Why do companies want to return to the office?

I've edit my comment to inferred, even if that's not how you intended it to read, it can be interpreted as that, imo.

Theres value in person communication no argument from me. But it's not the only way things can be done with experience.

Mentoring and new staff is a different argument. You can make it work if you're a good communicator. Many are bad at communication even when in the office.

Typical WFH thread.

Lots of pointing the finger at the evil middle management or CEO bogeyman who just wants their employees to be miserable.

I think the point about commercial real estate and pension funds is an interesting one, people would be less gleeful about the struggles of commercial real estate if they thought their pension funds were invested in that market.

Ia bit like the old "burn the bond holders" mantra from the bust.

As for WFH I never want to see the inside of an office again, but that's just me, I'm late in my career.

Others may need the office and the office may need them.

the vast majority of irish workplaces don't have multiple buildings and not all updates need collation of information - but I see what you did there - twist a narrative I said was systematic of the workplace i'm actually working in and try shoe horn your own workplace in to the equation.

I took a position in a company based on a fully remote contract. Another factor was the location of the office so that I could commute easily when I was required to. Now they have moved to a city center location with no parking and are demanding 1 day a week in the office. Total commute is approx 3 hours. I know that once the 1 day has bedded in, they will look for more.
This will make me leave.
A fully remote contract will be a hiring incentive for companies to poach top talent where employees get the hump with RTO plans.

Companies are saving fortunes in downsizing their office foot-prints. Funds from this should be used to incentivise employees into the office - but, no, that just goes to the bottom line and fook the employee

Maybe you are an outlier. Like the WFH who logs in on her laptop then throws it on the sofa and starts tweeting about her me day shopping in Grafton st.

Truth is, where measured, people are generally less productive when out of sight. You could blame them for everybody who is being called back

Unless you have 50 people sitting around the same table thats inevitable.

Though I will say small talk is cultural. Not everyone and all cultures, do it. Some do not like being asked about the "wife" as you put it, or the weather. They'll think it odd people do it.

It interesting in how you're more worried about their personal lives than if they got their work done. Because you haven't mentioned that bit at all. :)

you would wonder how we managed to function for the decades that people were fully office based with all the distractions. Not like there arent distractions at home, jobs to be done, kids, pets, couriers calling etc etc.

why would you need to go back to the office to have a call with a customer in the evening, just do it at home when you get back?

It is exactly unpaid and always has been, people just had no alternatives until recently

Your time is a resource, and like any resource it has value

Jobs are based on an employee selling their labour to an employer for an agreed rate. Typically hours are used as an abstraction for labour

Time spent doing things related to work but not the actual work for which you are paid represent costs which decrease the value of your time

If you are required to be in the office for 8 hours and commute for 2 hours, then you're effectively working 10 hours and being paid for 8

That decreases your hourly earnings by 20%. A job that pays the same but has no commute represents a better deal since your time increases in value

Since this is a market economy, and we keep being told free markets are good, then employees should seek to maximise the value of the time they are selling to their employer. Therefore, they should try to minimise time costs spent doing anything unnecessary like commuting, attending pointless meetings or going to worthless pizza parties

On the other hand, employers will try to maximise the amount of labour from employees for the minimum rate.

So 3 hours of pointless meetings represents a gain for an employer, the employee is still expected to deliver 8 hours worth of labour but has 5 hours to do it. Meanwhile the employer has gained the output of that labour plus whatever value the meeting delivered (even if it's just a bunch of managers patting themselves on the back)

Yeah, definitely there’s a strategy in many larger companies to bring numbers down without having to pay redundancy - I’ll bet those positions won’t be filled again - saying that if you’re on enough money and your job is handy enough , spending 1 day a week in the office even if it’s Cork- Dublin once a week wouldn’t be the worst - you have to weigh up what you’re saying goodbye to if handing in your notice

A lot of jobs simply aren't measurable by KPIs though. Mine certainly isn't.

It can take different skills to manage remotely and to manage in an office. That your team struggles in an office may be down to poor management in such a situation, rather than the office situation being of itself bad.

Separately, certain work suits itself to office-based work and other work to remote working, and finally, different employees are suited to different types of work situations both remotely and in the office.

The swiftness of the move to remote working as a result of the pandemic meant that HR Departments were caught on the hop, moving into an unplanned situation, where employees and their managers were unprepared, untrained, and in some cases, unsuitable. Similarly, moving back to the office on a whim, ad hoc, or unplanned will have the same effect. The companies who will succeed in a hybrid situation over the next few years will be the ones that figure this out.

Firstly, they need to decide which type of arrangement suits the work. The obvious example is something like bus drivers - they can't work remotely, but other work situations require more consideration as to what is best for the company. Secondly, they need to recruit and train employees that fit that decision. No point having an employee that works best in a social situation sitting at home alone. Thirdly, and this is the more difficult one, they need to train managers to manage these different scenarios.

If they get it all wrong, they could be in trouble.

i often do it, but i dont view my work day as a shift to be fair. Im not working on an assembly line.