Who is back in the office? (Boston: salaries, to live in, price)

[msRB311]

I don't understand commuting in to do things that could be done at home either. Complete waste of time.

There does still seem to be that looming feeling that the people who commute into the office are somehow more motivated/less lazy than the people who would prefer to stay home. It again just seems wasteful to me to get up, get dressed, commute an hour in and be in the office doing the same thing that you'd be doing at home.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by NewfieMama

5. Is anybody who was 100% remote during covid now back in the office 100% of the time?

That would be me. I was 100% remote for about 9 months.

Then there was a hybrid phase mixed in there where I was in office on a 3/2 shchedule, but I am an engineer that works in a lab environment. It just became easier and somewhat necessary to get back in office.

I've been back 100% since March of 2021. I have no issue with it.


My entire team is back 100% for the same reasons except for one documentation person. I gave her the option of 100% remote or hybrid in-office 2 days a week and she chose the hybrid option.

[NewfieMama]

Originally Posted by mdovell

From what I've been hearing from others is younger generations actually want to get back to the office. However once you deal with people that have a house, drive a car and have kids forget about it. It's like the difference of driving at age 16 vs 45. Freedom vs a chore. There's so much that can be done at home..laundry, dish washing, cooking, yard work that it takes it away.

I feel like I'm such an anomaly here. I am a suburban mom in my 40s whose kids are in a lot of activities, so my husband and I divide and conquer drop-offs/pick-ups every evening. I'm also a clean freak, so my daily chore list is long. And yet? I don't like being 100% remote. I took a position that was 100% remote about 10 months ago and I've found another position where I can go into the office once or twice a week because I don't want to be in my house all day, every day.

[NewfieMama]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

That would be me. I was 100% remote for about 9 months.

Then there was a hybrid phase mixed in there where I was in office on a 3/2 shchedule, but I am an engineer that works in a lab environment. It just became easier and somewhat necessary to get back in office.

I've been back 100% since March of 2021. I have no issue with it.


My entire team is back 100% for the same reasons except for one documentation person. I gave her the option of 100% remote or hybrid in-office 2 days a week and she chose the hybrid option.

I seem to remember you going back into the office 5 days/week. That's one of the reasons I asked--I do think you might be the only person who was 100% remote and is now back in the office 5 days/week

[msRB311]

Originally Posted by NewfieMama

I feel like I'm such an anomoly here. I am a suburban mom in my 40s whose kids are in a lot of activities, so my husband and I divide and conquer drop-offs/pick-ups every evening. I'm also a clean freak, so my daily chore list is long. And yet? I don't like being 100% remote. I took a position that was 100% remote about 10 months ago and I've found another position where I can go into the office once or twice a week because I don't want to be in my house all day, every day.

I hear you on this kind of. If I could get to an office in a quick drive I would probably like the change of scenery...but let's be honest, most people don't have a quick drive in the greater Boston area. So for me that's the killer. To each their own though.

[id77]

Originally Posted by NewfieMama

This might belong in the covid thread, but oh well, I'm creating a separate thread for it.

I'm curious for those of us who started WFH when covid hit, how many of us are back in the office? I guess these are my questions:

1. Are you still a remote employee or have you moved to a hybrid model?
2. If remote, are there any plans to return to the office?
3. If hybrid, how many days/week are you expected to be in the office? The days you are there, are they full days?
4. If hybrid, is it mandatory that you come in a certain number of times per week or is it just frowned upon if you don't
5. Is anybody who was 100% remote during covid now back in the office 100% of the time?

This is just me being nosy and curious. Both my company and my husband's company are attempting to ramp up in-office time (nothing mandatory yet) and I'm assuming this isn't just us, but a more widespread effort by companies to get people back in the office.

I was remote pre-pandemic, but for those in my company who are not:

No, all people allowed to go WFH during the pandemic are back in the office. There is some flexibility between employee and immediate report about what hours one works in the office and at home, but the general rule is to tap their badge at the office 5 days a week. There are consequences for both employees who do not report to an office a sufficient number of times and locations who do not have enough employees in the office.

Our company started returning from full-time WFH in 2020 at 25%, up to 50% in 2021, and this year it's 100% except where prohibited (ie, there's a local shutdown, though I don't think there's been any of those in some time now).

[simplexsimon]

Originally Posted by NewfieMama

I feel like I'm such an anomoly here. I am a suburban mom in my 40s whose kids are in a lot of activities, so my husband and I divide and conquer drop-offs/pick-ups every evening. I'm also a clean freak, so my daily chore list is long. And yet? I don't like being 100% remote. I took a position that was 100% remote about 10 months ago and I've found another position where I can go into the office once or twice a week because I don't want to be in my house all day, every day.

I feel the exact same way and even 100% stay-at-home-parents don't want to stay in the house all day.

There's a social concept called the third place that's usually in the form of something like church, gym, barbershop, or the like. Full time WFH took one of those outlets away. For many people 100% WFH is preferable, but for many it is not. One of the silver linings of this whole pandemic mess is that it's created more options. My wife, who worked for a 100% remote company pre-COVID, now has way more other job options as a result.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by NewfieMama

I seem to remember you going back into the office 5 days/week. That's one of the reasons I asked--I do think you might be the only person who was 100% remote and is now back in the office 5 days/week

I think i should point out that this policy wasn't applied 100% to the entire company. The CEO and VP's and other corporate folks were 100% remote for nearly 2 years. In fact, we razed their cubicles and turned it into lab space.

Most of those folks are back now 100% but didn't return as quickly as the technical folks did. In fact many returned only this past spring/summer. There are still some folks who are still 100% remote or hybrid but it's a very small minority.

Even though i was 100% remote for i guess what could be considered a brief amount of time compared to others, i was still sneaking in for short terms here and there. I was allowed to as needed as i was deemed "essential". So maybe I was 95-98% remote? (lack of) Traffic in the early days of the pandemic was great!

[wolfgang239]

My company probably had a majority of folks in person throughout the pandemic due to being a utility. My division has been 100% in person, but the non field type roles are now all hybrid with the option to work out of 5 or so different facilities. There is no hard number of days yet so it varies by role. Lots of old school folks though so some have less flexibilty.

They closed the big flagship in Waltham and renovated a bunch of small older locations during the pandemic. That way folks from all different areas can book space and minimize their commute. Occasionally I'm sure people will need to go to a specific location for meetings etc but it was a pretty good idea.

[robr2]

Originally Posted by lrfox

I'm kind of amazed people have experienced being asked to come in just to sit on Zoom meetings. For us, the in person component is almost entirely to get people face-to-face again. That's where I think the real value of in person work lies. The idea of forcing people to come into the office only to have them get on the same Zoom meetings they could join at home seems unsustainable.

As I noted, my wife being on Zoom meetings in the office was only because nobody else from her team came back. If everyone were in the office, they'd meet in a conference room instead.