I’ve been a telecommuter for the past 5 years. For the first 2 yr of that, I was required to go into a physical office once a week. But it was dumb because everybody just worked from their cubicles and didn’t get up to go talk to anybody in person.
Then COVID happened. And everybody was WFH. Almost everybody still is. Just 2 weeks ago, I finally went into the office for the first time in 3 yr.
I have a friend who works in the banking industry. At start of COVID, they all went fully remote. Then end of last year, everybody was told to come back in for 2-3 days a week. Except that was stupid because everybody my friend works with are all located in other states, even other countries. Literally all of their meetings are conference calls/online meetings. NO ONE is co-located. But senior mgmt said, “Tough. Y’all have to come in anyway.”
My BIL works for Dropbox and he’s about 95% remote - they have meetings very occasionally. It worked great when he had to stay in Indiana with his elderly parents for over three months - he could work from there. I don’t know what would have happened, pre-Covid.
I’m happy that DH and I could work from home for over 20 years. Our daughter was 14 months old when we started. It was kind of nuts, but we made it work. I’ve blocked out how I managed to take care of her and get any work done, ha!
I also think that if there is a downturn in the economy and job market, bosses may be more inclined to push workers to come into the office and use refusal as a means of reducing jobs. With the tight job market, workers had a definite advantage and more leverage to demand WFH. That may change, however, if the market tightens.
However, no matter what, being able to WFH when you have an appointment, a sick kid, or car trouble is likely here to stay! That also means harder to take a real sick day.
Because of the nature of the work towards the end of my career, I could not WFH.
My husband is a scientist and worked from home during COVID, except when he had to go into the lab. He retired about the same time they started trying to make people come back to the office. BUT, you can’t build stuff from home, so going into office makes sense.
One kid and his wife were both told their jobs were WFH permanently, and now they are required to go to office space multiple days per week. Neither believes it adds any value to the work they are doing, and much of every day is spent in meetings (via electronic means) and working independently. They both think the new requirement will cause many people to leave.
I had a kid with a very restrictive time off policy. You had a certain amount of time off hours and everything counted. Doctor appointments, illness, vacation. It was a bit of a nightmare because you had to account for every hour you weren’t physically in the office. This was before the pandemic. This employer would not let them WFH or issue computers until the state and the government told them they needed to be out of their office space at the beginning of the pandemic.
Switched jobs to a more lenient employer, who realizes that things happen. Much less stressful.
Although I can’t imagine an employer now getting away with what my kid had to put up with.
I think hybrid will continue in some form but I caution my kids’ friends that out of sight, out of mind is a risk, as it the lack of mentoring, networking and acquisition and honing of both soft and hard skill sets.
A close friend who is a partner at a large law firm was recounting (with a chuckle) associates at the annual review who refuse to go to the office lamenting about the dearth of mentoring. He also said they are definitely at risk to be at the top of the lay off list when/if that becomes necessary.
My H’s IB firm went 98% remote (one partner never stopped going into the office) in 2020. H started going back to the office 5 days a week in @June 2021. @Jan 2022 they required all employees back to the office 4 days a week and Friday WFH. They haven’t experienced any pushback.
My DS works for a large financial services company. Was 100% remote when he started in Sept 2021, gradually segued into 2 then 3 days in the office (TWTh) MF WFH in 2022 and it is still hybrid in his office.
My oldest was 100% office in 2019, 100% WFH during COVID and that continues because she travels every week and has no requirement to go into the office when she’s home.
Or if you have a mild case of something like COVID-19 that is not stopping you from doing anything other than not wanting to share it with others, working from home is useful for that.
My employer has always been this way. And for the first 5 years, I only got 2 weeks of vacation a year and technically we weren’t allowed to use our sick time if our kids weren’t sick. Yeah, I lied some. (My kids were born 8.5 months and 2.5 years into my tenure.)
My former boss once told me that I had a flex schedule. He let me shift my 12-1 lunch hour by 15 min/day so I could pick up my kid at pre-school and take him to the sitter. Uh huh.
But yes, every single hour counts against sick/vacation time. And nowhere here are doctor’s appointments fast. Plan on at least 2 hours plus commute - and checking kids in/out of school.
And now that my kids are gone, NOW I get 6 weeks of vacation a year.
Older former attorney who has never ditched the whole “ face time” philosophy. Too ingrained I guess…. but we used to laugh about it because he’d be in the office complaining about it being empty but yet didn’t want people around during COVID.
I think a hybrid work schedule will be the norm for the near future.
When my company closed the office in March 2020, they made it clear that working remotely was temporary. Yes, there were grumblings about returning to work, but no one could say it was a surprise.
The company initially brought us back on a 2-day hybrid schedule. Half the company came in Mon & Tues; the other half worked Wed & Thurs. It has now evolved to 2 days of your choice. Everyone is happy with the flexibility.
For young people who move to the city, remote work really eliminates the social life that many of us older folk relied on from work. Older people at the same workplace are happy in their suburban homes, with their family, while younger people may live alone in a small space. Online dating is not the answer, either. Everyone lives their lives online now- it’s like science fiction!
I am seeing companies taking two different approaches to the days people come in. Some are saying everybody come on Wednesday - we will have lunch or snacks, etc. Others are saying 1/3 come on Monday, 1/3 on Tuesday, 1/3 on Wednesday (or something like that) and since only 1/3 of the staff is here at a time we only need 1/3 the office space (and you share with somebody or do “hoteling” for your desk.)
It’s not necessarily true that young people in the city who WFH don’t have a social life, from work or elsewhere. My D is in DC, is 100% WFH, and has a VERY active social life. She gets together with work friends for happy hour or they meet up in a coffee shop to work. She has 5 very close friends who live in her apartment building and they eat lunch together sometimes on work days and they do lots together in the evening and on week-ends. When they log off at the end of the day, they meet up to go for a walk, get dinner, or go grocery shopping together. D is very active in a young adult sports league and has made many friends and acquaintances through that. And, she travels a lot to see friends in other parts of the country (Denver, LA, TX) and is able to sneak a day or 2 of WFH at those locations if needed to get best flight prices, etc. She loves WFH because it eliminates her 45-minute commute by bus, and gives her much more time and flexibility in her day - to be SOCIAL! And yes, she works hard. Her company has a great WFH culture and it is working well for them and the employees.
I also think it depends on the industry. My D will be fully in person for her job and is very happy about it.
H’s company is permanently hybrid but he still goes in 3-4 days/week.
Of all our extended friend group, we have two that work fully remote but one was remote even pre-pandemic. Everyone else is back to the office at least a couple of days/week and some have been back to full time in person for over a year now.
That is great for your daughter but rather not the norm for young people who move for jobs to new places and don’t know anyone to have five close friends in the same apartment building. If someone settle in the same city they went to HS or college they do have friends but others, like my DD move to new city and have to build new connections
The company I worked for prior to the pandemic was an early adopter of remote/hybrid work because one of the big cheeses really hated commuting. Plus, he had a much better view of the water from his home! Everyone in the office embraced Teams and VPN! The downside was the boss could bug you with urgent assignments at some odd hour… but that did not happen often.
Speaking of mentoring, it can be done effectively remotely if the mentor makes themselves available and approachable and also proactively reaches out to the mentees to check in to see if there are any questions or issues. Of course, that doesn’t work for professions requiring hands on work. Not all in person mentoring is effective or efficient. I’ve seen “mentors” working side by side with their mentees at the bench, offering little coaching, and not saying a word if the mentee is about to do something wrong (but lecturing them about their failures afterwards).
It is a new city for all of them, although they did know each other in college. They have other friends in the building who they only know from the building. There is actually a text group chat for the young people in the building. They met each other at the pool and on the rooftop. I am aware that this situation is very different than living in a NYC walk-up, but she chose to live in an area that is populated by young people. She actually moved home to our state during the pandemic, and then specifically looked for a more social building when she moved back. My point is, you can’t make a blanket statement that WFH is lonely for young people, or that it prevents them from meeting and socializing with people from work - which she does regularly.
Edited to add: Her 2 closest work friends, who she gets together with for lunch, brunch, happy hour, were hired AFTER the company moved to 100% WFH. So yes, you can forge friendships when working online!
My S moved to the DC area from 5 hours in the summer of 2020 (peak covid). He knew his roommate and one friend from home that lived in a different area, but still somewhat close by. But he socialized with lots of people all the time, even when it was 100% remote. Now he lives with his GF.
But it’s funny, I swear every time we visit and go out to eat, we ALWAYS run into friends they’ve met along the way… work friends, college alums, people they’ve met through groups, etc…
My wife and I both do 2 days a week in the office. My son, yet to enter the workforce, expects to go in 5 days – everyone is expected. He was in fact told to rent close by – 15/20min walk.
Everyone in the office embraced Teams and VPN! The downside was the boss could bug you with urgent assignments at some odd hour… but that did not happen often.