Family gatherings? Maybe I'm the only one that doesn't get along with every member of my family!
Principal Financial-Remote work
- Thread starter pfgemployee
- Start date
Family gatherings? Maybe I'm the only one that doesn't get along with every member of my family!
It's a whole is greater than the sum of its parts thing. What are you individually robbing from society by working from home? Not much - our ability to see and interact with you as you do your work moving around and physically interacting with your local community. But if it's only one person, or only a handful of people doing it then it doesn't really impact society.
But if everyone does it - we lose the sense of being a community. I'm not talking about to your company and being a community with your coworkers. I'm talking about what it means to go out from your home and enter into the world with people you don't know and who have differing views and backgrounds and interacting with them face to face. While there were obviously a ton of stresses going on during the pandemic both from the virus and other factors - I don't think it's a coincidence that the mass work/school from home period was one of the most politically divided and radicalizing times in our country. We had riots in the streets and we are seeing a larger percentage of people supporting radical political views even relative to 2019 still as residuals from that time.
It is true that 100+ years ago people would have lived in remote rural farms and not seen others outside their family on a daily basis, or at least not as part of their work day. But, I think society and the world are different now. Most of the population lives in urban areas now. The need for community is greater, imo because there are a lot more people living in a lot tighter spaces. If we can't get along with each other, then there is a lot higher chance of bad things happening.
It's also a way for companies in states like California to get out of paying the balance when employees leave. Unlmited means there's never a concrete balance vs accruing say, four weeks over the year.
I coach 11u baseball, I get forced to deal with alpha male d bags much more than the average person I assure you
I WFH and also go outside at least once a day. Sometimes twice a day!
Maybe. I think work as a place to contribute these things is a poor substitute for the other things I do. I coach rec level sports so I get a lot of different kids and families, I’m involved in church, etc, and I have my own real friends and kids.
My time at work saps the energy I have to devote to those other things where the relationships are much deeper and more meaningful. I like the people I work with and honestly have a deep professional respect for them. But we don’t hang out and don’t need to.
I mean, that's great. Your daily routine isn't my business and I'm not trying to say you are some kind of degenerate. But I will say this - running to the store or going to work out at the gym aren't the same as working in an office with 50 random people 8 hours a day 5 days a week. The same with your family example. Unless you're having family gatherings multiple times a week every week, it's not the same thing. I think remote work has its place, but I think for the good of society most people should have some in person component to their work.
I think that's also great - you seem like you are involved in your community. But the majority of Americans aren't these days. Very few people coach kids sports, church attendance is declining and isn't being replaced by non-religious community organizations that fill a similar role. Most people don't even know their neighbors (myself included!). I think there are people who can do it well and be a good member of a community without having the tie of a physical workplace - you seem like one of them. But there are a lot of people (most people) who aren't.
I spend a lot of time outside but the freaking wildfire smoke and fireworks smoke and chemicals have made it the worst asthma period of my life. So starting to think leaving the house is overrated
Lots of dads think their kid is the next Detek Jeter?
Ironically, being WFH has given me more capacity to get involved more at a local level.
- Mar 27, 2006
- 40,829
- 28,324
- 113
This. The idea that the workplace is the only place that a person can develop interpersonal skills is ludicrous, and losing our sense of community? Come on. It sounds exactly like the kind of bull crap that business leadership would spit out to obfuscate the real reason they want people back in the office. Control. That's it.
So many businesses like to inflate their role in the world. "We're a family!" "We Care!" "Our Company Culture!" Lovely sentiments, but see how strong your "culture" is if paychecks bounce. How many of your "family members" will take flight if they get a better offer from a competitor? Don't get me wrong, I believe that employers should strive for good culture, and it's great when they make more than a minimal effort, but let's not lose sight of the true nature of the employer/employee relationship. At the end of the day, it's transactional. If I dropped dead tomorrow, I'm sure there would be plenty of people at my company who would shed a tear, but my job listing would be posted within a week.
I'm coming up to the end of my parenting leave and I can't for the resting up part while I'm working in my home office. It's still challenging and all that, but it's just a different thing at least. I also am blessed to have had the time to spend with both my kiddos and I'll really miss that every day too. It can be both I suppose.
I've been WFH for a lot longer than covid, and most of the office space around us has been sold. Our area is spread across 4 time zones at a minimum. As agile teams, I know it's not ideal and I am always fighting to make people act and behave as if they are in an office in that regard, but I also don't have any desire to rto.
I've been WFH for a lot longer than covid, and most of the office space around us has been sold. Our area is spread across 4 time zones at a minimum. As agile teams, I know it's not ideal and I am always fighting to make people act and behave as if they are in an office in that regard, but I also don't have any desire to rto.
I actually agree with him that between wfh and decline of church attendance, the casual ways many people got social interaction declined. I don't think forcing RTOs is the answer though. It's back to quality over quantity. I'd prefer we look at more intentional ways of interacting with those close to us like neighbors, friends, our schools, etc. Strong social fabric is very important to a community.
And seriously, run from any company pulling that "we're a family" ****. Just run. They want to take advantage of you.
I actually think being buddies with people you work with is a bad idea.
Something bad happens in those relationships and it affects the work. Too much familiarity and people spend all their time yapping.
My last job had married co-workers involved in an obvious affair and accompanying gossip. Just yuck! Didn’t want to know or waste my time dealing with it.
Last company I worked for had "unlimited PTO" and I can attest that nobody took enough time off. In Jan 2021, they announced 3-week furloughs for all staff. We all had to pick 3 weeks in Q1 to take off unpaid. The overwhelming response from people was "thank God, finally I get to take some time off!"
That company had no timesheet requirement, which was better than the PTO thing, in my mind. I didn't feel bad if I had my work done and it was 2pm. My current job we have timesheets and I have to log at least 40 hours a week.
I think there’sa big gap in general for replacing the social interactions, spot on.
Casual friendships with co-workers is enough for me. A bit of small talk about sports or a tv show, light family talk, etc. Enough to feel a connection with someone and get invited to the occasional wedding reception or graduation, but not enough to get asked to help someone move.
The key here is intentional ways of interacting with those we don't already identify with, whether those are political differences, race, gender, sex orientation, whatever.
For an introvert like me, good ******* luck coming up with a way for me to voluntarily interact with people I don't already know. My wife would tell you I barely interact with the people I do know lol.