New research suggests narcissistic, controlling bosses drive return-to-office mandates

[Bluescreendeath]

People work together better when they're all in the same room.
Dare to disagree with me.

For how long and for what type of work and in what type of environment?

I've had enough coworkers to know that many people inevitably start gossiping or talking sports, relationships, family, etc when they get into groups and aren't constantly monitored.

 

[lonetac]

For how long and for what type of work and in what type of environment?

I've had enough coworkers to know that many people inevitably start gossiping or talking sports, relationships, family, etc when they get into groups and aren't constantly monitored.

he just wants to yell over everyone and stomp his feet to show his importance.

Professionals have no problem working remotely and accomplishing their objectives.

I dont deny some facetime does help foster relationships but it isnt needed every day. I know when I was forced to go to the office I was way less productive because everyone in the office is just pretending and gossiping instead of working. Not to mention you are forced to be subjected to stories of their kids, pets and other non sense that I dont really care to hear about. Im here to do a job and earn a check, not be your friend.

 

[arrowflash]

Also, not everyone has the space in their home for a productive work enviroment. I had one co-worker where he and his wife had to share a table in their kids bedroom during covid.

True. Not everyone is able to have a proper work environment at home for a variety of reasons, wife and kids bothering them all day, cramped space, loud neighbors, etc. If I ever get a remote job, I'll still have to commute somewhere like a library or net cafe where I can work in peace. I know there are also places that rent office-like spaces for people with remote jobs in this exact situation, but none near my area.

 

[Nobina]

On the contrary, you are not bothered by the lunatic showing without notice to your cubicle and burning 30 minutes of your 8 hours shift for killing time.

You also have less interaction with your managers which is removing a lot of discomfort if they are micro-managers.

The pandemic demonstrated how nonsensical our work etiquette really was. Work from home literally saved my employer to deal with a burnout, MY burnout. Transiting for 2 + hours everyday is over for me. I will never go back to this.

Not every job is the same and all, but you should be able to handle some pressure as an adult ffs. I feel like people have personal issues they're not dealing with, and then they expect the world to bend around for them so they don't have to deal with people.

 

[Jack77]

Just wanted to say that I liked the "(Lack of) culture" heading.

 

[loki1944]

New research suggests that most suggestive research is made suggestive by those with an agenda.

Exactly; well said.

 

[loki1944]

Sounds like a lot of employees have a case of whiny entitlement sissyitus to me.

 

[hover389]

If someone is not productive at home, most probably he is even more disturbing in office - pretending to be busy, 'networking', poor skills but high self opinion. And, if he can being lazy at home and still can do his quota - kudos to him. If not, it will be visible in his results. I see no issue here.
Productivity is easy to trace using KPI. Haven't seen any dramatic changes pre, mid, and post pandemic there.


Sure, again - how was her KPI's? My home space is ergonomically 10 times better than my 'modern' office interiors. I agree that is a limitation, but it is really difficult to extrapolate any causality here.


How is that a loss? If all work is done, and he pays the same for the office, how having space and not hitting each other's elbows is a loss? Actually less people in office is less energy used, less water, coffee and stuff. This is exactly what this article is talking about - narcissistic bosses who simply miss meddling and micromanaging everything. No matter if all is going well, if it is going well but can't put the result to own name, they just get mad.

And still funny, in general, to see how many people are full of envy for people who have any kind of control on their own work environment. "I sit 60 hours in office, you have to do same as well or you're sooo entitled!" stuff. Nice salt to main popcorn in my HO

Nope I have the option to work from home but I dont. Nothing replaces a dedicated working environment where you can actually interact face to face with coworkers in the same room and not be distracted by everything else at home. Its been proven that productivity has fallen across the country since more people have been working from home. There are always exceptions to the rule but in general people are more focused and productive at work than at home.

 

[toooooot]

New research suggests that lazy, self centered employees drive the hatred of working in an office; act like its going to prison.

Why not both?
If you have large enough company, you could easily let 30% work from home and they will do it damn fine.
Then you will also have 30% who will not do it due to the nature of their characters.
What is with this thing trying to measure all people the same?

 

[dangh]

Nope I have the option to work from home but I dont. Nothing replaces a dedicated working environment where you can actually interact face to face with coworkers in the same room and not be distracted by everything else at home. Its been proven that productivity has fallen across the country since more people have been working from home. There are always exceptions to the rule but in general people are more focused and productive at work than at home.

This is your decision And I do respect that. At the same time you do not respect other people decision and make up reasons to fill your agenda - and 'It has been proven...' means absolutely nothing, if the only source of that revelation is 'I said that, believe me'.
I could say something totally opposite and claim I'm right, because it is I who said that - makes no sense, right?
If someone wants to work from office, perfect. Same if someone works from home. Lazy person in office is no better than lazy person working from home. KPI's and valuation helps find them both. And at the same time, people who just slam others who do things differently and can't stand people can actually do a decent work without commuting 2 hours are just envious guys who have this weird need to be ruled by a strong hand and often can't imagine being responsible for their own well being. And yes, I'm strongly generalizing.

 

[Ohnooze]

I work from home so I have no issues with it. But it's a privilege not something you're owed unless it was agreed on from the date of hire.

That said....I'm sure this is a completely unbiased study...NOT. Articles/studies like this are a joke....always written by someone with an axe to grind. Not that there is no truth to it but you will never know.

Also this attitude is why so many companies don't want to hire the younger generation. Entitled attitudes of a spoiled generation....time to grow up.

 

[sreams]

"Musk... the same contempt he has for cave divers"

I would think most people would have contempt for people who suggest that they sodomize themselves.

 

[VectorVortec]

Nope I have the option to work from home but I dont. Nothing replaces a dedicated working environment where you can actually interact face to face with coworkers in the same room and not be distracted by everything else at home. Its been proven that productivity has fallen across the country since more people have been working from home. There are always exceptions to the rule but in general people are more focused and productive at work than at home.

The article said that the financials washed out. They have numbers, but you have the word "proven".

 

[about30ninjas]

People work together better when they're all in the same room.

Dare to disagree with me.

I disagree with you, now what? Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I beg to disagree, the further away I can get from co-workers, the more productive I am. lol. People who are lazy, will find a way to be lazy, regardless of the work environment. Working from home is not the issue, it's the lack good leadership and leaders using work from home as a scape goat.

 

[Superconductor]

I work from home so I have no issues with it. But it's a privilege not something you're owed unless it was agreed on from the date of hire.

That said....I'm sure this is a completely unbiased study...NOT. Articles/studies like this are a joke....always written by someone with an axe to grind. Not that there is no truth to it but you will never know.

Also this attitude is why so many companies don't want to hire the younger generation. Entitled attitudes of a spoiled generation....time to grow up.

Bam!

 

[m3tavision]

It seems to me reading this thread that a lot of the People who work from home are so much smarter than the Boss. Perhaps that is why they are at home attempting to dazzle the company with their brilliance...?

It depends on the job req, but the amount of angst ovr having to show up is telling.

 

[hwertz]

People work together better when they're all in the same room.

Dare to disagree with me.

Done! I disagree with you.

Software development is highly effective where people can do things "asynchronously" -- have a bug tracking system, or Slack, or Telegram where people talk through there, but usually not expecting instant responses. I've done this -- we have some sessions where we have a quick back-and-forth, but then I can get on with it and focus on some actual coding, knowing that I can reply to anything that comes up in the channel after I've gotten a nice stint of coding done. It's pretty hard in a cube farm or other office type situation to be able to block everyone out for a while if you need a bit of deep concentration; doing this remotely it's pretty trivial.

 

[LemmingO]

This has obviously nothing to do with people (in Tech companies) taking on 2 or even 3 jobs during Covid... Of course bosses won't say it out loud, because it proves how incompetent they are.

 

[PEnnn]

As long as the job gets done, I (current manger) couldn't care less if they worked from a bordello and get it done.

Egocentric "managerial" dudes, lacking self respect but need to justify their jobs and salaries AND want to boss people around, wasting time with useless daily "briefings" are the problem, not the answer.

If every manager is capable and AND qualified AND knows more than their employees, I'd cut them some slack on the subject. But reality is, 90% of managers are dinosaurs who need employees in their crosshairs to feel important.

 

[Greggs]

There's conflicting data which isn't surprising because it's a complicated thing to measure and difficult to compare studies. So people who support WFH point to studies they agree with and RTO points to studies they agree. The reality is the market will decide, if companies are having trouble hiring and retaining employees, they will be more open to accommodating employees. If one or the other is actually more productive, those companies will have a comparative advantage and prosper. The reality is somewhere in between two extremes that varies depending on the industry, job task, and culture.

 

[Karl Hungus]

People work together better when they're all in the same room.

Dare to disagree with me.

Spoken like someone who has never worked in an office with real people!

 

[Karl Hungus]

As long as the job gets done, I (current manger) couldn't care less if they worked from a bordello and get it done.

Egocentric "managerial" dudes, lacking self respect but need to justify their jobs and salaries AND want to boss people around, wasting time with useless daily "briefings" are the problem, not the answer.

If every manager is capable and AND qualified AND knows more than their employees, I'd cut them some slack on the subject. But reality is, 90% of managers are dinosaurs who need employees in their crosshairs to feel important.

This x 100. It's old-school thinking, 1950's control freaks who want 'their people' around to stroke their giant egos and low self-esteem. Most of the people on this comment forum are also old dinosaurs unfortunately. Younger people don't know that Techspot even exists (I.e my 22 and 18 year old kids).

 

[Karl Hungus]

Nope I have the option to work from home but I dont. Nothing replaces a dedicated working environment where you can actually interact face to face with coworkers in the same room and not be distracted by everything else at home. Its been proven that productivity has fallen across the country since more people have been working from home. There are always exceptions to the rule but in general people are more focused and productive at work than at home.

Nope (always love that sarcastic response). Good for you. You are someone who likely lives for his job. You are in the gigantic minority. We have the option of going in every day too, but only a small handful actually do it (usually those with no life outside of work...they need it to actually interact with people once in a while). That so-called 'productivity study' was done by a so-called 'thinktank' funded by (you guessed it) conservative, old men. MANY other studies show the truth...that productivity increases across the board when people have flexible work arrangements like work from home.

 

[lonetac]

Nope I have the option to work from home but I dont. Nothing replaces a dedicated working environment where you can actually interact face to face with coworkers in the same room and not be distracted by everything else at home. Its been proven that productivity has fallen across the country since more people have been working from home. There are always exceptions to the rule but in general people are more focused and productive at work than at home.

It has not been proven. Thats absolutely false. Thats just you pushing an agenda. JFC you people. Look at the data and stop reading headlines.

Many folks work better in the opposite space you do, imagine that, not everyone is like you. Wow.

 

[lonetac]

Nope (always love that sarcastic response). Good for you. You are someone who likely lives for his job. You are in the gigantic minority. We have the option of going in every day too, but only a small handful actually do it (usually those with no life outside of work...they need it to actually interact with people once in a while). That so-called 'productivity study' was done by a so-called 'thinktank' funded by (you guessed it) conservative, old men. MANY other studies show the truth...that productivity increases across the board when people have flexible work arrangements like work from home.

One of the most quoted studies for WFH productivity being bad is from a study of 1000 folks in india who worked at a telephone answering company. Once you start looking at the data you realize how dumb the generalization is and yet folks eat it up like candy quoting as gospel.

lets compare 1000 offshore folks doing a t1 job that requires no skill to developers, it professionals and other experts in the field. Great job!