What's your company's back to office plan?

[shaynaatl]

If your company moved you to full-time WFH during the past year, have they announced what your return to office plan is? 

It looks like we'll be going back in late July/early August, under a hybrid schedule. Instead of making a company-wide hybrid schedule, they are letting each Director decide on the split between in-office and at-home days. I'm really anxious to see what our Director decides- I'm hoping to get 3 days at-home, but I'm prediciting we'll get 2 at most. There's also talk of moving all of our current open desks into a hoteling concept.

[Susie]

We brought everyone back last week, and we updated our WFH policy to require childcare and a dedicated work space.  We didn't have a pre-pandemic WFH policy, so that is new, and we're trying to mark a change from "pandemic WFH" to "normal times WFH."  I know people have liked WFH and are reticent to come back to pants and shoes and shared space and all that, but we really did see a significant drop in quality when our admin staff transitioned to WFH last year, and we have to figure out how to fix it.  

We have everyone back in office for 3 core days/week and continuing to allow 2 WFH days.  There are lots of exceptions for childcare situations/etc. though.  I have personally been back in office FT since last July.

ETA:  one thing I am really frustrated by as an employer is complaints from staff about how expensive childcare is.  They (mostly) are not saying they're having a hard time finding it, which I might have expected because I know a lot of providers have closed.  Rather, it's the cost they're citing.  These are employees who in before times had FT childcare like normal working parents.  Did they just get used to not having that big line item in their budget and not want to go back to it?  Or did every childcare provider in the area raise rates except the two I'm using for my two kids?  (My kids are 5 and 2, in after school + vacation care, and FT daycare respectively).  

I don't want to be an asshole boss, but the pandemic norm of parenting while WFH cannot be a long term solution.  Navigating that transition is hard on this side too.

[Velar Fricative]

Everyone will be back 5 days after right Labor Day, but some staff have worked onsite the entire time (mostly maintenance and security staff), and many others returned last June with a hybrid schedule. So it's been a gradual process for us. They will not allow anyone to work from home full-time after Labor Day, but before covid occasional WFH when needed was always an option and will remain so.

[ssmjlm]

Our WFH exemption expires on 30 June. Our new telework policy allows 2 days WFH per week, with some supervisor levels allowing for 3 days.

Due to the issues with construction at our main entrance, my boss has issued a blanket 3 days WFH from home for July/August. In September everyone will then go to 2 days WFH.

The construction won't be done, but at least this helps with childcare/summer travel for now.

[carrotsmakemefat]

I’m a govie; we were 50/50 WFH before Covid. We are working to bring back 25% of the workforce in the office at one time around September. 25% would be in office, 75% WFH at one time.
I’ve heard of a push to increase our WFH depending on the job and I’d love that. I was only in the office 2 days a week before this and it was the perfect balance for me.

[plutosmoon]

We are scheduled to go back full time in early August, I'll be returning mid-august after my vacation. My employer is still very flexible since childcare is still a huge issue here, but they really want us back before the academic year starts. We will likely have some wfh options, but since we are student facing I don't anticipate it would be more than 2 days a week.
Susie, My provider (daycare/aftercare) raised our rates when we were in hybrid school and then didn't adjust them back down when school went back full time, it's a 40% increase for me, which at my income level is sizable. It is also less hours (ends at 4 rather than 5:30) so if I had a less flexible employer I'd also have to spring for someone else to fill in the gaps. I don't complain to my boss about it, other than to complain about the reduced hours being a huge pain. It's the only center in town that serves our elementary school, so I just deal with whatever they do.

[vmars]

I have been going in 1 scheduled day per week. DH and I have the same employer but different departments. He has to be out of the house 1/2 day every other week. Beginning next week I go in 2x per week and DH is 1x per every other week. We are being told August could be more days in the office. We are trying to secure part time daycare for that time. We are hoping we can work it so we only need 3 days per week of childcare for DS2. DS1 is going to summer camp with the Y, but they have limited hours. DH has been told he will never go back full time in the office, which could be a huge game changer as far as child care costs. We had DS2 right before covid hit so we have not paid for full time child care for both boys yet.

[k3am]

I've been going in 1-2 days a week this whole time, but most of my officec hasn't. Starting next week, all employees are required to work from the office 2 days a week. In July, 3 days a week, and in August, 5 days a week. Up to 1 WFH day can be scheduled in advance, and recurring Monday or Friday WFH days will be prohibited.

My division is the outlier in everything in this company, so I can basically do what I need/want (excluding full time WFH).

The kicker? We moved offices during the pandemic (planned in advance) and parking has been great. I asked HR what the parking situation is like once we have a full office and... they don't know. There aren't enough spots for everyone. Sooooo that will be fun.

[gt7301b]

Today is my first day back. All management is back in the office this week. We have reverted to our previous telework policy which allowed for up to 2 days a week at the manager's discretion. Our VP issued a statement that she was authorizing 2 days for those back in the office.

The rest of our staff had their telework policy extended till August, with the thought that they will make some tweaks to the old telework policy before we go back.

Susie, my child has been back in daycare for over a year. Granted he did get Covid at daycare, so I can see that as a concern, but I wouldn't see the cost of childcare as a valid reason for continued remote work. However, I would be understanding of quarantines and school closures as kids aren't vaccinated yet.

[RockNVoll]

Starting in September, most people will be on a weekly schedule of three days in the office, two at home. I think that works out really well and is what I would have realistically hoped for. No guidance yet on whether there will be restrictions on which days you can wfh (e.g., I imagine Friday/Monday combos will be frowned upon), but I'm a fan of the overall structure they've put in place.

They haven't said anything about any potential changes to the physical workspace. I currently have an office and am mostly concerned about not losing it, LOL. Really hope we don't go to any kind of hoteling model.

[AdaraMarie]

We don't really have a plan yet. There hasn't been an opening date announced and all I know is that we will be at 25% capacity for a while as we transition back. My company has always been very flexible though, so I don't know that there will ever be a requirement for me to be back face to face, especiallynot full time. I don't want to wfh forever, but I don't want to go back to the office if it is mostly empty either. I think they are also still tossing around the idea of masks/no masks.

Regarding childcare, even though our school daycare didn't change rates, not having that expense was life changing and due to the nature of the ages if my kids I will never go back to what I was paying before. I already told my manager I won't go back in before school starts in August because I took advantage of the opportunity to put my kids in mid day activities this year that I could never do before as a working single mom.
I won't have the option of full time care for my older dd after this summer because she is starting middle school.
My younger one will probably go back to after care next year, but I think I might be able to adjust things so it is fewer days or so that I can ise the early pick up option, both of which would be less expensive.

[AdaraMarie]

My office did change to a hoteling model since we have been wfh, so no idea how that will work either.

[Susie]

Jun 7, 2021 13:06:20 GMT -5 gt7301b said:

Susie , my child has been back in daycare for over a year. Granted he did get Covid at daycare, so I can see that as a concern, but I wouldn't see the cost of childcare as a valid reason for continued remote work. However, I would be understanding of quarantines and school closures as kids aren't vaccinated yet.

Yeah, I don't either.  There's a logical disconnect there.  Setting aside for a moment where people are going to work (home or office), I feel it's a reasonable expectation/requirement that people with young kids have childcare during business hours.  Parenting while working does not work.  "But childcare is too expensive for me to come back to the office" ignores that fact.  YOU NEED CHILDCARE EITHER WAY!  I think that's why I'm frustrated. 

I'm not talking about the "I need to WFH today because my kid is quarantined/is sick and can't go back to school until the covid test comes back clear/etc."  That's different and I'm fine with that.  

[laterz]

Jun 7, 2021 13:48:31 GMT -5 Susie said:

Jun 7, 2021 13:06:20 GMT -5 gt7301b said:

Susie , my child has been back in daycare for over a year. Granted he did get Covid at daycare, so I can see that as a concern, but I wouldn't see the cost of childcare as a valid reason for continued remote work. However, I would be understanding of quarantines and school closures as kids aren't vaccinated yet.

Yeah, I don't either.  There's a logical disconnect there.  Setting aside for a moment where people are going to work (home or office), I feel it's a reasonable expectation/requirement that people with young kids have childcare during business hours.  Parenting while working does not work.  "But childcare is too expensive for me to come back to the office" ignores that fact.  YOU NEED CHILDCARE EITHER WAY!  I think that's why I'm frustrated. 

I'm not talking about the "I need to WFH today because my kid is quarantined/is sick and can't go back to school until the covid test comes back clear/etc."  That's different and I'm fine with that.  

If there was no pandemic and day care prices went up, what would they do?  I agree, not having childcare at home isn't an option in more normal times. 

[purplepenguin7]

My office still has no return to office plan. I am so glad to still be working from home and truthfully never want to go back but I also wish they would address directly at this point.

Susie, the daycare expense excuse seems like a total cop-out. My daughter went back to daycare last summer despite me still working from home. Sure, the savings was GREAT but it was very difficult for me to work all day with her home for a variety of reasons.

[sadlebred]

My company returned with a very limited number of people June 1 working a hybrid schedule. Everyone else continues to WFH. I've heard they want most people back in the office on a hybrid schedule by some time in the fall (rumors). My location closed but where I would go has moved to a completely hoteling environment except for some upper level managers having a permanent office. You can reserve a specific desk.

I WFH full time anyway. The company policy was always that you needed childcare during the day if you WFH. That policy is now back in effect.

[wildrice]

We have been gradually building up to being in the office 5 days a week starting after the 4th of July holiday. I'm in the office 3 days this week and probably will do that the rest of the month. Right now there is no option to telework after we come back, but they are saying they will reevaluate. I am hearing that a lot of people are submitting telework agreement requests, so depending on a lot of things, they may end up allowing more flexibility than they are initially saying - if we have most people requesting some WFH arrangement, I find it unlikely that we won't considering granting it.

I am fine with being back part time, but I'm not excited about 5 days a week. I think 2-3 WFH days per week would be my ideal, but realistically I think I'll be lucky if I can get 1 in the long term.

[ellipses84]

No plan yet but I see it slowly going back to in person. I have to attend 1x weekly in person meetings outside my office now. Job #1 is a really small office and I was hired to be virtual so I don’t “have” to go in the office unless there’s a really good reason but it’s very close by. Job #2 had people who wanted to attend in person at the office the whole time and I think some people are pushing for in person this summer. Luckily I’m in a a unique department, my boss has a long commute and loves working from home, and we’ve proven how productive we can be virtually. Since I’m part time I’m going to try to stay virtual as long as possible and if I go full time in the future I’m going to try to negotiate 2 WFH days (it will be a long commute once traffic is back to pre-Covid hours). They’ve also hired people out of state so there’s no way everyone will return in person, and there’s not enough desks in person, which gives me good justification.

[ellipses84]

My other boss is struggling because clients want in person meetings again and you can’t jam pack your day with back to back zooms when you have to travel to meetings.

[Deleted]

We are a small office of 4, all vaccinated. We returned 2 days/week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) last week. That is the plan for the forseeable future. Honestly, hybrid is a bigger PITA than 100% either way for most of us, but we aren't complaining because there was ko WFH pre-pandemic.

[Mrs.flang]

We’ve been back in the office full time since last July. In before times we had a fairly flexible work from home option, so that is still in place and was used for quarantines and daycare/school closings.

I’m disappointed that we weren’t able to transition into a wfh system that was more formal and long term because in the very short time where daycare reopening overlapped with me still being at home, it was so nice.

[brooke77]

The exact timeline hasn’t been announced because it is based on COVID numbers. The return to office plan has most people on a hybrid schedule. Everyone will return to the office one day a week this summer. Everyone will return to the office 2-3 days per week this fall. The number of days in the office will depend on role and preference. I got approval to WFH longer-term and I’m very happy about it. They have made other exceptions for long-term WFH.

[origami]

Some departments will be brought back to the office more than others. That starts after Labor Day. My department is run by a boss who lives out of state and doesn’t care where we work. We get to make our own schedule. I have some coworkers who will WFH indefinitely and others that will do a hybrid. No one’s going back 5d/week as far as I know. I’m planning on 2-3D/week in the office. DH is planning the same. Im hoping to go in the days he’s at home. I’m very skeptical this will work long term though. Before Covid we were 100% in the office (with flex time) and I bet we slowly but surely get back to that

[Cappy]

Everyone back FT in-person by August 2nd. During July they are allowing hybrid. No flexibility moving forward.

[steamboat185]

I work for a large company (70k people) the rules vary by worksite, but in general no one is back until Labor Day and then most people will be able to WFH at least 2-3 days a week. Precovid I was at home 2 days a week.

DH’s company was very anti WFH prior to Covid and now the won’t go back till after Labor Day and when they do they will only have to come into the office occasionally, which seems much more reasonable.

[formerlyak]

I work for a major research university but my role has been wfh since I started there four years ago. I know they have already started phasing people back in based on role - grounds, maintenance, student services first. These groups were also given priority at our vaccination clinics. And our campus is requiring vaccinations.

What the pandemic did though was open up opportunity for some other roles to be wfh that weren’t in the past. I started a new role last week and am able to remain wfh when I’m the past I would have not had that option - before if I wanted a promotion or new role I’d have to be willing to commute two hours each way to campus daily for the job.

My wfh contract does include the requirement that I have a space and childcare. That was waived during the pandemic and I’m not sure when it will be reinstated. But my boss knows I have care for my 7 year old every day until noon through the summer at camps and we got a spot in the after school program for fall. My older son is also 15 so when I don’t have care, and am on deadline or in a meeting, I have help. My situation there is unique. All that said, if I’d have had to get childcare during the pandemic, our after school program doubled their rates because county rules regarding pods and group size. We could have afforded it, but we have a HHI. Many people could not afford it. Spots were extremely limited and there weren’t enough for everyone who needed it. So I can see how at points during the pandemic childcare was an issue. However, even here in LA with all the restrictions we’ve have, I could now find more affordable full-day or almost full-day (like 8:30-4:30) care if needed. Or even a high school kid coming over as a mother’s helper during core work hours. Our neighbor does that.

[icedcoffee]

No plan yet. The delay is because our current telework policy before the pandemic was basically "WFH is not allowed" and we'd see a mass revolt if they tried to pull that now. They're working on a new policy, but it needs to be approved by the board and that won't happen for a few weeks. I don't know what the new policy will be, but I suspect it will be at most 2 or 3 days a week at home. I'm hoping at least 3. We will see.

Susie, I do agree WFH without childcare cannot be the new normal. My BIL/SIL are still WFH without childcare citing the prices as the reason. I don't fully get it. I mean...at some point this can't continue. It's not sustainable. I do think people got used to the added income when they pulled them from care. I mean, I enjoyed the 5 months we had daycare bill free also, but that's not a permanent solution. LOL

[goldengirlz]

Some of our North American offices are open, but no one will be required to come back before Labor Day, at the earliest. (There’s a color/tier system to determine what phase of “open” an office is in.)

If you want to come in now, you have to pre-register and reserve a desk.

Once we re-open for good, everyone will be allowed to WFH up to 2.5 days. Anything above that requires manager approval. People who want to WFH FT are subject to a pay adjustment if they move away from one of our VHCOL locations to a cheaper COL.

[purplepenguin7]

Jun 8, 2021 12:40:51 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

 People who want to WFH FT are subject to a pay adjustment if they move away from one of our VHCOL locations to a cheaper COL.

I've been wondering how my company is going to handle situations like this.  We are a global company with headquarters in NYC (and mostly major cities in the US).  My husband and I were totally fantasizing what we could do on just my salary if we didn't have to live within a commutable distance to NYC. 

[twinmomma]

We're planning for after Labor Day. Divisions will have 1 required day per week so that the whole team is in the office on the same day. Then each employee will have a bank of other "in office" days that they must meet over the course of the month. It averages to 2 days a week in office, but you can in theory pool the flex days into one week if you want. Our biggest issues with WFH haven't been productivity, it's been relationships and camaraderie and that's what our employees miss the most, so it's what we're focusing on with our solution.