I wont do it fuck them.

Ill apply interview and ask for wfh or move on.

Im set for years ill keep at it till i get whats right.

Do. Nothing.

-indian bro

Your manager has direct communication with the government and treasury? Wow.

[removed]

[removed]

Commercial real estate owners and service industry around these complexes are lobbying for returning back to 2019 ASAP, but it isn't that simple, especially for IT/Tech industry. Hard to justify keeping these people unhappy, stuck in traffic, doing less work than if WFH just so the offices are used. Interesting times!

[deleted]

[deleted]

They are propping up their buddies in the commercial real estate business. That’s it period. A large one just went bankrupt today in the US, defaulted on about 1.5 billion in loans on office buildings. This is why they are making you come back, because if that sector completely collapses it’s ‘08 all over again. But on the real fuck them.

[deleted]

They. The government? Somebody in the government is contacting private businesses to get staff back in the office? Absolute bollocks. The key reason is the level of investment, debt or long term leases that organisations have in commercial real estate that is being underutilised. Not rocket science and not a conspiracy.

It's not a conspiracy, it's business as usual. It's super normal for the CEOs of big companies to be in panels or roundtables with municipal entities and government employment cabinets. And it's actually kind of cool when public offices take business prespectives into account instead of just existing in their own bubble. The alternative would be public officials only being aproached by lobbyists behind the scenes.

I can easily imagine a city hall oficial saying that there's lots of restaurants closing and that they need people back at the business areas.

So... Completely anecdotal "argument" and not based on any kind of actual evidence. Many companies became much more profitable during the pandemic. I work at a bank for instance and 2020 + 2021 we're some of our best years in the last decade. Sorry but your comment reeks of middle management trying to justify their job.

[removed]

We're not post Covid. It's still killing hundreds and disabling thousands daily. Some people are just post caring about others.

We shouldn't be going back to the office and propagating this pandemic just because the rich want us to consume for them.

Be careful what you wish for. There’s a good reason that language models have improved so much last year. If they don’t need you to come into the office, they may not need you at all. Especially if you’re an antisocial grunt.

Offices exist to offer a social work environment. I mean, theoretically secretaries could have been replaced by an answering machine and windows 95. It’s still a viable career because it’s good for social relations and teamwork.

You need to depend on your social skills to get away with mediocre grunt work going into the future.

You are going to get a lot of hate but I 100% agree.

You know the old saying “give me liberty or give me death”. Some people actually mean it. Another one that this shit show has proven to me is “those who choose security over liberty, deserve neither”. That means you.

Then make them work by getting another job. Complaining is cheap.

Why woukd an employer do anything at all to improve your life? That is not how the capitalist system works.

If you don't cause damafe to your boss what reason does he have to make your life better?

Dude, in 2020-2021 you had free money pumping into the system. Everyone with a pulse made money. Doesn't mean you were more productive, once the stimulus stopped and interest rate went up, many companies found their pants were down.

It's when the times are lean that WFH needs to prove itself, not when there was money raining down from the sky.

Completely my experience, also in engineering

I work for a large corporation. Great place to work. Judged so by polls. Also checks out to me anecdotally.

My employer has asked for 3 days in the office. Most employees fully support this concept. Some who have personal reasons (child care, health) would prefer to be full time WFH. Fine, I can see that. But consider this: if you demonstrate to your employer that your job can be done fully remotely, how long before they then also decide, “Well if they can do it from anywhere successfully, then that job can also be done by someone in a low COL location. Possibly even a different country.

I don’t hear managers advocating for complete WFH. Maybe in some fields like IT or accounting. But most of us feel supportive of the notion that critical collaboration is lost with full WFH. When we returned to the office after Covid, problems that had lingered were solved by hallway discussions or water cooler talk. Do we need to be in an office 5 days a week to get that? No.

Personally I’d almost advocate for a 4 day work week over WFH but I’m fine with the current 3 days in the office.

That's actually the case in Ireland now. As a lot of members of parliament are landlords and have shares in office buildings, there is strong lobby to get workers into the offices ASAP. Funniest thing - not all companies. Some companies found WFH as business solution to grow, they are keeping their own office buildings for people that actually want to come to work (Irish people are very social), but they are openly admit that WFH is the answer for company growth.

What makes me really unhappy is that we have a housing problem. We have people with 60k+ salaries living on the streets. One of the office buildings was converted to accommodate Ukrainian refugees. Why others cannot be converted like that, beats me...

Are you seriously suprised that companies with lobbying power to influence the laws of a country are in close relations with governors who run the country?!

My wife is currently going through almost this exact same scenario in the UK. Copy/pasted from a post I made a few weeks ago:

It started with shallow platitudes about "getting back to normal" and it being "easier to vibe with each other". Apparently the CEO gave a rare appearance one day and he didn't like how empty the office was. Two or three days a week in office were then required.

Then company-wide weekly updates stopped being delivered online and are now in-person only, with no justification, despite employees from smaller branches being too far away to attend them. Now she is required to attend a fouth day each week to account for this deliberate contrivance.

When she raised concerns about this trajectory, and asked the justification for it, she was pressured by upper-middle management to essentially not question it and to limit such "outbursts" in future. It was strongly implied that her career progression would be impacted if she didn't, though she suspects it has been already.

She's privately been approached by colleagues and told that they share her concerns, but they feel unable to voice them. They seem to want her to continue fighting it but she's pretty much decided to not rock the boat any further while she looks for another job to move on to.

Interestingly, it seems that some of her more extroverted colleagues who do prefer to work in the office, and do so five days a week, seem to have been almost personally offended by my wife's questioning of the policy, and her interactions with them have been noticeably frosty since. I can see that divide among workers factoring into the success of the current attempts to rollback WFH rights.

I would be in the office almost every day if it wasn't for the commute. My office downsized during COVID, doubling my commute time... And it's all I can do to go in 2 times a week now. Seriously considering a move to a competitor that is walking distance from my house.

Oh man, I love 3-4 miles from work. It is bliss. I hate commuting. Not sure what I will do if my job gets moved back to our office that is 35 miles away through urban traffic.

5 more years and I am done.

It's fun that you think companies will hold onto replaceable staff members because they "like" them and see more of them.

At most you might manage to keep your job for an extra year or two, but if you're in that firing line, you should be focussing on upskilling yourself rather than putting in appearances.

A secretary is still a viable career because someone still needs to actually answer the phone and use the computer. Senior management don't want to have to manage their own calendars and answer all their own emails.

[removed]

I’d certainly agree it’s critical to upskill. That’s much more important than faking social engagement.

I’m just saying that eye contact and hand shakes go a long way in building trust. It could be the difference between closing a deal and not.

Bingo. It’s only about corporate real estate

No, it’s absolutely true.

CEOs and executives are in contact with local, state, and federal government.

The push is aimed at getting everyone back into the gauntlet of bullshit. That is: paying for cars, gas, maintenance, meals, coffee, clothes, and all of the other crap that businesses scalp you for as part of your work day.

Trouble is, inflation has sucked away all of the extra money we had for those things. We can’t afford it now, and frankly we don’t have the mental health capacity to deal with the extra stress. We’ve also had that inflated over the last few years.

My employer wants to bring people back to the office. You know who is most happy about it, the mayor of the struggling city. They just want our money for parking, lunch, ect. THAT is why we're headed back to the office.

What in the fuck does this have to do with this sub?

This and population decline are such capitalist propaganda. Two things that are actually better are being labeled as a crisis.

[deleted]

[removed]

Naive, while employer's may find someone from another part of the country to work cheaper (WFH) based on the cost of living; offshore resources rarely have the same output/competency as local resources.

I WFH 95% (rare customer site visit) and work a 4 day week (condensed hours). Several months ago I interviewed with a competitor (they sort me out) for a very senior role and after the first interview, I told them no thanks. 3 months later they called back wanting to tell me why I wasn't successful and see if I had given second thoughts to WFH! i told them I cancelled the application and their mandate of 5 days a week and 3 days min in the office was unacceptable.

WFH is here to stay for many and 4 day weeks will be the norm in 5 years. My current employer has mentioned my output and general happiness has increased since WFH and further increased with the move to 4 days.

I’m naive? You have a vested interest in the topic.

Since I've been working from home I've saved easily $75-$100 per week in fuel and food. (Michigan) That's money that the government needs circulating. So I can see why they want us going to the office again. The goof is that with inflation, I have still been spending that money elsewhere. Groceries this two week were $660 for my small family. That same order was $400 a year ago, and $300 before Covid. So I don't get it. What makes them think the money is just pooling up somewhere?

[deleted]

Improving an employees life is exactly how capitalist systems work. It’s a competitive market. An employer can attract top talent with low attrition by keeping employees happy. This is very beneficial to a business.

Unhappy employee = low output and/or attrition = bad profit

Since it’s such a capitalist market this “unhappy employee” can search for an employer that would make them more “happy”. Employers will then improve happiness of employees to attract this “unhappy employee” so he’ll leave his current company.

[deleted]

When someone asks me about the differences between the two parties in US government.

[removed]

My company RTO for 3 days per week a few weeks ago.

Want to know the one meaningful hallway conversation I had with jrs?

Telling them that once they vest, the best way to get a raise is to switch companies.

We are more productive from home.

He said that our government, the treasury, has been and did engage with our company and other major companies to get people back to get the economy going.

BITCH PLEASE that man is lying to you to not tell you why they want people back. The treasury is a joke that serves the rich, their idea of fighting inflation is laughable but they do not give a fuck if you work from home or not.

My company responded similarly, but at the same time cut it's office space by more than half. So the reality is those that really want to be in the office and hold a position where face to face is important are in an office. Those working more behind the scenes are typically still remote.

My first thought at the beginning of the pandemic was, what will happen with all the now no longer ever needed downtown office spaces? What will happen to those leases and property owners?

Never did I think, nothing will happen, they won’t let that entire industry fail even if it’s no longer necessary

Thank you!! Every time someone pulls this card I want to pull my hair out.

Oh you made record profits during the year everyone made record profits? Awesome. Oh people were trapped inside and had to use your product? Not correlation at all.

Wait, the US fed reserve and government put ten trillion dollars into the economy in a year. Nah that can’t be it, it’s because people worked in shorts.

Businesses do not do anything without a profit motive. Government can make all the calls they want but it's the risk of devaluing real estate that is driving the return to work.

My state is very explicit about needing toll money, parking money, lunch money, etc from downtown workers. I have to work in person, as does my husband, but I'm all for remote work if people get their jobs done

Hell I’d take 3 days a week as opposed to the INSULTING 26 days a year my company “graciously” provides us.

I don’t talk to anyone in the office, no one uses the conference rooms, half my team is on the other side of the country, and now they’re trying to force us to take an hour lunch, stealing even more of our time.

It can be both.

Also people are naive about offshoring - the labor that is as talented usually is able to get work/student visas. Fine for call centers or other less talented labor but those don’t even work that well.

But they've raised the interest rates to restrict the money that's circulating...

[deleted]

[removed]

[deleted]

Population decline is a problem for the wealthy, as it gives workers leverage. See how after the Black Death in Europe peasant wages more than doubled.

Not to mention time zone and cultural issues - I work with a company that has all their developers in Israel - I have not doubt that they have good talent but they the time zone and holiday scheduling meant that it took over a year to deliver a solution to their client (me). Even within the U.S. most high level talent live in clusters in similarly priced areas and Covid has really accelerated that issue.

[deleted]

Yup, I work in financial services. They gave us a big bullshit story about how we had to be “physically present” with each other for the magic to happen. Then they promptly started adding team members who are in other states. Oh it’s fine. They will be in their local office for our team in office days. Just not physically present with us. What an absolute load of hypocritical bullshit.

Lol right? You hate your job? Fuckin get a new one. That’s the way it’s been past, present and futurology.

Well, they should go right ahead and hire people at low COL locations if that works out. Most companies will not go outside the country for that, because if they could, they already would have.. A lot of contracts require US citizens working on it.

[removed]

I work for IBM and they just announced Tuesday we’d be going back to the office three days a week starting March 6. Yes that’s less that two weeks notice.

Depends on the company. Mine has entire departments , entire sites in India, and 3rd shift IT was fully deployed and managed from there for years. They actually got the meatier work because so much was done outside of US office hours. It was no brainer to have them cover 1st and 2nd shift as well.

What company are you referring to? Not seeing anything on Reuters or a quick google search.

Among other business owners. Everybody working from home has shifted our consumption patterns and it’s hurting some very rich people.

But it’s certainly not about productivity.

This is just wrong. Yes the government would like more people in the office spending more money in the city rather than the suburbs so they have more tax revenue. Yes they are specifically lobbying for government employees to have to come in for that exact reason. But you're claiming that "treasury" (note you don't indicate the actual position of the requester) is asking private businesses to come into the office more? And CEOs are just like "yeah sure it'll cost me employee retention and productivity and I'll have to continue to pay for office space but I'm ok losing money just to make you, Mr. or Mrs. Treasury, happy"? Like no that's not wtf happens. Unless the government is providing subsidies to companies that bring people back to the office, there's no way CEOs give a shit what the government has to say about remote work. And any such subsidy would not be secret it would be legislation or written into the tax code either of which would be publicly available to all of us. I note you didn't reference any.

The real answer is just Occam's razor. CEOs tend to be on the older side and want to micro manage too much. That's difficult in a remote setting and instead of being good leaders who measure long-term output, they prefer to measure "hard work" so stories of employees doing things like laundry and household chores rather than coffee gossip breaks make them think people who wfh don't work. But there are plenty of CEOs who aren't that way, and I happen to work for one. I joined post-covid but pre-covid there was already a strong "work from home, work whatever hours you want, as long as you get shit done we won't have a problem" culture. Post-covid they even sold their office and now they provide funding for people to work in coworking spaces if they want with that savings. I usually go in a few times per month because I do like seeing people and being able to meet face to face occasionally.

They could propose a tax for companies that allow workers to work remote. There is obviously a negative effect on the demand side of the economy so it’s understandable the government wants to return to a sustainable model.

Yep, it’s been blatantly obvious that it is a push by governments (federal, state, municipality) and business groups, plus wealthy owners of things, to keep things as they were. The benefit to the employees is not there in any job that successfully navigated full remote.

There are plenty of people who want to go in, and they’re totally welcome to it. I personally have lost all faith in my corporation given their thinking on the issue. I hesitated which word to use because thinking and logic aren’t actually part of the equation as no meeting rooms work correctly and technology at our offices is crap.

I basically go in for half a day, nope out and go work at home. They can eventually come at me if they want.

Why would corporate real estate collapsing be like 08? That was home mortgages, it actually affected many, many people. No one lives in the offices.

People who want things to go back to pre-COVID times seem kind of like a cult. If you challenge the ludicrous things, you get frowned at and labeled not a team player.

>They just want our money for parking, lunch, ect

This drives me up the wall because so many restaurants collapsed with the pandemic and never got back on their feet. Now their storefronts are either sitting empty or have been replaced by some chain that will make it maybe a year before moving on. Nothing like deciding to get takeout for lunch and your choices are between an overworked and understaffed Starbucks, Panera, or Chipotle (if you're lucky, could be just a McDonald's or Popeyes) because the family-owned Korean restaurant and an independent cafe/bakery had to close.

And rather than invest in building public transit, the people cities want to gouge us for parking and add enough cars to make their downtowns virtually unlivable.

It's genuinely depressing.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret.

You working at the office does not prevent your employer IN ANY WAY from still trying to outsource your expensive ass.

Trust me I know, this was my line of work. We’d replace 7 local employees with some code and 2 people in Lithuania all the time. The fact that the 7 local employees worked in office changed absolutely nothing.

The fact that this is downvoted so heavily shows how this sub is just turning into antiwork bullshit. I'm all for remote work and work for a company that is 100% remote. But with their savings of terminating the office lease they provide a budget for some shared coworking spaces for us to use, and I go in a few times a month. The last time I went in I had a conversation with someone from a completely other team and we hammered out a solution in an afternoon to a problem another team had been working on for weeks with no success. I'd have no reason to speak to this person other than they were next to me in the shared coworking space and the combination of their knowledge of the problem and my knowledge of some specialized data they didn't know existed caused us to be able to solve a problem that will likely save the company 6-7 figures/year.

Like yes as an employee I value being able to take breaks in my apartment rather than office, I value being able to do laundry while working, I value no commute time, etc. But everyone here seems to be under the impression that there is absolutely 0 value to being in the same office with other people you work with, and that's just plain false. I think going forward remote work will continue to be a thing, but I also think there will start to be a pay gap between remote and in-office work and the natural market will allow workers to decide which they want, do they want to be 100% remote? Or do they want to be hybrid or full-time in office and make more since they don't have to be competing with as many people from as many geographies and probably can at least be marginally more productive than the average 100% wfh employee?

My industry is actively moving these types of jobs overseas. By identifying that your job could be remote, I think you are self-selecting to have your job outsourced. My employer isn’t currently rly doubt this but that could change with a change in ownership and/or economic circumstances.

My job can’t be outsourced. It could be eliminated. But it can’t be outsourced. But I’m unconcerned. I only have 5 years until I retire at 55. And if they eliminated my job now I’d get a significant severance package.

How’s that for a little secret?

Tell me you don’t understand how banking works, without telling me you don’t understand how banking works

I love WFH. But:

• I also believe there are intangible benefits of working in the same place. I wouldn't be surprised if democracy goes even more into the shitter after 10 years WFH, just like after 10 years of Facebook.

• IIRC, the Microsoft study found that certain kinds of cross-team collaboration and innovation are much harder during WFH.

I don’t really get what you’re trying to say?

I was responding to your idea that being remote means they’ll start outsourcing you. They’ll start outsourcing you regardless.

[deleted]

some people I’ve met have even more ridiculous reason, they desperately want to get out of the house and away from their annoying family, or loneliness if it is a pathetic old fuck. Usually older mid 40s guys. Aged to be in higher position to order this. Last guy spilled me some really nicely wrapped bullshit how it’s important to socialize in person with your colleagues, cause in reality there’s no one willing to tolerate his boomer bullshit

pathetic people

My prior CFO never stopped working in the office because of wife plus 3 kids at home. He was vocal that he wanted people back because it was too quiet.

Even when I left in Nov our conference rooms had a max occupancy of 3, so we still had to have all of our meetings on Teams.

[deleted]

While true - that doesn't mean that local communities/cities still want/need that revenue to operate.

If COVID, and stay at home policies did one thing -- it was to show how much of a sham working from office buildings was. For the majority of jobs, it is not required. People have been saying it for decades, and COVID showed the world that you can, in fact, successfully work from home.

I'm sure there are some industries that function better with in person interaction, but there are a ton that simply don't need it. My office is battling this issue with requiring different positions, different required days in office.

My former employer was pushing return to office so hard it was ridiculous. Luckily, my former boss was based in Europe so he pushed back against "the idiot Americans" all the time and it was priceless to watch. Our CIO (a giant fucking snake) was adamant that all IT return to the office full-time.

Had a call with one of my former staff about how things were going. He said they have moved back to 4 on 1 off for office life. I asked about the C-suite and he said and I quote:

"They work 100% remote except when they need to visit the office."

Thats only how it starts. It will go from 3 days a week back to 4 and eventually 5.

The irony is the C Suite is working from home or on vacation a lot more. That said smart companies are embracing remote work. We ditched the office and data center during lockdown. Now we just have small office that is mostly meeting rooms and shared spaces.

[deleted]

[deleted]

we keep having the same conversation, DON'T BE AFRAID TO LEAVE YOUR JOB. THERE ARE OTHER, BETTER JOBS OUT THERE.

[removed]

I think it also has to do with regional Pay. During the pandemic I heard one of the VPs talking about how it was hard to hire because they had to compete with wages from Seattle firms. They suddenly had ho pay a premium for software devs because s ton were leaving to work remote for out of town companies

Lots of money is in commercial rentals.

Lol that's what I did. My job wanted to start office work. I got s new job

My boss's company is doing a multimillion-dollar renovation of our building while our work force is remote. Meanwhile, a raise wasn't in the budget during last year's record inflation.

[deleted]

It’s ridiculous to require people to go back into the office when work from home has insane advantages. First there will be less pollution, car accidents, and other conflicts due to people being at home. Since we are dealing with climate change - seems like work from home is a win for the environment. If that means real estate moguls lose, then they need to change what they do with their properties - renovate them and turn them into apartments with retail down below. It’s happening here in California already - shops below and housing above and conveniently located within walking distance of mass transit. Less cars, less pollution. I hate these mega corporations that have no creativity and just stay status quo.

Your post is a lot less fun than a global conspiracy between governments and companies to keep fat cats rich and workers poor or some such cliche’d nonsense. I’d also add that it’s harder for traditional managers to measure the performance of their people unless they’re in something like sales or piecework where there are objective and visible metrics. And all the talk and hype around quiet quitting (which may not exist or have changed) doesn’t help.

The demand side of the economy needs to adjust for the lower demand. Working from home is the future and it’s not fair to tax workers or companies who are contributing to saving time, money and natural resources.

Meh I'm a data scientist, my work is very non quantifiable it's basically "hey look at all these mountains of data we have and come up with things that can make us money". But still every year I have a performance review where I write up all the things I've done and ways I've helped the company, and they ask some of the people I've done projects for to rate how I did with their requests and requirements and customer service. And that's what they use to measure our performance, not how hard we work or whether we work long hours. And then on top of that I have a weekly check-in with my manager where I discuss all the things I'm working on, my progress, anything I need from them, and any feedback they have for me or I have for them (obviously the former is more important since they can fire me I can't fire them, but good managers will ask for feedback from their reports so they can improve as well). If a manager can't use all of those tools and instead relies on how many hours someone is in a physical office (the online equivalent would be checking if their slack status is away or something), they're just plain a shit manager.

Corporations have been moving any jobs they can overseas for a long time now. WFH if anything accelerated a process that's been ongoing for years. I don't think that WFH is to blame.

[removed]

Government is def meddling in WFH policies of private companies. Bloomberg had an article on this 2/21: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-02-21/another-threat-to-work-from-home-tax-breaks?utm_campaign=instagram-bio-link&utm_medium=social&utm_source=instagram&utm_content=businessweek

Look up the Evergrande collapse in China. This has been going on for multiple years in various countries and everyone is doing everything they can to keep the panic from spreading.

https://medium.datadriveninvestor.com/is-china-going-to-collapse-7525ea90a122

There is a strong US correlation since many US investment firms bet on speculative Chinese real estate. That’s $300 billion USD gone.

I've said it before and I'll continue to say it. The pandemic has taught me how very little C level employees bring to the table despite taking the lion share of payroll. They need to be seen pea-cocking around the office with their assistants so share holders don't wise up to just how useless they are. If the company was a healthy moose, C level employees are the fat, over-bloated ticks getting a free meals and transportation at the moose's expense and hard work.

My next conspiracy theory regarding return to office - is the mass layoffs we're seeing all over the place. For what? Some fears of a depression era recession that we've been worried about for over a year now? Inflation? We "over-hired" (how does that happen anyway)? Insert some other benign un-measureable fear here. My theory is that indsutry leaders are deliberately over-filling the candidate pool. Why? Because when people run through savings and are looking at losing their homes, they will eventually accept the "In the office full time" job (at possibly a lower salary) just to keep a roof over their families head, food in the cupboard and keep the lights on.

Granted this isn't all companies. Some have fully embraced the WFH life (mine included) and this is just how we operate now. Because why NOT? We don't even have the office space at this point for a complete return to the office. I'm super lucky that the owner of my company really listens to their employees and even did a a complete 180 on their own views from WFH. Pre pandemic they were pretty old school. No remote work. Ever. Post pandemic when it was realized we were all in it for the long haul, he noticed productivity up and even enjoyed his ability to commute, only if he wanted to. So much in fact they moved to the beach and operate from there with bi monthly visits to corporate.

I’m telling you what I am currently seeing in my industry. Jobs had NEVER been outsourced in the past. And now those who self-identify as being able to WFH are the very careers that other competitors of mine are now outsourcing. Could it be a complete coincidence? Sure. Would I be volunteering that my job can be done anywhere? Heck no. Especially if I am a young person.

Those people in your last paragraph suck. I am super extroverted. I thought I’d never want to work from home. Now, I could never go back into an office. It is not my job’s responsibility to socialize me. I can make my own plans with people that actually want to see me, not people who are forced into an office.

If you’re an extrovert, do the work yourself to make friends.

I work at Kaiser Permanente and they are very generous with remote work where it make sense. I am in the back office and everyone I worked with prior to the pandemic were in different locations, but my team was in the office with me. However, they needed to talk to everyone outside of our team regularly. Since COVID, we are 100% remote and have been highly productive and happy. Some positions are still required to be in office, but the company downsized my office and is closing a building nearby saving a ton of money. A blanket get everyone in the office policy is stupid. There are some positions that should be in the office, but a vast majority don’t need to be.

What they should do is renovate them and turn them into rentals for housing. Pretty much everywhere has a housing shortage nowadays causing rents to skyrocket. You could easily add hundreds, if not thousands, of new units this way.

Honestly, my logic is simple on why they want it:

"We have a lease on this property for the next 5-10 years, and the agency won't let us get out from under it. So if we're going to be stuck paying for it, let's use it."

That's a perfect example of a sunk cost fallacy. Also paying for electricity/janitorial staff/equipment replacement is not free.

My workplace went full remote at the start of Covid, our productivity went through the roof and we had record setting years.

Then we were all forced to return to the office for the same “reasons”, the CEO believed we needed to “collaborate” and engage in “water cooler talk”.

It was a massive failure, productivity dropped, we all saw it as essentially working overtime and taking a pay cut when looking at the time and cost associated with commuting.

I, along with many others, quit. I found another employer who still believes in the efficiency of remote work. Obviously it depends on your field, but they’re still out there. That is who I choose to give my time and energy to. I hope all others who have the ability to do the same.

I think he's talking about Brookfield's situation with the gas company tower and 777 Wilshire in LA

Look at how this guy communicates. Definitely management material.

IF THEY MAKE YOU GO BACK MAKE THEM REGRET IT. SEND PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH THE FLOOR. HURT THE BOTTOM LINE.

This is true on both sides… as is standard with any polarisation the extremists are extreme and vocal about pushing their position, while the vast majority don’t comment because it’s obvious that this doesn’t have to be one-size-fits-all.

Some people and jobs benefit from WFH, others benefit from collocating. Lots of people seem to have difficulty understanding that not all jobs are just like their job or just don’t care because they have a preference and want that to prevail for everyone.

I think we’re seeing a selection bias in posters talking about their employers - the ones that are going fully hybrid or remote don’t result in as many posts.

New York right? Same 3 day a week bs line I’ve heard from every other company

It makes sense the government would have a vested interest in forcing a return to work. Commutes are what keep cities alive, commercially speaking.

Hi, skisushi. Thanks for contributing. However, your comment was removed from /r/Futurology.

> > Username checks out

> Rule 6 - Comments must be on topic, be of sufficient length, and contribute positively to the discussion.

Refer to the subreddit rules, the transparency wiki, or the domain blacklist for more information.

[Message the Mods](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/Futurology&subject=Question regarding the removal of this comment by /u/skisushi&message=I have a question regarding the removal of this comment if you feel this was in error.

I had a manager at Samsung who just looooooved to shit on his wife and kids. Daily jokes on how work is better than home. Had the dumbest look when many of us were like…we would rather be home with our families than staying overnight at the lab to test some new cell phones a week before release.

It's to appease the office renters, which contribute to political campaigns.

[removed]

Not surprising at all. Especially when it comes to major hubs like San Francisco and Seattle.

It’s a combination of companies trying to justify keeping a building, managers needing to make themselves seem needed when work from home has shown they really aren’t, the government trying to pump money back into fuel/restaurant/parking, ramp up collection of traffic/parking fines that they can’t if people aren’t driving as much, propping up their commercial property income that they are losing when businesses figure out that WFH is more efficient/less costly, and in some cases it’s just a case of narcissists in high positions needing to exert their “power”.

Society is ruled by extroverts. 96 percent of managers are extroverts, according to one study. They're reasserting their control and arranging things to suit themselves as always.

To be fair, the majority of office work is: drive to work, clock in, sit at your desk, field emails all day, work in Xcel/PowerPoint/etc, take meetings on zoom or whatever, whatever feeding yourself for lunch entails, returning to the office for more of the same, and then fighting traffic to get home. None of that requires an office. Just a laptop and reliable internet connection.

It was like a short term raise and work life balance improvement for around 3 years for me only to go back to the bleak office environment a few months ago. It was nice while it lasted and I’ll never agree on the arguments they make towards employees coming back.

The commute is the biggest issue imo, it's wasteful as all hell here in the states. Makes no sense to drive half an hour or more just to sit in an office that is less comfortable than my home. Not to mention the added cost. Thankfully my job has always been fully remote and will not be changing.

That... that's exactly how they would "stimulate the economy" though. That tracks.

[deleted]