
Inviting employees back to the office – if you dare - ohjeez
https://www.functionize.com/blog/inviting-employees-back-to-the-office-if-you-dare/
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sicnus
I've actually enjoyed working from home for the most part over the past 5-6
months. My only main issue is that I tend to work MORE from home as you don't
have the normal water cooler interruptions or group BS sessions about football
or sports or... this or that. I'm hoping I don't ever have to go back to the
office.

Worked from home for a few years in the old days but wasn't really disciplined
to be very productive. Now I am.

~~~
zepearl
Working from home since ~6.5 months => I liked it a lot at the beginning (I
wore pants on one day since 1.March, otherwise shorts all the time until
today) but now I wish that I could go back to the office: I really miss being
able to talk from time to time with somebody "real", having lunch in the
canteen, seeing something different than my own walls, etc... :P

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bluntfang
just to clarify, what you desire is not specific to an office. you can have
all of those things in a local community and many people who were remote
before covid (including myself) were doing that.

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dorkwood
Can you be more specific about what you mean by the local community? Are you
striking up conversations with random people on the street, or are you
volunteering, or some other such thing?

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bluntfang
yes. having people around you to interact with does not require working in an
office. people on the street. people at the dog park. people at the coffee
shop. people bagging your groceries. people are everywhere (generalization ,
but if you browse HN you're probably not in an extreme rural area)

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mywacaday
I changed jobs 6 weeks ago. Left one job, took 4 weeks off then went back to
the same bedroom with a different laptop to start the new job. It's not easy,
everyone is really helpful but there is no substitute for real human contact
and bonding.

~~~
bootlooped
I like my coworkers and I miss seeing them. At least I have my girlfriend
living with me, but seeing and talking to only one person most days is not
enough for a healthy, fulfilling life. I've only had limited contact with
friends due to the pandemic. They eliminated my desk at the office, to save
space and thus money, so now I just have to make the best of a bad situation.

~~~
WWLink
Yeah, totally agree with ya. Stay strong! The good thing is this won't be long
term.

Once stuff returns to normal I'm going to get a gym membership. lol.

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zepearl
Did anybody ever (have to) discuss "responsibility/accountability" about
getting back to work in an office?

Meaning: if my boss would tell me "come back to work at the office" and I
would reply "nah, I'm scared that I might get infected" but then my boss would
basically in/directly force me to, wouldn't my boss/company become
responsible/accountable for me getting ill (if I and maybe some of my
colleagues would then get ill)?

I admit that it might then become a quite complex situation (e.g. demonstrate
through tracing that the spread occurred inthe office, what were the
consequences, etc...), but probably a boss/company should think twice about
pushing its employees to go back to the office, or not?

~~~
nip180
I don’t think the employer is accountable for infectious diseases that are
transmitted in the workplace, given that a minimum safety standard is meet. I
have, for example, not heard of any liability concerns with teachers returning
to the classroom.

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krisoft
I'm no lawyer, but if there are no liability concerns then why are they
proposing to legislate liability waiving laws?

[https://www.businessinsider.com/gop-liability-protection-
pro...](https://www.businessinsider.com/gop-liability-protection-provision-
businesses-workers-coronavirus-aid-bill-terrible-2020-8?r=US&IR=T)

~~~
SpicyLemonZest
The same reason that many states have anti-SLAPP laws. The pure mechanics of
defending a lawsuit can be terribly expensive, even if you know you'll win in
the end.

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beat
I'm one of those who probably cannot be convinced to go back to the office.
Why would I want to go back to losing an hour and a half a day to commuting?
What problem does this solve for me? I find most aspects of my job are
actually easier when working remotely - in particular, being able to get
people to leave me the hell alone for those two or three hour blocks of
concentration. I used to have to go hide at the office in order to work
without someone asking me a question every fifteen minutes.

~~~
scatters
How do you prevent people interrupting you on chat?

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beat
I can't. But I do find they're less likely to interrupt in chat than they are
in a physical space.

Also, it's a lot easier for me to finish what I'm doing before answering a
chat than it is to finish what I'm doing and answer someone standing next to
me. Although I'm known for putting a finger up in the air at them and making
them wait.

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bluedino
I work in a hospital. 90% of the administrative staff is still here, in our
offices. Those of us who didn't get laid off never left.

Sure, we get asked if we 'have any symptoms', have our temperatures are taken
at the front desk, and we're required to wear a mask going in/out of the
building...but other than that, it's business as usual.

The office my wife works in, they won't let anyone come back. They can work
from home, which is fine-but she's tired of being cooped up. She had to sneak
in on a weekend to get some devices for testing.

They are considering opening back up in the fall, and would be requiring
everyone to wear a mask the entire time they are in the building.

We're going out to eat in restaurants again, we're all still going grocery
shopping (where I've never see anyone cleaning anything), malls are open, so
what's the big deal with going back to work?

~~~
flerchin
You need 113 sq feet per employee to maintain 6 foot distancing guidelines.
Y'all in your offices have at least that much. Folks in cubicles and open
offices do not. The restaurants and grocery stores are supposed to make sure
that they have 6 feet in between customers, and of course, customers are
allowed to leave if the guidelines don't look like they can be followed.

~~~
bluedino
What makes you think I'm not sitting in a cubicle?

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beervirus
> in our offices

~~~
bluedino
Office = building

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nickff
It seems like these requirements will lead to layoffs; as some companies will
find it easier/faster to get rid of staff than to change their modus operandi.

~~~
ohjeez
Not to mention that with so many people laid off, Management easily can think,
"We'll just hire new people. It's a buyer's market." ...Though I'm not sure it
actually _is_.

~~~
nip180
The more skilled the labor the less likely they are unemployed, so it depends
on who you’re hiring.

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notyourday
It talks about cubicals. It says "cubicals are coming to an end". The authors
aren't familiar with the open offices...

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lillesvin
Before March I never truly questioned if commuting by bus 2-3 hours a day was
really worth it. (By car it's only a 30 minute drive to work but I don't drive
and I have no desire to, and the bus lines here are really dumb. I just used
the time to sleep.) Now that I have that time to spend with my family they'll
have to open up an office near me or arrange for a taxi to pick me up and drop
me off every day if they ever want me coming regularly into the office again.

Last I was there I picked up all my things so I don't even have any designated
physical space there anymore, and I love it.

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nonamenoslogan
We've been back since May, no changes other than face-coverings required while
in the general building (but not always at your own desk). AFAIAC we locked
down too early in my neck of the woods, the infection rate is only going
upward at this point, but another "lock-down" isn't going to happen.

~~~
ohjeez
Where are you geographically?

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matz1
I don't want to back to the office has nothing to do with covid. After all I
never stop going to the gym, restaurant all these time, albeit secretly. Its
that I prefer to work from home. My job doesn't require anything thing that
can only be provided in the office anyway.

