[sirsinsalot]

I run a team that went remote with the COVID restrictions and have not gone back to the office.

I observed:

- Working from home is _different_, but we still have the same work throughput

- Communication is slower, but more considered

- Personal boundaries on DnD time are more closely held

- Needless communication was reduced

I wouldn't go back to an open-plan office for anything. Even when we were in the office, most communication was on Slack because everyone had their sound cancelling headphones on trying to control the intrusiveness of the environment.

Until these managers mandating that WFH ends show some actual evidence of the benefits of being in the office, i'm going to assume this is a manager's ego not doing very well without overlooking their team.

I'm sure if your job is a bit ... needless ... it feels even worse when you work from home. In the meantime, some of us have work to do.

[hashtag-til]

I’m on a similar situation - managing a small team and got very similar perceptions.

If my company tries to enforce more than a couple days in office, I’m jumping somewhere else.

[sirsinsalot]

It makes sense that a management structure still culturally rooted in the industrial revolution's pattern of "work houses" clings on to in-person work to justify the structure.

It's quite a sweet little survival mechanism, where those whose jobs would be a bit redundant with a different setup have the power to order everyone back to the factory.

I just won't have any part in it. It's time for change. It's time for work to mean something different, with boundaries applicable to the output.

We're not making fabric at Victorian looms ... we're building software.