The biggest drawback of going back to the office is getting sick...I'm on my third round this year alone...had 3 kids sick and come to school because parents have to work, so now I get to spend my long weekend in bed and don't get to see any family...oh joy...
I used to work with medics. They used to delight in setting meetings at 7.30 am or 9pm or other stupid times as a show of “look how busy we are and how hard we work”. I used to delight in declining the meeting invitation on the grounds of ….no, **** off, pick a sensible time or learn to manage your time properly.
Right now my employer (and many others) is finally realizing that work/life balance is important. The number of ridiculous requests that impose on personal time is declining.
I recall getting called to a meeting at 5pm once. 6:30 rolls around and the organizer says the words “I can keep going as I have nothing better to do.”
The second she ended up that sentence I disconnected.
Zero boundaries. Zero respect for other peoples time outside of work.
Now, I don’t accept any request for a meeting beyond 4pm if I’m in the office. I’m there before 7am anyway, they can have the meeting without me.
Obviously if it’s an emergency I’ll go, but for a run of the mill standard meeting…have at it without me.
That's not hard and fast with RBC. There are lots of 'accommodations', people with child care issues, long commutes etc.
The few RBC bankers I know that work in the city core are 2 days a week, they are in at 8, leave at lunch and WFH for the balance of those 2 office days.
just hearsay. The pressure for workers to return back to office is coming from business that rely on commuters as their main source of revenue.
Businesses in Toronto underground path are the ones pushing the local government to have city employees return back to the office. Also reflected on the provincial and federal level. Similar for business that have close ties to government.
Any use Toronto's underground path, what was it like before and after?
Businesses look at a lot of metrics, but none of which include the well-being of the path dwellers (except the pat dwellers themselves). Businesses want productivity, and they want their workforce to continually develop. The bigger the business the more they focus on these 2 things.
In the businesses I watch, WFH initially increased productivity by quite a bit. Employees took far less time off (one ex-colleague told me his unit went from 14 sick days average pre-pandemic to 3 in 2021), but now the WFH group is back to 12. Less time off and more willing to prove they can WFTH contributed to those productivity gains. Those gains have fallen off substantially as an average, exactly what businesses expected before WFH was a forced reality - that's why there wasn't much WFH in the past.
Another challenge for larger businesses is employee development. Large companies need people moving thru the ranks to maintain productivity and vitality. In large companies, entry-level staff can move up every 18 mos for a few years. This increases productivity, and innovation, and develops stronger staff. Mobility drops and training and development slow when employees are not face-to-face supporting and competing with each other.
Big companies working downtown know how to make money. Do you really think they would ask staff to come back to expensive downtown offices? The space and infrastructure needed for a clerk in a class A office building costs a company $10K a year, companies prefer to spend that to get the most from their staff.
It’s been messy at our office , half don’t want to be there, half like it . We are pretty flexible on hours and if you need time off , well whatever. We have very low turn over .
Because we have been so flexible over the years and it’s a ‘family’ style business, people are more vocal about thinking they can stay home . Nope .
We are the same with near zero turnover, and time off is available whenever and employee needs it. Our biz is manufacturing, so all but the sales staff need to be in the office.
Nobody talks about salespeople -- in many businesses they have found comfort in the office using telephones. Companies (us included) are having trouble getting them back on the road.
Another challenge for larger businesses is employee development. Large companies need people moving thru the ranks to maintain productivity and vitality. In large companies, entry-level staff can move up every 18 mos for a few years. This increases productivity, and innovation, and develops stronger staff. Mobility drops and training and development slow when employees are not face-to-face supporting and competing with each other.
I don’t think it’s an issue at all. Most of the training was done online anyway even before COVID. And I don’t see why you have to be face-to-face to support or coach anyone - right now I have a guy shadowing me and I think he’s in Ottawa, but I’m not sure, as it doesn’t really matter.
That's not hard and fast with RBC. There are lots of 'accommodations', people with child care issues, long commutes etc.
The few RBC bankers I know that work in the city core are 2 days a week, they are in at 8, leave at lunch and WFH for the balance of those 2 office days
Yes! They accomodate for younger kids A LOT in my dpt. My coworkers kids' have just started school after 2-3 years without daycare and theyre catching literally EVERY single bug. I've been lucky with my kids they haven't had to miss school much since sept.
But it varies a lot from one dpt to the other. If your VP or SrVP is more relaxed, you're fine. Mine has younger kids so she understands.
The other big (not so) secret is that managers/directors/sr directors who have efficient teams don't necessarily want or need to have their employees in the office. Sure it's easier for politics for them but it's probably more of a PITA to have to retrain and onboard new people and rebuild that relationship than letting someone do 3 days at home 2 in the office.
But for the 3 days a week that's coming in may, it seems they're trying to hold a "harder line" without exceptions (at least on paper). It'll make me take the motorcycle & bicycle more so it's no biggie for me (my wife's schedule is super flexible as she's self employed), just sucks for the other ones.
I've heard of a lot of people moving further away from the GTA to afford living with actual equity and not rent. It'll be interesting to see what the landscape looks like when the dust settles
I don’t think it’s an issue at all. Most of the training was done online anyway even before COVID. And I don’t see why you have to be face-to-face to support or coach anyone - right now I have a guy shadowing me and I think he’s in Ottawa, but I’m not sure, as it doesn’t really matter.
There is a huge difference between online and in-person learning.
I trained battalions of front-line bankers and insurance agents for years. Remotely trained workers took about twice as long to reach proficiency. When it came to job mastery, most in-house workers got there within 24 mos, remote workers occasionally reached mastery in 3 years, most were 5+.
Mastery of ones position is often the trigger for career progression, both employees and companies suffer if that takes too long.
As @mike noted , the landscape for outside sales changed drastically and relaunching many has been a huge problem . I love my ‘go for a drive ‘ days and sitting in an office would blow my head up.
There is a huge difference between online and in-person learning.
I trained battalions of front-line bankers and insurance agents for years. Remotely trained workers took about twice as long to reach proficiency. When it came to job mastery, most in-house workers got there within 24 mos, remote workers occasionally reached mastery in 3 years, most were 5+.
Mastery of ones position is often the trigger for career progression, both employees and companies suffer if that takes too long.
A lot of the courses which used to have in-person options are now fully online, if you check on Global Knowledge/Learning tree, etc
So for personal advancement or employee development it's basically not an easily accessible option anymore. Some vendor conferences have gone online (booo)
Even pre-covid, we sacked our project management tools program for online videos and job aids and what not made in house.
For other skills our employer has somewhat adjusted and given us acccess to thousands of Udemy courses which probably costs less for them in the long run and gives us access to a wider range of courses at our discretion. So there is a shift in the landscape and i don't know how easy it'll be to put pieces back to where they were pre-pandemic.
1. When ill, they must take a PTO day, while those at home "work" through their sickness, thus preserving their own PTO for vacation.
2. They must take the day off for the visit from the Cogeco service tech/furnace guy, who says that they will be there between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM.
3. They spend $100/week in gasoline & auto maintenance going to and coming from work.
1. When ill, they must take a PTO day, while those at home "work" through their sickness, thus preserving their own PTO for vacation.
2. They must take the day off for the visit from the Cogeco service tech/furnace guy, who says that they will be there between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM.
3. They spend $100/week in gasoline & auto maintenance going to and coming from work.
1. When ill, they must take a PTO day, while those at home "work" through their sickness, thus preserving their own PTO for vacation.
2. They must take the day off for the visit from the Cogeco service tech/furnace guy, who says that they will be there between 9:00 AM and 4:00 PM.
3. They spend $100/week in gasoline & auto maintenance going to and coming from work.
You don't have to write code. You can sell parts of trees, dig monster holes and caves.. I spend my time trying to reinvent the wheel. I think all those things can be done remotely these days.
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