Computing seems to be mostly hybrid for employees local to offices, although probably more open to full time remote employees who are not local to any office than some other industries (although this was true to some extent before COVID-19). Obviously, this varies by employer.
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Preschooler - no way. A baby? Depends on the baby and the nature of work. I had a project with a researcher; once she apologized for not using her camera during a meeting because she was feeding her newborn. I had no idea she had a tiny one at home! She delivered every deliverable on timeā¦ I did not have to send a single reminder. Of course, as the baby grows and becomes more demanding, childcare will be a must.
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My DS has his own very successful fully remote business so it works for him fine
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My son-in-law works for a company that has free lunch on Wednesday. Itās the most popular day for employees to decide to come in. They usually alternate between local restaurants.
His company is downsizing office space as they have gone to the reserve a desk for days you want to come in. Many employees donāt come in at all.
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I havenāt read all the responses but have a couple of stories of friends.
Former next-door neighbor was remote at her company pre-Covid. During Covid, the whole office went remote. Last year, the company told everyone who had gone remote during Covid that they had to go back to the office. They revolted and said it wasnāt fair that some people got to stay remote so the company said everyone had to go back. Well, you can imagine how that went over with my friend and others, whose employment for years had been based on that WFH arrangement. The company eventually backed down ā former remote workers could stay remote and everyone else only had to come in for three days a week.
My other next-door neighbor also has been remote for several years, some of those before Covid. They announced that everyone has to go back Oct. 1. Guess who is retiring Sept. 30?
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Remote work probably saves money, less gas consumption, less pollution, less wasted time, and less car accidents.
I also think tie and formal suit companies are going to have a hard time as more people are business casual.
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Totally depends on the baby.
I was a full time telecommuter when both of my kids were born. And there is truly no way on this green earth that I could have taken care of a baby and worked 40-50 hours a week. And the nature of my job was such that I was on the computer all day and on conference calls all day long. Plus, my personal philosophy is one that my employer is paying me to work full time, not paying me to spend part of the day doing childcare. So I had my kids in daycare full time as a result.
Other peopleās mileage may vary.
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SIL works for big tech (a FAANG company). His division went fully remote during Covid, but they all went back in the office in spring 2022 (when the new office/research building opened). Employees are allowed to work remotely at their discretion so long as they are physically present for weekly team meetings and are hitting goals and deadlines. However, SIL discovered last fall when he was on paternity leave that office politics churns on behind your back when youāre remote and some plum assignments get handed out to those who are in the office full time. Also 2 guys in his department who work mostly remotely came in for the weekly meeting 2 weeks ago only to discover that their access cards no longer workedātheyād been fired with no explanation and no warning.
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Since March 2020 most of us in our family have transitioned from fully remote during Covid to hybrid work except for D1 and D2.
H is an electrical/software engineer for a large corporation headquartered in Europe with a small office here. They were able to downsize and move their office to a better location for most employees and now H goes in 1 day a week. H has calls very early morning with Europe so even before Covid he was WFH in the mornings while on meetings.
I am an accountant for a small engineering consulting firm and could easily be 100% remote. My company has a lot of engineers in the field so we also downsized our office space (saved a bunch of money) and moved locations when our lease was up last fall. I currently go in the office 2 days a week.
D1 is a kindergarten teacher and she returned to school as soon as it was allowed during Covid. Her fiance is a consultant with a large firm and his client is in Orange County which is more than an hour driving time from where they live in San Diego. His client decided during Covid that they were more than happy to have all the team work remote and he now only goes in the office 1 day a month at the most.
D2 works in web implementation for a digital marketing firm that was purchased by a huge company out of Texas. During Covid they subleased their fancy office space downtown and had her team all go fully remote. Some of her team have moved to other states now since there is no office to go into. Her manager does try to do some team building by getting people together every couple of months. D2ās roommate is also remote and they have a dedicated office in the townhome they rent that works well for them.
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Had they been getting paid to do their remote workā¦
True. But if you have to come in once or twice a week, most people pick the days where thereās something happening. And thatās what we want - more people in on the same days so they can interact and collaborate, rather than just come in and be on conference calls all day.
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Companies needing to pursue remote work due to COVID has changed things forever. Remote work has become more common and more accepted, and will remain so compared to pre-COVID days. However, the specific remote work situation varies by company, position, and specific employee. Some positions function better remotely than others. Some specific employees function better remotely than others.
I work 100% remote, as I have since COVID in 2020. I also have/had a physical office somewhere, but have never been in the building before. Remote work was awkward at first for both the company and myself, but over time it has grown to be the norm. We have remote meetings (including with customers); I work on tech lab setups remotely; I sometimes assist/support others by simultaneously working on their computer; ā¦ Iāve grown to see the personal advantages of working remotely. I adopted a dog last year, and itās been great to spend the day at home around her. I also enjoy flexible work hours, without any commute or wear on car. Being able to work or live anywhere with a good Internet connection is also a great benefit. I havenāt yet moved, but like having the option to do so. This could also result in large financial savings, if I chose a lower cost of living area.
There are downsides too such as being more awkward to get direct support from other team members, and theoretically not being noticed as much. However, for the latter, I have a daily meeting with CEO and manager (meetings far more common than before working remote), so I am noticed and recognized more than I have ever been before since working remote. Iād have to think really hard about switching to a job that required working in a traditional office. The idea of working specific hours with a commute during rush hour and sitting in a traditional office/cube doesnāt sound appealing, far less appealing than in the past. Companies know some employees feel this way, which can make them more open to supporting remote work, to stay competitive for acquiring/keeping employees.
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They were being paid to complete their parts of the project. In theory, it wasnāt
supposed to matter if they were remote or in person so long as they got their part of the project doneāsame situation as SIL is in. But apparently, due to departmental budget cuts, the remote workers were the first ones targeted for layoffs perhaps due to perception of being less productive than those people in the office? Theoretical mathematicians spend a lot of time bouncing ideas off one another and talking over ways to approach a solution. Being fully remote, you donāt get participate in that process.
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I agree that āit depends.ā. For sone jobs, the employer will force employees to be on site while others may be more willing to be hybrid and still others may be good with mostly remote.
My S and his fiancƩe just moved from DC to NYC for a job that requires fiancƩe to be in office 2-3 days/week but has allowed her to work remotely the other days and sometimes for a week or two at a stretch.
A national nonprofit Iām active with has gone to mostly remote work abd only has in person meetings a few times a year or less.
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One of my kids has a now 15 month old. The whole daycare WFH situation is a blessing/curse. My dil thought she could be home, work and take care of a baby. She soon realized that would not be possible.
They hired an in house caregiver but that didnāt work. The caregiver was interrupting people who were working. There were too many people in the house. It didnāt last long. They found a daycare spot. Very lucky. But the poor baby has been constantly sick. Daycare had been shut down for long enough that not just the new kids got sick but all the kids were new and so all the kids and the daycare workers have been constantly sick.
So now, the baby is home more than they would like. Home sick, two adults are trying to tag team and do baby care. And try to work because you couldnāt possibly be off as much as this child is home sick! Itās been very challenging.
During the pandemic my husband figured out he didnāt need to battle L.A. traffic to do his job. Heās a CFO in the entertainment industry. I doubt he will ever go back to the office full time. Heās there max one day a week now, as are his employees. Saving 2-3 hours a day in commuting time has been a game changer. I think in many industries the genie is out of the bottle. Why battle traffic to do something you can do from home?
Iām a teacher and had to be remote for a period of time. What a @%*# show that was.
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Both my D & SIL are fully remote. D works for a small firm that provides hospital decision making software, so she has to spend a few days at the hospital when they āgo live,ā and she has to go to the home office city (9 hours away) every couple months for meetings. Itās not a problem. Her H works for a very large IT/consulting firm, and itās 100% remote. Because there is an office about a half hour away, he goes for team get togethers every couple months, but itās not a requirement of the job. GD is in daycare 3 days, and the other grandma & I help out with the other two days + sick days.
S doesnāt have an office, but he works in field service, so he travels to customer sites daily. No āremoteā for that job!
I am betting that there will continue to be some fully remote jobs, depending on the industry. But I also believe that many companies donāt trust their employees enough to allow remote work. I think thatās silly, because I always got so much more done when I worked at home ā¦ I think at least allowing a hybrid model in jobs where that can work is a good thing.
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My kids and their partners all work for various non-profits, and either entirely or mostly WFH.
Sās organization is data driven, at work, he was sitting in front of a computer in one of those open space nightmaresāhad to keep headphones on to hear himself think. He is thrilled not to have to do that anymore, or deal with the forty minute rush hour each way commute. Saves him time, money, and sanity. They have since hired people from around the country, so there is no expectation of having to be hybrid. He has gotten significant promotions in this time, so apparently his work is fine.
His partner works from home mostly, but does have to go to office and/or government agencies a couple times a week.
D is doing communications work totally online, working for organizations in other states. Part time now, but they keep offering her more work, so it seems to be going well. She has never met ethe people she works with in person. SIL does advocacy, partly from home, but like Sās partner, has to show up at the capitol a couple times a week.
D and SIL have 2 and 4 year olds. Sometimes they can get work done around them, but I am their part time babysitter to make it work.
Of all of them, S is the one who would most like to never show up in an office again. I think in a vacuum, D would love office camaraderie, but the WFH works for her with small children.
I retired from teaching mid-pandemic, now write, at home of course, and babysit. H is teaching, wasnāt in a hurry to get back in the classroom for health reasons, but definitely knows that in person works much better. Wears an N95 every day, but loves the job.
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Where I work is currently 100% remote but folks can choose to go into the office when they want to or under certain circumstances when required to by management.
In the future, it seems likely we will have people in 4 buckets:
100% in person
remote less than 50% (you keep your office)
remote more than 50% but residing in same locality (you keep your pay)
remote more than 50% and not same locale (pay might be adjusted to match locale)
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By the time the baby turns 3, the kid will have a rock solid immune system and the monthly getting-sick stuff will end. (speaking from personal experience)
** edited to add **
in the case of my kids, they were sick about once a month for the 1st two years and then it became less frequent. By the time they hit their 3rd birthday, the frequency dropped off dramatically.