Great article. Posts mentioning extroversion/introversion are my personal bat signal for me to comment. American workplace culture has always been biased in favor of extraversion. Companies did not just value teamwork but outright fetishized it to the point where you have no alone time to work on the things you have to get done without distractions. Being introverted myself, work from home was a godsend and I was more productive at home than in the office.
I've read a lot of articles saying that there isn't a difference in productivity between remote and non remote work, but they're all written by people who are established in their careers. I just started working this year and it's been incredibly difficult to get up to speed remotely, and a lot of my classmates from the class of 2020 agree. I think it would be a lot easier if we'd been in person. Part of that is because I get really tired on video calls so I have less bandwidth for interactions overall, and the other thing is that in the open office setting, I'd be able to listen into coworkers conversations and learn from those. With remote work, the ramp up has been a lot more difficult because I'm alone and not exposed to technical discussions around me.
I forwarded the article to many of my former coworkers. The company is requiring staff to work in the main office because...otherwise the office would be empty and we will have all this wasted space. Of course, current staff and new hires in other parts of the country are being allowed to be fully remote. I’ve heard the same from other friends that work for companies that own their buildings.
Can we stop with these tone-deaf articles? How many of these authors have actually worked at a top tech company? The perks are absolutely absurd, you'd be insane not to want to return to office. Free food that tastes better than paid food, free on site BJJ which would cost $200/month elsewhere, and even the ability to apply to teach your own martial arts classes using the company's resources for advertising and gym space. Understand what working from office entails before criticizing it.
Thank you so much for this article. I just used it as a weapon to fight the "You work better at the office" bullshit at my organisation. I agree with E V E R Y S I N G L E W O R D you wrote there.
Great article. Posts mentioning extroversion/introversion are my personal bat signal for me to comment. American workplace culture has always been biased in favor of extraversion. Companies did not just value teamwork but outright fetishized it to the point where you have no alone time to work on the things you have to get done without distractions. Being introverted myself, work from home was a godsend and I was more productive at home than in the office.
Very stimulating read. I would have liked to see a discussion of the inequities of commuting also -- another "hidden factor" in office politics.
I've read a lot of articles saying that there isn't a difference in productivity between remote and non remote work, but they're all written by people who are established in their careers. I just started working this year and it's been incredibly difficult to get up to speed remotely, and a lot of my classmates from the class of 2020 agree. I think it would be a lot easier if we'd been in person. Part of that is because I get really tired on video calls so I have less bandwidth for interactions overall, and the other thing is that in the open office setting, I'd be able to listen into coworkers conversations and learn from those. With remote work, the ramp up has been a lot more difficult because I'm alone and not exposed to technical discussions around me.
If we don't return to the office how will they justify the ROI on all those new open office plans though?
I forwarded the article to many of my former coworkers. The company is requiring staff to work in the main office because...otherwise the office would be empty and we will have all this wasted space. Of course, current staff and new hires in other parts of the country are being allowed to be fully remote. I’ve heard the same from other friends that work for companies that own their buildings.
Can we stop with these tone-deaf articles? How many of these authors have actually worked at a top tech company? The perks are absolutely absurd, you'd be insane not to want to return to office. Free food that tastes better than paid food, free on site BJJ which would cost $200/month elsewhere, and even the ability to apply to teach your own martial arts classes using the company's resources for advertising and gym space. Understand what working from office entails before criticizing it.
Thank you so much for this article. I just used it as a weapon to fight the "You work better at the office" bullshit at my organisation. I agree with E V E R Y S I N G L E W O R D you wrote there.