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...at the end of last year we downsized from one that could seat 25-60 people to a smaller place with something like 2 or 3 offices and conference room or two for client meetings.
So there's not enough space left for anyone but the few people who can't or really don't want to work from home for some reason...
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
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He might not score highly on the HR management scale but the supposition that working from home is less productive is almost certainly true
When I was working from home, before working elsewhere (retirement), the morning would start with an all hands blue jeans meeting. After some mind numbing boredom a smidgen of work would be done. Then in the afternoon it was time for the daily exercise, going out for a long walk. Curiously it was difficult to contact co-workers in the afternoon so I assumed they had gone out too!
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lucanor wrote: but the supposition that working from home is less productive is almost certainly true
I beg to differ! Many reasons, but keep in mind that I've spent 20+ years as a contractor working from home, so I know how to work from home and love it, though I totally get that some people prefer the office environment. I did enjoy the office we were in before the lockdown, but I not enough to wish we still had an office. And it's not even an option now, as the office was closed permanently a few months ago.
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I think it's a question of job description. For most employees the job was to work in an office as part of a team. To send them home and expect the team to be equally productive is just unrealistic.
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We are organised in 'Teams' but have individual workloads and pretty much 'siloed' jobs with little overlap - but management still want us back in the office for 'performance' reasons - none of which they can justify with any rational metrics.
I, on the other hand, have access to such metrics (which I developed at management request at the start of the lockdown, no less) which clearly show that performance actually improved steadily over the lockdown period while staff worked from home.
However, we're being pulled back in "to regain performance.."
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Leo56 wrote: I, on the other hand, have access to such metrics (which I developed at management request at the start of the lockdown, no less) which clearly show that performance actually improved steadily over the lockdown period while staff worked from home.
However, we're being pulled back in "to regain performance.."
@Leo56 - any chance you could share those metrics (de-identified)? I'm just a process engineer (i.e., not in a position to capitalize), but I could really use some information to sway my management to avoid that fate.  90% of my urgent priority work is single-task focus work. Yet they want me to do that in an environment with a 2 minute interrupt frequency.
... Manager offered to buy expensive noise-canceling headphones as a consolation--to take care of the noisy environment (which is human vocal noise). I somehow managed to avoid a hard facepalm ... (a) not how they work, (b) not going to keep people from directly interrupting me while I'm clearly focusing.
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Very sorry dead5ea (great name by the way!) but the metrics are based on a weekly compilation of process-related data over the last two years - exclusively admin-process type work in a team-based administration system.
At its most basic, it counts processes started against processes completed (per process type, of which there are several dozen) and presents them in a like-for-like graphical comparison (to enable rapid assimilation).
Sorry I can't help 
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My team has been WFH since March 2020, and 99% of the staff love it. My management up 3 levels is happy, as productivity is up. No one that's WFH in our office wants to go back.
In my case, my commute changed from 34 miles to 35 steps. I have a dedicated office and my wife (when she's home) leaves me alone to work -- we see each other when I take breaks. If I get a call at the end of my work day, it's no problem as I'm not worried about ugly traffic. The team communicates mostly via Teams chat and calls, and it's working. Everyone is happy and the morale is very high.
This week I'm back at an office for a major software roll-out. My day starts with a 45 minute commute, followed by 9-11 hours of "stuff", followed by another 45 minute commute with a bunch of suicidal maniacs on the road. Instead of simply logging off, I have to deal with a stressful commute.
Going forward, I'll be in the office 1 day every 2 weeks. I'm ok with that.
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Warn me when he is?
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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...because we never left the office. 
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Pretty much a lost day. So we are probably going to drop it to once every 4 weeks. More than enough to get the "we are still a team" spirit, but less hit to productivity.
I used to be one of those "you need to be in the office to get an efficient team where people know what is going on" types. But I have now learned my lesson. Pair programming and most other forms of collaboration are so much more efficient online, even though I could easily give some hints to Microsoft if they want to know how to improve both Teams and Visual Studio live share. 
So the 3 years in the past me would not hire the current me.
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Working on industrial and automotive means having several thousand square meters of various equipment, for several millions. Managing thousands of products with a small engineering team makes context switching quite normal in the span of a week, so presence is definitely a better option.
I can take smart if I need it, when I got the coof I could work from home isntead of taking sick days - I have unlimited sick days but I'd risk the monthly bonus if I take too many.
GCS/GE d--(d) s-/+ a C+++ U+++ P-- L+@ E-- W+++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- r+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
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... I'd be looking for a significant pay rise if I had to commute again!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I like working in an office.
I actually rented an office, a.k.a. pay good money every month, so I can sit in an office.
It looks professional towards customers, I'm among people, which actually gained me a good customer, and I can concentrate better when there's no TV and PlayStation around.
If I were still an employee, I'd want to be able to work from home.
I probably still wouldn't (unless the office was far away), but it says something about an employer if they let you work from home.
I even read about a recruiter recently who just watched companies who announced people had to come back to the office and then simply called their employees.
More than half of the employees were happy to switch jobs.
Basically, if my employer doesn't go the extra mile for me, I won't go the extra mile for them.
It's a two-way street and "just" salary doesn't cut it anymore (unless it's really good).
That's also how I want to lead my company when I get employees (which isn't easy in the current market).
Work from home is a no-brainer, as are 25 paid vacation days (20 is the legal minimum), a car, phone and laptop (these are a bare minimum nowadays).
Anything else can be discussed, such as study, working part time, flexible working hours, etc.
A happy employee is a good employee (usually) and they're every companies greatest "asset" and for some reason many companies forget this.
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because that is the case in my company. The default is 3 days in office and 2 days in home office per week. Special arrangement are possible in emergency cases.
Press F1 for help or google it.
Greetings from Germany
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So you get the worst of both worlds?
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Yes! I don't know about the Western Colonies, but here in mainland Europe half-weeks in the office are pretty much standard.
"If we don't change direction, we'll end up where we're going"
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Have been since mid-March. Only expected to go in once a week, but I go in every day because I can concentrate there.
Having to work from home was problematic.
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