Sounds a lot like what my company did. They made going in on Mon, Tue, Wed mandatory for everyone not designated as “Remote” beginning the day after Labor Day. The dumb thing here is that people don’t have a desk to go to.
They announced a construction project on one of the buildings a few months ago, and have since closed that building completely, moving those people into the main building, and announced at the same time the closure of 2 more buildings for “reasons.” This forced the need for “Flex Desks” as well as the installation of “bench desks” in what used to be common areas, just to fit people in. Further stupidity was introduced when they said that teams would have designated “neighborhoods” to sit together in, which is anything but. It’s really a floor or part of a floor for an entire organization - “figure it out.” So now when we arrive after our shitty commute, we have to wander around for a place to sit.
Then there’s parking, which, if you didn’t get into one of the 2 parking garages that are company owned and paid for by pre-tax deductions, then you have to find your own parking with your post-tax pay, because the agreement with the local garages wasn’t renewed during the pandemic.
All dictated to us by someone who regularly joins video conferences from his car, home, or Yacht.
We might as well been coworkers. Crazy just how sheepish all the big execs are. Productivity was supposedly up at the peak of the WFH policies, but now suddenly it is so important to go back even though there is not enough room for everyone.
I don’t miss being crammed into a pretencious office being surrounded at arm length by 5 other people, some of which at loud as fuck and spend their days on zoom. I really won’t do it anymore, I don’t care if I starve.
45min commute which cost over a hundred per month and still require me to walk in shitty weather, already soaked in sweat half the months of the year, so I can walk in and plug my shitty laptop on a dock and ultimately still have 99% of my work done remotely and on zoom on my shitty webcam because half the office is home and three quarter of my colleagues live in a different country.
Not to mention that COVID season is already starting up again and with things like long COVID still not being understood fully it’s absolutely ridiculous that people are being herded back into an office.
Yeah, somehow it was just declared over. I hate the conspiracy crowd as much as the next sane person, but it is pretty crazy how quickly the public opinion can be manipulated regardless of reality.
Sounds about the same. We heard “record profits” every year during the pandemic when everyone was home. Suddenly it’s “we’re better together” and “culture.”
A coworker in another city going into the office the company has floors in, who is also the only one from our team there: “nothing is different. I’m still on zoom all day.”
I’ve worked at a company and had exactly the same experience. People were sitting in hallways with constant walking and noise, trying to work, just “because”.
I used to say that the office is now the worst place to work, and we may as well sit at McDonald’s next to the baloon section with kids.
And we are paying for this experience, paying for fuel, and paying for time or tickets to get to and from the place… :)
Sounds a lot like what my company did. They made going in on Mon, Tue, Wed mandatory for everyone not designated as “Remote” beginning the day after Labor Day. The dumb thing here is that people don’t have a desk to go to.
They announced a construction project on one of the buildings a few months ago, and have since closed that building completely, moving those people into the main building, and announced at the same time the closure of 2 more buildings for “reasons.” This forced the need for “Flex Desks” as well as the installation of “bench desks” in what used to be common areas, just to fit people in. Further stupidity was introduced when they said that teams would have designated “neighborhoods” to sit together in, which is anything but. It’s really a floor or part of a floor for an entire organization - “figure it out.” So now when we arrive after our shitty commute, we have to wander around for a place to sit.
Then there’s parking, which, if you didn’t get into one of the 2 parking garages that are company owned and paid for by pre-tax deductions, then you have to find your own parking with your post-tax pay, because the agreement with the local garages wasn’t renewed during the pandemic.
All dictated to us by someone who regularly joins video conferences from his car, home, or Yacht.
We might as well been coworkers. Crazy just how sheepish all the big execs are. Productivity was supposedly up at the peak of the WFH policies, but now suddenly it is so important to go back even though there is not enough room for everyone.
I don’t miss being crammed into a pretencious office being surrounded at arm length by 5 other people, some of which at loud as fuck and spend their days on zoom. I really won’t do it anymore, I don’t care if I starve.
45min commute which cost over a hundred per month and still require me to walk in shitty weather, already soaked in sweat half the months of the year, so I can walk in and plug my shitty laptop on a dock and ultimately still have 99% of my work done remotely and on zoom on my shitty webcam because half the office is home and three quarter of my colleagues live in a different country.
Not to mention that COVID season is already starting up again and with things like long COVID still not being understood fully it’s absolutely ridiculous that people are being herded back into an office.
Yeah, somehow it was just declared over. I hate the conspiracy crowd as much as the next sane person, but it is pretty crazy how quickly the public opinion can be manipulated regardless of reality.
Sounds about the same. We heard “record profits” every year during the pandemic when everyone was home. Suddenly it’s “we’re better together” and “culture.”
A coworker in another city going into the office the company has floors in, who is also the only one from our team there: “nothing is different. I’m still on zoom all day.”
I’ve worked at a company and had exactly the same experience. People were sitting in hallways with constant walking and noise, trying to work, just “because”.
I used to say that the office is now the worst place to work, and we may as well sit at McDonald’s next to the baloon section with kids.
And we are paying for this experience, paying for fuel, and paying for time or tickets to get to and from the place… :)