More workers say they'll quit instead of going back to the office full time

[Neatfeatguy]

No there isn't, and this is such a broad statement that it borders on being laughable. Actually, it is laughable!

Not everybody is a burger flipper who can be replaced. There are ever emerging new technologies where competent employees are not a dime a dozen (like some of the miserable commenters here): The fields of AI, Robotics, machine programming, aerospace, etc come straight to mind.

If you are a competent latest tech professional, you can tell your bosses you're working from your sailboat in the Bahamas and they will gladly accept.

I know, I have been there in the 1990s and they agreed to every demand, from 4 weeks vacation on day one to countless other perks!

Now let the miserable ones bow and agree with their overlords from their tiny cubicles....someone else is laughing at them!

Here you are jumping to conclusions to justify your response.

All I said is that there are others to replace you. You seem to need to run off on a tangent to justify your actions to everyone else.

There is always someone else that can replace you. Period. Maybe what you do is niche and it's easier to give into the whiny demands over finding some one else to do the work. In the end, you are replaceable and no one is special.

 

[TechSam]

There is always someone out there to replace you.

I've been on plenty of projects where the lead programmer has left and set us back months because we didn't do enough documentation. In video games, you don't get much time to do documents and especially when systems evolve when you find out they don't work how you planned.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

I've been on plenty of projects where the lead programmer has left and set us back months because we didn't do enough documentation. In video games, you don't get much time to do documents and especially when systems evolve when you find out they don't work how you planned.

Yep. Seen things like that happen. In the end, someone replaces you, even if it sets projects back.

 

[RF Match]

"Hassanabi, post: 2144964, member: 493042"]
"I really don't understand why one would WILLINGLY give up their free time to travel for 60-120 minutes a day not even accounting for delays/traffic jams."

Believe it or not, some people actually Love their jobs and have no problem commuting to it.
They also like actually talking to people and having relationships w/co-workers In Person.
Finally, some people just cannot be trusted to work from home on their own. They will abuse the privilege.

 

[BuckarooBonzaii]

There are many who wants to work and need jobs. One thing to remember is there will always be someone better than you. Being complacent sometimes puts you in a negative situation and remote working opens the World to companies. Companies can be scouting talent elsewhere secretly then toss in the bomb, layoffs, termination, etc. Only to hire the new talent at a later date.

Remote working depends on the type of job and companies need to realize this too. Sometimes people go into the office for the socializing and to get away from the home life for a brief moment.

 

[RudyBob]

I'm sitting on my doorstep taking a coffee break. WFH isn't over, it's just gotten more exclusive and the people who do it know they have a good thing and don't ID themselves as such on social media (as in ages past)... because all it does is fuel jealousy and hate.

At the highest levels of IT when it comes to executing the whims of billionaires... where you work matters even less than how much you work so long as the job gets done.

More exclusive. That's an excellent way to put it

 

[Hassanabi]

"Hassanabi, post: 2144964, member: 493042"]
"I really don't understand why one would WILLINGLY give up their free time to travel for 60-120 minutes a day not even accounting for delays/traffic jams."

Believe it or not, some people actually Love their jobs and have no problem commuting to it.
They also like actually talking to people and having relationships w/co-workers In Person.
Finally, some people just cannot be trusted to work from home on their own. They will abuse the privilege.

About 99% of the people you will ever meet at the workplace will stop contacting you the moment you're not colleagues anymore. I would know as I switched companies several times during my career and only remained in contact with a handful of people.

Ah yes the "can't be trusted excuse", during COVID my department had far better numbers while working at home than we ever did before, and better than what we had after we went back to the office on hybrid.

I find it entertaining that you advocate for social contact with your colleagues, by working at the office, but simultaneously you can't trust your beloved colleagues to do their job when they're out of your sight.

Basically you're giving me another good reason not to waste my time on people at the office if they're not to be trusted to do their jobs when they're at home.

Do you want to know how our hybrid days looked like? When we were at home productivity was high, remote contact was primarily work related. Whereas at the office it was mostly people chatting about random non-work related stuff. Productivity went down immensely on the two days that we worked at the office. Every single metric that we had to assess that, showed that those 2 days at the office, our productivity went down by at least 30% and sometimes even more.

Have fun wasting your time on colleagues or employees you can't trust.

 

[Hassanabi]

There are many who wants to work and need jobs. One thing to remember is there will always be someone better than you. Being complacent sometimes puts you in a negative situation and remote working opens the World to companies. Companies can be scouting talent elsewhere secretly then toss in the bomb, layoffs, termination, etc. Only to hire the new talent at a later date.

Remote working depends on the type of job and companies need to realize this too. Sometimes people go into the office for the socializing and to get away from the home life for a brief moment.

I want to work at home because I'm too old to deal with colleagues that just want to gossip and waste everybody's time.

I'm employed to do certain tasks, and I will deliver on that and more. I've had days where I delivered on the weekend while working at home. Even when weekends are not my typical working hours, I did this because I like performing my job well.

You think those gossipers do something like that?

Of course not, they just chat everybody's ears off and then they'll say "I had a great day at work"... Without actually spending their energy on anything work-related.

What I find most interesting is that the colleagues I had, that preferred working at the office, were all people that wasted a lot of their time on doing non-work related things like gossiping. Working at home for them is damning because it becomes painfully clear that they're all talk and no show.

So when they're at home, they feel "forced" to work, and they don't like that. They want to waste as much time doing as little as possible, but just enough so it isn't painfully clear to everyone, but when you're working remotely there's more eyes on actual results,so it becomes painfully clear that they're cutting corners.

 

[Ashford]

One thing to remember is there will always be someone better than you.

Don't be like that bro... you've only got one life, one shot. It should pain you to think that you think so little of yourself and your potential that you believe at your core you could never be the best at anything, I assure you that comes through in other areas of your life. This is a key aspect in my opinion of what separates people who can work unsupervised from those who can't... a burning, uncompromising desire to achieve perfection or at the very least improve, rooted in the confidence that you are equipped with amazing tools (your brain) that can do amazing things that seem really hard or impossible to others.

 

[ThePanelStation1]

This trend highlights a major shift in workplace expectations. Flexibility and work-life balance have become top priorities for many employees, and companies need to adapt if they want to retain top talent. At <a href="https://www.thepanelstation.com/">The Panel Station</a>, we understand the value of a hybrid or remote model—not just for productivity, but for employee well-being and satisfaction. The future of work is evolving, and it’s important to listen.

 

[BuckarooBonzaii]

Don't be like that bro... you've only got one life, one shot. It should pain you to think that you think so little of yourself and your potential that you believe at your core you could never be the best at anything, I assure you that comes through in other areas of your life. This is a key aspect in my opinion of what separates people who can work unsupervised from those who can't... a burning, uncompromising desire to achieve perfection or at the very least improve, rooted in the confidence that you are equipped with amazing tools (your brain) that can do amazing things that seem really hard or impossible to others.

I think you may have misinterpreted my statement. I meant to say that don't be complacent in thinking that you're the best as this will be your downfall. Keep on moving forward , striving.

 

[RF Match]

About 99% of the people you will ever meet at the workplace will stop contacting you the moment you're not colleagues anymore. I would know as I switched companies several times during my career and only remained in contact with a handful of people.

Ah yes the "can't be trusted excuse", during COVID my department had far better numbers while working at home than we ever did before, and better than what we had after we went back to the office on hybrid.

I find it entertaining that you advocate for social contact with your colleagues, by working at the office, but simultaneously you can't trust your beloved colleagues to do their job when they're out of your sight.

Basically you're giving me another good reason not to waste my time on people at the office if they're not to be trusted to do their jobs when they're at home.

Do you want to know how our hybrid days looked like? When we were at home productivity was high, remote contact was primarily work related. Whereas at the office it was mostly people chatting about random non-work related stuff. Productivity went down immensely on the two days that we worked at the office. Every single metric that we had to assess that, showed that those 2 days at the office, our productivity went down by at least 30% and sometimes even more.

Have fun wasting your time on colleagues or employees you can't trust.

Yes, some people can be trusted to work from home and there are cases where working from home is more efficient and good for moral. I'm just saying some cannot and they will always ruin it for those who can successfully.

Some COVID policies hurt everybody in the long run. Too much disagreement on how it should have been handled. It positively opened up WFH policies but there still needs to be balance as people have to learn to socialize in person. Some much more than others.

"Have fun wasting your time on colleagues or employees you can't trust."

I'm truly sorry that you have had such a negative experience with coworkers. I don't trust all but I certainly don't feel I'm wasting time with any...

 

[Hassanabi]

Yes, some people can be trusted to work from home and there are cases where working from home is more efficient and good for moral. I'm just saying some cannot and they will always ruin it for those who can successfully.

Some COVID policies hurt everybody in the long run. Too much disagreement on how it should have been handled. It positively opened up WFH policies but there still needs to be balance as people have to learn to socialize in person. Some much more than others.

"Have fun wasting your time on colleagues or employees you can't trust."

I'm truly sorry that you have had such a negative experience with coworkers. I don't trust all but I certainly don't feel I'm wasting time with any...

The majority of my colleagues did their work at home better than at the office.

What you're advocating for is punishing everyone because a minority group can't manage to do their job at home. Rather than advocating for these people to be kicked out of the company. Why should I work my *** off for an employer that let's slackers decide on what happens? Let those slackers go to the office alone.

There is zero added benefit to working at the office to me, I don't work to suck-up to people or to make small talk about non-work related things. I can perfectly function without all that forced crap.

We were forced to go back to the office for 2 days a week, too often several people in the team including the manager made excuses why they couldn't show up on those 2 days. It was painfully clear people didn't like working at the office but were being forced to for no valid reason.

They forced us to work at the office 2 days a week because of "human interaction" and "working together", even when it led to worse results. What makes it even funnier is being kicked out for cheap slave labor (Indians) that will do our jobs worse but a lot cheaper... and of course these people work remote 5 days a week. The same rules don't apply for them.

But then again it's always the extrovert people that want to force their way of life onto others.

It's not even negative interactions that made me think like it's a waste of time, it's the matter that people leave for other employers, I leave for another employer or in the last case the entire department is being bought out.

I worked 10 years for my latest employer, they paid off about 1000 employees, 30 or so from my department alone. Guess how many I'm still in contact with? Of the hundreds that I've seen join/leave over the years I'm still in contact with a grand total of 4 people... and none of these I would consider important people in my life.

What benefit did working at the office give? People were sick more often, people made up excuses why they couldn't come, the work performances dropped and at the end of the day we were all kicked out for cheap slave labor and barely anybody remained in contact.

 

[Stingy McDuck]

It's easy to tell from this comments section who works from home and who goes to the office lol.

 

[trents]

Should be interesting to see how the pressure from AI and robotics on "people" jobs will change attitudes about what workers are willing to do and not do.

 

[jeffbert]

I'm sitting on my doorstep taking a coffee break. WFH isn't over, it's just gotten more exclusive and the people who do it know they have a good thing and don't ID themselves as such on social media (as in ages past)... because all it does is fuel jealousy and hate.

At the highest levels of IT when it comes to executing the whims of billionaires... where you work matters even less than how much you work so long as the job gets done.

I believe you mean ENVY instead of JEALOUSY.

 

[jeffbert]

As technology advances, this work in the office/work from home argument will become mute. We're already starting to see it and probably in another 30 years half of everything that humans do will be done by AI or robots.

Simply inexcusable to use 'mute' when the context calls for 'moot.'

 

[jeffbert]

Perhaps you're employer thinks that highly of you, in which case, you are lucky. But you're blanket statement is absolutely ridiculous. First and foremost, there are many managers, owners, and CEOs who, for better or worse, look at dozens of metrics that have little to do with actual productivity. You'll find if you give them such and ultimatum, their egos, as well as the general bad idea of setting the precedent, will say goodbye as and example to prevent mass mutiny, will send you packing. Not to mention, I've worked for several owners/managers who do not understand what goes on in their area, that think they'll find another one that "looks just like you" to take your place. I've had it happen (not over work from home), just to wind up hiring me back (in one case). Not to mention, If you're expensive, they'll jump at the chance to save a buck (shareholder value, anyone?).

The only reason this has gone as far as it has, is because there are shortages in a lot of areas, and it's hard to find people. I doubt that will last forever. Of course, with the work ethic of the current crop of graduates, maybe it could.........

"Perhaps you're [you are] employer thinks that highly of you"

Sad to see such highly educated tech guys far too often use the wrong word because it sounds right.

"You'll find if you give them such and {should be 'an'}ultimatum, their egos,"

Annoying, ain't I?

 

[mgwerner]

"Perhaps you're [you are] employer thinks that highly of you"

Sad to see such highly educated tech guys far too often use the wrong word because it sounds right.

"You'll find if you give them such and {should be 'an'}ultimatum, their egos,"

Annoying, ain't I?

Not annoying, just saying what many of us thought......

 

[GABulldog]

Simply inexcusable to use 'mute' when the context calls for 'moot.'

You must be part of the Facbook grammer police

 

[lonetac]

Yes, some people can be trusted to work from home and there are cases where working from home is more efficient and good for moral. I'm just saying some cannot and they will always ruin it for those who can successfully.

Some COVID policies hurt everybody in the long run. Too much disagreement on how it should have been handled. It positively opened up WFH policies but there still needs to be balance as people have to learn to socialize in person. Some much more than others.

"Have fun wasting your time on colleagues or employees you can't trust."

I'm truly sorry that you have had such a negative experience with coworkers. I don't trust all but I certainly don't feel I'm wasting time with any...

Some people cant do WFH. No doubt this is true. They simply cannot stay focused.

On the flip side, some folks will absolutely not be productive in an office setting because they prefer to work and do their job instead of faking, pretending and gossiping with tons of distractions. Its a two way street.

I perform better in a quiet environment where someone isnt walking up to my desk every 5 minutes and trying to ask me how my weekend was.

My company was WFH prior to COVID. We are still WFH. Its a hybrid as in if you want to go to an office if its near you, you can but most of them are closing because its wasted real estate and just costing money. The huge offices, and mind you folks have a CHOICE if they want to go or not, have like 4 people in them. The offices can hold 1000s of employees.

Thats how many choose to go in and its mostly just a once a week kind of thing which I get. If I was near an office, I probably would go in once in awhile just for some facetime.

When your company evaluates employees it needs to be objective based, not staring over shoulder based. We are supposed to be professionals and adults working at these companies. In my field (Cyber Security) anyone not completing objectives assigned to them becomes very painfully obvious and they are put on a PiP. If they dont improve, they are removed from the organization and replaced until we find someone who can complete their assigned objectives.

Its that easy managing folks remotely. It comes with challenges for sure, but its a different approach than trying to manage someone in an office by staring over their shoulder (which wouldnt help the evaluate me in my work scenario tbh).

Our company doesnt actually care if you need to go pick your kid up in the middle of the work day. Have a headache? Go take a nap and let folks know. Need to fill the laundry, do it. They embrace that. We have over 25k employees and this company touches ever persons here data in some way. It wins great place to work awards every year.

They treat us like humans, not robots. Hell we are even getting an extra day off on 4th of July as a BONUS. Its now a 2 day holiday this year for us in the USA (we are global).

And you know what? We have no issues putting in a 10-12 hour day when needed. We have no issues working weekends or getting up late because of an incident. We are happy to do so and dont mind based on how they treat us.

Many companies approached WFH with a hammer and never implemented systems, processes to be successful while empowering employees to be resourceful.

Mind you, we have been profitable every year for the past 20 years (probably more but this is my limit of knowledge) and never once missed our EBIT. The only year we didnt get a raise was first year of COVID under Trump (but they did pay our bonus). Bonus's and raises every single year and embracing remote work.

If WFH meant you are lazy and cant be successful, our company would have smashed and burned years ago instead of thriving and growing significantly (Billions).

Our talent pool is also worldwide and not limited to 50-100 miles from an office. Thats huge! Some of my folks that are not near an office are the best workers we have! If we forced office mandates, we would lose some of our best folks. They would just go somewhere that allows it and they would be hired instantly.

 

[lonetac]

You must be part of the Facbook grammer police

When there is no counter argument, there is always being petty and pedantic to inflate the ego.

 

[RF Match]

It's easy to tell from this comments section who works from home and who goes to the office lol.

Some people cant do WFH. No doubt this is true. They simply cannot stay focused.

On the flip side, some folks will absolutely not be productive in an office setting because they prefer to work and do their job instead of faking, pretending and gossiping with tons of distractions. Its a two way street.

I perform better in a quiet environment where someone isnt walking up to my desk every 5 minutes and trying to ask me how my weekend was.

My company was WFH prior to COVID. We are still WFH. Its a hybrid as in if you want to go to an office if its near you, you can but most of them are closing because its wasted real estate and just costing money. The huge offices, and mind you folks have a CHOICE if they want to go or not, have like 4 people in them. The offices can hold 1000s of employees.

Thats how many choose to go in and its mostly just a once a week kind of thing which I get. If I was near an office, I probably would go in once in awhile just for some facetime.

When your company evaluates employees it needs to be objective based, not staring over shoulder based. We are supposed to be professionals and adults working at these companies. In my field (Cyber Security) anyone not completing objectives assigned to them becomes very painfully obvious and they are put on a PiP. If they dont improve, they are removed from the organization and replaced until we find someone who can complete their assigned objectives.

Its that easy managing folks remotely. It comes with challenges for sure, but its a different approach than trying to manage someone in an office by staring over their shoulder (which wouldnt help the evaluate me in my work scenario tbh).

Our company doesnt actually care if you need to go pick your kid up in the middle of the work day. Have a headache? Go take a nap and let folks know. Need to fill the laundry, do it. They embrace that. We have over 25k employees and this company touches ever persons here data in some way. It wins great place to work awards every year.

They treat us like humans, not robots. Hell we are even getting an extra day off on 4th of July as a BONUS. Its now a 2 day holiday this year for us in the USA (we are global).

And you know what? We have no issues putting in a 10-12 hour day when needed. We have no issues working weekends or getting up late because of an incident. We are happy to do so and dont mind based on how they treat us.

Many companies approached WFH with a hammer and never implemented systems, processes to be successful while empowering employees to be resourceful.

Mind you, we have been profitable every year for the past 20 years (probably more but this is my limit of knowledge) and never once missed our EBIT. The only year we didnt get a raise was first year of COVID under Trump (but they did pay our bonus). Bonus's and raises every single year and embracing remote work.

If WFH meant you are lazy and cant be successful, our company would have smashed and burned years ago instead of thriving and growing significantly (Billions).

Our talent pool is also worldwide and not limited to 50-100 miles from an office. Thats huge! Some of my folks that are not near an office are the best workers we have! If we forced office mandates, we would lose some of our best folks. They would just go somewhere that allows it and they would be hired instantly.

Very good professional response! I completely agree with what you have put forward in your response. Being treated like humans is the bottom line, most important aspect of any job and should be the top priority of any employer. Sometimes that works and sometimes it unfortunately doesn't.

I don't respond positively to any individual who puts it down as "their way or the highway" type of work mantra. In my 38 years of experience, both employers and employees have to respect each others needs and boundaries in order to succeed. This may be WFH, hybrid or work completely at the office or on site (such as a semi fab). This has, for me, also included flex hours which is a benefit I believe everybody should have within boundaries. If you do your job and have gained the necessary trust, then take whatever time you need for personal reasons.

Finally, working for a small business, like myself, has many advantages and disadvantages. Your say in implementing work policies goes a lot further compared to a large corporation. You can tell admin what is working and what is not and they may actually adjust accordingly.

There will always be those bosses that have to have you under their thumb and ones that really see the issues. You just have to keep moving on and keep a positive, professional attitude and never burn bridges (if you have any).

 

[Ashford]

Some people cant do WFH. No doubt this is true. They simply cannot stay focused.

On the flip side, some folks will absolutely not be productive in an office setting because they prefer to work and do their job instead of faking, pretending and gossiping with tons of distractions. Its a two way street.

I perform better in a quiet environment where someone isnt walking up to my desk every 5 minutes and trying to ask me how my weekend was.

My company was WFH prior to COVID. We are still WFH. Its a hybrid as in if you want to go to an office if its near you, you can but most of them are closing because its wasted real estate and just costing money. The huge offices, and mind you folks have a CHOICE if they want to go or not, have like 4 people in them. The offices can hold 1000s of employees.

Thats how many choose to go in and its mostly just a once a week kind of thing which I get. If I was near an office, I probably would go in once in awhile just for some facetime.

When your company evaluates employees it needs to be objective based, not staring over shoulder based. We are supposed to be professionals and adults working at these companies. In my field (Cyber Security) anyone not completing objectives assigned to them becomes very painfully obvious and they are put on a PiP. If they dont improve, they are removed from the organization and replaced until we find someone who can complete their assigned objectives.

Its that easy managing folks remotely. It comes with challenges for sure, but its a different approach than trying to manage someone in an office by staring over their shoulder (which wouldnt help the evaluate me in my work scenario tbh).

Our company doesnt actually care if you need to go pick your kid up in the middle of the work day. Have a headache? Go take a nap and let folks know. Need to fill the laundry, do it. They embrace that. We have over 25k employees and this company touches ever persons here data in some way. It wins great place to work awards every year.

They treat us like humans, not robots. Hell we are even getting an extra day off on 4th of July as a BONUS. Its now a 2 day holiday this year for us in the USA (we are global).

And you know what? We have no issues putting in a 10-12 hour day when needed. We have no issues working weekends or getting up late because of an incident. We are happy to do so and dont mind based on how they treat us.

Many companies approached WFH with a hammer and never implemented systems, processes to be successful while empowering employees to be resourceful.

Mind you, we have been profitable every year for the past 20 years (probably more but this is my limit of knowledge) and never once missed our EBIT. The only year we didnt get a raise was first year of COVID under Trump (but they did pay our bonus). Bonus's and raises every single year and embracing remote work.

If WFH meant you are lazy and cant be successful, our company would have smashed and burned years ago instead of thriving and growing significantly (Billions).

Our talent pool is also worldwide and not limited to 50-100 miles from an office. Thats huge! Some of my folks that are not near an office are the best workers we have! If we forced office mandates, we would lose some of our best folks. They would just go somewhere that allows it and they would be hired instantly.

Shockingly good write up for Techspot - no offense to my friends here. Bravo sir.
I have a very similar work/life balance were I can run out and do errands, pick up a sick kid, whatever.

A foolish Exec sees those errands as impediments to my productivity. A true leader sees each such errand completed as one more reason I'll go further above and beyond for him and the TEAM (not the company) than most are comfortable hearing a person express when it comes to loyalty... NOT because they give me a paycheck... but because they facilitate a life I love that allows me to be present for the other people in my life ... and my boss understands that's the real reason I get out of bed everyday.

 

[GABulldog]

When there is no counter argument, there is always being petty and pedantic to inflate the ego.

The sentence really made a lot of sense.

Lets change "there is always being petty and pedantic to inflate the ego" to "there is always those who like to be petty and pedantic to inflate the ego"