[bhub]

I’m 45 and have been working partially remote for 4 years and fully remote since the pandemic. I really enjoy working from home. Spending more time with family and finding a good work/life balance and not having to commute are great perks.

I have recently started a new job and was interviewed and onboarded entirely remote. The process was fine and in the future I am not required to be in the office a lot either.

However I am eager to get into the office to meet the new people, have them at hand to ask questions (not just on teams) and generally assimilate into the team.

The problem with teams and other such tools is that I can’t see if someone is available or not. Their dot might be green, but they might be in the zone or otherwise not easily interruptible. In an office I can see whether or not this is the case.

I’m not keen to work in the office 100% but I am also aware of some of the benefits of being in the office at times. Especially planning meetings etc.

I also don’t think each case suits everyone and IMO flexible location is a good compromise allowing people to work where they would like. Let people come in when they need or for meetings but also let them work from home as they need.

[zffr]

IMO what's great about slack is that you can send someone a message and they can choose to respond whenever they're free. If async communication is too slow, you can always ask do to a zoom call for a few min.

In an office I think it is pretty hard to tell when someone is actually available. If you make a mistake and interrupt someone while they are actually thinking deeply about a problem, you can cause a pretty big dent in their productivity.

[fooey]

In the office, I was distracted by coworkers massively more often.

Maybe if the "office" actually gave everyone enough space to have their own office the push-back against going back wouldn't be so bad, but it seems like no company wants to spend the money to have comfortable and productive working environments.

[zffr]

For a few months my company had us in single or shared offices (max of 2-3) and I think it was my favorite office environment for productivity.

[randcraw]

Assuming your kids are in HS now, and will depart for college soon, it'll be interesting to see how you like working from home when your home occupancy drops to only two (or to one, if your SO is often away).

I'm a soloist, and I've found WFH to be a mixed bag in the past 16 months. I love that I can set up my home workspace exactly as I'd like it. But I very much miss routine social interactions and don't care much for the daily isolation.

If I could return to an office/cube, I think I'd prefer that. But alas, my clueless F100 employer insists we IT-types occupy an open space without personal- or group- reserved seating, so I'll rarely be able to find or sit with anyone I know. NOT something I'd prefer.

Perhaps the exodus of those seeking greener pastures will include me too.

[chaostheory]

I've been doing it alone for years. It's just fine because everyone needs quiet work time where there's no random interruption. Do that for 3 days and go to meetings and interact directly 2 other days. I've done the full 4-5 days as well, and it's still fine. During the pandemic, when everyone was stuck together, it's actually much harder if you have younger children. It depends on what you want.

Do you truly want work life separation, is your work place your social venue, or do you want a mix of both? No wrong answers. Just pros and cons with personal preferences. I just feel that it would be nice to have that choice.