The push for work on-site

[mtbc]

Over my career in computing, I have typically been most productive in working from home and, when at the office, more productive the more I had privacy and isolation for my workspace. Worst is when I have irrelevant conversations happening close by and activity visible in my sightline, then I have no chance of holding all the relevant context in mind and losing myself in the task at hand. From home, I have my colleagues within easy reach via multiple means, including e-mail, direct and group messaging, and video conferencing. I can also easily share my code and documents and comment on others'. It works well.

I have wondered why upper management in some software-based employers have been so keen to bring all their employees back into the office. What do they get out of it? Maybe they have personal assistants they are used to relying on for finding things or whatever, or some other kind of in-person collaboration that is not part of a regular employees' world. Why don't they see the disadvantages? Perhaps they are used to being able to afford to live close to work and buy lunch locally, having a private office that can be free of distractions, maybe have fewer tasks that require such prolonged, uninterrupted focus, expecting any employee to come to them at their convenience, etc. In short, I wonder if life in upper management is different enough to leave them with little clue of the impact of their edicts on those lower down the chain.

Given the buoyant employment market in the software industry, I shall be curious to see indications of if on-site working affects retention, if the businesses that are friendly to remote working now have their choice of applicants who have now found that they like to work from home. Separately, I have been surprised not to see more businesses trying to sell remote working as their saving the planet by reducing the emissions caused by commuting, in contrast to their evil competitors.

Comments

[wpadmirer]

With the surge in Covid-19 you'd think they'd just get over the idea of people in the office.

I think part of it is that they feel like they have more control over people when they're in the office. They're wrong, but it's the perception of many in upper levels of management.

[emperor]

I've definitely worked under people who thought that if you weren't obviously At Your Desk, you weren't working; and thus opposed any sort of WFH.

Also, with a remote team you have to think a bit harder about comms and suchlike, which is probably More Effort for management.

[mtbc]

It's true that I've often worked at places that had already had to face the remote aspect. E.g, in my last job, a couple of the management immediately above me worked in different cities, and my present supervisor lives in a different state. So, at my level, I already have that marked as a solved problem, not that upper management typically even notices. And, e.g., at a previous job, I was working with people who already knew I'd delivered software to their colleagues when working as a contractor from overseas. Of course, from our pandemic view, now everybody else has had to do that thinking and problem-solving about comms.