Posted on 08/29/2024 11:24:08 AM PDT by ShadowAce
So true. Or be TALKED TO by people who need to waste your time with interruptions every time they encounter a problem or want to escape their work.
Other people engaging me in involuntary conversations is the absolute most crippling part of my work. I have to engage for different reasons, but alot of people cannot stay on topic or minimize their verbal waste.
I should become a consultant. There would be a lot of middle & upper management that would get the ax, based on what I’ve read in this thread.
Let’s just leave out trades and manufacturing (because they all have to be on site or in the field), for the obvious reasons, and just focus on office environments, which I am actualy very familiar with. I hear people talk about dry by conversations, and in a healthy office, a social bonding is actually a positive thing, but in a productive office, people can collaborate very quickly, even if it’s only to ask a quick question. I will admit this works better in a small to medium size office and falls apart in a huge corporation (but those have dysfunctional policies anyway). “Where are you on project A, and have you spoken with engineer x yet?” “Bing bang boom.” “Okay thanks”. Then zip off to get something done.
Places I’ve worked, people who were “never there” had better be on medical leave, in the field, or in sales. Otherwise, they’d be canned and finding a new employer to ghost.
I have also talked to people who seem to be stuck in meetings all week long. These tend to be in larger corporations, but always, but no matter what, it’s a terrible kind of dysfunction that kills productivity time. Meetings are good for group brief/debrief information dissemination as well as for higher management to hold people’s feet to the fire in groups and in person (where frankly it’s much more effective). I will grant you that teams/zoom meetings can accomplish some of this though but those tend to be even slower than in person. The only groups that should be meeting frequently or daily are collaboration intensive, such as writers or programmers. Whether online or in person, meetings kill productivity but remote work lends itself to a lot of brain numbing electronic conferences.
I will say that I worked more at home. I started at 6:30AM and would work anywhere from 5-6PM. But I took breaks in between. My employer liked the greater availability.
Hmmm...how to operate the backhoe and hand dig from home..
In my situation, I work for very large employer. IT Engineering, by itself, has over 2000 employees. Employer has well over 20,000 employees. Not all of us WFH due to the nature of our jobs. However, 99% of IT Engineering does.
Our "collaboration" works just fine, as we are all on Skype 100% of the time we are on the clock. Your example above is done much quicker on skype than in person, since no one has to actually get up and go find the person to ask the question.
Also, it helps the mid managers keep track of their teams, along with zoom calls. No more scheduling of meeting rooms. Things are much easier and productive all around due to WFH.
At least for us.
Can you prove I'm not?
Youre right its not black and white ...but without guard rails , working from home is fraught with temptation to take ones eyes off the prize so to speak. Its human nature ,no one is perfect....and not everyone has a manipulative agenda.... but Im sure the vast majority of work at home people fall into the time theft traps regularly imho.
You miss the point, this is not personal to you.
You ask Home workers if they are productive, what else are they going to say.
Yes, some are productive, do you really think it is as high as the survey says?
It is a pretty low percent, maybe the same as in the office. 10% productive? lower?
Why is productivity of VITAL importance when WFH, but when workers are in the office, it's importance sinks?
I think it's several factors. Cost of commercial real estate being a big one, but also the relevance of low- to mid-level managers who really aren't needed--and WFH is exposing that.
So they scream and yell about "productivity" without really defining what that means or how they measure it in the office.
I actually find myself much more connected to my team than I did in the office because I'm not wearing headphones all day in an attempt to drown out the noise, and I'm concentrating on my screen, which is where all my communication takes place. No one has to wander around the office/building looking for me or for a room to meet in. We just meet where we are.
Yes--a lot of people take advantage of the situation. However, I think that is on the managers--they need to hire better people.
It was.
We always had things like baby showers in a conference room before someone left on maternity leave; informal groups would take someone out to lunch for their birthday; we would have conference room going-away celebrations when someone transferred to a different part of the corporation or retired; things like that.
-PJ
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