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by dfgdfg34545456 747 days ago
My thoughts on the office/home work management debate:

- Encourage workers back in with a carrot not the stick

- Be mindful of workers with families or other dependants who see wfh as a great benefit

- Don't count days in office and assess people on it - by doing this you are sending a signal that days worked at home don't count.

3 comments

> you are sending a signal that days worked at home don't count

The majority of c-suite execs believe this to be true (except when they are out of the office or working from their summer rental for two months of the year) - why would you not signal it?

> Encourage workers back in with a carrot not the stick

Expensify tried this, making the best office they possible could, the end result was people would come in to try it, leave positive feedback then never go back.

https://use.expensify.com/blog/the-secret-experiment-behind-...

Skimming the article, it feels they've focused on trinkets. The one thing that could make meaningful difference to their employees is giving everyone a room with a door that closes. The article doesn't seem to indicate they tried that. Free drinks and call rooms aren't going to offset the hell of an open-plan office; it's not surprising if people already used to WFH would pass on that.
At a glance of that article they improved some of their furnishings and facilities. Is that the only thing you are considering when I refer to a carrot and not a stick?
Apologies, I might have misunderstood: when you say carrot, are you referring to things like extra bump in salary to go in?
I think that’s definitely a thoughtful approach but there is no carrot big enough. 50% increase or double my pay, maybe. That’s how big of deal WFH is to most. My work is trying to develop some in office novelties that I think most won’t care about one iota. I miss the office sometimes but then I remember all the crap that comes with it.