Will you return to the office post-pandemic?
- Yes because itās my preference.
- Yes because itās my employerās preference.
- No
- Only occassionally/Rarely
0
voters
Vote and comment.
Well, itās my preference to go back part of the week (2-3 days would be my preference).
I imagine itāll be my employerās preference eventually, although itās pretty slow going thus far (still at 0 days in office and not much of a peep about any legit timeframe for us going back in).
So Iām not sure how to answer the pollā¦ I went with yes because itās my preference
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Iāll be returning only rarely/occassionally as needed to work with staff (mostly thatāll be co-op students). Maybe once a week.
Iām set up with a sweet WFH office, and have been WFH for much of the past 20 years so this year hasnāt been really a change for me.
My āofficeā (just a desk or two) is in one of those startup incubator open office environments. Rows of desks with no partitioning all in one huge room. Wasnāt a big fan of the layout even before I was aware that every surface was probably crawling with deadly viruses. Itās great from the perspective of other people (lots going on) but not so much otherwise.
I donāt actually know what my employer will ultimately decide, but Iām guessing post pandemic, they are going to be much more flexible with working part time from home. As to when this will be, unsure. I can guess that Iāll be mostly in the office, but wfh sometimes.
Something between 60-70% of the people at my work have decided to WFH permanently, so TPTB are consolidating/moving the remaining people who want to come back to the office on a regular (4-5 days a week) basis into half the space inclusive of hoteling spaces for those of us who will be in less regularly (I expect to be in 2-3 times a month when we get back to a semblance of normality).
Iām already back in the office full time, and have been since June 1
voted āyes because itās my employers preferenceā, but it might be my preference too. I donāt actually know what will happen though. Probably wonāt happen until next summer based on how it sounds like the vaccine is rolling out.
I was WFH before, and will stay indefinitely I hope. So I answered No.
Kind of this, kind of NormalDan. Mrs. Hoffman says I need to be back in the office so I have social interaction with other people who actually understand what I do, and certainly some meetings will be easier to do in-person. (Sheās not wrong.) Iād like to do it up to 3 days a week, and I think my employer will be supportive of that, but my employer will dictate when that happens and thatās currently penciled in as Spring 2021.
That said, I kind of donāt want to be in the office any time soon. Or, when we go back to being in the office I want it to be say 2 weeks on, 4 weeks off. My dad is 7 hours away from me and getting old and feeble and needs kind of constant attention so he can live on his own [no, he doesnāt want to go to assisted living; heād still need kind of constant attention, and heās not suited for a nursing home], so Iād need to be out for a couple weeks at a time to help siblings out as we all take turns with him. The easiest way to do that right now is to simply be WFH where it really doesnāt matter where Iām at.
Iām hopeful this will be the future weāre in store for. I think it was The Economist who made the argument that the whole concentration of working in an office is really just a remnant of what Industrialization did in bringing people from working in their individual homes to working in factories.
Of course thereās still value in being in person for training and developing relationships, but I think thereās a fair bit to be gained simply by being more thoughtful in how much in person work is done and where that in-person setting actually is.
If I go back in, it would be one or two days max per week. And even those days, Iād probably go to lunch then head straight home afterward.
So a 2 hour day in the office?
Well, Iād work from home the rest of the day. Beat the traffic and all.
Just go in for lunch. Especially if lunch is really good there.
2 Likes
Iām going in 2 days a week and Iāll be leaving early those days to WFH.
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I was likely one of the first to be back in the office in May. Its 7 months later and only 1 of my friends are back at the office (and he is self employed at an office with 2 people).
Its a little weird knowing that everyone went into quarantine for almost 8 months when I only did 6 weeks. Some of the people I know that have been WFH all year seem like totally different people. Like a great stress was lifted from their shoulders, almost like a retired person feels.
I have mixed feelings about it. But I chose to be back at the office, it was not required. made this bed, lying in it now.
Yeah it has definitely affected me mentally. I had just changed jobs to one with a longer commute at the start of COVID and Iāve yet to have to really do the commute. I was ready to feel a bit like Iām just home for a couple hours in the evening and to sleep during the week and yet now Iām here to read nap time story to my kids in the middle of the day.
I prefer working from home. My employer has hinted that they expect to be flexible, so I think it will generally come down to who my manager is at the time, and their preferences, but Iād say most people in my department were pretty flexible prior to COVID, and we have done a good job managing the transition, so there really is no reason for management to ask everyone to be in 5 days a week. Iād say I would go in a few days a month, or maybe up to twice a week, but unless the right people are also in on those days, it may not matter much unless the core team would agree on a set schedule.
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Been back since July.
Are there others there or just you?
I could go back right now and it would not be all that risky cause almost nobody else would be there. So far I only worked in the office a handful of days since this started in march. Usually I had a reason though to need to get away from my apartment