Fears and Reservations About Returning to the Office - Part 3

[#1]

It has officially been two weeks since my return to office mandate started. I feel enough time has passed that I can make a fair opinion about the state of things. Let's talk about how things are going.

The Good

I want to start by talking about the few things that are going well:

• First, my company has done a great job of providing a wonderful kitchen on every floor. I’m on the first, and there are five microwaves there alone. Additionally, there are multiple types of beverage & coffee machines and a fridge with both canned pop and fruit juices. They also have a number for snack options from single serve bags of chips, trail mix and even single serve boxes of cereal and ramen noodles. All of this is freely available for people to take if they want/need.
• Second, at the beginning of the pandemic, one of the biggest concerns was the blurred lines between work time and personal time. Now that I have to communicate to the office on Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays, I no longer check or answer work related emails or slack messages once I have left for the day.

The Bad

Alright, let’s talk about all of the challenges:

• First, I’m not going to sugar coat it, I hate the commute. I’m up extremely early, I leave the house before anyone else is awake and I don’t have the time to walk the dog and organize my thoughts before I start the work day.
• Second, there are too many distractions at my desk. I’m in a high traffic area so there are many people walking through my field of vision which draws my attention away from what I’m working on.
• In addition to this, I generally work with a lower level of lighting, and I use lamps at my home office. When I arrive at the office (usually a couple hours before anyone else) it’s very pleasant and quite dark. When the overhead florescent lighting is turned on, I find things quite uncomfortable for the remainder of the day.
• Next, almost all of the people around me are working on different teams, and spend the majority of the day on zoom calls working with people that are either 100% remote or are working in different offices. As such, I spend most of my day with noise-cancelling headphones and Rock/Metal music on to drown out the noise.
• Finally, with illnesses, bad weather and various appointments, my team hasn’t had more than a couple of our team members in the office at any one time. In fact, I spent last Thursday as the only member of my team in the office that day.

Conclusion

Overall, I'm not happy to be back at the office.

I feel more exhausted at the end of the day and less productive during the day compared to Mondays & Fridays when I still work from home. I don't feel it has been as valuable for both project collaboration and team building socialization as it was being advertised before the Christmas holidays. I will continue to follow our policies and voice my opinions through the proper channels with the hopes that positive change will follow.

This will be the official end of this series. However, if I have something worth sharing in the future, you can bet I'll be back with another article.

Thank you for coming on this adventure with me and I hope you have a great rest of the week!

[Peter Van de Voorde]

Thanks for sharing @Jimmy Seddon , I hope your leadership will take note of the feedback and adapt.

[Hind Kadiri From Jaanga]

Hello @Jimmy Seddon ! Thank you for this series of articles that are filled with concern and hold significant importance. In fact, most employees are less productive in the office than when working remotely, which can lead to various challenges. However, let's focus on the positive and remain hopeful because I believe that many companies are now recognizing the importance of remote work and how it can be more beneficial for them.

I hope that in your case, you may find the right balance.

[Mark Cruth]

Thanks for sharing both the good and the bad @Jimmy Seddon ! One of the reasons I joined Atlassian back in 2019 was that it allowed me to avoid a 45-60 minute commute (one-way) which was getting me up early and getting me home late. Do I miss the office - yes (especially the team comradery)...would I go back to working in the office full-time - no. Having the flexibility to choose has been the game changer. 

[Nikki Zavadska _Appfire_]

Honestly, I'm in the same boat as you - wfh 🧑‍💻

The commute to work is often just not worth the time. You can spend it doing exercise or preparing kids for school, etc.

And the productivity part? Yes, I find focusing extremely hard when people walk around me. Even when going to the office was mandatory, I spent the majority of my day closed in the call booths (without being on calls) just to get the work done in peace (and dark) 🙈

[Amanda Barber]

I feel like my husband (another Jimmy...well, he goes by James) could have written this! He's back in the office Monday through Wednesday and is feeling a lot of the same negatives about the situation as you. I really hope your leadership will adapt and improve!

[Monique vdB]

I empathize with you! My husband and I both work from home now and I'm like, how did we ever do that commute every day? I especially think back to when our child was a baby and we were both working in an office five days a week and having to plan complicated commuting and daycare schedules. Absolute madness.

I too hope your leadership will adapt and offer a more flexible/hybrid approach. My husband's office is coming back in April, they're only requesting two days a week in-office and that still seems like a lot with the length of his commute! (Five miles of walking to and from the train, and an hour each way.) 

[Ankush Bora]

@Jimmy SeddonIs there a part 3.5/4.0 coming or already posted about?
Any strong inclination that you may have developed towards either WFH or WFO?
Love to know from you on these.

[Rodrigo]

Well structured insights @Jimmy Seddon,

Having worked full office setting in the past, I had never tried the HO aspect. Then I was lucky enough to land a great job that offered said possibilities and I've been very thankful ever since. Your points summarize well the pros and cons (I'll add that it's a bit disrespectful for customers when everyone is having a different call in that small room and the sound just leaks horribly).

 Regarding your last point (we are all different of course), could it be that you are lacking a feeling of inclusion or "natural socialization"? Possibly due to the very vast different teams around you? I noticed that it's very motivating to see/interact with people of my same team, where we can identify with the same topics, and it's not so easy/motivating to do so with other teams and topics that we cannot add in, or understand their current position as teams and personalities are vastly different.

In all cases! Best of luck.  

[HIMANSHU KUMAR]

Thanks for sharing both the pros and the cons @Jimmy Seddon . I am in the favor of WFH, because from my point of view it's more productive and effective.  

[Barbara Szczesniak]

@Jimmy Seddon Thank you for giving your thoughts on both the good and the bad. I have a WFH job that I started after the pandemic and don't have to worry about having to go to the office, since it is 5 states away.

I do miss in-person collaborating with the junior colleagues that I mentored, but don't have any of those in my current job anyway. 

I do not miss the commute. My last WFO position involved a 42-mile drive each way (so 45 minutes with no other cars on the road). Between gas, tolls ($8/day), and going out to lunch, it was time- and money-intensive. I don't think I could fit that drive time back into my day.