Permanent changes to how we work?

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

guess it's been a big shock for individuals who largely lived at home/went to college-dorms w/meals/went straight into jobs with meals provided.

Perhaps an unpopular opinion but it's not the fault of these companies..guess who raised these young adults who supposedly have zero clue how to do their own food much less any sense of financials of it?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

As a nurse I obviously go in everyday. I was just looking at remote nursing jobs as I would like to be home FT over the next 5 years if I can make it that long. There are a lot of jobs out there. The best thing in my opinion when The pandemic happened is that so many companies went remote after fighting it for long before that. These companies realized that their employees were more productive, happier and they did not have to worry about getting sick. And here we are 2 years later with 40% of people resigning from their jobs realizing how truly unhappy they were for so long. Time to reinvent themselves wanting and deserving so much more. As a nurse for the first time 28 years I am in the drivers seat. I tell my employer when I will work, how much they will pay me not them. If I am unhappy I give my 2 weeks and move on.

I think what companies are learning is that flexibility, whatever that means to an employee, is key.

To some employees they would prefer to work in the office but with the option to work remote if weather is bad, a kid is sick or they themselves are sick without repercussions or the company giving them a hard time. For others it means they want to work remote all the time, for others it means they want hybrid getting that balance of the office environment with the work from home feel.

Companies that for decades held up the more stodgy way of things and want to stay that way may be the ones experiencing the most complaints. I do think there is a fairness factor though as not all job titles are conducive for work from home or remote but many that traditionally were held back from doing so due to workplace culture norms for decades are finding themselves on the outs now where they are the outliers in not allowing adjustments.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

My husband said the other day that the CEO has said since the Covid numbers seem to be deceasing, he's looking forward to people returning to the office. My husband goes into the office about once a week and said hardly anybody ever there. Management is never there (even before Covid). My sister was supposed to return to office many times, keeps getting pushed back. Last time she heard it was supposed to be January and that was canceled. No further word.

 

[tvguy]

My husband said the other day that the CEO has said since the Covid numbers seem to be deceasing, he's looking forward to people returning to the office.

My daughter's employer said the same thing last week, 3 weeks after the number of covid cases and hospitalizations in our county hit a record high. Granted, a big chunk of the cases are among the unvaccinated......and her company requires vaccinations and terminated those last year who refused to get a vaccine. But it is an interesting situation here in California as the Governor just signed a law three days ago mandating that companies give employees an additional 40 hours sick time to deal with their, or their families covid issues. The law is set to expire at the end of September.

 

[starry_solo]

We went remote full-time in late March 2020. Then the half of the office that went to court every day had to go back to the office part-time (one day in court, one day telecommuting at home, etc.). The other half of the office that didn't have to go to court daily stayed full-time remote.

We all came back full-time in the office in June 2021. Then in January 2022, we went back to full-time telecommuting from home, except the half of the office that went to court every day. Those work out telecommuting days with their court partners so that everyone at least has one day full-time at home telecommuting and the ones going to court go home just as soon as court is done (around 12 noon).

 

[monarchsfan16]

My friends who work in cities are generally still remote if they worked in offices prior to the pandemic. Many of my friends doing similar work here in NH rather than in MA have been back in the office for months, if not for a year or more.

My husband works in an industry that remained in person throughout the pandemic, but they did split the team in two for the first two months so they had a safety net to remain open in the event of quarantine. They've been fully open since the stay at home order ended here in May 2020.

I'm a school speech pathologist. I've been back in person since August 2020. We had a few days last school year where the whole school was fully remote due to too many quarantines, and last year had a fully remote option for students, but the school was generally open. This year we have avoided any covid related fully remote days, despite Delta blending right into omicron and the surge lasting for months here. I would have appreciated being allowed to work remotely when I got covid (from my husband, not from my workplace) because of the nature of special ed, but I had to take sick time. I still did paperwork the entire time, because federal special ed deadlines allow no flexibility for anything including Covid. Technically I'm not supposed to work on sick time but that's never stopped me before (and my admin happily pretend they don't know I worked while sick) and I would have been stressed coming back underwater with deadlines on top of having to make up those mandated services that I was required to miss. And omicron wasn't anything that would have kept me out for a week pre-covid. I do think if I'm being required to stay home I should be provided the opportunity to work. I wasn't home by choice. But I'm very glad to be working a generally in person job. I was that person that found excuses to grocery shop multiple times a week during lockdown because I couldn't handle being stuck in one place for months.

 

[Christine]

I really envy those who are able to just leave their jobs and easily find another if your employer isn't being flexible. Most people in my agency are pissed because the current leadership is now deciding they need a rigid hybrid schedule. With the exception of training and mentoring the newer, younger employees (which I agree they need to be around people in the initial days of their job), our jobs are fully remote-able! I'd love the ability to CHOOSE when I want to come in versus being told you WILL come here on these specific days. We are financial people, not designers, engineers, top secret folks. We're all pretty angry because we did so well for two years. I'm on three different working groups (one to design a new financial system, one for audit, one for training) and the groups consist of people from other agencies across the country. The've scheduled these working group meetings late afternoon. I'm now going to have to withdraw from at least two of them because the meeting timing is during my commute home. I'm just really furious. I want to leave, but I've been in this particular field for 30 years now, very defined skillset, and yes, I make very good $$$. Leaving is pretty much out of the question and most of my colleagues are in the same boat.

 

[RedAngie]

Employer provided transportation? Employer provided meals? Work site fitness and funs areas? Where were THESE employers before I retired? Okay, my last employer did bring in doughnuts and fruit every two weeks on pay day.

Some tech firms in the Silicon Valley, Boston suburbs, Austin area and a few other places chartered busses to transport employees who desired to live in downtown locations. And many of those provided free meals and fun & games to attract and retain top talent.

Even before the pandemic I worked from home once or twice a week. It was mostly from home from late March 2020 to early June 2021. Now I’m back to one or two days at home, some in the local office, and some at various field locations.

About once every other month I need to go to the company headquarters about 45 minutes away.

 

[Skywalker3]

Hubby was just given the 30 days notice/heads up, they'll be returning to some in person days. HOPEFULLY just once/week or maybe once/pay period. he's been working at home for many years, going in just once/week, but after April, 2020, he's been fully remote. He doesn't even have a desk any more in his office building, so no idea why they even have to go in person. I've been fully remote since March, 2020. I think we're now classified as telework but not sure. I expect we'll have to start going in one day/week too soon. I do customer service/phones all day. Can totally keep doing that remotely if need be. We're both federal.

 

[akl432]

I really envy those who are able to just leave their jobs and easily find another if your employer isn't being flexible. Most people in my agency are pissed because the current leadership is now deciding they need a rigid hybrid schedule. With the exception of training and mentoring the newer, younger employees (which I agree they need to be around people in the initial days of their job), our jobs are fully remote-able! I'd love the ability to CHOOSE when I want to come in versus being told you WILL come here on these specific days. We are financial people, not designers, engineers, top secret folks. We're all pretty angry because we did so well or ten years. I'm on three different working groups (one to design a new financial system, one for audit, one for training) and the groups consist of people from other agencies across the country. The've scheduled these working group meetings late afternoon. I'm now going to have to withdraw from at least two of them because the meeting timing is during my commute home. I'm just really furious. I want to leave, but I've been in this particular field for 30 years now, very defined skillset, and yes, I make very good $$$. Leaving is pretty much out of the question and most of my colleagues are in the same boat.

I hear you - my thoughts are similar. It's tough! Hope everything works out in the way you would like it to.

 

[tvguy]

Some tech firms in the Silicon Valley, Boston suburbs, Austin area and a few other places chartered busses to transport employees who desired to live in downtown locations. And many of those provided free meals and fun & games to attract and retain top talent.

Even before the pandemic I worked from home once or twice a week. It was mostly from home from late March 2020 to early June 2021. Now I’m back to one or two days at home, some in the local office, and some at various field locations.

About once every other month I need to go to the company headquarters about 45 minutes away.

HP used to operate two flights every day from Sacramento to the Silicon Valley. Not sure if they still do.

 

[JLTraveling]

I've been working remotely since 2008, mostly freelance but also a couple of different full-time positions. I'm a writer (content, travel, curriculum design). Most of the time I've never met my employers in person. Pre-pandemic, I spent most of my time roaming the world. Since 2020, I've been exclusively working out of my home office. I would never, ever go back to working in an office, and I'm glad that one silver lining of the pandemic is how many more people are able to take advantage of the perks of remote work. It truly can be a beautiful life.

 

[Music City Mama]

In the spring of 2020, we went on a hybrid schedule with 50% coming in on M, W, F and the other 50% coming in on T and Th, and the next week, it would be the opposite days for everyone. I LOVED this schedule. We did this until June 2021 and have been back full time ever since. I work for a Fortune 500 company and for most positions, being there full time is completely unnecessary. We lost some employees due to this because we got accustomed to having this work/home-life balance and it was just taken away after having it for over a year. Our work product didn't suffer as a result of the hybrid schedule, and in fact, our company (publicly-traded) did very well. So, with the last person that quit about 6 weeks ago (and this was one of the main reasons he decided to leave), who had been there many years and was a valuable employee, they decided to let us work from home 1 day per week now. It's better than nothing, but I just don't see why they have to be so rigid about it.

I think my company is the exception with most corporate jobs around her -- I feel like the majority don't have all of their employees coming in every/most days. I can see the parking lots of other office buildings I pass and they're not nearly as full as ours.

 

[RedAngie]

HP used to operate two flights every day from Sacramento to the Silicon Valley. Not sure if they still do.

What would that be, a 2 1/2 hour drive?

Several busses from a central pickup point in Sacramento directly to HP campus seems more efficient than dealing with airports, even private ones.

 

[barkley]

As someone who often went hungry in my early working years due to not making enough money to afford food, this is blowing my mind. What a game changer it would have been to have an employer that fed me. I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around the idea that there are young people today who don’t understand the value of food because they’ve never had to manage feeding themselves in any substantial way. Wow.

it seems to be b/c a large number of college students opt to dorm it their entire way through at some universities. they pay a flat fee for their meal plans so it never really registers how much a given meal or single food ingredient costs. some my kid went to university with moved into their own apartaments but still signed on for food plans at the college b/c they found it easier and more convenient, so with the exception of a very few food items they bought at the store they never had the experience of how expensive buying/preparing meals full time is. it's been a huge eye opener for the ones whose jobs provided it pre-pandemic but now no more.

Perhaps an unpopular opinion but it's not the fault of these companies..guess who raised these young adults who supposedly have zero clue how to do their own food much less any sense of financials of it?

not saying it's anyone's fault-it's the reality of their life experiences. gone from home to dorm, many dorm to apartment while retaining university meal plan, did summer sessions with meal plans or internships with same coffee/snacks/meals the employers offered their paid staff, right into the jobs that offered it as a benefit. not to be sexist but i've seen the same dynamic happen with people (largely men) who went from home to college dorm to their shared marital homes where their wife did the meal planning based on the budget and did the shopping. good number of the guys were fantastic cooks but they had no clue how much the ingredients cost UNTIL something went south with their marriages, they ended up singletons and were faced with their first adult experiences with grocery shopping. again, no ones fault-just happened that way.

Some tech firms in the Silicon Valley, Boston suburbs, Austin area and a few other places chartered busses to transport employees who desired to live in downtown locations. And many of those provided free meals and fun & games to attract and retain top talent.

yes! one of the discussions i heard was on a san francisco bay area radio show about this. seems the employer had been doing bussess for employees living in (supposedly ) lower cost of living areas than where their offices were located. everyone initialy got sent to do work from home but then when restrictions lifted and the employers were looking at bringing some staff back they realized that the still in effect covid restrictions meant they could only transport a fraction of the number of staff per bus trip. they ran the numbers and decided it was'nt cost effective so they told their employees they had to find their own transportation. thing is-most don't own cars (never had a need for work/parking is outrageously expensive, and now you can't find a car to buy), no effective (if at all) public transportation from/to areas needed. never did hear how they were going to resolve this issue.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Chicago -- at Wacker and Michigan. Working remotely since March 2020. We're having a "soft opening" of the office in April, which means that if you feel comfortable, you can go into the office. We're planning a "hybrid" return to the office, where we go in 2-3 days per week. I do miss having an "office," water cooler conversations, and actually miss the commute -- it was "my" time, which I really haven't had at home, even though the kids are grown. It does save me 3-4 hours per day, though, as I'm in a far suburb.

When I do go back, I'd like to take the train again, but I'll take an early train to avoid commuter time and crowds.

 

[jrmasm]

I really envy those who are able to just leave their jobs and easily find another if your employer isn't being flexible. Most people in my agency are pissed because the current leadership is now deciding they need a rigid hybrid schedule. With the exception of training and mentoring the newer, younger employees (which I agree they need to be around people in the initial days of their job), our jobs are fully remote-able! I'd love the ability to CHOOSE when I want to come in versus being told you WILL come here on these specific days. We are financial people, not designers, engineers, top secret folks. We're all pretty angry because we did so well for two years. I'm on three different working groups (one to design a new financial system, one for audit, one for training) and the groups consist of people from other agencies across the country. The've scheduled these working group meetings late afternoon. I'm now going to have to withdraw from at least two of them because the meeting timing is during my commute home. I'm just really furious. I want to leave, but I've been in this particular field for 30 years now, very defined skillset, and yes, I make very good $$$. Leaving is pretty much out of the question and most of my colleagues are in the same boat.

I’m in the same place. Government finance,been fully remote for 2 years with no issue. I love it! We’re being told we’re going hybrid (3 days every 2 weeks) at the end of march . Why? Because.

I‘m 28 years in, 7 years from full retirement. Unfortunately I can’t just walk away at this point. It’s infuriating.

 

[Christine]

I’m in the same place. Government finance,been fully remote for 2 years with no issue. I love it! We’re being told we’re going hybrid (3 days every 2 weeks) at the end of march . Why? Because.

I‘m 28 years in, 7 years from full retirement. Unfortunately I can’t just walk away at this point. It’s infuriating.

Sounds just like my agency. I'm also about 7 years away from retirement. Not to brag but I have a ton of skills (particular to my agency, nowhere else) and the fact that I'm going to have to back out of some of these initiatives because I can't accommodate the virtual conferences is just ridiculous. Not to mention that I won't be able to contribute the knowledge that I have for developing a new financial system because someone wants me in a chair 6 days out of a pay period.

 

[RedAngie]

not to be sexist but i've seen the same dynamic happen with people (largely men) who went from home to college dorm to their shared marital homes where their wife did the meal planning based on the budget and did the shopping. good number of the guys were fantastic cooks but they had no clue how much the ingredients cost UNTIL something went south with their marriages, they ended up singletons and were faced with their first adult experiences with grocery shopping.

You can often recognize such guys at the supermarket. They LOOK successful, decently dressed, well groomed, etc. Late 30’s and older. But they likely have large child support payments and have to contribute to their kids’ dance lessons, hockey equipment, band camp, and other expensive activities. Maybe they need second jobs and there’s no time to cook.

The clue: their shopping carts have a dozen low end frozen meals, pizzas, and other mediocre stuff. Hardly any, if any, fresh meat or produce.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

For those with employers who are insisting on a return to in-person work when it’s not necessary nor desired by staff, what is their reasoning? Why are they hellbent on making you drive in to an office during a pandemic to do the exact same work you could be doing more comfortably at home?