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I am still working full-time remote. There are definitely some social aspects of going to the office I miss, but I really don't miss the commute or the shitty office politics. Overall I feel I am still more productive from home and happier overall.

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[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I'm practically full-time remote, though technically hybrid. But unlike the "x days at home, y days in the office" hybrid, we're wfh unless we have a reason to be in the office together for collaboration, which actually is helpful. So in reality, I go in a day or two every couple weeks or so. No complaints on my side.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Same scenario for me. We have some weird system to reserve a desk, that a lot of people mostly ignore. I've tried to reserve a desk a few times and all but once, some asshat was already sitting there. I didn't feel like being confrontational so I just went home.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Honestly this seems like a best case scenario to everyone except whoever has to pay rent on the office lol

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

My thoughts exactly!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I don't even know about that. Since not everyone in the company needs to be in the office at the same time, they can downsize to a smaller office without making it too uncomfortable.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 years ago (1 children)

@iLikeGoats I'm still fully remote but so is my entire company. They sold their office building during the pandemic and didn't look back.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 years ago (6 children)

Still full time remote. I do miss the face-to-face contact with my co-workers, but do not miss my 2 hours a day bus commute.

Prior to the pandemic, I had a couple of co-workers who were already full time remote and everyone was allowed to work from home a couple of days per week. But during the pandemic we recruited nationally, so there's no way my company can put the WFH genie back in the bottle. They're currently talking about right-sizing our office needs and building collaborative spaces; another sign we're not going back.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

My org is also looking to right-size and find a much smaller HQ.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

That right sizing has the financial markets running scarsd. Just like the 2008 home.mortgage securities crunch...the commercial property mortgage securities are about to tank and they were sold as much more secure than even how they faked the '08 mortgages.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

Been full-time WFH since before COVID hit, worked remote at that job for three more years, left, and now have a new job where I’m 100% remote as well. It helps that I work in IT, and the company HQ is 2000 miles away, but I would have a difficult time entertaining the idea of going back to the office.

Like others have said too, my OLD company has so many people working remote now, that they are selling off their beautiful campus and looking for a smaller property to house the 10% of users still left working on-site.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Still full remote. Don't miss the office at all, it's loud and antagonistic. Tired of people talking about me behind my back (in front of my face, but in a language they think I don't understand).

Some of the bosses and managers think I should be back in the office at least half time or so, but my immediate manager knows I still get all my work done and am way happier and more efficient at home, so he's in my corner and doesn't want me to give up more than a day per month or so.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Wow! That first part sounds awful! I think I would explore other options even if working from home.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Those people aren't from my department, so I haven't interacted with them in years now. There's no reason to let them spoil a good thing. A boss who's truly and fully in your corner is a rare and wonderful thing!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Tired of people talking about me behind my back (in front of my face, but in a language they think I don't understand).

Man, fuck that! Not only are those people rude, they're also stupid as hell.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 years ago (5 children)

ho ho hoooooo boy. My company forced some of us to choose what schedule we wanted coming back to the office. They sorted this by job titles. I just so happened to be one of the few jobs they were forcing to come back. I work in IT and I work with developers and project managers mostly in my day-to-day. I love WFH and I'm really not a fan of driving 20 minutes each way out of my way to go to an office and do things that I can do from home just fine. But the board is a bunch of super old dudes who demand that we do it because of the company's traditional values and culture. So naturally I chose the lowest requirement of days in the office that they offered. Get this, though. When it was first pitched to us that we were being forced to come back despite most of our peers getting to WFH, they said it was to encourage in-person collaboration. Motherfucker, the people I collaborate with daily (the aforementioned PMs and Devs) didn't come back! They are all WFH! I don't collaborate with a single person in the office ever!!

And to add to all this, the board has now been giving out hints that they aren't happy with how many of us chose the lowest number of in-office days for hybrid schedules, they expected us all to voluntarily opt for higher number of days, and they want us all to strive to come in more. Again, god dammit, why would you give us a choice of days if you already had a target in mind of what you'd prefer us to do?? Just make that target a requirement and deal with all of your employees hating you for it. Seeing the numbers of how many people don't want to be in the office should make you realize that you fucked up making us come back and be more lenient, not force us with an iron hand further into a schedule we all opted to avoid. Fucking insanity.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

@Vagabond

And to add to all this, the board has now been giving out hints that they aren't happy with how many of us chose the lowest number of in-office days for hybrid schedules, they expected us all to voluntarily opt for higher number of days, and they want us all to strive to come in more.

Going to just leave this here. It's amazing how on point that fucking movie is.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

Wow that's really on the nose. I've had such similar conversations with higher-ups. Where they're kind of telling you off but technically you haven't done anything wrong, you just haven't bent over backwards like they wanted

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

That's the dumbest aspect of the whole thing. Most of my meetings are still online and people won't come in for an in-person meeting even if they work in a building a few hundred meters away. Coming to the office is 100% pointless for me.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I have had 2 employers tell me to go back to work in person.

They simply didn't end up committing. The first job, they had us all coming in but didn't even open the cafeteria.

The first, I have no co-workers at the local office as I am in a different country than everyone else on the team.

I'll go back to work in-person if and when someone makes it really worth my while. Until then I get to use my own keyboard, mouse, and screens in a room that's exactly the right temperature.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I insisted for years that I would be more productive working from home.

Many people I worked with disagreed with me.

The pandemic proved me right.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I work for a fairly large organization that is mostly centralized but all my immediate colleagues are distributed around the globe. So, continuing work-from-home is not that difficult for me and no one is demanding my return.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Was full time remote for eight years until this week when I got the dreaded email: "Your weekly in office average is below the company's expectation." So now I'm back 3 days a week.

It's not bad, but it's stupid. My whole team is on the opposite coast so I commute to sit in a mostly empty office and be on the phone all day.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I am a software dev. Me and everyone in my team are still fully remote. The team-lead has been backing this. Most team members would have very long commutes >1h per direction. There has been some pressure from middle management to spend time at the office. Not all teams are able to work fully remote and there is a sense those teams might envy the remote teams. But so far the software teams have been able to stay remote.

My partner is also fully remote (also a tech related job) and will remain so. Among friends and acquaintances a lot of people have returned to some office time even the other devs.

I do not think I will ever be full-time at an office again. I could imagine a job where if it wasn‘t more than 30 minutes (by bike or public transport) away I might go into the office once a week. More than that: please no.

I do have a very nice office at home. Not everyone does.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I'm in a very similar situation. My partner and I are very lucky to have a nice house and office space for each of us. I understand not everyone has that. :(

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I have been full time remote since the pandemic and I know I'm in the minority when I say it's terrible. I don't have much social contact. I used to be able to walk over and directly talk things out with coworkers, shoot the shit, ask for a hand with stuff but it's gone. I smoke more weed, fuck off about the same amount but it's the lack of socialization since the pandemic that's killing me. I don't have much in the way of friends or family. I'm single, broke and just isolated as all hell. It's so hard to keep track of time or the days because nothing changes. It's hard to have a clear work/home divide when there's nothing to really denote it. My office and my studio apartment are the same place so the only real breaks are when I go wandering around aimlessly outside.

I mean I hate my job and the work I do so that doesn't help but I'm losing my mind over here because of the isolation.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I'm technically hybrid, but I haven't been to the office in over a month. I only go in if there're important meetings.

It's going great. I'm super productive. I dont actually need to be in the same room as anyone to do my job. Also, I can play video games between tasks.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

After Covid we have the liberty to work from home or come to the office as much as we want. Since we can make the choice ourselves, it is not as frustrating to go to the office as it was before.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Back to the office here. A 50/50 time split was better and allowed for fewer office interruptions to get things done (and there is a legitimate need to be on site 20-50% of the time). But the powers that be don't like not being able to micromanage badly in person, so here we are.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I bet they are also the same people that schedule a 1 hour meeting for an email that would be one paragraph.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I'm in an interesting position on this... I do research as a grad student, my work can be done anywhere with internet but... I have been working in-person for the last year or two, and have been almost doing 80-100% in-person the last few months.

Partly because I feel more productive when being in an office. Partly because I use public transit & don't have to worry about traffic/parking. Partly because I get to communicate with my boss in-person about project ideas & stuff. Partly at the strong urge of my psychologist to have some human interactions & don't depress myself at home the whole day

There are a good number of research labs I know who are still doing 100% remote and it worked out fairly well for them too, so to each their own?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Totally agree. And actually, if I were in my early career, I would probably like to go in for face-to-face time too.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Still 100% remote, and have been for over three years (software engineer). And even before covid, I was often doing hybrid roles. I work so much better remotely.

My current company is trying to press for "5% travel" to have people attend the idiotic on-site meetings, but they haven't forced me to do it

Might quit my job soon (for other reasons). I'm committed to staying fully remote even if it makes my job search harder (which it undoubtedly will).

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Never went remote because my job very much requires me to be physically present. But I fully support those that can work from home; my commute was amazing at the height of lockdown.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

Still full-time remote. The traditionally California-based company I work for is now spread out across the US - not sure how they could even reel that back in.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Still full time remote here. Actually, I'm in the office today for a going-away party for a coworker, but I generally go in once a month or so for town hall meetings and that's it.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

Full remote after the pandemic and I won't ever be back in an office except if they fly me in for a team building week.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Full remote. Can’t imagine going back to an office at this point. There are good days and bad days with distractions. It takes a decent amount of restraint to not do random tasks around the house.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I started a job during the pandemic that doesn't even have an office in my province so I'm not going back to the office. I'm super happy about it, I can't even picture myself being in an office anymore. I have so much more free time without having the commute and being able to do chores while on the clock

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

I’ve been full time remote since 2015, after ten years in an office. I don’t miss a single thing about it. Not the oppressive fluorescent lights, not the smells from the microwave, not the bullshit small talk, not that one coworker who wanders from cube to cube talking all damn day, and especially not the commute. Not a damn thing. I would never go back.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

My company transitioned to full remote during the pandemic, so we don't really have an "office" to go back to.

There are lots of pros and cons with remote vs. hybrid vs. in-office, but for me at least, the pros of remote work far outweigh the negatives. In a perfect world, I'd love to have one or maybe two days in-office for collaboration and to feel a sense of connection, but the key thing would be to get everyone on the team there on the same day. And it's a challenging proposition for a business to maintain a space that only gets used 2 out of 7 days.

That being said, my role and industry gives me a front-row seat regarding remote work trends. On that, I can say:

  • Fucking nobody wants to go back to an office full-time. Talent preference for remote roles is higher now than it was during peak pandemic.
  • The proportion of remote jobs has been gradually trending down since its peak at June 2022, but still represents the majority of jobs we're placing for.
  • As the number of remote jobs are decreasing, the number of applications they're receiving is increasing. Which makes sense since there's more competition.
  • The inverse is true for in-office jobs. We're getting more of those, and fewer people are applying to them.

Like anything with supply and demand, I think that working remote is becoming an incentive/benefit that companies are offering. They're aware that folks will take less money to work remotely. On the other hand, companies offering only in-office jobs are somewhat deluded in the fact that they believe they can offer similar compensation to remote roles, restrict their talent pool to a limited geography, and somehow hope to compete for the same top-tier talent. I will say that because of that decreased competition, it provides more opportunity for talent willing to accept in-office work.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I've been working remotely for a foreign company for 9 years already. Best decision ever. (Disc: married, with children)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (4 children)

I go in twice a week, because I find being able to talk to people face to face both quite productive and I'm an extravert who likes company. Plus, I'm in London and I actually enjoy the 45 minute cycle.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I am full time remote, and I will never go back as long as I have my say. It's so much better this way, for so many reasons. The freedom I have is not something I would want to give up now.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I'm technically hybrid, but I haven't been to the office in over a month. I only go in if there're important meetings.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

I'm fully remote now. During covid I was working somewhere else. They forced everyone to go back to a hybrid model, where we were expected to share small workspaces with three or four other coworkers with a rotating schedule. There was no reason for someone in my position to be in the office. It was not ideal. After a few weeks I ended up putting in my notice and found another fully remote position. It's wonderful. I love working from home.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Love it.

I used to work on secure sites for defence work. Honestly, not going to go back for that stuff any more. No more travelling and all the headaches that comes with.

Fully work from home now. Any job that expects me to work in an office is not a job I will even bother to interview for.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Still fully remote, working a job some 2000 km away from me. The whole company is remote first now, and it's been pretty good.

I do find the volume of zoom meetings to be unacceptable, though. At first, people really seemed to get that you could have the equivalent of a "quick chat" over Slack or whatever, but they eventually moved on to impromptu zoom calls, or shadow dropping meetings into my calendar to talk about something in camera that can be discussed in chat.

It drives me bonkers.

After 3 years fully remote and isolated, tough, I do kind of wish I could go into the office like ones or twice a month, just so people could see me as a real person, and to have group meetings.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Made by the company. 3 days in the office. Not my preference because traffic is nuts, but on work from home days the cats get in front of my keyboard.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Our studio is still allowing remote work. I’m one of the freaks that likes to come in and see everyone (I’ve been working with some of these people for almost 20 years).I miss seeing everybody. I don’t like working remote myself. I wish more people were coming in. But I understand the appeal of avoiding the commute.

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