Microsoft to allow permanent work from home for up to half the time

[jdhpa]

Unfortunately, perception is reality. If someone believes remote workers are less productive, that's how they'll see it, and evaluate accordingly. That doesn't mean they'll see a 10 as a 1, but comparing two 9's, they'll likely see the local 9 as a 9, and the remote 9 as an 8. Over time that adds up.

Personally I'm more productive at home, but I know the VP feels strongly that remote workers are less productive. People will have to choose.

[usernametaken]

Ctrl-F the words "permanent" and "indefinite" after clicking on the below link and see all the instances:

https://www.flexjobs.com/blog/post/c...ork-long-term/

Originally Posted by jdhpa

Unfortunately, perception is reality. If someone believes remote workers are less productive, that's how they'll see it, and evaluate accordingly. That doesn't mean they'll see a 10 as a 1, but comparing two 9's, they'll likely see the local 9 as a 9, and the remote 9 as an 8. Over time that adds up.

From what I have seen among the younger employees in my last 2 contract jobs, they really do not care about being considered an 8 versus a 9 if it involves long-term sacrifice (in the case of your example, showing up for work in-person daily for 5 years and then getting that promotion over the 8 rated part-time remote worker guy). The social media generation(s) are far more likely to want instant gratification rather than years of what they see as "suffering" for a future loyalty reward and promotion. A lot of them like remote work for environmental reasons. They have also grown up spending more time staring at screens rather than at people.

Perhaps a prolonged recession would change this type of thinking.

Personally, I would rather get a huge pay cut for a WFH job rather than ever again go to a well paying office job that requires in person attendance 5 days a week.

[rjshae]

Originally Posted by MechAndy

Once again I like the lack of traffic, the lower carbon emissions, the over all convenience and the fact that we are putting money into rural areas.

Oh yeah, the lack of a commute is fantastic. If you spend 8 hours a week just commuting (as used to be common around here), you're putting in the equivalent of an extra day of high-stress work each week. That's why I always tried to live close to work, even if it cost more.

[agaace]

I've switched to doing WFH years ago due to having kids, before the whole pandemic WFH. Once I jumped on the bandwagon, I don't want to commute to an office ever again. Still shaking my head in disbelief and chuckling a little, that it took a freaking pandemic for corporations to abandon their prejudice of WFH work being unproductive. It's 2020, we've got the tech! All you need is to shift your company culture a bit and you got it, and the benefits CLEARLY outweigh the downsides. Even stiff Boeing, a company mentally stuck in the 80s, has been praising this whole WFH experiment and acknowledged a significant productivity boost.

[Hemlock140]

I'm still working from home at least until the end of the year. When we do return, my employer is offering the office staff (about 400) to continue working from home, but have to be in the office at least 50% of the time to keep an office or cubicle. Less than that means using "hot desk." Since I have a nice office with waterfront views, I'm planning to

go into the office MWF one week, TTh the next for the 50%.

[Blondebaerde]

I'll be interested to see if this has a gradual effect on the hot real estate market. Many factors involved, including quality of life which is extremely high (if you fit in) in various neighborhoods. Schools, recreation, etc. Always said I was "here for the work" and bailing the minute I can, which may (or may not) be in nine years. Was eyeballing small homes in Poulsbo...

It was only back c. 2013 when work from home at Microsoft was just not done, for the most part. I ran onsite teams for scrum projects and we were effective, maybe 12 guys in a large bullpen. Loved it, actually, despite being a raging introvert. I let my inner extravert out in those situations.

I've been at home, mostly, since 2017 summer-of. It was new then but seems old hat now, and it continues as current client shut down their operation in-toto and moved everyone home. Some of that Bothell business park looks like tumbleweeds will be blowing down the street any day now. As others say, times have just changed permanently, this trend might never go back to before.

My job, in executive-level tech, can be done completely from home. If I were clever enough, it could be done from a cabana on Grand Cayman Island, in fact that's probably where I should be. Microsoft Teams just keeps getting better, it's miles ahead of just two years ago. Zoom isn't bad either, this is their time to shine and I hope they're basking in it.

I don't get lonely, never have and hopefully never well, just me and a couple cats that insist on crashing meetings. I roll with it, they're a conversation piece during business hours and generally pretty affectionate...other people busting around when I'm trying to work need to buzz off and mind their business, though it usually isn't a problem in my world.

Can't stress enough how great WFH is, and has been, for almost 3.5 years from my perspective and right through the heart of the lockdown, call it March-July. I'll be thrilled if I never set foot in a client's office again, at least for any significant amount of time. I get all the "water cooler" news I need in Teams messages and impromptu calls with people I more-or-less trust (or don't trust, but pretend to).

Funny what one reply in this thread said about hiding behind lack of video. The client I'm with at current: we often show it, but there is not a strong social stigma to do so or not, in fact it's starting to become a social norm that people can choose and not be jammed-on. I enforce that with our vendors, also: no video shaming. My day is about four hours of meetings on-average, so I know these tools well. I worked with people in Spokane, Walla Walla, Kennewick, etc. a year and a half at the last client, never saw some of their faces. Not once, not ever. The Renton team all went 100% remote after a couple months onsite, and I never saw my peers again either. It just isn't necessary for me to feel "complete."

[cis_love]

I always try to have my video on. We have lost SO much social connections already. I feel like that helps just a tiny bit to be more connected, both with my coworkers as well as with people who I've never met before. I know some people who log onto a meeting, no video no sound. A part of me does judge like why are you even here?

[usernametaken]

Interesting post Blondebarde. We use Slack and WebEx, but I have used Teams, Skype and Zoom in the past.

Cis_Love, we have to do screen shares and presentations so can't turn off sound all the time.

One more joins the party (and Seattle is one of their Hubs):

https://www.businessinsider.com/drop...nently-2020-10

[Transmition]

Video slows everything down, so my team only turns it on if it is important for showing something like written notes or boards. Screen sharing mostly eliminates the need for that.

Leaving your audio on is distracting - you get breathing, coughing sounds, keyboard tapping, general knocking. Leave it off until you need to speak.


Best thing about video conferences is that I can keep one ear open on a discussion while doing other work, when in normal meetings the entire time is wasted or you miss the discussion.


I had been considering moving closer to my workplace to cut down my stressful commute, but now that I only need to be in the office a couple of times per week it is not worth moving at all. Even moving jobs becomes easier, I can justify working for someone much further away if I don't need to be there every day.

[TheTimidBlueBars]

As a younger Millennial, I don't particularly care about social connections at work, I don't have anything in common with my coworkers and I like keeping my personal and work lives separate. I would also much rather have the ability to live in places that aren't close to my office (even if I have to go in occasionally) and save the daily commute time, even at the cost of making more money and slightly greater job security. So WFH makes sense for my lifestyle, but I will accept that those can be real disadvantages.