Now that all of the drama about his potential cage match with Space Karen has died down, Mark Zuckerberg is free to remind the world just why we all hated him in the first place. Yup, Lizard Boy is back to doing that other thing he loves best: being a shameless billionaire who is all about those shareholder profits, baby!
Back in June, Meta, like many companies, updated their remote work policy, and it was basically one big “just kidding!” Despite Zuckerberg once declaring that Meta would be largely a remote company, the new policy required employees to be back in person three days a week. Late last week, an internal memo went out with some pretty strict return-to-office policies. Remember all of those podcasts and think pieces declaring that thanks to the pandemic, employees held all of the power? Well, quelle surprise, but we are now in the “The Empire Strikes Back” phase of workers vs. big business.
Mark Zuckerberg, once a champion of fully remote work, has doubled down on Meta’s crackdown on working from home—with the company threatening to discipline anyone who doesn’t abide by the looming rule changes.
Late last week, the Facebook and Instagram parent company laid out the precise details of its return-to-office mandate in a staff memo, the details of which were published by Insider.
Describing the shift as an “In-Person Time Policy,” Meta’s head of HR Lori Goler reiterated that from Sept. 5, it would be mandatory for all employees—except those with management-approved exemptions—to be back in the office three days a week.
Meta first told its employees in June that it was updating its remote work policy, meaning they would be expected to work from their assigned offices at least three days a week from September—a move that came much later than many of its Big Tech peers like Google, Apple, and Twitter.
The social media titan said at the time that this “distributed work” framework would allow its staff to “make a meaningful impact both from the office and at home.”
It marked a significant U-turn from CEO Zuckerberg’s pandemic-era assertions that half of Meta’s tens of thousands of employees could be working remotely by the end of the decade, and that the tech giant would become “the most forfƒƒuvward-leaning company on remote work.”
I am no legal scholar, but I think that Meta probably has every right to update their remote-work policy. Once the other big companies started ordering employees back into the office, it was only a matter of time. It still sucks that Meta did such a 180 on its employees. Even with three months’ warning, I would be mad if I had completely rearranged my life and, say, moved someplace more affordable and out of the Silicon Valley area based on my own CEO’s words. I have firsthand stories from people who were hired by tech companies during the pandemic for a fully remote position, only to have them turn around and give those workers the ultimatum of going into the office (even if it meant moving halfway across the country) or find a new job. Is Meta trying to get employees to leave so they don’t have to pay to lay them off?
I’m curious to hear what people think about remote vs in-person work now and if their preference has changed since businesses started bringing people back into the office. I love working from home but am also a giant extrovert, and need to have some form of human interaction for my mental health. I think it’s different for everyone because we all have different work-styles, you know? I work better when I’m at home without distraction but have had coworkers tell me they are more productive when they’re in-person, so I guess personally, if I had to choose, I’d pick a hybrid situation with 1-2 days in the office.
I’m an introvert, but I don’t like working 100% remotely. I can’t be creative in a vacuum. I like brainstorming with colleagues and clients in person and then going back to my cave to get the job done. For me, remote is good for hammering out details on a project, but not for big picture thinking.
That makes sense, and for that to work won’t they have to tell employees which 3 days to be in office? This article makes it sound like people still have some choice, but if you want specific people to be in office with specific other people, you’re basically telling people when and where to work again. I work in surgery so I don’t have a dog in this fight, but I am fascinated by all the possibilities other people have.
I imagine they will. Basically, we’re all lab rats in a giant social experiment, even the billionaires. In the middle of all this change, all we can do is wait for the data and adjust as we go along.
We were forced three days in the office in 2021 (Canada, Ontario,public service) and we had to tell which three days we’d come, indefinitely. It’s been extremely difficult to swap a day even for family or urgent reasons so we’d take a vacation day from our not so many.
My company doesn’t have a strict RTO policy, but I come in more often than most because there are times I work better in the office. That being said, I suffer from anxiety and there are days that I cannot deal with a bustling office, and I need the flexibility of being able to not come in without having to tell my boss I’m having an episode.
My business partners and I have been discussing returning to the office. It’s hard to maintain a corporate culture remotely.
@Megan As long as you realize that efficiency and productivity will go down. If you can accept that.
Too many employers think that we can maintain the same level we did remotely while in the office, and that’s just not feasible. When I go into the office, I am unreachable because I am busy doing things around the office that need to get done, not sitting at my computer or phone. It was this way before the pandemic so it returns this way when we go back. People just got so used to being able to contact me easily when I work remotely.
I strongly agree. I am on a hybrid 50/50 schedule now (was full-time in-office prior to the pandemic, full-time at-home during, and my department went back 50/50 last March) and there are drawbacks and advantages to both. I’m happy to have the flexibility to WFH part-time, but I also appreciate having an office with a door that closes when I’m at my actual office. I like being among other adults, collaborating with other professionals. It’s easier for my newer coworkers to ask for help or advice from me when they can just pop their head around the door. We renew the team aspect of working together when we see each other regularly. I also love to leave my phone unforwarded when I work back-to-back office days…no after-hours calls to my personal phone.
On the other hand, I love that I can do laundry on Fridays because I’m home. I don’t miss commuting every day. I like getting “extra” time on days I’m home because I’m done at 5-5:30 and boom, the kitchen is right there to start dinner! I get to pick up my kids from school most days, and I can easily structure appointments around the days I’m home. I can volunteer at their schools more easily.
Honestly, I was hired to be in-office full-time, and I think the half-time/part-time compromise is decent for people in similar situations. I get the bait-and-switch aspect of this argument and I do think if you were explicitly promised a full-remote position and now that’s being changed, that’s different (and sh!tty).
Good. Down with corporate cultures!
Has everyone here submitted their claims for the class action lawsuit against Facebook for breaching the public’s trust and selling off your information to the highest-bidding Russian bot farms and Republican disinformation data miners? Yeah. The company is evil. Delete your Facebook and Instagram accounts.
No, in fact I didn’t know of these class action lawsuits at all @ ThatsNotOkay!! I possibly read about it but with the massive meds that I, I could have possibly read about it and forgotten.
Also, a side note but IF you sign up for METAS alternative to Twitter, refuse to call it X, once you delete it, it automatically deletes your IG account as well. What idiot came up with that idea??? META seems hell bent on ruining SM for everyone which doesn’t help when they purchase every competitor or valuable SM app available. All that greed and not an ounce of ethics or morality to be found.
I’m a teacher, so I obviously only had the worst of the lockdowns working at home. And obviously I prefer teaching in person. And we had a period where we were at school, and the kids were at home half the time (half the student body in the building, half at home), on a rotating basis, and even that was better for my mental health. And I’m an introvert. I love my alone time. But all day, every day is way too much alone time.
Thank you for all of the hard work you did during the lockdowns. I listened to my son’s teacher start the year chipper and slowly lose her patience and “bounce.” By mid-year (I think they went back in person in…March 2021?), you could hear her begging the kids over Google Meet to please pay attention and stop spamming the chat with emojis. I felt awful for her. Teachers are heroes and we should pay you all way, way more for what you do and put up with.
Yes @ Genevieve! Thank you for all of your hard work!! And let’s just face the facts that teachers are NOT paid enough as they are the ones that are vital in shaping the minds of our future generations!! The hoops that teachers across America had to jump through was emotionally insane and insulting. As many states refused to listen to the facts surrounding the ongoing infection rates of the coronavirus and mandated that teacher’s return to in-school instruction as they were placed into harms way, all while those sitting from their homes making these demands!
It’s no wonder that so many teachers left in droves. It’s simply ludicrous that teachers were forced to place their health over the concerns of governors that deemed that they were staunch in forcing their states to reopen when it wasn’t SAFE!!
Thank you @ Genevieve for all of your hard work and those that are in your position as well.
I wonder whether people have WFH written into their offer letters or contract. If so, wouldn’t that be enforceable?
Either way, it’s shitty to promise people one thing and then go back on that, especially as research shows people are just as (if not more) productive when working from home. Especially if, as the post mentions, people may have moved to more affordable states or cities, making it impossible to commute into the office.
I believe that the major reason why companies are forcing their employees back to work is because of the real estate. How can a company justify owning an empty building, the heating/cooling, electricity.
My husband works at a company that has a physical presence around the country. The offices that were in rented property are remote for good. The property that is owned by the company is where they are having people come back two days a week.
My employer closed our area office permanently as the lease was running out; I ended up working in our company’s office largely by myself for a year (I’d had over 20 co-workers who went fully remote at the start of lockdown). Eventually, the decision was made to close the site permanently as the lease was running out, so my last months were spent sorting and packing. Staff in our other office are required to be there full-time. They envy our short commute (especially in the winter), and we envy their camaraderie and office get-togethers. I would love to be able to work hybrid, but I also know how lucky I am in so many ways.
The vast majority of jobs in the US (particularly white collar office jobs) are not contract. When you are hired on as a full-time employee, you are given an “offer letter” with the terms of your employment but it’s not a contract and not legally enforceable.
Now, if your employer makes a major change to your job (a substantial paycut or forces you to go from remote to hybrid, etc), that can count as constructive dismissal. In other words: they are changing your job so much that it’s not the same job anymore. When that happens, you’re typically eligible for unemployment.
Anyway, all this to say: we need MUCH, MUCH stronger worker protections in the U.S.
I work for an international-wide health insurance company. This nonsense started for us in June. People who had WAH contracts were also fair game to be required to go into an office. I’ve been WAH for 4 years and was terrified for the outcome of my job role. Thankfully I am still at home, but the outrage was insane and a lot of people left the company. They somehow invalidated WAH contracts, including people who’d been at home for 20 years as well as people hired during Covid.
Ugh I’d be so mad.
My agency announced yesterday that it was going to start bringing executives and senior level managers back to the office two days a week. Pre-pandemic, that was my schedule, two days a week in the office, and I am hoping I never have to go back (those executives and senior managers maybe only teleworked once a week on a regular basis, so they’re still getting more telework than they had pre-pandemic.)
I love teleworking and if my agency makes me go back I’d have to do some serious thinking about looking for another job (and I generally consider myself a “lifer” here.) I think it depends on personality but I also think it completely depends on the nature of your job. For my normal job (I’m in the middle of a detail that is a little different), I sit in my cube and do my work and I can go all day without talking to another soul. Very few meetings and trainings are mnadatory (and most of the mandator trainings are available as VODs.)
then, if you consider that even when I had to go in twice a week, everyone had different telework days, so all the meetings had a call-in number anyway or all the meetings were virtual so that people who were teleworking could participate. In my component there is little to no collaboration, we debate the regulations sometimes (oh its an exciting job I tell you) but there is nothing that requires in person activity, pretty much at all.
so bringing us back would be performative and nothing else, so I am really really hoping my component remains remote.
I agree. The companies forcing us to go back for “company culture” or “better brainstorming” or whatever ignored that all that was happening during the pandemic and lockdown and working remotely just fine.
It would be much better to have you go to the office for specific reason (say a brainstorming meeting) instead of enforcing people to go in just on the off chance.
Its even stupider when the companies expect to maintain the same efficiency and productivity once they go back into the office. And then get upset with that drops. Sorry, that’s the trade off.
Many jobs do not require you to be in the office and should be left remote. I understand some people need to be with other people, but making your co-workers go into the office to make you happy and them miserable is not the answer.
Right? Don’t make people go into the office “just because” you think its something people “should” do. I am more productive at home than I ever was in the office. All those things they talk about as being “corporate culture?” Talks over coffee, hanging out in someone’s office, “brainstorming meetings” are 9 times out of 10 a waste of time and I would be better off spending my time doing my actual job.
@Becks1 – my current job is actual brainstorming – that is, coming in at the very beginning of the design process. The client doesn’t always have a clear idea what they want and it’s easier to tease that out in person, even through conversation that doesn’t seem immediately relevant – so much of it is psychology. But I agree that often it’s not necessary for too many to attend those meetings.
LOL well its different of course if your job actually INVOLVES brainstorming. Mine does not. Mine does not involve any kind of collaboration. When I used to go into the office, my boss never even knew if I was there or not.
My point is more to the talk about how “oh corporate culture suffers if people work from home” or “oh we need to have these 10 meetings a week for brainstorming that are so essential” but are actually just meetings full of a different kind of BS.
Some jobs are better done in person and I realize that. But not EVERY job and honestly probably not most jobs at this point. Making people go back to the office “just because” someone thinks they should be in the office is a waste of resources.
I work in a law office as a secretary. During lockdown we worked from home- but went back as soon as we were able.
I think that nature of my work – needing to get bosses to make decisions mostly – makes my with better army the office.
Also for my mental health I need a place to be and I time to be there. It really staves off depression for me.
Though I think the actual work was done quicker at home.
As for attorneys- I have one nearing retirement and he likes to fish and hang out with grandkids- but I need him to be there occasionally. For decisions, for communication, and for signatures- some things still require an original for court.
I don’t think it should be a mandate that everyone goes to an office – it costs $230 a month to park in my small southern city. Plus commute time, traffic and headaches on the i-10. Yuck !
I feel like back to the office is about corp landlords losing rent and telling other bosses/wealthy they can’t have empty commercial buildings. But it’s a personal perspective- when I see billionaires I think – evil, cut off their heads and re distribute their wealth. You know, in an abstract way.
Been work from home nurse for 10yrs (13 yrs with company) I’ve gotten more lazy and less disciplined but I love the work life balance. I dont think 3 days a week is terrible. If my job said we had to do hybrid I honestly would not mind. I got hired as in office employee and it was a privilege not a right to work from home so we always felt lucky not entitled when we got chosen to work from home (if we wanted).. If I found I didn’t like doing hybrid I would just look for another job.
Zuckerberg is weird to me, I cant imagine even working there
Before the pandemic hit 3 years ago, there was talk of remote work. I was asked twice by my supervisor if I wanted to work from home. I told her no since I only lived 10 minutes away. When they sent us to work from home in March 2020, we all thought it was temporary. As time went on there were rumors that they were closing the office. We were told in August 2020 that they were closing the office and we had until the end of the year to clear out our desks. By then I had gotten used to working from home and working out from home. Even though I miss seeing my coworkers, we talk frequently and try to meet for lunch. I have no desire to go back into an office especially with the new Covid variant. I do make a point of getting out of the house on the weekends and interacting with others but other than that, I’m good.
I have a hybrid job now, where I’m home a couple of days a week and go into the office the others. If I had to be in the office 5 days a week I would quit and find a completely remote job.
I have ADD and I cannot focus when I’m in the office too much. I get more work done at home. While I love my office mate – we both adore Halloween – we tend to gab and I get nothing done if I’m at my desk. So, I understand what Facebook is doing. But since Zuckerberg told everybody they would be working remotely, that’s kind of crappy he went back on his word.
the place i work my team goes in one day a week. in that day we have lots of productive meetings for getting decisions made etc. then the days at home are spent doing the actual work out of the meetings then. its working great for us
I used to travel a lot in my role. Think 50% to 75% of my time spent travelling internationally. That stopped with Covid. In fact, I managed to get the last seat on the last flight out of Cairo when they announced they were closing the airport.
Since then, I changed jobs. I’m still with the same company, an IT corporate as famous as Meta. My current role is officially 100% remote. Work location is home. It’s in my contract. But to be fair, people in other areas of the business are not asked to go to the office, let alone 3 times a week.
My work life balance has improved greatly, but now I’m thinking about going for a role with the same company in the US. Would mean a huge relocation from the UK, but would welcome the adventure.
Amazon hired folks for fully remote positions and now say they have to move close to one of Amazons offices. People who have never lived by their offices are supposed to sell their homes and yank their kids out of school and I guess spouses/partners are on their own figuring out their job just to keep the same job they currently have. This is the case for my niece, her entire team is remote and could all lose their jobs. My company, not a tech firm, had everyone come back 3 days per week no exceptions. Guess what, a few months later they hired a hundred new employees , didn’t have desks for all of them so they told IT they can work remotely as much as they want.
I’d probably have lost my job if I couldn’t work from home. I’ve had medical problems and I don’t think I could have handled the commute. And my work is actually better because there are fewer distractions than in the office.
As others have said, I think a 1-2 days in the office can be beneficial, particularly if team members have days of overlap. I do think brainstorming etc. are better in person. But I also hate meetings (particularly in person meetings) just for meetings sake, which is just so inefficient when things could be sorted out via email. While the rest of BigTech seems to have adopted the Meta approach, I think they’ll definitely lose those folks who vowed never to do terrible commutes again. I think if I still lived in California I would definitely opt for jobs with 1-2 days in office max given the traffic in the major SF and LA metro areas is just so horrendous.
… so I used to work on-site at Meta here in Ireland as a contractor. As amazing as the facilities & canteen are, I found their open plan environment very noisy and it really drained me. They do notice if they think you are using the focus pods “too” often, because they want you all together to collaborate. But everyone is on calls, there are pinging sounds all day long from phones, the elevators, passing foot traffic. I found it so hard to concentrate in there sometimes, you need to be “on” all the time.
I had left in 2019, and Meta was in the process of moving to this large campus in South Dublin city centre on a 25 year lease when the pandemic started. They’re not happy about that site lying idle so it was necessary to sublet parts of it. Dublin rents are so crazy that it is next to impossible to find an affordable place. It is hard to fill full-time jobs in IT here in Dublin, candidates are negotiating hard for hybrid or full-time WfH contracts. Broadly, we are having a lot of issues with homelessness and unfilled teaching vacancies because teachers can’t find accommodation within their means.
I really think it depends on your office culture, whether or not remote work is beneficial to the company or to the employees. I work for a small non-profit. We were open throughout the pandemic, but about 3/4 of our staff was sent to work from home. Slowly, people started coming back either of their own volition or because their supervisor felt it important that they be in the office. We’ve had a CEO change as well, and he is much more of a “drop by and brainstorm” kind of guy. I’ve stressed to my staff that if they aren’t in the office, they’ll miss these kinds of impromptu meetings that can really help advance their careers. He is also one who questions every meeting and joins me in my distaste of “update meetings.” I’ve only had one person truly resist this return and it has honestly turned into a performance issue. She got comfortable driving kids to and from school. Wants to do that. Doesn’t want to be in the office. I understand that pull, but it has become an issue that I’m addressing.
I’m not following why this is an issue. If she can get her work done in a timely manner, what’s the problem? I personally find drop by and brainstorm people annoying and rude. Maybe they don’t want to “advance their careers” and just do their jobs as assigned. I think this is a you issue rather than a staff issue. I think you need to look at why you want your staff in the office. Does it look good to new CEO that your minions are buzzing around you? I think that’s it. Also, meetings do suck, but a scheduled 15-30 minute status or update meeting can be just as succinct as your need to interrupt everyone’s day to get updates individually.
Your employee will work harder for you and be more willing to volunteer for work and make you look better if you let her take care of her family. This isn’t 1991, we have the internet now.
I think fully in-office or hybrid positions are acceptable asks of a business, but they shouldn’t require that employees work in a situation that was different from what they were hired into.
So if you hired into a position that was advertised as fully remote, they shouldn’t be able to say, “kidding!” However, if your job was in-person or hybrid and THEN transitioned at some point to remote, they’re within their rights to require you back to your original arrangement.
I’m hybrid. But not one of my team members is in the office I report to 8 days a month. It’s a waste really. We actually did way more collaborating across hubs when the pandemic began. There is proof of the results of Trevor work and the abilities of diversified talent.
I’m currently pushing remote employment as a DE&I issue at my job because I realized how many disabled persons were positively and now negatively impacted by the return to work to include those of us with invisible disabilities.
All of this is about paying the lease on their rich buddies buildings.
Some people work great in person and some don’t. Time to start acknowledging that both can be true and should be supported
Before the pandemic I worked from one 1 day a week, 2 every now and then if I needed to. My commute back then was 3 hours round trip on a good day. Since the pandemic I’ve been 100 remote and can’t imagine going back to commuting.
Oh NO, someone call the EEOC…highly paid tech workers are BEING FORCED to go into their offices with ping-pong tables, paid lunches, and “meditation pods” three times a week?!!! It’s the decline of Western Civilization as we know it…
Oh look a jealous twat
@G – an unaware tw_t too: remote work is good for the environment, and also levels the playing field for disabled workers or workers who are parents or caregivers.
freddy, if that worker was hired as a remote worker, do you think you position stands? If performance is measured the workers are more productive working remotely does it make sense to cut performance to fill a building?
I know many people have jobs that mean they must be at the work site–I can think of any number. It would be galling to have to go to the work site everyday and have someone complaint because they have to only be there for 3 days. Different circumstances, though.
I’m retired so it doesn’t matter personally for me. I worked in a field that I believe is best on site rather than remote working. That said, if I worked somewhere and you could do a hybrid, that would work for me. I enjoy seeing people and working together for different issues.
That said, I think there are many reasons for the edict to work at the office. I think commercial real estate is due for a HUGE devaluation because there’s too much of it. Working onsite takes care of some of that. There were (and possibly still are) people who were working remotely and, therefore, working for more than one employer. A big no-no for the companies. If you’re physically at the job, they presumably put paid to that. I rather wonder, too, if the bosses simply don’t know another way of working. It depends on the type of boss, but there are those who like to wonder around and talk with people. More likely than not, it’s not about work. I think it’s their way of keeping present and available.
I don’t pretend to know the answer to this. It’s a bit more complex than I thought.
Don’t know much about this topic either but def reasons for a public policy towards dialing down remote work days.
– Economic hubs and central business districts drive eco activity and even cultural identity and have a lot of related industries such as hospitality and tourism (buzzy cities like NY are in demand by tourist because of their “energy”)
– Property values, rental returns, and tax revenue.
I learned so much from the comments in this post.
The pushback on WFH is a combination of simplistic mgmt ideas about supervision and productivity, pressure from the markets to support commercial real estate, and genuine complications resulting from taxes in multiple jurisdictions. A company may not be set up to easily pay income tax to an employee’s state/locality, or it may encounter difficulties if tax incentives (for locating there) involve an abatement for state employment tax. Also, some states use an “apportionment” rule (receipts + payroll) to calculate corporate income tax, although California is not one of those states.
I’m hybrid. I only have to go in once a week, but I usually end up going in 3 days a week. I’ve realized that for me personally it’s better for my mental health. I wish everyone could do what’s best for them. I do think this push to return to office is more about Boomers and their ideas of “work” and landlords/rent, i.e., we’re paying all this rent, you will show up and use this facility (‘m a Gen Xer, for reference). I was 100% remote during COVID and we stayed that way for a couple years, and then they instituted the one day a week thing. I do have colleagues who hate even that (one day). However, I also live close to my workplace. If I lived farther, I probably wouldn’t be happy with more than one day required.
Zuckerberg isn’t a Boomer. There must be a point at which we can stop blaming Boomers for everything. Before the pandemic, pretty much every business had some kind of physical office space – and even younger people don’t want to waste money on paying rent for unused facilities – expenses are expenses, no matter how old you are.
Thank you @ Eurydice!! Not everything that is happening is the fault of Boomers. I am growing tired of hearing this phrase being used flippantly when Boomers are in fact NOT the ones that are creating these issues!
On a side note, how convenient for those in upper management at Meta as when they made the announcement they clearly didn’t subject them to the same pressure as the little people at Meta:
“….Sept. 5, it would be mandatory for all employees—except those with management-approved exemptions—to be back in the office three days a week.”
@Nicole- I don’t think people understand how old Boomers are. Unless she’s a grandmother, this employee can’t be a Boomer and still concerned about child care. In any case, Boomer work mentality was forget about the kids and work an 80 hour week.
Here with come for the Boomers again. Newsflash – Boomers are on the tail end of their careers. I’m the last of the Boomers and I’m 61. There have also been a number of studies recently showing that while productivity spiked early during the pandemic, as time has gone on, it has dropped below what it was in 2019. I’m personally addressing a situation with an employee who wants to be home when her kids are home. I totally get that. However, our business is an 8 to 5 thing. She feels she should be able to spend 4-5 hours of her work day either before 8 or after 5, meaning she declines meetings that happen at 3:30, for example. Not ok. Remote work isn’t substitute for childcare. She also has all the flexibility in the world, but try to nail her down on what days she will be in the office next week or schedule a meeting before 9 or after 3, and its like the world will end.
I don’t understand what is wrong with this? Why can’t meetings be held between 9am – 3:30pm? As long as she’s still working until 5pm.
Definitely boomer mentality.
I don’t know the particulars of this situation, but here’s a for-instance from my work life. My AOR is on the West Coast, and I’m in the Central time zone. I don’t expect them to attend a meeting at 9:30 my time (7:30 there) and they don’t get to schedule me for 3:30 their time (5:30 mine.) But between 9 AM their time and 5 PM my time, we all need to be available to work if needed. It’s not reasonable to expect your employer to cater to your preferred hours if the office is on a “regular” office-hours type schedule. You need to be available to work during work time.
My agency has core hours of 930-230. That’s when all meetings are held. During things like training for new positions or promotions, you switch to a fixed schedule, which is usually 830-4. I work an 8.5 hour day (the half hour is for lunch) and I can sign in as early as 6 am (off at 230) or 930 am (off at 6.) This gives everyone flexibility but also provides those core hours so you know someone will be available at that point.
Insisting that someone be available for meetings between 8 and 5 because “thats when work hours are” IS a very boomer mentality. If my very very large agency with offices across the country can figure this out and have a solution, then so can a lot of other workplaces.
@SarahLee, if you’re 61, you’re most definitely a boomer. The earliest GenX is 58. That’s 3 years off by my count. Now all your comments and your refusal to accommodate a working mother all makes sense.
I’ve worked in three different places–four if you count the detail–throughout the pandemic. All for federal agencies (two different ones). I really didn’t like the WFH at first–I could walk to work, I had the building to myself, my home was all of 450 square feet & I didn’t want to be inside it all day–but I adjusted. Then I changed agencies, which had a temporary telework policy in place that required an office presence two days per pay period (two weeks), so that wasn’t too bad. As that was a 90-minute roundtrip drive for me, one day a week was fine. The agency then made that a permanent telework policy–yay!–but my boss wanted everyone back, no telework except on an ad hoc basis–boo!. As I was at the time enmeshed in an EEO complaint with her, I asked why I couldn’t follow the agency telework policy & she then allowed me to be fully remote. Yay again! Then I got shoved out of that job (long stupid story) & landed in a different, better one in a different state. Same agency, same policy, super nice supervisor who will allow me the two days/pay period telework option. EXCEPT–this agency was in the midst of constructing a new office building during the pandemic and to this date, one full year after my arrival, it’s still not finished! So we’ve all been fully remote. We have so many Teams meetings throughout the week that I feel connected & I’ve seen the new office space. Ugh. Cubie-land, with tiny silence pods. For me & the work I’m currently doing, WFH depends on: living space (amount of), commute to office time, work space vibe. And for me, here & now, WFH is great.
I have had to attend my job at my workplace five days a week since school went back in session for in person learning in fall of 2020. I don’t feel bad for these folks. Three days a week is nothing.
I think the problem is that different expectations were set initially, so employees likely have made other life arrangements based on the original guidelines. If those expectations of being remote weren’t set initially, I would agree with you. This is all for a Meta tax break and completely disregards their employees.
My place of business allows hybrid schedules, but we do have a public facing side and therefore the building needs to be staffed. It’s nice to have flexibility but it sucks when you can’t really take advantage of it. And it’s hard not to be resentful of people who aren’t sitting in traffic or can work from home (or anywhere!) on a Friday or something. Adding insult to injury, nice offices are just sitting vacant for months until someone needs to be back in the building — which is incredibly frustrating if you are in the building constantly and have to shuffle back to your cubicle. I’m fine with hybrid work, but I really wish management would consider providing some level of not necessarily compensation, but some benefits to coming into the building. Cause the scales are uneven and it’s tanking morale. Sorry this is a long comment! Can you tell I’ve been frustrated about this for awhile? Haha 🙂
I’m in a similar position. I had asked for a hybrid schedule 3 days in off, 2 days remote when my workplace resumed in person operations 2 years ago. I felt that said request was reasonable and worked with other people’s schedules. I was willing to have my in person days be on the days my colleagues, including my supervisor had short days due to their child custody arrangements. It made sure that one permanent staff member was around for our student workers. I filled out a request and proposal only to have my supervisor not submit it to our leadership team, which were review hybrid work requests.
I didn’t react as diplomatically as I should have when I found out she refused to even consider it. My reaction resulted in a write up because I got angry. I was pissed and was considering filing a discrimination complaint against her because I was the only one who didn’t get a hybrid work schedule, coincidentally as the only person without kids. It was a long year because local schools were still taking covid seriously and both were out a lot due to sick kids. It’s hurt me in the long run because she’s engaged in retaliation against me even though I actually do my job well and don’t need to be micromanaged. I’ve likely lost out on merit raises and bonuses because of her petty and insecure mindset.
My company did this and is requiring employees within 45 MILES of an office to go in 3 days a week. While I am lucky that I am not within that distance of an office (it’s a global company), I am also acutely aware that my job could be at risk with this new directive. This is for everyone, even if they were hired as a 100% remote employee. This is requiring a 1 1/2 – 2 hour commute each way for MANY employees (Bay Area, Boston, NY, ATL), and much more money spent on commuting/childcare for these employees. In fact, there is one employee that doesn’t drive and doesn’t have a license, so they said they are reducing her compensation by $20K because she cannot commute in! It’s absolutely ridiculous and so disrespectful of employees. It’s a waste of time and isn’t facilitating any increased collaboration or productivity. In fact, it’s literally the opposite. Morale is at an all-time low. Word on the street is that there is a HUGE tax break for corporation if at least 50% of their workforce goes into the office at least 3 days a week. That’s why all of this is happening – not for any benefit of to employees, productivity, etc. Capitalist greed at its finest.
“HUGE tax break for corporation if at least 50% of their workforce goes into the office at least 3 days a week”
Govts everywhere probably want something like this in effect if not already; they love their CBDs or economic hubs and worry about revitalising such cities/hubs.
I think part of it is real estate like someone said above thread, but also for some upper management. There is literally an entire tier of employee who has nothing to do unless they are surveilling and controlling others. So they say it’s “productivity”, but it’s also the fact that some top level people are just not needed.
+1
My productivity, since having to go back to the office, has tanked. In the time I’ve spent having to travel to work, get situated, be cornered by many of my chatty co-workers, wait in line for the microwave/or buying lunch, etc. I’m averaging about 30%-40% less tasks completed than when I was fully remote. But, at least I’m not spending as much on toilet paper. 🤣
Agreed. The personalities in the office, alone, make productivity difficult. I get stuck by one guy for 45 minutes and that’s after several attempts to exit the conversation. At home, he can chat away on the teams chat and I don’t have to listen to him.
I work in digital marketing and our company is getting rid of the majority of their offices as we’ve found working remote is much more productive.
Pre-pandemic, I worked a job that was 55% remote, 45% onsite. (The company then cut all of us who worked onsite and out everything online, requiring only IT and not the rest of us to do the work.) I absolutely hated working from home. During the pandemic and since, I have worked full time in an office and I prefer it. I can leave at the end of the day and that’s it, work is done. When I worked from home, work was never really finished as people assumed since you are at home, you are available 24/7.
I am an extreme introvert and going into work is the majority of my human interaction that is not my family. To each their own, but I would rather work outside of my home. I like the separation it creates for me.
I work in a HCOL area and I only like to go in when there is a meeting or specific reason. I am currently sitting in an office booth. Wishing anything I could take my shoes off. But I can’t. Because then there will be the HR meetings again.
I’m in the office 3-4 days a week. I like being in the office for brainstorming and face time with Senior Management, but also enjoy the flexibility of being home for a couple days as well.
I live in a Tech Mecca up here in the Seattle, WA and all the big players have instituting a 3 day in person work week (Google, Microsoft, Amazon). There is also a internal memo floating around from Google and Amazon that all remote workers will need to move back to Hub cities. Such a bummer-life is so much better (traffic, mental health, etc.) when folks work from home.
Remote work is so convenient but I agree it’s harder to collaborate and mesh with colleagues. I prefer being in office at least 2 or 3 days a week.
I’ve been 100% remote since March 2020. For me, I love it. I hate the commute and traffic , which wastes 2-3 hours of my time each day when I had to be onsite. My team consists of people not just local but from other countries and other states, so it’s a diverse group and we communicate almost all day using the different tools from slack to teams to webex. It’s been productive and we’re able to still hit deliverables and milestones. And best of all, I love the work/life balance that it provides with my family.
Funny, Meta is literally recruiting fully remote roles in LinkedIn. I’d be so angry to apply and then them bait and switch me. It’s sadly very common. Job Reqs will have remote in the description and then they’ll change their tunes during the interview process.