Now that my company has started enforcing RTO, I noticed patterns in some of my colleagues, such as arriving late and leaving early, leaving the laptop in their desk disappearing for a long while, not answering messages for hours with nowhere to be seen, and very vague status updates when asked.
It turns out slackers will slack, be it at home or at the office.
I love the fantasy that some management hold that back in my day you couldn't slack in the office and it was a thing that was invented on the first day someone "worked from home".
Over a few drinks they will also tell you stories of the old days where you would leave your jacket on the back of your chair and go to the pub at 11am come back to the office at some point in the afternoon.
> you would leave your jacket on the back of your chair and go to the pub at 11am
I’ve talked to junior employees (in 2023) for non-tech companies and you’d think they work for Amazon warehouses - I’ve heard people say they get criticized or called out for spending a long time in the bathroom “probably on social media”. So there’s probably some cohort of people that truly experience that level of oversight.
I don’t know about going to the Pub at 11, but I’ve definitely seen plenty of ways to slack off in person. My manager was buying a new laptop last month and spent 4+ hours measuring random books and objects trying to get an idea of the dimensions of his future laptop… as if he didn’t already spend the day at the Apple Store and didn’t already place the order.
You see someone doing this and think: "slacker"...?
I come into the office around 9am and leave at 3:30pm to beat traffic and get a quick gym session in without the crowds. And then I hope back online to do some work. Am I slacking?
I don't always slack off, but I do often need time to rest and gather my thoughts. Sometimes my brain is just not ready or already fatigued and needs time. At home I'll chill out watching some mindless Youtube video or go for a walk. At the office I used to pretend to work by clicking around in some emails or something that was equally unproductive. I prefer not having to pretend to work.
I find that having to pretend to be engaged while I need a rest takes way more time than just taking the time and watching a youtube video for 10 minutes.
It turns out slackers will slack, be it at home or at the office.