|
Are they really saving money though?
Productivity is down. I don't just mean trusting the employees are working, but a make-shift home office can be restrictive and unmotivating. Then we have connection issues for those who rely on a lot of network traffic. What was once a quick question shouted across the room is now a scheduled video call. Hardware faults can no longer be fixed by the "inhouse IT guy".
Also, I expect if this was to become more permanent then companies would be required to subsidise utility bills, assuming they aren't already doing it now.
Plus, they already have the existing building which they still need to pay the same rent for. Moving to a smaller location will not be a cheap or easy process.
|
|
|
|
|
musefan wrote: Productivity is down.
I don't know where you work but where I work, if you don't produce, then you have no job.
and yes, they save hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in leasing, and utility bills, among other costs, per year.
|
|
|
|
|
You're quite right.
Here, when everyone started working remotely, there was an induction period and then a substantial cut in workforce. And some (but far less) new hiring. Now a few in the cut were old-timers who clearly retired but others were (you should excuse the expression!) slackers.
Meanwhile, just before all of this happened, their sublease on NYC office space was just about up and that cost was going to go up insanely high. They own a building in the suburbs and this is a great opportunity for them to cut costs many hundreds of thousands/year. They even eliminated their transit subsidy (over $2K/yr for 450 employees) since non one was going anywhere. It's available for those who have to come in. There are some few of those left.
Adverse times do offer (possibly unasked for) opportunities to try new things.
Ravings en masse^ |
---|
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
I have been doing both since the very beginning. Once Covid came I got some WFH days per month but I still have to do stuff presential in the office (or better said in the field).
I try to do a changing model 2+3 one week and 3+2 the next one, so I come to a full week at home and a full week in office every 2 weeks.
There are exceptions were I do 4+1 or 1+4 or even 5+0 or 0+5, but not usual.
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
|
|
|
|
|
Similar here. I can work 100% from home if I want. Before COVID, I would go into the office every Tuesday, with my other local colleagues. We would all get coffee in the morning, and go out to lunch/dinner. It was nice to see faces at least once per week.
|
|
|
|
|
Will have a mix of WFH & WFO ... Possibly best of both worlds.
Thus: I'll be heading back (or am currently) part time
|
|
|
|
|
In both speed (particularly over the company VPN, limited to 10 Mbps?) and capacity, my home Internet plan is not sufficient for the data I work with.
Plus my wife and kid are at home, so I have endless distractions.
modified 18-Jan-21 11:49am.
|
|
|
|
|
PIEBALDconsult wrote: my home Internet plan is not sufficient for the data I work with.
Then get more bandwidth.
For $25 more a month, I increased the bandwidth at my home, now everyone can use the internet with no worries at all.
I also do not use WIFI for my work computer; land line only. Much more performant.
|
|
|
|
|
Slacker007 wrote: get more bandwidth
Can't, and the company VPN limits what it will use anyway.
Slacker007 wrote: now everyone can use the internet with no worries at all.
We already have that much.
Slacker007 wrote: land line only
Me too. Gigabit and CAT6 wire to the router which is about ten feet from my computers.
And it's not just the downward speed (which is fine) it's the upward speed. I already have the highest upward speed the ISP allows.
I also don't wish to upgrade to an unlimited data plan if I'll be allowed to go back to the office "soon" anyway.
|
|
|
|
|
A crappy, or just under provisioned, VPN will suck no matter how fast your home internet is.
My previous job tortured anyone working remote that way from sometime before when I started in '05 to around 2010 or so.
The first few years when WFH I had a personal laptop sitting next to my work one to use google/etc with because the VPN was so awful. Over the next few years things gradually got better until I stopped having to do that, and eventually stopped noticing performance issues altogether.
My current job is fully cloudbased and HTTPSed, no on premise servers, and thus no need for a VPN or the like.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
|
|
|
|
|
Luckily we develop locally on our laptops with no VPN needed. If we need to connect to shared dbs, environments, etc. we have to connect to VPN.
or local dbs are mirror copies of the Dev DB which we keep in sync with DbUp.
Our VPN sucks too in regards to download/upload performance.
|
|
|
|
|
It must be quite a different work style than my own. I'm running my Xeon (at work) via their VM. That is accessed for the most part, like now, via a DDR2 powered box connected to my TV and networked via a wireless dongle and a USB 2 port.
I've not experienced any lags, in particular, except the systems (VM's) penchant to halt for 20s now and then. Other users, including VM at the site, experience the same.
The Xeon does its work and I only need to see what it does when it's done. Lucky, I guess.
Ravings en masse^ |
---|
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
There is a VM I remote into for one process.
But there's this other process which we should have automated on an SSIS server by now, but office politics has delayed it. I can't fully test it from home.
And every once in a while my boss asks me for some ad hoc extract.
|
|
|
|