> So yes, management pushes for return to the office, but they do have real reasons. It is dishonest to simply paint them as power addicts who just like to see slaves toiling for them.
If this is a genuine concern it is profoundly naive. If someone is slacking off at home, they will be doing the same slacking off in the office, just with extra steps of convincing you that they are busy.
If you have no means of evaluating that people are not delivering other than eyeballs on them, then your organization is deeply broken.
> If someone is slacking off at home, they will be doing the same slacking off in the office, just with extra steps of convincing you that they are busy.
I disagree. At home, motivation can be way harder for people. The "buzz" is missing. I've heard this regularly from my devs/ui/ux team. They like coming in. Motivation is lacking at home. You can wash clothes, clean or watch some netflix. Sure people slack off in the office, but the feeling that they are part of something is there and gives motivation.
This whole discussion seems to be about a minority which tries to argue that everyone should do it like they would've liked to have it for themselves. That's plain dishonest.
A lot of people in these discussions should really try different employers. We have a flexible setup. The maximum number of days people would like to stay at home is 2 per week. Most people come in every day.
> A lot of people in these discussions should really try different employers. We have a flexible setup. The maximum number of days people would like to stay at home is 2 per week. Most people come in every day.
How can the factor of people coming in because they need to keep up appearances with others coming in be controlled for in this experiment?
I already addressed your argument: the performance of the workers was measured before and after going remote. It went down, by a significant margin, that is a fact.
As for the reasons, this is all theory: I think it's some kind of peer pressure, seeing everybody around you work and the boss present. Others think it's motivation. Slacking off at home is infinitely easier. But in the end why and how does not really matter. The results stay the same, companies see their productivity going down.
If this is a genuine concern it is profoundly naive. If someone is slacking off at home, they will be doing the same slacking off in the office, just with extra steps of convincing you that they are busy.
If you have no means of evaluating that people are not delivering other than eyeballs on them, then your organization is deeply broken.