Working From Home Megathread

I have no idea but the manager who will not countenance fulltime WFH or similar flexibility has not accepted the new reality. They are living in the past. The best and brightest will leave a company when the package is deemed better elsewhere and WFH is very much part of the package now. I have seen many people leave their current position already for WFH reasons. I know people in Galway working for Dublin companies who only have to go up for social occasions. The jobs market is so buoyant that companies run a huge attrition risk if they don't adapt quickly. And I mean quickly. Ask any recruitment consultant and they will tell you the same. The IT market is leading the way with massive movement.

In my experience it's often the people who actually are good at their jobs who don't get promoted. Because they're busy doing their jobs well and don't have time for the networking, internal politics and one-upmanship that are often necessary to secure promotions. The assumption that the person with the manager title is that smartest one in the room is pretty naïve.

Interesting to note, though, that along with a requirement for physical presence, we're now seeing a requirement for "knowing one's place"...  

🙄

It's St Patrick's Day, not Independence Day, calm down there Travis.

I’m not getting the “knowing one’s place” vibe, but your antenna could be more sensitive than mine. I don’t think anyone is suggesting that management is an intelligence test, but there is no doubt that people who get promoted, sometimes, are smarter at getting noticed and making themselves look affective.

There seems to be a correlation on this thread between denied work from home and a bad manager. A manager must be bad if they want you back in the office, that would be about as true as a manager saying all employees who want wfh must be bad. It’s a bit simple. WFH will not suit all companies, some will go full wfh, some hybrid, some full office. Please, don’t anyone kid themselves that full office/hybrid will lose all their good staff if they are inflexible, that narrative suits an agenda. Any vacancies will be filled, lots of people can do your jobs and few people are irreplaceable.

In the private sector their manager is getting paid more than them also. This notion that there is a massive cohort of brilliant employees who are so brilliant that they don’t want or need promotion doesn’t ring true in any of the diverse mncs i have worked in so I must assume you are looking at this through a very specific lense. Some class of software programmer or something.

Most meritocracies are pretty toxic environments: people are striving to be individual performers rather than building relationships and encouraging colleagues to develop and form a strong team. Usually accompanied short term, unsustainable, successes.

The best people to promote to management are the one who are best at relationships. These often aren't the best individual achievers.

The best management have both technical and inter personal skills. And they tend to be your best people.

Ever increasing covid positives in my office and staff still expected to attend as "2 days a week at your desk is our current policy".

People are dropping like flies and real pressure now on resources. Few people quite ill too.

Interesting high court action being taken by a meat plan worker.

Interesting times ahead when offices may been seen to be breach their duty of care towards employees by not providing a safe place of work with no ventilation or allowing covid positive staff attend work.

Only a matter of time before a case is taken by an office worker. Especially if we seen further multiple infections for staff.

I have seen numerous forms filled out in my office saying it is ventilated and there are zero windows open and no air con either. Just a blind tick box by someone in another office. Also there was a mask mandate but that was obviously not adhered to.

The right to request flexible work arrangements is set to become a reality this year for Irish employees, with the Government due to implement the EU's Work Life Balance Directive.

The Minister for Children and Equality has said he will soon bring a 'work-life balance bill' before Cabinet with a view to having it passed before the Dáil’s summer recess.

This will mean that employees who are also in a caring role, such as parents or carers, will have the right to request flexible work arrangements.

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2022/0407/1290959-eu-to-give-workers-right-to-request-flexible-working/

This week I returned all of the WFH hardware the company gave to me, I've been back in the office full time since Xmas and the screens and peripherals were simply in the way... happy to see them gone.

For the very odd day I stay at the apartment I've a 15" screen on the new laptop, that'll do for a day.

Clearly plenty of the people in the company do not think the same way though, office has hardly any people in, strangely it's mainly management that are (myself being part of the management)

It is quite a lucrative and competitive market right now. Companies are having to change how they hire and the speed at which they do as well. It was bound to change at some point, but I am glad it has now.

Normal? That sounds like they work in the industrial revolution.