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OT: Work From Home

navery12

navery12

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My company just announced that we won't ever be returning to 100% of employees in the office and will be around 25% permanently. Curious what other people's companies have been doing
 
My company already has a fair share of folks working from home around the country. The job I'm in was posted as work from home which is a big reason I went for it. I think we're re-opening our main office soon, but not entirely sure since it really doesn't matter to me.
 
Still waiting to hear. Don't think we will ever be back to "normal". Some employees have prospered while working at home. Some have stagnated. A couple of people just retired early as they did not want to make the change. It is hard to train, learn, and advance with work at home. I believe there are limits to how long work at home will be effective. I would like to be back in the office for 2-3 days a week. I am putting off hiring for an open position as I don't want to attempt virtual training.
 
UConnRock said:
Still waiting to hear. Don't think we will ever be back to "normal". Some employees have prospered while working at home. Some have stagnated. A couple of people just retired early as they did not want to make the change. It is hard to train, learn, and advance with work at home. I believe there are limits to how long work at home will be effective. I would like to be back in the office for 2-3 days a week. I am putting off hiring for an open position as I don't want to attempt virtual training.
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We did a completely virtual 8 week training for 5 new hires. We had adobe boards with video and screen sharing capability, so you could see everyone in real time, read their facial expressions and connect with them as you were presenting. Feedback was it was no different than physical class room training.
 
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UConnRock said:
Still waiting to hear. Don't think we will ever be back to "normal". Some employees have prospered while working at home. Some have stagnated. A couple of people just retired early as they did not want to make the change. It is hard to train, learn, and advance with work at home. I believe there are limits to how long work at home will be effective. I would like to be back in the office for 2-3 days a week. I am putting off hiring for an open position as I don't want to attempt virtual training.
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For us it will be varying by department but people that need to be in the office at the same times for meetings will be on the same days. So for me likely 1-2 times a week
 
Haven't been in since March. Our office lease is up Jan 2022. I'm guessing they won't renew it.
 
You can expect more of this. Especially if your office is in expensive real estate in a downtown environment.

We will likely be about 50% in office, 50% at home, but will build very robust hoteling capabilities, with lots of temporary workspaces and a new app to allow any employee to reserve a space for the day. I expect that's pretty close to what many large employers will do.

The math is simple. The cost savings on real estate, personnel for security, cleaning, internet, electricity, landscaping (where applicable) is massive. Meanwhile employee satisfaction is higher, and it helps recruiting as well. It also allows you to tap a broader pool of employees, at a wide range of local pay rates. Productivity in most areas is close to as good as on site, some fields are more affected.
 
I said right from the get-go that many of the companies that survive this mess will never go back to a full staff at company owned/maintained location(s). Certain firms have an ingrained corporate paranoia and feel a need to have employees on site where they can keep an eye on them, make sure they are getting a full day's work, etc. Others have found that many people work better and smarter when left in charge of their own hours and schedule, with the overhead per employee reduced substantially.
 
My team has been virtual since we started. I was talking to a lawyer at a big firm in NYC and he said they did a survey and 85% of the people want to work at home going forward. In the past it was only partners that could do that and staff had to be in every day...now they know they can function with staff at home.

I would not want to be a commercial landlord in NYC as leases expire.

What do people think will be the future of NYC? Is the exodus temporary or has the city changed permanently?
 
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I work at client sites much of the time so totally in the hands of those clients (who have not opened their offices, much less allowed contractors back in). I’m guessing I’ll be home through at least February 2021 and possibly longer. Already had the flexibility to work from home quite a bit but I am hoping 2-3 days a week becomes the new norm.
 
Waquoit said:
People have been moving out of New York for hundreds of years.
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So, I take it that you think nothing is different about NYC going forward? Hope you are correct. People have been moving in for years, but now more are moving out than moving in.. Did you notice the bump in housing sales in CT & NJ?
 
NJHusky said:
So, I take it that you think nothing is different about NYC going forward?
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I don't know where you get that from. Of course it will be different, that doesn't mean any kind of mass exodus.
 
NJHusky said:
My team has been virtual since we started. I was talking to a lawyer at a big firm in NYC and he said they did a survey and 85% of the people want to work at home going forward. In the past it was only partners that could do that and staff had to be in every day...now they know they can function with staff at home.

I would not want to be a commercial landlord in NYC as leases expire.

What do people think will be the future of NYC? Is the exodus temporary or has the city changed permanently?
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NJHusky said:
So, I take it that you think nothing is different about NYC going forward? Hope you are correct. People have been moving in for years, but now more are moving out than moving in.. Did you notice the bump in housing sales in CT & NJ?
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Jerry Seinfeld has a message for those who think NYC is dead:

www.nytimes.com

Opinion | Jerry Seinfeld: So You Think New York Is ‘Dead’ (Published 2020)

(It’s not.)
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
 
8893 said:
Jerry Seinfeld has a message for those who think NYC is dead:

www.nytimes.com

Opinion | Jerry Seinfeld: So You Think New York Is ‘Dead’ (Published 2020)

(It’s not.)
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
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It's not dead, not remotely close. No big city is dead. But I wonder if it will ever have the population or influence it once did.

The hot spots are going to be small cities, big towns that have a restaurant, bar, movie theater down-town shopping type scene, a short distance from single family homes. Houses need to be fairly large to accommodate both home theater type rooms, home gyms, and an office. None of this is an on or off switch or what will be desired by all. I simply think that's where demand will be strongest.

New England is certainly home to lots of such towns/cities. Portland, Portsmouth, Bangor, Burlington, Brattleboro, Stowe, Essex, even places like Worcester could become much more attractive. Outside the region, Charleston, Savannah, Georgetown, TX, Lawrence, KS, and thousands of others will gain appeal once people are liberated from the commute to a central work location. It will be interesting to see what happens.
 
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HuskyHawk said:
It's not dead, not remotely close. No big city is dead. But I wonder if it will ever have the population or influence it once did.
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In a couple years, the cities will be back to what they were. We will all forget and move on and at the end of the day, there is stuff available in cities that you just can’t get living elsewhere that will continue to draw people in.
 
Been working primarily from home since March. Company plans on keeping us at home through end of year and as far as I can tell in to next year. We have an office we can use if we need peace and quiet or for get togethers but there isn't any requirement to go there.
 
Vancat said:
Haven't been in since March. Our office lease is up Jan 2022. I'm guessing they won't renew it.
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This raises the question about the need for bricks and mortar offices. In the end I think you still need places to interface with each other and people outside the company, but you don't need all the office space. I wonder if satellite offices are going spring up. There's definitely going to a change in the market. I'm not sure how it all works out.
 
WhereistheDove? said:
In a couple years, the cities will be back to what they were. We will all forget and move on and at the end of the day, there is stuff available in cities that you just can’t get living elsewhere that will continue to draw people in.
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Nah. Some folks will trade the space and comfort of a suburban home for a one bedroom or studio apartment. But that appeal used to come with a walk or short subway or bus ride to The office that they had to go to. So they were getting, 1-2+ hours of free time in the deal. Remove that commute from the equation, and make suburban or small city centers more appealing (Those closed restaurants will open somewhere, but not necessarily where they were) and the math changes. Not for everyone. Certainly not. But for some, definitely.

I expect a boom in entertainment districts in the suburbs. Like Patriot Place if you’ve been there. Or Universal City Walk. Towns with somewhat vibrant downtowns will be very popular and those downtowns will get more vibrant.

If you used to take metro north from West Haven to NYC and now you work from home. Wherever you ate lunch in the city lost your business or where you had a beer after work. West Haven just gained demand for that.
 
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CL82 said:
This raises the question about the need for bricks and mortar offices. In the end I think you still need places to interface with each other and people outside the company, but you don't need all the office space. I wonder if satellite offices are going spring up. There's definitely going to a change in the market. I'm not sure how it all works out.
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Opposite. Headquarters will remain but satellite offices will close and those employees will move to remote workers.
 
Geez. I hate working from home. Lots of co-workers at first said they loved it. Then not only did they change their minds but when they lost power during the storm last month they lied about being without power a couple of extra days because our employer allowed an emergency exception to be in the office if you had no power. There is no way real relationships are built through a computer screen. When a project gets really crazy, you get better effort from people who consider each other "family". You don't get that working from home. Now maybe I work in a special group. Our average service exceeds 20 years for our senior people and 10 years for our more junior people. So we are very much about personal long term relationships. I will be back in the office next year when they let us.
 
HuskyHawk said:
Nah. Some folks will trade the space and comfort of a suburban home for a one bedroom or studio apartment. But that appeal used to come with a walk or short subway or bus ride to The office that they had to go to. So they were getting, 1-2+ hours of free time in the deal. Remove that commute from the equation, and make suburban or small city centers more appealing (Those closed restaurants will open somewhere, but not necessarily where they were) and the math changes. Not for everyone. Certainly not. But for some, definitely.

I expect a boom in entertainment districts in the suburbs. Like Patriot Place if you’ve been there. Or Universal City Walk. Towns with somewhat vibrant downtowns will be very popular and those downtowns will get more vibrant.

If you used to take metro north from West Haven to NYC and now you work from home. Wherever you ate lunch in the city lost your business or where you had a beer after work. West Haven just gained demand for that.
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I have no doubt some will but by and large even a nice downtown area of a reasonable size suburb just does not offer near the culture, food options, shopping, etc of a city. Young people and high income people will still flock there by the time most of us will have returned to offices.
 
CL82 said:
This raises the question about the need for bricks and mortar offices. In the end I think you still need places to interface with each other and people outside the company, but you don't need all the office space. I wonder if satellite offices are going spring up. There's definitely going to a change in the market. I'm not sure how it all works out.
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My company was expanding our presence at a customer's facility during the pandemic. They're in the middle of adding about 80k sq ft to an existing 250k sq ft building. It was determined a small subset, which I was part of, had no need to physically work there. They gave us office space at a small satellite facility a few miles away. Looked like a 1970's 7-11 or bank. We had no requirement to go there but if we needed space that was our office.
Last week we received an email saying our new landlord was tearing up carpet, replacing ceiling tiles and upgrading internet bandwidth and associated electrical power stuff. I guess my home away from home isn't going away any time soon.
 
The responses to this thread are why I threw as much money as possible into Zoom stock.
 
Pre-covid I had the option of WFH up to two days per week, which I usually did not take advantage of. Once March hit I moved to WFH 3 days per week and office the other two. About half of my staff must go to the workplace close to 100%. The other half could probably be full remote, but collectively they've been in the office half of the time since March. I have not hired anyone but I've interviewed a few people for jobs in other states. Training could be a little challenging as is monitoring the productivity of staff.

One of the biggest benefits of the WFH shift is that when I head to the office, my commute time is much better. Even the heavy traffic days (with school starting again) aren't quite so bad.

The biggest issue with WFH for me has been our home environment. Two elementary school-aged kids being home with us is not conducive to me working. When they're back in school full time that will of course change. We don't have a true office for me or my wife - I have an alcove off the family room and wife is fine working in the kitchen or dining room. I like the neighborhood I live in and my proximity to Boston and I've previously balked at moving further from the city due to potential commutes for a job change and current commute. If the remote workplace changes stick I would consider moving another town or two out with a more WFH-friendly house.

And the consideration for those whose jobs were never WFH but can now be done remotely (coming from someone in IT who lives this) - be careful what you wish for. The salary you demand in HCOL areas will be a thorn in your side when there's a similar candidate in Kentucky who is looking for 20-30% less. And the 30% savings looks great to the c-suite but then hey is there a reason department X couldn't be completely offshored and drop those salary and bene's 70%? It's already a reality of the current climate but it could accelerate as a result of the shift.
 
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