To be a bit pissed off about colleagues' lack of enthusiasm to return to the office?

[spuddy56]

About 6 months ago I joined a large organisation in a fairly large team (15 ish). Since covid the company have introduced flexible working. Whether or not you go in is down to individual people and their managers. Barely any of this team ever go into the office, particularly those who worked there pre covid, although there is a newer bunch tend to go in once a week and seem to be developing really positive working and social relationships out of it. My particular role doesn't overlap theirs at all but does overlap the with the more longstanding members who are refusing to go in. Although I get on well with everyone as far as I know (but who really knows from behind a screen!), I'm also aware that they are having social meet ups without me and it just feels so hard to get a grasp on the culture and the ins and outs of working with particular people. We currently have a high turnover too, and I wonder if people feel less loyalty because they are not forming face to face relationships? The managers want to encourage creativity and collaboration but this seems to difficult to me when there's no casual conversations and bouncing around of ideas outside of zoom and emails.

Am I being unreasonable to think that people should head in to the office occasionally or do we just need to get used to this?

P.s. I actually love working from home and the flexibility, I just think some face to face collaboration would be helpful too.

Just started a remote job in a creative industry where everyone is based in the same county and still barely anyone goes into the office at all. I love it. I'm in my mid twenties, I'm good with tech, and I am perfectly capable of connecting with others online.

It's the most efficient company I've ever worked for, everyone has great work-life balance so we have the headspace to come up with creative solutions etc.

I have plenty of friends and a family who are my priority, I have no interest in forced friendships with colleagues.

Wow @elephantmarchingin tips on meeting stakeholders and learning about systems make me over enthusiastic?! I want to do my job efficiently and effectively. My employers pay me well and I want to make sure I'm working as productively as possible for them. That might mean learning about the nuances of culture, senior stakeholders preferences and ways of working that I'm struggling to pick up effectively in a fully remote environment.

Of course, the issue here could be the lack of sharing in the team in general, and its been interesting to read answers from people whose teams are doing this well remotely. I do wonder though if this is exacerbated by strong pre covid work groups that had been formed face to face, making it harder for these older employees to consider new people as part of the team.

A lot of the after school care provision around here has now folded because of the increase in working from home - so those who DO have to go into offices etc are now being massively fucked over in that regard too.

I'm currently doing a final clinical placement on healthcare - based at home but travelling to the community patients. I've lost so much informal learning from not being in an office - I've only spoken to one other member of the team in 3 months - we travel out separately, meet at a client, then travel home and log onto Teams to discuss it. It's soul destroying, and not to mention that no one now knows who has what resources as stuff that would be in the office cupboard is now scattered in car boots across the local area.

Hopefully we're all getting requested back to the office on a hybrid arrangement soon cos this is just a joyless slog. I literally would not know people who are colleagues if I passed them in the street - that's pretty awful.

I like most of my colleagues, but our team has always been split across different countries, so we've always had a lot of conference and video calls and messaging. I don't care if Petr is on a video from his home or the office in Amsterdam, because either way, we can be face-to-face.

We are now expected to be in once a week, and I'm considering days where I can avoid the colleagues I don't like so much. 😉 Although just now, I'm not allowed in till I'm testing negative for covid. Also, we've got buying works going on into May, so I'm not do keen on being there till that's over.

It works differently for different people. I like being in the office to see people, because I live alone. Another colleague likes coming in on the day the cleaner is due, and another to get away from his children. It also depends on whether you can have a dedicated workspace, or have to share the sitting room, or stay in your bedroom in a shared house - because we are all different.

I am expecting that as overseas travel is allowed again, we will be asked to be in on particular days when we have visitors (which I also expect to happen less often.) What I will miss is the unexpected visitors, who are over to see others and you catch up by accident.

There is value in having people together face-to-face, but it doesn't have to be daily. It also depends on the nature of the work - not all work can be done remotely. But a truly flexible workplace will take into account the needs of individuals and teams and the business and work something out that works for most people, new and old.

Totally agree that heavy periods are easier to deal with at home, though.

@spuddy56

Wow *@elephantmarchingin* tips on meeting stakeholders and learning about systems make me over enthusiastic?! I want to do my job efficiently and effectively. My employers pay me well and I want to make sure I'm working as productively as possible for them. That might mean learning about the nuances of culture, senior stakeholders preferences and ways of working that I'm struggling to pick up effectively in a fully remote environment.

Of course, the issue here could be the lack of sharing in the team in general, and its been interesting to read answers from people whose teams are doing this well remotely. I do wonder though if this is exacerbated by strong pre covid work groups that had been formed face to face, making it harder for these older employees to consider new people as part of the team.

If you feel you're missing this info generally, talk to your manager.

I would be happy to meet remotely or face to face to help a new employee with systems or stakeholder handling chat.

I would be very unhappy at a blanket policy of being in the office, there's no need. I've been homeworking for years. In the office, I was very quiet because I was desperately trying to get work done amid noise.

I really think you need to consider an environment without home working, if you like office "buzz" generally.

That might mean learning about the nuances of culture, senior stakeholders preferences and ways of working that I'm struggling to pick up effectively in a fully remote environment.

I just asked people about all of this. Depending how big or urgent it was I could drop a question in a group chat window; ask a colleague who'd been at the company longer than me but didn't manage me; ask my manager directly; email HR; etc etc etc. And getting a clear answer in writing is so much more useful than hanging around an office vaguely trying to "observe" things while also getting your own work done.

@spuddy56

Wow *@elephantmarchingin* tips on meeting stakeholders and learning about systems make me over enthusiastic?! I want to do my job efficiently and effectively. My employers pay me well and I want to make sure I'm working as productively as possible for them. That might mean learning about the nuances of culture, senior stakeholders preferences and ways of working that I'm struggling to pick up effectively in a fully remote environment.

Of course, the issue here could be the lack of sharing in the team in general, and its been interesting to read answers from people whose teams are doing this well remotely. I do wonder though if this is exacerbated by strong pre covid work groups that had been formed face to face, making it harder for these older employees to consider new people as part of the team.

Frankly yes, you are probably that person who is always so very very helpful whilst winding others up. Just because you like the buzz of the office does not mean that everyone should have too, if you wanted an office environment you shouldn't have gone for a company with WFH

@EBearhug well put as to what is valuable time in an office and what is less valuable.

I agree with you that for new starters and staff retention, work from home is a disaster

For new starters iwfh is harder but not a disaster and I say that as someone who started a new role last year.

For retention it's excellent for those who prefer to wfh and the complete opposite of a disaster

Only a *disaster' for those who don't wish to do so and where there is no longer an office or a hybrid choice.

In your position I’d probably look for another job. It doesn’t look like your colleagues particularly want to change the current setup.

There are definitely organisations that can make fully remote teams work really well, but they usually have people who self-select for that and put some effort into making it work on an organisational level.

In my workplace we have lost new starts due to full WFH when that was in place. Even with an effort to do decent induction and buddying and virtual shadowing programmes, remote work worked better for people with established histories and work relationships in the place than it did for new people. We are back in the office some of the time now and it’s so much easier to get new people up to speed.

YABU. Especially when you said you enjoy homeworking anyway 🤷‍♀️ Personally I love to WFH and think that office work is outdated. I recently turned down a higher paid job because it was fully office based. Once I factored in fuel costs I’d have lost money but more importantly, I value my work life balance and it would have meant up to two hours a day sat in traffic. Not for me anymore thanks. I’ve got two interviews next week at the same band which are fully home working which sounds right up my street 😆