Will they ever return to "the office"?

[newbury]

Before I retired (in 2011) my job, training the military, had me on travel at least 1 week a month and sometimes the whole month for decades. So I got used to working on my computer wherever I was. But most of my coworkers had the routine 8 hours a day, 5 days a week jobs. As it seemed did most of the US with the exception of farmers.

Now "return to office" may be up in the air.
https://commercialobserver.com/2021/12/return-to-office-plans-companies-labor-day-october/

How do you all think this is going to affect the TBN community?

I envision the price of land rising out of sight as people that had to travel to the city core start to snap up the hinterlands. Farmland prices were already going up fast.
linky

 

[Steppenwolfe]

It's going to be interesting to see exactly what will happen. The horses are out of the barn, enjoying green grass, and sunny days; they are not going back into the barn easily...

 

[JM7500]

I think the community will grow as people flee the cities. We lived in the country until 2016 then moved to town. With the events of the past couple of years decided to return to the country. I went to full time telework in March 2020. Our now permeant (current) policy is to be in the office 2 days per week and telework 3 days per week. I don't mind making a 50 drive to the office a couple of days per week but everyday would get old. We've had the land several years and plan to move into our new house in April. The real estate boom in the city where we lived let us make a decent profit for only owning a house 5 years. At least once a week we are contact about selling our land.

 

[Jchonline]

Ya I think the # of people with smaller acreage will increase significantly. Most city folks are afraid of the "country" so they wont be too far away from Starbucks. Maybe they scratch that itch for a bigger yard and more space from their neighbors.

There is also an interesting "homestead" movement that seems to be growing...people changing careers entirely, buying land, and building their own stuff. This may increase the number of people buying medium tracts of land and building on them. Now those people can still homestead and work their jobs that are now allowed to be remote.

Its a very interesting dynamic indeed.

 

[kcflhrc]

Most Homeowners can't find and reset a GFCI Outlet, not sure how they will make it in the country. Especially with limited internet service.

 

[ericm979]

I saw that last year. Some people I know who work in tech moved to the country. Prices of places in California went up and time on market went down. But prices have stabilized and time on market is back up. So at least out here, I think a lot of the people who moved already did so.

Most big tech companies in Silicon Valley keep setting return to office dates and then canceling them. So a lot of people who might want to move won't because eventually they'll have to be back in the office. And of course most people don't want to live in a rural area and are not going to move anyhow.

 

[Oaktree]

Ya I think the # of people with smaller acreage will increase significantly. Most city folks are afraid of the "country" so they wont be too far away from Starbucks. Maybe they scratch that itch for a bigger yard and more space from their neighbors.

There is also an interesting "homestead" movement that seems to be growing...people changing careers entirely, buying land, and building their own stuff. This may increase the number of people buying medium tracts of land and building on them. Now those people can still homestead and work their jobs that are now allowed to be remote.

Don't forget the whole "back to the land" movement of the 70s. A few stayed, most went back to suburbia after a few years. I think that's what we'll (eventually) see here too. Not every job lends itself to remote work, and if you can do a remote job from East Jockstrap, it can be done for much lower wages from India.

Also, humans are social creatures. How many people who enjoy city life (concerts, restaurants, nightlife in general, etc) are going to be happy with a semi annual ham and bean supper at the grange hall?

 

[oldnslo]

Working for a large firm I have noticed a significant decrease in efficiency from office staff that work from home vs being in the office with fellow employees. I contribute a lot of this to you can no longer turn around and ask the person next to help you with something. What percentage of the population is truly self starters - self motivated without some one watching them once in a while?

Haven't seen any significant shift in population around here yet other than people leaving because of no jobs in this area.

 

[Jchonline]

Don't forget the whole "back to the land" movement of the 70s. A few stayed, most went back to suburbia after a few years. I think that's what we'll (eventually) see here too. Not every job lends itself to remote work, and if you can do a remote job from East Jockstrap, it can be done for much lower wages from India.

Also, humans are social creatures. How many people who enjoy city life (concerts, restaurants, nightlife in general, etc) are going to be happy with a semi annual ham and bean supper at the grange hall?

True, there will certainly be some correction. Many, many jobs lend themselves to remote work we just never really considered it culturally acceptable to allow remote work. That was starting to change a few years before the pandemic due to teleconferencing tools and faster internet bandwidth allowing video. No we have additional team interaction tools (Microsoft Teams, Webex Teams, Zoom, Cisco Jabber) that businesses are really investing in to improve decentralized workforces. Put all of these things together and it really makes remote work much more feasible and acceptable today.

I dont think it will ever be the same again, but there will certainly be some degree of correction.

 

[Jchonline]

Working for a large firm I have noticed a significant decrease in efficiency from office staff that work from home vs being in the office with fellow employees. I contribute a lot of this to you can no longer turn around and ask the person next to help you with something. What percentage of the population is truly self starters - self motivated without some one watching them once in a while?

Haven't seen any significant shift in population around here yet other than people leaving because of no jobs in this area.

You absolutely can ask a colleague something if you have the right technology to do so. I use instant messaging (not cell phone) to interact all the time. I can see when someone is online or not, I can send them a quick question. It is pretty close to being in an office. I think your company just doesn’t have decent tools yet.

Now as far as motivation…yes I see the issue there. However nowadays as a contractor that is never an issue for me.

 

[PuffyC]

Don't forget the whole "back to the land" movement of the 70s. A few stayed, most went back to suburbia after a few years. I think that's what we'll (eventually) see here too. Not every job lends itself to remote work, and if you can do a remote job from East Jockstrap, it can be done for much lower wages from India.

Also, humans are social creatures. How many people who enjoy city life (concerts, restaurants, nightlife in general, etc) are going to be happy with a semi annual ham and bean supper at the grange hall?

I think you’re right. Not everyone wants the social remoteness of living in the country, and while working from home will continue to be a thing, office time will still be required for most. Plus anyone with school aged kids won’t want to be in the sticks. At first I thought there would be a major shift but as time goes on I think it’ll be a bubble more than anything.

 

[ericm979]

You absolutely can ask a colleague something if you have the right technology to do so. I use instant messaging (not cell phone) to interact all the time. I can see when someone is online or not, I can send them a quick question. It is pretty close to being in an office. I think your company just doesn’t have decent tools yet.

It's just not as good as interacting in person though. Not only is the barrier to contacting someone a little higher, it's harder for most people to get their thoughts across remotely, especially in writing.

I went mostly remote five years ago when I got tired of the commute from my place in the mountains. I'd go in for a few hours a couple times a week. The engineers I lead were less likely to contact me when I was not in the office than they were to walk over and talk to me when I was, and our communication was not quite as good. It's not a huge difference but it's noticeable. I've used a lot of different software for interacting and I think the problem isn't the tools, it's having to write your thoughts down.

My company was all set to go back to in the office next month but I think Omicron will cancel that.

 

[travisbb]

It's just not as good as interacting in person though. Not only is the barrier to contacting someone a little higher, it's harder for most people to get their thoughts across remotely, especially in writing.

Good remote tools goes further than just being able to use instant messaging though. The best companies have one click video chats. If text just isn't cutting it, click the button and have a face-to-face conversation.

 

[JimRB]

I know that traffic is getting to be quite annoying again. The last few months the traffic jams and accidents have returned. Getting around is taking a lot longer. Sure people may say they want to work from home. Some of those people may even actually work from home. Others certainly do not seem to be very productive. I do talk to a fair number of sales people and tech support folks with dogs barking in the background.

 

[two_bit_score]

It's going to be interesting to see exactly what will happen. The horses are out of the barn, enjoying green grass, and sunny days; they are not going back into the barn easily...

We don’t agree often but I agree with you on this.

 

[rademamj1]

It's going to be interesting to see exactly what will happen. The horses are out of the barn, enjoying green grass, and sunny days; they are not going back into the barn easily...

Google just found that out this week. Approximately 40% of their staff are still working out of office. New mandate from Google management is that effective Jan 10, 2022 all staff except those with Medical deferals must report to the office for daily onsite work. By Feb 15th all workers must be vaccinated, or face a lengthy termination process. Google has also suffered a major technology setback during the pandemic, particularly in the AI software control group, which unfortunately went rogue, and tried to unionize their office, and so Google fired several AI team leaders for non-performance of their required duties.

 

[square1]

Remote work was my norm far before recent events sent many employees home to work.
Not to long ago our employer asked everyone to share Remote Work tips. My contribution "If your employees need tips on how to work from home the problem is the employee, not the employees' work location"

 

[Jchonline]

It's just not as good as interacting in person though. Not only is the barrier to contacting someone a little higher, it's harder for most people to get their thoughts across remotely, especially in writing.

I went mostly remote five years ago when I got tired of the commute from my place in the mountains. I'd go in for a few hours a couple times a week. The engineers I lead were less likely to contact me when I was not in the office than they were to walk over and talk to me when I was, and our communication was not quite as good. It's not a huge difference but it's noticeable. I've used a lot of different software for interacting and I think the problem isn't the tools, it's having to write your thoughts down.

My company was all set to go back to in the office next month but I think Omicron will cancel that.

I agree it is not as good, but I also think some businesses dont make a real effort to transition and help employees get used to remote work days.

As a manager you have to facilitate that discussion in different ways. Set up morning and end of day touch points, just to hear everyone’s voices and say hello how was your day. Plan similar but different things to do every once in awhile. Think about what happens in the office, try to create some interaction in a different way To achieve the same thing. That can lead into questions/discussion about work related topics.

How could you have problems writing thoughts down? Share your screen and get a OneNote or document shared and start typing away. Everyone can see the notes being typed…so much better than sitting around a table and not seeing them. We do it all the time. To me notes is an area thats easy. Come with a prepared agenda, take minutes.

 

[Jchonline]

Google just found that out this week. Approximately 40% of their staff are still working out of office. New mandate from Google management is that effective Jan 10, 2022 all staff except those with Medical deferals must report to the office for daily onsite work. By Feb 15th all workers must be vaccinated, or face a lengthy termination process. Google has also suffered a major technology setback during the pandemic, particularly in the AI software control group, which unfortunately went rogue, and tried to unionize their office, and so Google fired several AI team leaders for non-performance of their required duties.

Cant say I would mind if Google imploded, along with farsebook tikitoki and the rest of the apparatus.

 

[Hay Dude]

Most Homeowners can't find and reset a GFCI Outlet, not sure how they will make it in the country. Especially with limited internet service.

That can be a good thing….
Years ago all our family farms except maybe 1 or 2 were sold off to wealthy city people that knew nothing, as you said. The original family farm owners were very capable of fixing anything.
I built a business on farming and improving the land and buildings the new “city” owners acquired. Has worked out very well and allowed me to pursue my career goals.

It can help “country” electricians, plumbers, landscapers, contractors make a lot of money. Yes, they are mostly helpless and need lots of help with their new “farms”.