I was keeping to myself.
TLEF316
Footballguy
DallasDMac
Footballguy
Fixed that for you. Seriously, my wife would not like the response she would have gotten from me for a comment like that.
The Captain
Footballguy
For a minute I thought we might work for the same company but our CEO has been very relaxed about RTW.
-OZ-
Footballguy
My response would be pretty straight forward. I'd move my ### to the lake or beach for the summer. (It would cost a bit, but cheaper than divorce)
top dog
Footballguy
Received an email from corporate this weekend that mask requirements for all employees vaccinated or not is lifted on Monday. So 100% back to where we were pre-covid.Similar thing with me. We went home in March (outbreak of covid at work) only to be dragged back kicking and screaming in May. Worked onsite from May until November (second outbreak of covid at work) only to be dragged back on February 1st. Kicker of it all? When I came back in February I spent most of my days on Teams meetings with our vendors and other team members of our company. So I HAD to come back onsite to have virtual meetings.
Craig_MiamiFL
Footballguy
Even more reason to stop with the increased unemployment benefits ASAP
Poke_4_Life
Footballguy
I still haven't been back to the office, but we seem to have the marching orders going forward.
Looking at a requirement of 50% of time in the office starting 9/1. My direct management is being flexible on how we work that, but 50% is a pretty firm number. We also removed mask requirements in the office if vaccinated and as of this month we no longer have to register to work in the office.
Guess I need to try going into the office at some point. Ugh.
Looking at a requirement of 50% of time in the office starting 9/1. My direct management is being flexible on how we work that, but 50% is a pretty firm number. We also removed mask requirements in the office if vaccinated and as of this month we no longer have to register to work in the office.
Guess I need to try going into the office at some point. Ugh.
gianmarco
Footballguy
Unless productivity has been down during the last year plus, I don't get the reasoning for this other than "just because"....
AAABatteries
Footballguy
I think there's a couple of things driving this:
1. The old school mentality that is still very prevalent in middle and upper management.
2. Productivity isn't always easy to measure - especially in white collar jobs that are able to be done remotely. There's exceptions but there really no way to measure my productivity - it's just whether the boss thinks I'm getting the job done and he's satisfied. For that reason, many people want to "see" you. I definitely feel like I'm more efficient in getting my work done. No more water cooler talk, no more taking extended time for lunch, I can start my day at 6 or 7am. There's so much to like about WFH for a role like mine (and many others). I'd say my productivity is about the same but my efficiency is better which makes for a better work/life balance.
The Z Machine
Footballguy
Leeroy Jenkins
Footballguy
Sunk office costs and rent? No matter what, there is something lost when working full-time remote (generally).
We found out our company had tax breaks with the city and the city requires a certain # of employees in the building in order for those tax breaks to remain in place.
The Z Machine
Footballguy
They would probably save $$ by selling / renting out some of the space and taking the tax hit.
AAABatteries
Footballguy
I'm hearing this has already started happening. Which is a good thing for those of us who want to WFH.
Thunderlips
Footballguy
“They feel like we’re not working if they can’t see us,” she said. “It’s a boomer power-play.”
Not exactly the best take in regards for the "get back to work" movement.
Craig_MiamiFL
Footballguy
Yep. Already happening.
And leadership that won't change/adapt are and will continue to get replaced
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