For those back to the office..

[k3am]

For those in the office full-time (or close to full time)... a clicky poll. 

How often do you interface in person with coworkers during an average week. For "interfacing", we'll define it as a live conversation that lasts 10+ minutes. I'm not even going to limit it to talking about work topics - if you're in the break room getting coffee at the same time as Jim and talk about the weather for 10 minutes, go ahead and count it. 

Multiple times a day (3+)
A couple times a day (2)
Once a day 
Multiple times a week (3+)
A couple times a week (2)
Once a week
A couple times a month 
Less than once a month

[186momx]

SS: I work with my dad and it is only the two of us in the office.

DH: works with his coworker daily and sees the office secretary and his boss at least daily and talks to them over the phone multiple times a day.

[waverly]

I've been back since June 2020. I try to keep casual conversations under 10 minutes. 10 minute water color talk is WAY too long. So I'm either talking about work stopping by an office or having a formal meeting if it is 10 minutes plus. I do share an office so that would be the exception.

If it is a 1 minute conversation then those are more like 5-10 a day.

[k3am]

waverly, I debated between having it just reference a work only conversation. I figured the 10 minute threshold would eliminate anything that could have been just as easily done in a text.

[k3am]

I've been in the office regularly since 2020. Voluntarily, in 2020 and 2021, since I was more focused in person.

We moved floors and now we're so isolated that having to drive in is getting really annoying. At this point, I'd call it once a week. Our CEO gave a big spiel today about the benefits of being in the office full time, the mentorship, the connections, the conversations, etc, and I'm like... nope, that doesn't happen where I sit. If I interact with just about anyone outside of my very small division, it's on zoom. Which I can do from home in comfy leggings without 1.5 hours of daily commute time. (I really miss covid commute time, where it only took 15-20 minutes each way)

[waverly]

My job is in just one building i.e. not a large corporation type setting. We don't zoom amongst ourselves, all in person meetings.

The only zoom that we do would be industry/ consortia meetings or trainings.  ETA- DH definitely goes into work and sits on teams meetings.  I guess there are 4 people that go in now.  They chatted last week, but apparently not yesteday.  

[mae0111]

My biggest client, the one that requires in-person, has been back in the office since fall 2020. I started working there in late 2021. Everyone in the office is in person with selected days at home (like meeting a repair person or something). Two coworkers live far out of state (one is sort of 30% employed and mostly retired in FL, one is establishing a West Coast office) so they're obviously WFH all the time with required facetime in the main office about once a quarter.

I go in once a week because that is the deal that I struck when I took the job. They want me there in person 100% of the time. I'm probably more productive in the office, but I like being home in my space with the ability to jump out of my office to throw in laundry, or make a healthy hot lunch once in a while.

But the time that I'm in the office, I'm constantly interfacing with my coworkers. It's strange that the person that I was kind of layered under is the one that moved across the country, so that is a bit of a challenge, but so far he's working mostly east coast hours.

[sandandsea]

Multiple times a day. We are in 50% and have in person meetings on those days.

Not work related niceties over 10 seconds are also multiple times a day but never for more than 10 mins.

I can’t vote on mobile.

[sdlaura]

I answered multiple times per day but then saw that your criteria was 10+ minutes - in that case it’s less frequent. I do a lot of like 5-minute interactions but all my actual internal meetings are still virtual for the most part. We have people in six offices so almost every meeting has someone calling in from a different location, so we end up doing those form our desks. Meetings in conference rooms typically are only happening if someone is coming in to meet from outside the company.

[supertrooper1]

I'm only in the office once per month. I share an office with 2 other people from my team, and the rest are assigned around the U.S. Because we share an office, I interact with them all day long, but only because we're in close quarters. If we had separate offices, we would probably interact once per day. But we can do the same thing on Teams.

[186momx]

k3am, it sounds like since they moved you to the dungeon you don't see or interact with anyone unless you leave your cave. I would keep track for the next month and then go to head people and use your data to WFH more often.

[sdlaura]

k3am does your office have a policy on how often you should come in? I wouldn’t be doing more than they require if I were you. My commute is less than 20 minutes each way, and I still find it to be a waste of time a lot of the time.

My office has Monday and Wednesday common days, and everyone is supposed to come in those days unless we have client travel. It means there’s enough critical mass of people there those days that it feels worth it to be there, even if most meetings are on zoom. Often I have client meetings on Tuesday/thursday/Friday while most people non-client-facing are WFH those days, so I could probably get away with skipping one of the common days those weeks, but I feel like the face time with my CEO and the analysts who support me is worth going in.

I have always had a relaxed attitude about coming in late or taking a long lunch or leaving early since I am on the road a lot/putting in those extra hours. Tomorrow I am working out and I have an appointment during ‘lunch’ so I’ll be gone for 2 hours.

[CrazyLucky]

I work in manufacturing and we were only WFH for about two months, so I've been in person since then. And so is everyone else I work with, so we meet and talk in person all the time. I don't think I could do WFH full time. I do like WFH once in a while though. It's a nice break.

[k3am]

Jan 31, 2024 0:46:25 GMT -5 sdlaura said:

k3am does your office have a policy on how often you should come in? I wouldn’t be doing more than they require if I were you. My commute is less than 20 minutes each way, and I still find it to be a waste of time a lot of the time.

Policy is 5 days a week in the office. I WFH on Wednesdays and have/will do everything in my power to avoid giving that day up, and can flex a Friday here and there. Senior people on the new floor all have MUCH longer commutes and will work out of remote offices (not home) once a week to cut down on commute, so it's hard to complain. But last night's commute, door to door, was 55 minutes to go 13 miles, so I'm complaining. 

If I thought I could honor my side of the bargain, I would see if I could leave daily at 2-2:30 when I could use carpool lane and cut the commute down to 20ish mins, but when I've done that in the past, getting set up at home and logging back in has been... questionable. 

[sandandsea]

Jan 31, 2024 12:52:38 GMT -5 k3am said:

Jan 31, 2024 0:46:25 GMT -5 sdlaura said:

k3am does your office have a policy on how often you should come in? I wouldn’t be doing more than they require if I were you. My commute is less than 20 minutes each way, and I still find it to be a waste of time a lot of the time.

Policy is 5 days a week in the office. I WFH on Wednesdays and have/will do everything in my power to avoid giving that day up, and can flex a Friday here and there. Senior people on the new floor all have MUCH longer commutes and will work out of remote offices (not home) once a week to cut down on commute, so it's hard to complain. But last night's commute, door to door, was 55 minutes to go 13 miles, so I'm complaining. 

If I thought I could honor my side of the bargain, I would see if I could leave daily at 2-2:30 when I could use carpool lane and cut the commute down to 20ish mins, but when I've done that in the past, getting set up at home and logging back in has been... questionable. 

I do this on my in office days. I get there 8:45ish and leave at 2:45 then wfh after to cut down the commute time. It works out really well and not logging back on when I get home isn’t an option as I still have a ton to do.

[mae0111]

k3am - I did that commute for years (14 miles took just over an hour if I could use the carpool lane, probably 90mins if not) - first for 5 days a week, then down to 3 days after I had kids. It sucked. When I worked at home I would truly lock myself in my office and work - we had a FT nanny and the kids would see me at lunch. But having an extra 2 hours in my day for those 2 days was amazing.

I hope maybe the powers that be can see their way to giving you more time at home… before they lose you completely in favor of a better arrangement.

[k3am]

Jan 31, 2024 13:49:46 GMT -5 sandandsea said:

Jan 31, 2024 12:52:38 GMT -5 k3am said:

I'm honestly 50/50 on it. My workday is really front loaded, since we have funding deadlines and wire cutoffs we have to meet and most of my customers on the east coast. So afternoons are really when I can work on the stuff that's *really* easy to push off to another day. I'm really good with the whole procrastination thing and almost need the pressure and stress to get some stuff done. Plus the dog gets so excited when I get home and walk sounds so much better... 

ETA: No idea how I screwed up that quote so much. 

[sdlaura]

k3am would it be so bad if you did push that more optional afternoon stuff to the next day most days? I find that I'm a lot more productive during my in-office time now that I have a hybrid schedule, because I want more flexibility to walk the dog (or whatever) when I feel like it during my WFH time. If I were in the office everyday, I wouldn't be that productive all the time, so I think it evens out.

[waverly]

Jan 31, 2024 16:16:44 GMT -5 k3am said:

Jan 31, 2024 13:49:46 GMT -5 sandandsea said:

I'm honestly 50/50 on it. My workday is really front loaded, since we have funding deadlines and wire cutoffs we have to meet and most of my customers on the east coast. So afternoons are really when I can work on the stuff that's *really* easy to push off to another day. I'm really good with the whole procrastination thing and almost need the pressure and stress to get some stuff done. Plus the dog gets so excited when I get home and walk sounds so much better... 

ETA: No idea how I screwed up that quote so much. 

 If I left earlier my boss wouldn't care if I were only 50/50 logging in as long as the work was getting done. 

But if I am picking up kids from a 3pm summer camp, for example,  I am pretty unlikely to log back in and I take PTO for that.