Is hybrid work the new normal?

As the pandemic eased, you might expect employees who'd been working from home would head back to the office. But as it turns out, that never happened! Instead, a modern work style – a blend of commuting part-time and working part-time remotely from home – is becoming the new normal. Correspondent David Pogue talks with experts and technologists about who is benefitting from this new work style, and who is hurting.
#remotework #commuting

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[klharndt]

”…they remember how great it is to see their friends & colleagues…” No, ma’am. That’s corporate speak for “we’re making you come back to the office and here is the lie we want you to believe. We are doing it for you!”

[artemis]

I am fully work from home now and I love it. If I had to go back to the office I think I would lose my mind. I can get up 10 mins prior to clocking in, I control the amount of light in my house (I have migraines), and I don’t have to wear makeup or use gas. I can’t imagine going back to the office

[michaellawrence]

I worked at HQ's (yes, in DC) Department of Veterans Affairs in the small business office from 2018 until I decided in 2020 that I had it with the horrible work environment. The sad thing is our supervisors HATED remote work for the staff. They were retired military (as I was an Army Officer for 26 years) and had serious control issues. My diagnosis of them was insecurity in their own "abilities." Their attitude was, you're goofing off. The unwritten rule was, if we, as supervisors, can't see you, we can't control you! In the middle of COVID, they wanted us to come back to work. This is when I gave them my two-weeks notice. NEVER regretted it for a minute.

[D_Tuned]

Management and owners of commercial office buildings want it to be the new normal. For those of us who can choose to live anywhere with zero commute, remote is the future.

[andypetersen]

If people have to go back to the office, employers need to pay for commuting expenses and the time needed for commuting.

[KlyBell]

I worked from home three days a week before the pandemic. Because of the work I do, there's truly no need for me to be in an office setting. And I'm more productive when I'm not surrounded by the distractions of the office.

[davidcashin]

One thing people also rarely discuss is that for many for many of us office workers even before the Pandemic, we spent a lot of time in phone and video conferences and using email. Or spent a lot of non-productive time in cars, shuttles, buses, and the metro to attend meetings. We rarely had face-to-face meetings that did not include key members calling in from locations all around the city, the region or the country. This is very true of those of us working in teams and agencies that have to collaborate across the country and often internationally. Actually telework and the pandemic brought us significantly better collaboration tools. So now we can call team members across the region, East Coast, or Coast to Coast and make immediate contact view and share files that we could not do before without long delays emailing etc. The only difference between the pre-pandemic conference calls, between conference rooms and offices is that now we are calling in from our home offices.

[GregV]

Employees prefer remote. Hybrid is a compromise.
That said, I really like what the Smuckers guy did with the non-weekly schedule. That is the only hybrid model that actually allows them to hire from any geography.
Any company that calls for x days / week limits its job market to the local geography.

[susannpatton]

How can you expect them to return after it was proven that they didn't need the office at that building. Plus you can take a home office expense on you taxes.

[MrDuds]

Nope employers are requiring employees go back to 5 days a week in the office, one reason and one reason only they don’t want to waste that commercial real estate leases with empty offices. Gen Z and Millennials and not going to adhere to 5 days in the office so employers are going to have to adopt if they want top talent. The old days of 5 days in the office is over, Covid killed it, old school mgmt needs to realize this.

[bloatedsodium]

Let’s be honest, the reason so many bosses want everyone back to work is “so we’re just going to have an empty building?”

[nealwhaley]

Learning company culture? Give me a break. Large companies don’t have a culture anymore, if they ever did. Every location is a world onto itself. The left hand never knows what the right hand is doing.

[linguaphile]

In fall of 2020, our school district brought kids back on an every other day schedule, with only half the kids coming at a time. As a teacher, I saw (and heard) that kids LOVED it! They were so much calmer because they had a catch-up day, and when they were there they got way more teacher attention and didn't feel as exposed participating in the smaller group setting -- at most, 15 in a class at a time. When we finally went back to 100% in April of 2021, students made no bones about the fact that they were miserable, and teachers were, too. We went from 0% discipline issues to a ton of them. Students were never the same, having had a taste of how great it could be. I will add that this hybrid situation was NOT good for learning outcomes for students who struggled, but for the high-achieving and average kids it seemed to be wonderful.

[danabell]

Why not make some of those unused office space to apartments or commumity spaces?

[cardinal]

My office is remote with the managers hybrid. We have a handful of drop in desks for anyone who wants to pop in and for training new employees. We loosely monitor productivity and if someone can't account for their day they are required to work in the office for minimum 30 days. That tends to keep them motivated to be more consistent in their work while working fully remote.

[RudieObias]

Before the pandemic, I’d only work from home once per month. And now, I work from home most of the time, like 3-5 days per week. I’m supposed to be hybrid, at least three days per week, but then I noticed most people only go to the office 1-2 days per week, so I do that. However, whenever I do go in the office, I usually leave around 2pm and work the rest of the day from home

[plz]

People like corrupt Jamie Simon need to go away. They are soooo out of touch w the average American and are too busy focusing on old time methods of trying to increase profits at the employee’s expense.

[yesimemoin]

2:09 They expect you to come back when they made the office environment even worse during COVID. You don't even get your own desk anymore, let alone a cubicle or a real office. You get to login at 6 AM to reserve your preferred hot desk. No guarantee that the people you came in to speak with are going to be there. Fewer perks like free lunches or snacks. Lugging a laptop and any other supplies back and forth.
And they wonder why ppl won't come back in.

[DreamChaserAtlanta]

I am in search of a work from home job as we speak. This keeps me encouraged. Thanks Sunday morning!

[christopherthorkon]

The hybrid is more humane. It makes no sense to sit in a cubical for 40 hours or more a week. It is better to be with the family and be at home.