Team zoom earlier. An initial informal group conversation to plot the return to the office and what that would entail. Background is that individual teams / the team head have been given a degree of autonomy to implement what works best for that team.
So people were giving their view in rotation and consensus was that folk are happy with wfh & flexibility/benefits it brings but wouldn’t mind coming into office on occasion. The old “hybrid model” was mentioned and people with younger children seemed quite keen to retain wfh to accommodate ease of collections/drop offs etc without adding in a commute.
Boss made the fair point that we may have to designate a day every week or two weeks where people are required to come in. That would facilitate face to face contact - team meetings, catch ups, training, general social contact. That was almost universally accepted until…
…One lad piped up and said he wanted a full return to the office. Not only that, but he said he wouldn’t get the benefit of being back in the office unless everyone else was there. We were all on camera for this call and you’d want to see the heads on everyone else. It was gas.
It’ll be some craic over next few months alright - I go into office most days now because it suits me.
I’d be less concerned about days but hopefully we lose the commuting “rush hour” and people can tip away at home and come in late or come in earlier as suits them
I was intrigued by his mindset in trying to impose what he wants on everybody else. I might go weeks without having to deal with him directly, but he wants me to be sitting two partitions over from him on a daily basis and felt compelled to say it. I found it really arrogant and selfish. There’ll be war, as this unfolds I’d say.
I guess the simple solution is to introduce the designated mandatory day(s) and the rest of the time would be optional office or home. If he needs to see/speak to someone who’s not in the office then he can arrange a video call, as has been happening since March 2020.
It’s easier manage people when nobody is in office then when some people are.
Once people trickle back to office anybody who doesn’t will be viewed with a growing suspicion unfortunately - runs on Strava that were commended will be condemned as taking the piss during the working day I fear.
The middle management who do fuck all need people back in to justify their existence.
We will be granted permission to have about 20~25% of people back. But the Government rules specify 1.5 metres social distancing. This means only 18% of the desks will be available! We’ve left it to teams to decide how to come back. Most likely the average person will be 2-3 days a month in the office while the 1.5 metre rule applies.
One of those chaps left our place at Christmas 2019 to start a role in Qatar in early 2020. I didn’t bother staying in touch with him but I’ve wondered on around three occasions since (four now, if you include this post) how the pandemic may have impacted things.
I’ve spent the past couple of weeks engaging in some intense lobbying about the return to the office and how to outflank the chap that’s pushing for a permanent return. Making my feelings known to the boss, encouraging others to do likewise on a one to one basis and so on. It’s now looking like we’ll have a compulsory office day once every two weeks on a trial basis for the rest of the year commencing at the start of Q4. Yer man reckons 2 days per month “is nowhere near meaty enough”!
I know there’s going to be new government guidance this week on office attendance/procedures but I sense there’s a bit of nervousness at senior management level about the whole thing. It’s probably a legal minefield and they don’t want to be seen to be “forcing” people back onto public transport and into shared office spaces etc. Someone on our call this morning asked if unvaccinated colleagues would be permitted into the office too and there was a bit of awkwardness. I don’t think your employer can demand to know your vaccine status and/or insist that you get it?
