let’s take a poll by age and see how many opposed to WFH are just being nostalgic to something the new generation doesn’t care much about
I’d think that such a poll would be biased by how experience influences perspective.
I certainly didn’t appreciate the intangible benefits of going into an office early in my career. Now, in my present role, where I have to be mindful of the skills and knowledge I want in the students supporting my team, and the challenges in seeing those skills / that knowledge developed in the new work environment, I find I have a different perspective.
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If they hadn’t shrunk cubicles to the point they’re almost a violation of the Geneva convention, I might be persuaded it’s worth being in the office.
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Huh. I have spent a lot of time working closely with inexperienced actuaries during the pandemic, with all of us working from home. I feel like that’s been a lot more successful than i would have guessed, for them as well as for me.
you’re absolutely right that you’re biased because you have that experience. a manager who has always WFH will have different expectations for his students. no way to prove for sure which way is better for the company. all we know is that most everyone wants to WFH. and I know WFH is better for me. fuck the company.
So…not much in the way of a bonus program and no ESOP?
I have to manage someone that I think has anxiety, or something similar. I don’t get into it because myob. But they sometimes get overwhelmed to the point it impacts their work, and wfh is great for this. I can have a conversation emphasizing lack of emergency, then tell them to walk away and go for a walk or watch Netflix for an hour. They don’t have that freedom at work. They can leave ‘work’ entirely during the day.
As Im prone to saying, this is insurance, what’s the rush? If someone’s dead, well then they ain’t getting any deader. And if they’re not dead then (suspicious voice) what’s the rush?
And you’ll get the same response at home. If it’s an emergency, call 911. Otherwise, leave a message.
I kinda got a bad attitude over artificial emergencies when I worked at ho. I now remind everyone when they get stressed about getting something done by a specific date that being pushed against a deadline in office work is a failure of management toproperly scope the project. And that makes it my fault to deal with, not theirs. We don’t have deadlines here, stuf takes the time it takes.
In fairness, we don’t do any reporting to regulators or y/e stuff. That was always a crapfest back in the day.
Yep - arrive at office, boss asks if we wanted to go grab a coffee and hit the farmer’s market, etc. People want to drop by and chat about weekends. I have to walk between campus buildings for meetings (several blocks usually).
I probably have 4 hours available for productive work during an average day, vs. maybe 6-7 at home.
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Relevant to this discussion: New Boss Wants People Back In The Office 5 Days A Week, Gets Resignation Letters Instead | Bored Panda
I like the strategically in the office occasionally to maximize those social days, but in terms of actual productivity it’s a no-contest, and then you start factoring in extra time not having to commute, less tired, less stress due to no commute. In-person interaction is useful but in terms of actual work, not even close.
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We have “team days” and we still have a similar set up at work so it’s nice to see each other in person a few times a week.
And I have distractions at home as well. I share an office with my husband, and I have a disabled adult daughter at home. She’s not an invalid, but if she knows I’m home she’ll ask me to make her food, etc., and even if I say no it’s still a distraction.
OTOH my commute is 45-60 minutes each way, depending on traffic, and that’s time I would love to have back in my week.
Still trying to figure out the best balance.
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I just had added to my calendar the first in-person departmental meeting since the start of the pandemic, marking the first time since the Before Times where I’ve had to argue with the corporate travel system to change hotel reservations. (I’ve restarted going in monthly, but the meeting dates didn’t coincide with previously-booked plans.)
A column in the WSJ today:
I can say that having been WFH for years in an environment where WFH wasn’t the norm has arguably had an impact on my career (“arguably” = I probably would have been a “senior individual contributor” regardless) for the reasons mentioned in the article. It’s made sense for me for non-career reasons, and I don’t regret my decision to have gone full-ish-time WFH, but I’m not blind to the trade-off I’ve made.
Presumably/hopefully in the new normal where WFH/hybrid is the norm the impact will be a little less, especially for those of us in a profession where we spend so much time playing with numbers from behind a computer. But I have noticed at my company the go-getters / the favorites of the senior team have been on Teams calls from the office…
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I never chatted up the boss more than in passing and certainly never went out for drinks.
I sucked at ho environments but I don’t think it was for those reasons.
Companies should look at articles like this and encourage more WFH. Proximity bias can be used to explain parts of the gender gap and lack of advancement for minorities. But I stopped believing that companies advanced people based on merit a long time ago so I won’t hold my breath.
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I’m actually at a company now where I feel like talent and hard work are rewarded.
Had to cycle through several companies before that happened however, it was usually tenure that’s rewarded, with people sharing tips on the best way to get ahead with those people. Of course some promotions were related to merit, some were because you’ve been around for 10+ years.
At one I was in my 20s as an ACAS with the title Actuarial Analyst and I had a 20-year-tenure coworker with 0 exams with the title Actuary.
That said, I believe there is some proximity/sucking up to the boss bias.
My company converted everyone to remote and isn’t opening any offices until at least September. You will need to specifically request to be an in-office worker.
So anyway, a coworker just gave notice because he really didn’t like working remote, so he found another job that was in-office. I’ve heard of people quitting because they were told to go back to the office. This is the first time I know of somebody quitting because they were told to stay remote.
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I think I would quit if I was told I had to be remote. I like having the flexibility to choose, which right now I have. I really have a hard time with working from home 100%, for a lot of reasons.
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I would have liked to go back to the office, probably a 3-2 office/home hybrid. But if everyone else is remote, I don’t want to drive half hour to sit in an empty cube farm.