If you work for a truly hybrid workplace, where you can choose to go to an office 0-7 days a week, and you do choose to go in, what reason drives you to do that?
Context: I was thinking about what the ideal office space for developers looks like these days. Back before COVID, common thought was the best places had private offices for every dev -- no one seemed to like cube farms.
But post COVID, it seems like there are two possibilities: that you like coming to the office to collaborate, or you come in because your home is not conducive to work for whatever reason.
If you're in group one, and want to collaborate, do you still want a private office, or do you prefer the bullpen cube farm?
I'm curious if I have a blind spot here. If you choose to go to the office, what is your ideal office setup in a post-pandemic world?
I prefer a hybrid work area with three zones
1. Open plan chaos, lots of people talking and going bonkers
2. Smaller office 3~4 people, maybe your team or people you like more than others
3. Solo office, or hot desk in quiet zone. For deep focus. This one has a great view of the mountains in the area, which I find helps me think.
I bounce around these at my office depending on mood and task at hand. That variety is the main thing I like about our office setup
I also can deliver a lot of value by being available to help juniors, unblock production, talk business strategy, and all sorts of other stuff that organically comes up during the workday.
I have a private office where I can shut the door and focus when needed, if I worked in an open office I'd probably have a different view.
I now work at a company where there are a max of 6 people to a room. I would go in every day except that I have a small child and it's easier in terms of logistics to work at home one day a week.
I am a hardcore introvert. I am not shy and have worked successfully as a manager (and hated it). If you think introvert == shy, look up the definition of introvert. I know several extroverts with significantly worse people skills than me.
Working at the office: - motivates me - makes me happier and less lonely - makes me more productive -- *in the long run* - helps me (a lot) with networking and generating new projects.
While working in open source, I ran into many developers who had been working at home for between 10 and 30+ years, and were very productive. Some people can do this. You must have a thick skin and be stubborn or otherwise single minded -- and it helps if you are not single.
However, I believe that the majority of people will initially be productive when WFHing, for the first 1-5 years, after which a steady decline in both productivity and mental health will set in.
Research has conclusively shown that your social network is directly related to both your health and happiness. The line between this and WFH is really short....
The office might be kind of lousy, if it saw heavy use - just a big concrete box with a lot of open desks, no dividers at all unless you count the glass-walled conference rooms. But there's only one other person who comes in every day; the space is built for thirty, but even on Tuesdays and Thursdays there are rarely more than six or eight people here. It's quiet enough that I rarely bother with headphones.
To answer your question, it seems obvious: private offices are better than cubicles, taller walls are better than shorter ones, cubicles are better than open-plan layouts, and dedicated desks are better than hot-desking. Does anyone claim otherwise?
This all needs to be done properly, i.e. no meetings or phone calls in the open space, an expectation that you don't just constantly interrupt people you're working with, spaces available for quieter or paired work, etc, but if it is done well, I much prefer that to cubicles or private offices.
I prefer an office that I can go to 2 or 3 times a week. When that isn't available, I'll find a coworking space and treat it as an office, even though nobody there is technically a coworker.
Just the ambience of having other people around being productive really helps me stay on task. And it's nice to be able to have lunch with them, get a beer afterward, etc. It's also really nice to be able to ride my bike to work and back and get a bit of sun and exercise every day, vs being cooped up in a bedroom-turned-office all day.
I don't like private offices (for myself) because they are too quiet and lonely. Much prefer cafeteria style seating with no dividers. Of course it's also nice to have a few desks in more private areas so people who need quiet to focus can go there, or to take calls in. I actually really enjoy open floor plans, but I would never force someone to use that if they didn't. I think private offices should just be reservable hot desks for people who really need/want them for the day, and those people should also just be allowed to WFH.
What I'm getting is that people are fundamentally different and the same office environment that's perfect for one person could be a nightmare for the next, and it should be a matter of reasonable accommodations (both ways) to find a suitable compromise.
If I were in charge, I'd never mandate RTO for people who don't want it. But I'd also try to at least provide a small office for people who DO want it. People like me are often completely left out of the considerations. I guess we're freaks for actually liking our coworkers? Shrug.
If I could keep my current job but swap the remote-ness with someone who works in the office, I'd do that in a heartbeat!
So to be fair, I don't think that's entirely the issue. A large part of the dislike that many people have for mandatory RTO is the corresponding commute.
> It's also really nice to be able to ride my bike to work and back and get a bit of sun and exercise every day
When I lived in Taiwan, I looked forward to the essentially "free exercise" that I got as part of the 2 mile bike ride into the office.
However, a lot of people's living situation simply doesn't allow for the opportunity to walk/jog/bike to one's workplace - especially if you live in the US. Having to deal with rush hour traffic, manic drivers, gridlock day in and day out is soul crushingly awful.
But yeah, hellish commutes are definitely a part of it, especially in the Bay Area. I'd never want to force that on anyone.
Having an office (or even just sharing a coworking space sometimes) is nice, but only when it's not a requirement.
Home working is great for concentration, but the serendipitous conversations only happen in the office
We didn't have a rule to go to office. So someone would go there and there'd be no humans there. Just wasted commute time. It's a bit of effort to ask people and it puts pressure on both parties to commit to a day to go to office.
They're social days first. Group communication second. There are some things better done in person, where you hover over the other person's keyboards. Or having a meal together. Or one-on-ones without the lag. We do apps too, and things like "non-smooth response" or phone camera orientation isn't easily explained virtually.
So hybrid 2 days works fine. One day is for meetings, no 'real work' so that we have the other 3 home days to focus only on work. The other hybrid day is to slot in other work. Meetings are faster and more effective in person, even though half the team is in a different country.
Because of this, let's go with cube farms. Many of us can afford home offices.
Maybe some introverts.
I went years without seeing friends in person during the pandemic and thrived.
I’ve been full remote since and am much happier and more productive focusing on my work during the day and spending time with my family in the evenings.
Socializing with coworkers is pretty low on the list of things I want to do, especially if it means I have to make up that time by working more later =)
I was never able to be productive doing heads down work like coding or analysis in the office. Even 10 years ago, I would do a lot of that stuff at home after hours.
I completely understand why managers and executives want to go back to the office but more than a day a week seems wrong for heads down ICs.
For context, I live with my partner in a 400sq ft studio, and sometimes that's just not at all productive for me, I have to find a place to isolate, and sometimes I'd prefer that to not be a coffee shop. However, if it ended up that going in to work meant more interaction, or sitting in a grey hellscape for 8 hours, it would kill that whole value prop for me. I want to just have the space to completely focus and not be depressed about my surroundings.
Taken to a logical extreme, if being a programmer meant that I'd be exclusively working in a grey cube farm, or a static open office, I'd try much harder to find a different profession.