How People Really Feel About RTW

We're usually looking at the WFH/back-to-office through the HR, SLT, and manager lens. Want an inclusive candid understanding about why people are hesitating/digging in their heels at the thought of reverting to pre-pandemic in-office working??Read the Return to Office Hits a Snage NYT article, but more importantly, the reader comments.?I couldn't stop perusing the explanations and personal stories. You'd never get this type of honesty through interviews, polling, or surveys:?

• In my office-place, this is not an age-related issue. In discussing with colleagues, I've learned that employees of my generation (mid-40s), younger, and older are all similarly positioned in terms of not seeing any reason to be arbitrarily told that we need to be back in the office "X" days per week to achieve some sort of abstract notion of collegiality.
• If my employer insists that I return to work for more than 20 hours a week, I will happily search for employment at a company that is more open-minded and doesn't feel the need to treat me like a wage-laborer in a 19th Century Dickensian factory.
• "I'm looking for a job where I can work at home full time! My company sent an email last week saying we have to come in 4 days starting in September----no thanks!"
• "Frankly, they don't know what they're missing because we have a strong culture," Missing 1-3 hours commuting each day?

What made this story resonate wasn't the story but the sincere remarks about how people genuinely think and feel.?I've cut and pasted some of the more than 1750 comments, ranked by the "reader picks." I hope you find some new and helpful insights:

Check out the comments below and from the article from people about the back-to-the-office push from management.??Ouch.

Comments from New York Times Readers about returning to work:

Lenore

MassachusettsJuly 26

I'm a single parent, in middle management at the tail end of GenX. I am deeply grateful for the flexibility my employer is now offering broadly as a result of the pandemic. After many years of struggling to get in and out of Boston in time for a 6pm daycare cut off, I had switched to a hybrid schedule before 2020. I'm now fully remote. I don't live in fear of the day care pick up time any more, and, as a MANAGER, I cannot fathom demanding it of my direct reports. I'm disappointed by my peers who continue to value the outdated norms we first met when we joined the workforce. The idea of returning to the office in a major city, with unreliable public transit, significant traffic, AND the delta variant, is as appealing to me as returning to the dress codes of my first professional employer (PANTYHOSE REQUIRED).

Bennett

Olympia, WAJuly 26

Young Gen-X middle-manager here. All of these arguments about face-to-face collaboration largely ring hollow. Employees see right through them. I encourage all office workers to continue to use that leverage. Leave for greener pastures if your employer won't allow remote work. We shouldn't spend hours of unpaid time traveling to work (while spewing more carbon into the atmosphere) where we'll eat our lunch on unpaid time, all the while stressing about how to cobble together child care in a society that behaves as if we all have a house-spouse at home seeing to all of those messy personal details. Change jobs until employers are _made_ to understand!

Mike

NYCJuly 26

I'm in my late 40s. If I ever see the inside of an office again, it will be too soon. The same is true of all my friends near my age, so I have no idea what the author is talking about. Unless some task requires somebody to be physically present for their job (stock a shelf, sign a paper, fix a sink, etc…), there's no reason to make the person with that task work in an office.

Binx Bolling

PalookavilleJuly 26

Working in an office has never seemed right or natural to me, and I was never comfortable doing it. You wake up, get ready, commute, and there you are spending most of your waking hours cheek by jowl with a whole lot of people with whom you may or may not be compatible. Then the grueling commute home, a couple of hours maybe with family, and then wake up and do it again. I gained about 3 hours in my day by not commuting. I did not miss the petty office politics, the distractions, the false camaraderie, the competitiveness, the mental drain, and emotional toll of dealing with people I'd never choose to be around outside the office.

Kevin

New York, NYJuly 26

As a 45 y.o, Gen X'er, I suppose I'm now part of the "older" generation, but I highly value the ability to work from home. The past 16 months have been my most productive -- if anything, I'm working much harder and more efficiently at home. I have built strong professional relationships with individuals I've met and interacted with entirely through video conferencing and phone. If my employer insists that I return to work for more than 20 hours a week, I will happily search for employment at a company that is more open-minded and doesn't feel the need to treat me like a wage-laborer in a 19th Century Dickensian factory.

Chad Verly

Evanston, ILJuly 26

I'm 41 y.o. and never believed remote working was possible, but now I have no desire to go back to the old ways of tedious commutes and office buildings. Instead of commuting, I get to exercise in the morning, have breakfast with my kids, and coach little league in the evenings. Instead of sitting in an office building I get to wear shorts, walk our dog, and have lunch in my own kitchen. What's been lost? A lot of unnecessary meetings, a lot of wasted time. Maybe some camaraderie amongst coworkers (but not really, amongst the ones I work with daily.) Brainstorming over zoom is not only possible, it's more productive because there's less meandering conversation. Time spent working is more focused, without all of the walk by interruptions you get at the office. Ditching the commute is not only better for my mental health, it's better for the environment. They want me to come back 3 days a week now. But really, what's the point?

I find that I am much more efficient at home. I can get 8 hours' worth of work done by lunch simply because I'm not constrained by the "Hey Peter, What's happening? Got that TPS reports for me?" culture.

Eric W

Olympia, WAJuly 26

We (millennials) have been in the workforce for a decade plus, we're well aware of what we're missing. Very glad to get away from "we're family here" mentality as well. I have an actual family and actual friends. What I need is money and an employer needs my labor/time. It's a transaction, and because of the proliferation of right to work laws, it's definitely not a secure or long term relationship (too bad employers never considered the potential consequences). Employers have bent over backwards to reduce their commitments to their employees, so it rings hollow when they whine and complain about a "lack of commitment" from workers.?

Henry Mitchell

PhiladelphiaJuly 26

I'm a current college student, and I can tell you that I and nearly everyone I know are eager to work in person. Having completed several internships where I never once met a single one of my coworkers was incredibly demoralizing and really ruined any chances I had to network. I know that many of us are terrified at the prospect of entering the workforce and having to begin a career from our parents' house or a dingy apartment bedroom.

CL

NJJuly 26

I am tired of hearing "culture" as a reason to be back in the office. What does that even mean? That people at the company are nice and collaborate with one another? What "culture" means, to me, is a flimsy excuse to turn back the clock without any specifics. Or, it's just another way to say we expect facetime. That's not the "culture" many are seeking, nearly 18 months after working remotely.

Eric W

Olympia, WAJuly 26

There's nothing major lost by working from home. Finally, having freedom from coworkers dragging all their life problems into the office and not getting sick from other people's kids is a huge improvement.

?Matthew

New JerseyJuly 26

I am in the Boomer category, and if any individual has demonstrated over the past 16 months that he or she can be productive while working from home, the opportunity to continue to work from home should be extended. Frankly, taking mass transit to commute up to four hours a day (to and from work depending on where you live) just to spend time in an office seems very antiquated.

SeattleGuy

WAJuly 26

My MegaCorp had zero WFH, but then staff started dying so we were sent home in March 2020. I can do 100% of my work with zero commute or sitting in a cubicle. Work gets done, I get paid, should be the end of discussion. Requiring people to sit in a sea of beige because a VP who emails Dilbert cartoons thinks that's the way it should be should be punished by the marketplace by having the best talent go to non-dinosaur employers.

KH

New YorkJuly 26

"Frankly, they don't know what they're missing" - No - we do. It's just that we don't miss it. I am in my early 30s, so I guess I fall into the group this article refers to. Not having to spend more than two hours every SINGLE day commuting has been life-changing. And by the way, no office culture is as great as the executives think it is. For the first time ever, my husband and I can think about moving to a more affordable area, having children, and doing all the things that the number of work hours we were previously expected to commit to, in person, made unattainable.

Ray G

Queens, NYJuly 26

This line about the CEO at the end of this article really got me: "He hopes peer pressure and the fear of missing out on a promotion for lack of face-to-face interactions entices people back." When your place of work is run by someone whose instinct is to motivate through peer pressure and fear (as many of them are), it's no wonder workers don't want to go back and would rather put in their best work somewhere that motivates through trust and flexibility.

Robert Kennedy

Richardson TXJuly 26

It's not just younger workers. I'm 64 and loved working from home, avoiding the commute, and having flexibility. I have been forced back to my office and hate it. I was much more productive and happier being at home. I was thinking about working longer when working remotely, but I may hang it up sooner now.