When I was new to a team (I transferred in from another dept), it wasn't very long before my new boss chastised me for wearing headphones. "This isn't that kind of environment." I wasn't allowed to wear headphones. I didn't stay there very long.

That seems like an HR trap of the worst kind.

No WAY would I "contribute" to such channels. Which of course, no doubt, would be "counted against" me.

People were shocked when they randomly found out I had a 3 year old child. I had been working there 6 years at the time.

My boss was like, "I didn't know you had a 3 year old kid?! When did that happen??" I just responded, "three years ago."

A lot of people, upon learning this, stopped talking to me unless they had to, others got real cold.

I guess if you keep your private life private and don't make a big fucking song and dance about getting married, having a kid, getting a puppy or whatever else, makes you an asshole.

Oh well.

It was also the first place I worked where everyone took a laptop to the meeting....so they could work on other shit that had nothing to do with the meeting. I was like WTF IS THSI?!?

People have completely different jobs. Some are able to be done remotely, some not. Some can commute by plane, some can't.

I just noticed you named your thread "European view".

On one hand, for a place with such a "progressive, worker friendly" reputation, I'm surprised at this rather backward view of remote work.

On the other hand, it does fit right in with the control-oriented culture (as I see it).

Either way......not something I would be interested in, but glad it works for you.

The problem with requiring even a single day/week in the office is that it creates a real limitation on where employees can live. All of the sudden, they can't live in, say, Florida, for example, if they have to be in an office in Pennsylvania, once per week, without incurring a big time and money expense. So you limit your worker pool. Which, I guess is fine, if getting workers is no problem, or if you don't want the best workers you can get, regardless of where they live.

It just seems to backward to me anymore.

Sure, in some cases, you truly need an employee in the office, for whatever reason. But those cases are, I'm willing to bet, a lot less frequent than a lot of people want to make them out to be. An easy way to sleuth that out is the extent to which you will pay a bonus for every day in the office. If you're not willing to pay anything, or just a token amount, then that person doesn't really need to be there. If you're willing to pay a $1000/day bonus, well, then you know that person is much more likely to need to be there.

My wife's current and last job, she was hired as fully remote. She has never met another employee in person. Worked out great, no complaints with respect to working remote.

It's worth pointing out that for both jobs, they started out looking for a local (Boston and NYC, respectively) candidate, but couldn't find one, so they went looking for remote employees. So that's one thing remote workers get you a much wider recruitment pool.

I've been in those environments (see my rant above). I cannot understand why motherfuckers don't get a damned room!!

One of the worst work environments I had was at PNC (a bank).

There were a few dev teams there, and they all used agile. They had meetings ALL THE FUCKING TIME. Most of the time, a few people would use speaker phones. But even if they didn't, they were all so fucking loud that it was hard to get anything done when those meetings were going on. The PM for the meeting was one cube over. People on his team were spread around. So what I would hear is him saying something, loudly, and then a microsecond or two later, I would hear the same thing via some asshole's speakerphone a few cubes away. Then I would hear everyone's responses. This shit went on for hours at a time. The fuckers would not shut up all god damned morning! It was, hands down, the most miserable fucking office environment you could imagine.

Fuck that going to the office crap.

Some people need the office social life (nothing wrong with that). Many others don't.

As for connectedness....people can feel plenty connected working from home. Their connections are simply not work connections.

For example....my wife often has a friend over for tea at lunch time or in the afternoon. She takes the dog for a walk a couple of times per day and says hello or chats briefly with neighbors on our street.

As for work/life balance....much easier to maintain when you're not wasting a couple of hours per day driving back and forth to work. Also easy when you have a dedicated room at home for work and when you're not in that room, you're not at work. Now, my office is also my "household office" (take care of bills, etc.), so I do use it for "other things". I even have a sofa bed and TV in there. It's my personal space.

Not too sure why you associate working from home with door dash, but, uh....people are different I guess. I also ordered plenty of stuff from Amazon when in an office cubicle. I mean, why not? When I get the idea to order something, it's not like I'm gonna wait until I get home. I might forget by then.

Working from home is also so economically advantageous for the employee! No time/money on a commute. No money for work clothes. No time wasted getting ready for work or "decompressing" when you get home. No money wasted on lunch out.

It's good for pets! Our dog is much better off with us around all day.

It's better for home security....the house isn't sitting vacant all day, waiting for someone to break in.

It's better for package delivery.

It's just better!

Maybe it isn't for everyone. But it certainly is for us.

Some people abuse, sure.

Some people are simply way more productive, and their activity isn't really any different from what it would be if they worked in an office.

You know what I did all day when I was in an office? Have meetings via Skype.

You know what I did all day when I worked from home? Have meetings via Skype.

Why were meetings via Skype? Because everyone worked in different buildings and offices around the state. Except our contractors. They were in other states.

My wife was in the same situation. Even if she were in an office somewhere, everyone she meets with are scattered around different offices.

The main difference between working by yourself from some shitty office and working from home is that at home, you have nicer equipment, faster internet, and a better working environment. You also don't have a share a nasty bathroom and break area. Two rooms in our house are dedicated offices. Mine is one of the bedrooms. My wife's is the dining room (that's what it is "supposed" to be anyway). We have real offices. With doors that close. Not some shitty cubical where you have to listen to every single other fucking thing that is going on that day in the entire office. My wife's office is very cozy, very nice. Warm and pleasant. Mine is a lot more utilitarian, but also way more functional for my needs.

Neither one of us would ever return to an office building, unless there was no other choice, and even then, it would only be long enough to find a new job. My wife couldn't anyway, given that her company's offices are in NYC and we live in western PA.

That is exactly what my wife did when her employer announced they would be calling people back to the office.

She only wanted remote work, but ended up with a 40% pay increase too.

Of course, when she turned in her resignation, her employer said they would let her continue working from home, if she would stay. Too late, dumbasses!

FIFY

The only reason to be in an office is for meetings.....almost all of which are useless.

The only "motivation" that a return to office policy provides is motivation to find a new job.