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I'm a federal employee - National Park Service - we all came back in full time in early 2022 - New boss came in and I'm able to WFH one day a week. I was doing Fridays - but that is her WFH day - so I switched mine to Monday. Since I process the mail - and I'm HR - I have to be in at least 1 or two days a week - but the rest of my duties are all on the computer so I could work from home - 3 days a week - I interviewed for a promotion with another federal agency and they still WFH 2 days a week - staggered so someone is there every day. - Didn't get that job.
Make no mistake: the back-to-the-office push is coming from middle management who was revealed to be pretty useless during the pandemic when there were no captive warm bodies to micromanage with unnecessary oversight, meetings, and "team building" exercises.
Make no mistake: the back-to-the-office push is coming from middle management who was revealed to be pretty useless during the pandemic when there were no captive warm bodies to micromanage with unnecessary oversight, meetings, and "team building" exercises.
This isn't happening everywhere. Sorry you went through that though. Must have been awful.
We've been "encouraged" to be in the office 2 or 3 days a week, but it's not really enforced. Often if I need to get focused work done, I'll go into the office because there's usually only a couple of people there and it can be less distracting than my own house. So much for all of that in office collaboration.
Depends on the department but many of our depts are moving the other way and are remaining 100% remote indefinitely. That will save the org a good deal of money due to less need for physical office space. Matter of fact, our org set up a specific dept responsible for getting staff the equipment needed to work remotely (laptops, monitors, docking stations, PC camera's and other accesories, even office chairs).
Some depts are doing hoteling.
My job and office are remaining mostly remote. They downsized the office and there will only be three desks, one for the person who does work on site (answering the phone, checking the mail, etc), one for the big boss who is remote 4 days a week, and one for the rest of us (10 people if they replace the people who quit) to share when we need to come in. I usually come in the office once a month to pick up supplies and I'll bring my laptop with me and work there so I don't waste time driving back and forth (but I am really set up at home and I have a system from home).
Quote:
Originally Posted by otterhere
Make no mistake: the back-to-the-office push is coming from middle management who was revealed to be pretty useless during the pandemic when there were no captive warm bodies to micromanage with unnecessary oversight, meetings, and "team building" exercises.
We really don't have any middle management the way we are set up. I have no one under me and no one above me except the big boss. It's the same for everyone on staff. We are all pretty much "departments of one." Maybe that's why we didn't have a push to come back.
I've seen articles in the news where companies are calling employees back. I think that it will be one way employers can fire people instead of doing a general lay off like some companies have done. It's one way they can "trim the fat".
The fat they'll be trimming are the people with skills and backgrounds that let them find themselves another WFH job.
It was fun while it lasted, but there never was a serious chance that employers would permanently embrace a WFH strategy.
For a period of time, workers ran the roost. As we get back to an "employer's" market, people will be happy to have a job and will be glad to schlep into the office each day.
No way am i going to have space for 25,000 employees and have a few thousand in the office. Just common sense.
I agree with your first point but it’s going to be a hard sell to get everyone back in the office 5 days a week. I would be glad to take a pay cut if it meant fewer days in the office.
What’s so moronic about the office situation is most of the people I work with are in other states or in other countries so all I do is come into the office to get on Zoom.
I agree with your first point but it’s going to be a hard sell to get everyone back in the office 5 days a week. I would be glad to take a pay cut if it meant fewer days in the office.
What’s so moronic about the office situation is most of the people I work with are in other states or in other countries so all I do is come into the office to get on Zoom.
What about at smaller companies, though? In many cases, you do actually work with your co-workers if you are on-site.
This isn't happening everywhere. Sorry you went through that though. Must have been awful.
LOL, you mean the "team-building" exercises? The most awful thing was him constantly hanging around, sticking his head in our doors, and stalking the halls; also the enforced family-style potlucks with him at the head of the table like he was the dad of all of us (attendance was mandatory).
I actually would've been more than happy to return to the office full-time, even though it really wasn't necessary, had I not been needed at home at that particular time. That's the irony of the whole thing!
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