Lol one of the things I despised about offices back in the day was how they insisted on adding bars and ping pong tables, so the management/sales guys could make a ton of noise and make it impossible to get work done.
No - what I’d want is a dedicated and relatively private workspace where I’m not disturbed. Something that most modern offices completely fail at. Great for ‘networking’ - awful for getting anything done.
Okay, but you know they're too cheap to pay for that kind of office space and it's gonna be more like three employees on a single couch in front of a tv that just a screensaver with the words "We're family!" bouncing around.
It's so frustrating because the fact is we have a lot of office space going spare, mostly with public transit going nearby, and also everyone is bitching about the lack of third spaces... Is there not a way to make those two things click together? Well, not in capitalism anyway
Yeah, they would have to be pretty stupid to think their workers would like a noisy cubicle farm with micromanagers over the comfort of their own space.
I guess it wouldn't occur to these bosses that letting workers stay remote actually saves the company money (in rent/mortgage/utilities) without decreasing productivity. Instead of spending money redecorating, how 'bout put that money into raises? But no, micromanagers gotta micromanage.
Awesome a replica of my house an hour and a half away from my house except I don't have have access to any of the things I have at home and I have to pay to travel there without getting compensated for it.
Fuck yeah
When tech companies put foosball tables and buffets in during the Dot Com Boom, it was seen as proof of them having too much money and not enough sense.
My roommates work realized it's cheaper for everyone to work from home. The office is only open now for any employees that loose connection at home to come in.
It's not the LOOK that will do it .... it's making sure the office environment offers both the comforts & conveniences of home PLUS more stuff that home DOESN'T have.
But that would look too much like ACTUALLY investing in your people instead of just trying to fool them.
Perish the thought that workers are given a paid incentive to work, that would hurt profits. It's not even their fault, business schools around the world have doctrine that wages or work benefits should be the last option.
They'll just have to convert the roads to look like your living room then. Drop couches and La-Z-Boys all down the interstate, that'll make you happier to drive to work.
I'm a blue collar guy--I have to physically go to job sites. But if they could put La-Z-Boys and nice stereo systems in all the boiler rooms and mechanical rooms I have to work in, that would be great.
Sadly, in many circles, it’s being mandated. And for totally bullshit reasons. I mean, if the company says “Office time or you’re fired”. I respect that more than “we’ve seen the interactions in the lunchroom and we feel that’s integral to our business”.
That play where you stand between two mirrors that are facing into eachother and create an infinite tunnel...that you can't ever enter, leave, or move from...
Unless my cats are sleeping on the bed behind me, it's not gonna be "resimercial." And no, I'm not schlepping my cats down to that cave the execs call an office. It's unhealthy already for me.
They really don't get why we like to work from home, do they? That still involves a commute, still involves sharing a space with less control over temperature, lighting etc, I can't do chores around the house during my breaks, walk the dog or take a nap, and I would still have to wear a bra
But at work, your boss could walk to your desk and make passive aggressive comments like “you sure do seem productive today!” while fueling their well-deserved insecurity that maybe they’re just a sad clown in a suit, hoping for knee-jerk respect and at a complete loss how to earn it for real.
We would be working quietly in the office and my boss would deliberately walk in and go "so, what do you guys think of the latest [insert politics/current event/star wars film]" just to stir shit up, until our admin takes mercy and reminds him of whatever meeting he's supposed to be at in 5 minutes
Weirdly, even he's been enjoying working from home more, though he doesn't do it full time. And not having our admin support in the same room means he's had to learn to remember to go to meetings himself
The problem with the modern organization is that managers are a truly necessary function. Coordination is needed to accomplish things at scale. BUT. Too many managers think of themselves as controllers rather than coordinators. And very very few are ever given actual decent training.
We were kind of lucky that our workload increased during covid because so much education went online, and we showed we could be super efficient at home. The reports convinced management we could be trusted to continue since then, but we've been told to start going into office part time next year.
When I was working, the reason I liked WFH, aside from no commute and flexibility, was the absolute quiet I had. No one else talking around me, playing music, no beeping computers or cell phones, just absolute silence. I could concentrate on my conference calls, not bother anyone else either.
Whose bosses are doing this?
Mine sure isn’t. Neither are any of my friends’ bosses.
And I wish mine would try that BS.
It wouldn’t change the fact that I have an hour commute to work.
I’d still have to drive TF back home at night.
Instead of just turning off my computer and sitting on the sofa.
This sounds like bosses are so alone they need people around them to feel powerful. They should play more strategy games so menus and numbers do that to them instead and leave the workers do their jobs wherever
That’s not the important thing to me. What I do have a 15 step “commute” from my bedroom to the dining room where my computer is at 7am for a 10 hr workday.
No, no... You're reading this wrong... Not "have to commute," but "GET to commute." Time outdoors, social interactions, and you can actually work while you're en route, maximizing efficiency.
The problem isn't that the office doesn't look like my house, the problem is I don't want to spend an hour in traffic to work for three hours doing my job and the remaining five pretending to do my job and then spend another hour in traffic.
Waisted money. Just let them work from home. Employees save a lot of time and money that way. Employees save in: commute, launch, transportation, gas, TIME, expensive living location, sleep better, no toxic environment and most if not all meetings can be summed up in an email. Video conferences.
Yeah, because looking like home is the problem with inept execs requiring people to subsidize unnecessary real estate spending and compensate useless managers who have no understanding of management beyond counting seat time on their grubby fingers.
*30 minutes*???
Damn. What’s that even like?
I have to get up at 4 to be out of the house by 5:30 to get to work by 6:45 to sign in and be ready to work at 7am.
If I can't stand in front of the fridge in my underpants while belting 70s showtunes with a mouthful of cottage cheese eaten directly from the carton, it doesn't feel like home.
There’s an office I go to once a week to supervise some case managers, and my office feels like an extension of my room in the most surreal way possible.
At home I work at a desk, with two screens and no people around distracting me and crucially I don't have to commute anywhere to do it. I can roll out of bed, get ready, get a brew, get working as quickly as I like.
I wonder how long it’ll be until they realize that satellite offices closer to where people actually live to cut down on commute times and ditching open office plans in favor of private offices or at the bare minimum cubicles is what will make people actually want to come back…
"Hey, here comes that frog! Alright! Maybe he will settle near me! And I can pet him, and put him in a mayonnaise jar. With a stick and a leaf, to recreate what he is used to. I'll have to punch some holes in the lid, because he's damn sure used to air." -Mitch Hedberg
The worst office I was in had the guy bosses (because of course, leadership was exclusively male) in their own offices where they could control their temps AND they’d placed a giant heat-dumping printer in front of the thermostat. So thermostat & bosses were all “it’s perfectly fine.”
They think they're gonna play people which is not gonna work. Let people work from home! Who the hell cares as long as the work gets completed? Insane.
I'm curious as to how far we could push this. Like, let's tell them we also need game systems and a table for TTRPGs...because it would be just like home.
Comments
Seems unlikely
The lack of coworkers and micromanaging is why home is preferable, not to mention the comfy clothes and non existent commute.
Fuck yeah
But that would look too much like ACTUALLY investing in your people instead of just trying to fool them.
Chef's kiss 😗👌
Love her but I prefer the music sounds when I’m not on calls
Mine sure isn’t. Neither are any of my friends’ bosses.
And I wish mine would try that BS.
It wouldn’t change the fact that I have an hour commute to work.
I’d still have to drive TF back home at night.
Instead of just turning off my computer and sitting on the sofa.
We can call these new live-in office spaces Capitalist Onsite Multi-Manned UNified Enclosures
You fools. You cretins. You absolute numbskulls.
Damn. What’s that even like?
I have to get up at 4 to be out of the house by 5:30 to get to work by 6:45 to sign in and be ready to work at 7am.
At home I work at a desk, with two screens and no people around distracting me and crucially I don't have to commute anywhere to do it. I can roll out of bed, get ready, get a brew, get working as quickly as I like.
https://bsky.app/profile/pixelfish.bsky.social/post/3lcrg6zkbns23
Err… then again, I’ve had coworkers who would leave a sofa in a state that I wouldn’t want to sit on it, let alone lie down 😖
I also need to go out on my balcony for a few minutes every once in a while.