[vermooten]

I'm still genuinely uncertain why companies are so desperate to get staff into the office.

'Business people' like HR, sales, marketing LOVE being together in person; Engineers somewhat less so. Given that companies tend to be run by 'business people' then yeah I think I just answered my own question.

[marcinzm]

I observed at my current company that the worse the manager the more they wanted people to be in the office. If you're a bad manager that no one tells anything to due to lack of trust and who doesn't tell the team anything then working remotely is basically a giant mess. In the office a manager can more easily spy and micromanage people while organic cross-team communication can work around the manager's lack of communication.

[kelseyfrog]

I genuinely believe MGMT-types enjoy face-to-face interaction, but would not discount the theatrical power of it all.

A manager with a Hobbesian conceptualization of power in a raw physical sense sees their own power as the accumulation of the accumulated ceded power[1] of their direct reports. That is to say, the more of their workers in their physical presence, the more powerful they are and the more workers I have over you, the more power I have relative to you.

Social relations too become spatial relations. In this conceptualization, a manager seeks to display their own status(via power) in the dramatic interactions they have with other managers. Whole areas, floors, or even buildings comprise the managerial territory under control, complete with the material wealth of physical assets, both inanimate and human.

Finally, we have Hobbes instrumentall power or the corporate ladder climbing we all know - power for power's sake. Beyond the creation of wealth, good, and value lies the drive for power itself.

1. http://changingminds.org/explanations/power/hobbes_power.htm

[bbarn]

I hate these kinds of statements.

Your occupation does not define your personality or your ability to work with others closely. Without someone capable of bringing others together socially, team standards and practices either get dictated by the manager or the loudest voice in the room. The ability to foster collaboration is woefully underappreciated as a skill in our field.

And yeah, I've met plenty of antisocial HR, Sales, and Marketing people.

[kcplate]

>I've met plenty of antisocial HR…

I originally read that “sociopathic HR”, and thought no shit, then reread it correctly.

I am pretty much convinced that in 2022 the average HR person’s sole duty to to try and justify their own existence.

[nprateem]

It's because it's much more difficult to brainwash you into the company culture while you're remote. Even when they run large video chats, most people probably just leave the laptop on and go and do something actually enjoyable.

[urthor]

It's better for retention.

Better retention means a lower salary bill.

They never offered a pay increase for coming into the office.