I voted "My office is open but I’m planning to WFH permanently", but I don't plan to WFH permanently... just more hybrid and play it by ear.
As of last Monday, the expectation is to be in the office, unless you have extenuating circumstances and then work with your manager. Since I drop off and pick up DS from school everyday, and school is 5 minutes from the house and about 25-30 minutes from the office, it just doesn't make sense to commute to the office and have to go in late and leave early. H can pick him up, sometimes... but it's a lot harder for him to step away. For now, I plan on working in the office on Wednesday each week, since DS has his intervention/at home day. And maybe Friday afternoons. My manager was fine with it. From what I've heard, many people have similar situations with childcare. I also know a few people who are still not fully vaccinated, and they don't plan to go back until they are.
We have several labs in our building and those have been operating the entire time. I am not one of the individuals who works in the lab so I have been home the entire time. Our current end to max teleworking is June. The organization hasn't announced what they will do in June. I imagine they will start to bring people back, but in a very limited capacity.
Post by steamboat185 on Apr 26, 2021 8:25:52 GMT -5
My work is doing a phased approach back to the office by location. Our office has no return date. I think I’m allowed to go it once a week for an hour if needed, but haven’t yet. DH’s company will allow people back starting after Labor Day, but I don’t think he will go back into the office full time when he returns.
Post by purplepenguin7 on Apr 26, 2021 8:26:26 GMT -5
NYC here. I voted that my office doesn't have a return date yet. Technically the office is open at very limited capacity for anyone who wants to go, but my understanding it that most people aren't going in (most people I know, anyway). We're told we wont "have" to go until at least 2022, personally I am hoping for never but there is not a concrete plan for return yet.
I am one of those who likes taking polls that have nothing to do with me. I can answer for my cousin though. She works for attorneys and has no idea when they are going back. She was told that when they do open back up, it will be voluntary if you want to go back to the office.
Our target reopen date is Labor Day, but even then everyone will WFH 3 days per week indefinitely which is a HUGE shift from pre-pandemic. I think our firm has realized how well we can all WFH and isn't interesting in paying $$$$ for 3 floors of a downtown high rise anymore. We'll be switching to a "hoteling" model where no one has ownership over their work stations, you'll be assigned a work space each day you're in the office.
Same with my cousin. Her boss said everything has been going so smoothly with everyone working from home. They have no need to have their giant downtown space anymore.
I do not think I would like not having a dedicated work space.. that would stress me out working in different spaces.
I went back in July of 2020 when the kids went to summer camp. I worked 2-3 days a week until before Christmas when I went remote again then stayed remote until February. Now I am in 2-3 days a week again since then.
I alternate with the guy in the cube nearest me. I believe they hope to have everyone in full time again by June.
My company is weird about wfh and I can tell they are really struggling with it. However they also know now that they need a more flexible policy as we’ve already lost some key people to companies offering flexible / remote positions.
Our target reopen date is Labor Day, but even then everyone will WFH 3 days per week indefinitely which is a HUGE shift from pre-pandemic. I think our firm has realized how well we can all WFH and isn't interesting in paying $$$$ for 3 floors of a downtown high rise anymore. We'll be switching to a "hoteling" model where no one has ownership over their work stations, you'll be assigned a work space each day you're in the office.
Same with my cousin. Her boss said everything has been going so smoothly with everyone working from home. They have no need to have their giant downtown space anymore.
I do not think I would like not having a dedicated work space.. that would stress me out working in different spaces.
Yeah I don't love that aspect. I'll miss having photos up and being able to leave shoes / snacks etc at my work station, but the trade off is worth it to me.
My current job has no return date. We've hired people out of the area during the pandemic, so we plan on being a mostly remote company going forward, but at some point (after labor day) we plan to allow local people to go hybrid if desired.
However, I've been told I'm getting a new job offer this week, and that company is also still remote. They are looking for new office space (in two locations - cities that are close together, though), but with the pandemic they retooled what they were looking for (they had just started searching in winter/spring of last year) and we'll all likely end up being hybrid, but they're still determining what it will look like. Definitely after Labor Day. I'll also be working out of the office that's closest/easiest for me, but will end up going to the other one occasionally for meetings.
Honestly, I work in marketing. Digital marketing, although the new company is full service marketing. I'd be low-key alarmed if a company in my industry told me they were back at work. And actually, I got an offer a few weeks ago from a company that's back in the office 3 days a week and has been for a few months, which is a red flag, IMO. My entire job is internet/cloud based and I'm on video calls with coworkers and clients every single day. Having me in the office means that my manager sees a need to babysit my work, which is often the first sign of a toxic environment, or managers who micromanage because they don't know how else to gauge performance. Again, in my industry, at least.
ETA: H's office "closed" permanently - the office space, not his job. Then his division of the company was actually sold to another company. This company is based in Kansas City and has an office about 25 miles/45 minutes (in decent traffic) from us. No word on whether there will be a mandatory office component, but if so, he's hoping for 1 day a week.
I'll answer for my H. He's been teleworking since last March and doesn't have a date to go back. His work site has been open this whole time but they've had limited working capacity at different stages of the pandemic. I believe they've been back at 100% for several months now but they still ask that those who can work from home continue to do so. He's a contractor and since he's able to do 100% of his job from home we're hoping that they'll rewrite the contract to allow for permanent or at least partial telework. It was an adjustment at first but my H would really like to maintain the status quo if possible.
Post by mustardseed2007 on Apr 26, 2021 9:08:23 GMT -5
I picked that my office is open and I plan to WFH permanently but really my office is partially open with departments alternating coming in and WFH.
I currently WFH 2 days and work in the office 3 days unless we have something going on. I hope to continue that into the future. The HR Director is advocating for it and so am I.
I've been back since July 2020, when my kids returned to daycare.
We just recently (after spring break) started to bring our reluctant returners back into the office for 1 day/week, keeping an eye on distribution through the week and keeping head count low.
We're at "walk in" availability in our area for vaccines right now, so anybody who is still unvaccinated is so by choice (or the rare cases where it's medically contraindicated). We have a couple admin staff who are hesitant or anti-vax, but all our attorneys are vaxx'ed, many with completed series by now.
Yep, I'm back in the office 2 days week (where I used to be 5 days/week.) I plan to keep on this schedule for as long as possible (not expected to be required to be back more than this until at least Labor Day.)
I didn't answer your poll. We've been "open" the whole time. I started off having to go in the office 2-3 times a week in the beginning and now scheduled as once a week or as needed. If you want to come in the office more, you can. They haven't given us a date for when we'll officially have to come back to office full time. They JUST gave me a work laptop in time for the county to reopen. lol
Our client has not returned to the office and I am not sure if they are planning to make us go back anytime soon. Most of the leadership isn't in DFW so there is no reason for us to go to the office currently. When I change our contract then likely this will change. It is client specific. I am ready to go back to the office.
We're targeted to return sometime in the fall after labor day, no firm date set. I'm wondering how it'll go because we were hotel-ing (3 days in office, 2 remote) before covid and only had capacity for (I think) 85% of our team there on a given day. We're supposed to go back to the same 3/2 schedule, but with social distancing (they said they're planning on every other desk in a checkerboard pattern) that will drop even further so I'm not sure how it'll work. Hotel-ing was okay, except for that it didn't tend to feel clean as employees were supposed to clean the desks prior to sitting in one and when they were leaving for the day, which didn't always happen. The cleaning team didn't do much in terms of wiping desks areas down. For example a co-worker spilled a little coffee as a bit of a test and the coffee ring was there the next day. I hope that changes when we go back.
People are free to work from home or in the office. No return date set yet. I've been in the office since end of May 2020 (return of my maternity leave). I've already explained why I am back in the office:
- 10-15 min commute - I am alone in the office 95% of the time - my office is close to a big shopping area so I use my lunch time to run some errands I can't with a baby - I don't have a comfortable setup at home
Our office is open for printing mostly, but my co-workers and I are working from home until our boss says it's okay to work together in the office (there's a max of 6 of us). However, for work I occasionally do attend meetings in-person at large areas that allow for social distancing in-person at certain school districts to meet for contract negotiations.
"Why would you ruin perfectly good peanuts by adding candy corn? That's like saying hey, I have these awesome nachos, guess I better add some dryer lint." - Nonny
I've always been a remote worker for my company. That said, all 3 international offices have been shut down for a year (and we've even sold 2 of them), all employees are still working remotely, and the plan is to eventually purchase smaller offices for client meetings and a smaller on-site staff because many of the employees like WFH so the company is going to make more positions permanently remote.
H has been home since last March. His company keeps pushing the return date back by 3 months. Right now the date is this coming June. With vaccinations, this date might stick. They plan to start a phased return, 2 days per week.
It's been very convenient having DH at home. I don't work so he doesn't have to worry about the kids and, without the commute, he's available for all the activities that have restarted. It's awesome for him to be able to wrap up his afternoon meeting, grab his car keys, and taking DS to practice. I loathe sitting at/driving to all the kid's practices.
My office only makes money if we look and work in people's mouths so yes, we all went back in varying degrees since May last year.
I created my first WFH position last week in my office. A long term staff member was resigning due to childcare issues and planning to stay home with her baby while looking for a WFH part-time position. I was like "I can do that for you, and you can help me with this organizing awful project I've been ignoring for years."
People are free to work from home or in the office. No return date set yet. I've been in the office since end of May 2020 (return of my maternity leave). I've already explained why I am back in the office:
- 10-15 min commute - I am alone in the office 95% of the time - my office is close to a big shopping area so I use my lunch time to run some errands I can't with a baby - I don't have a comfortable setup at home
This is basically my exact situation except my kids aren’t babies. I have a great setup and wish I could go to the office more because I hate WFH, but one of my kids goes to school at most 3 days a week and DH teaches in-person and we have no other options for childcare.
I changed jobs, so it doesn't super apply to me. But my former company is still on the same hybrid schedule that it started in March 2020. Most of the office staff is vaxxed (I have a friend that still works there), but there hasn't been anything said about coming back full time. Schools are still a hybrid option as well, so the office may be waiting until the end of the school year to go back 100%.
Answering for DH - no he is not and is working from home for the foreseeable future. He may have to go for a random client meeting here or there but the company does not expect to have consultants in the office 4 days a week anymore.
I've been WFH for 5 years now. It's a hazard of the SAHM job.
My H got permission to go fully remote right before covid hit. Due to covid his entire company will be fully wfh. They're getting out of the building lease and everything. Every employee is so happy about not having to commute into downtown Seattle anymore.
Our office is actually giving us a choice of what we would like to do. one coworker already volunteered to work from home permanently as her scope of work makes that possible. I'm on the fence about it. I have a cube space with a window view, and enjoy the office setting but we've expanded our staff and I don't want to give up my space. We're looking to see about sharing cube spaces, so I have no idea what to expect. I live 5 mins away from our office so I could stop in for meetings, etc. But I have three monitors for my computer set up and can't pack them up for a back and forth situation.
My office has not announced a return date yet, but rumor has it, this summer. I havev been going in at least once a week since about 3 weeks after we shut down. We're an essential business, so some people have been in person 100% of the time, but I think the rest of us will have some staggering/flexibility when we go back.
DH's company has 10% of employees back now, will have 50% in September, and the remaining 50% will return in October. They can request to WFH permanently. DH's company has a hugely populated campus will lines of desks - he can reach out and touch 5 people without much of a stretch.