Doubt this will impact agencies...

[shrapnel]

Nice application of orange tinged stereotype!

Many remote workers have to be logged in to something and their employees can easily see if they aren't working.

And studies have shown many are more productive than they are in the office. Less water cooler meetings, for one thing.

Sure they do. Just like all the kids that stayed home during covid and learned as much as they did going to school…

 

[Bonasababy]

Sure they do. Just like all the kids that stayed home during covid and learned as much as they did going to school…

https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/4981026-federal-employees-telework-productivity/

This challenges a common narrative promoted by some legislators, who argue that employees “working from home” are more likely to slack off without the direct supervision afforded by office settings. The data showed no such shirking — instead, it demonstrated that remote work can enhance efficiency without sacrificing quality.

Many similar research or assessment pieces out there.

One thing that is totally ignored by those blindly following the orange--fewer people in offices means much LESS money needs to be spent on offices! Simple right? But totally ignored by some.

The cost savings can be huge. I know several government buildings in my state that have been able to rent space to others which helps to pay for the building and more. Net positive for taxpayers!

Sure there are some jobs where the worker works in teams that might be in question--but the logarithmic growth in video conferencing that you can now take part in from anywhere negates much of that issue. Which is another thing--remote meetings means less cars are needed, less time is wasted driving to and from meeting (I used to average a day or twos worth of driving a week, now it;s not even that in some months), again saving money.

Just another thing where a scalpel is needed, the use of a sledgehammer shows ignorance and is counterproductive economically!

 

[gouch]

I have never worked from home so I don't know anything for certain, but I find it hard to believe that anything could be less productive than an office setting. I worked in the field and was almost never in the office. We worked hard and steady all day. We took no breaks, not even for lunch, which was unpaid and frequently worked past quitting time with no pay. That was mostly just the culture of the job but there were also practical reasons for it. Then I had major surgery and had to spend five months in the office on light duty.

I was shocked at how little work anybody actually did in that office. Especially since I could never consider sitting in a meeting picking my nose and doodling on a piece of paper to be constructive in anyway. It took me about three weeks to fall completely into office slug mode and understand how an office setting can suck the life and ambition out of anyone's soul.

 

[shrapnel]

I have never worked from home so I don't know anything for certain, but I find it hard to believe that anything could be less productive than an office setting. I worked in the field and was almost never in the office. We worked hard and steady all day. We took no breaks, not even for lunch, which was unpaid and frequently worked past quitting time with no pay. That was mostly just the culture of the job but there were also practical reasons for it. Then I had major surgery and had to spend five months in the office on light duty.

I was shocked at how little work anybody actually did in that office. Especially since I could never consider sitting in a meeting picking my nose and doodling on a piece of paper to be constructive in anyway. It took me about three weeks to fall completely into office slug mode and understand how an office setting can suck the life and ambition out of anyone's soul.

So how does the logic of poor performance at the job place is going to improve at home?

Lazy people are lazy no matter where they are. Working from home when you are already unproductive will only precipitate lesser productivity…

 

[rogerthat]

Well I am certain that Bezos, Musk, Cook, Trump are all richer than me.

FIFY. That’s interesting. What kind of work does your company do? The devil is always in the details.

 

[utah400elk]

As a GOV employee…some remote workers work extremely hard and are responsible, others not so much.

As an example, one division I worked in had a 700% increase in productivity when working remotely. Our primary duty was field support. Imagine what a shock it was for everybody when we focused on actually supporting the field and not simply going into downtown DC office.

The sad thing, we were ordered back into the office because the local restaurants and business were complaining about sales. Political decisions were made for local businesses rather than government efficiency.

Politics and efficiency almost never align…IMO

 

[Hilljackoutlaw]

I work neither at home or in an office.
Just thought I would let everyone know or am I missing what this thread is about?

 

[Doublecluck]

Like 100% of the people I ran in to hunting on weekdays in the last 4 years worked from home. Y’all gotta go back to work now. Make Mon-Fri hunting great again.

 

[Nick87]

Like 100% of the people I ran in to hunting on weekdays in the last 4 years worked from home. Y’all gotta go back to work now. Make Mon-Fri hunting great again.

Keep them all home! Traffic during covid was glorious on the way to and from work.

 

[Forkyfinder]

Haha man you guys make me laugh. Lots of corporate roles will never return to an office.

 

[PRO MO]

if we forced people back in the office, the bozeman housing market would collapse. lets table this talk for a month or two until i get my house sold.

 

[brymoore]

Working from home doesn’t mean you’re spending half your time skiing, hunting, etc.

I’ve was working at home 100% during Covid and slowly became hybrid. I’m now 3/2 but see it moving back to 100% office at some point. Or 4/1. Nobody wants to work in the office on Friday.

None of my responsibilities changed being at home. I still had goals, meetings and a performance matrix. The largest difference I see is I get to sleep in during my morning commute time, take a walk during my evening commute time and my away from desk time is spent with my dogs versus office gossip. I’m not micromanaged so I can definitely work the system but the performance numbers would show any slacking. My peers are the same and we as a group still had high levels of performance. I’m not going to disappear for half a day to ski/hunt.

My wife worked from home too at various lengths due to covid. She was busy the whole time. The nice thing about both of us being at home was more time together and lunches. This could be a minus if you hate your spouse.

Anyways, saying that remote slackers are lazy and need to work in the office is wrong. I can be just as productive or more productive working from home.

 

[shrapnel]

Haha man you guys make me laugh. Lots of corporate roles will never return to an office.

Corporate success is made by good economic and sound working practices. Failure in corporate business is the result of those decisions.

This topic is about government overreach and poor performance. If there was such a high regard for government work, there wouldn’t be the unrest that you see throughout America associated with government efficiency…

 

[NDGuy]

This could be a minus if you hate your spouse. *or they hate you

Why do you think boomers want to live at the office?

 

[Treeshark]

I read a recent article discussing promotions- those working from home seemed to be a disadvantage.

 

[noharleyyet]

Why do you think boomers want to live at the office?

So they can afford nice knives?

 

[SwaggyD]

8 pages in under 16 hours. Well done, fellas!

 

[JLDemo]

It's interesting for sure but so confusing, they want all the feds back in the office but just saw an article that the goal is to reduce federal office space by up to 50%?

Wonder if the admin is going to push for the states to take over certain functions and cut the federal responsibility. Who knows...

One thing is for sure, this isn't a buyout they saw in the 90's. Seems awfully familiar to what Twitter went through.

 

[Blue Steel]

Haha man you guys make me laugh. Lots of corporate roles will never return to an office.

I think the newer Starbucks CEO remote works from CA despite HQ in Seattle. But corporate jets help.

 

[gouch]

So how does the logic of poor performance at the job place is going to improve at home?

Lazy people are lazy no matter where they are. Working from home when you are already unproductive will only precipitate lesser productivity…

Most people aren't lazy but, in an office full of people there are constant distractions from other people and a culture of unproductiveness just kind of gets created. One thing that shocked me working in the office was the printer located near my cubicle. One day I sent something to the printer, then went to get it. There were five people standing there doing nothing. They told me the printer was broken, and they were waiting for the technician to come and fix it.

This is a big office housing BLM and the Forest Service. There are two computer networks with maybe 10 printers connected to each network. If the printer doesn't work, you can send your document to a different printer. But people get into a routine or more accurately a rut and don't even think of doing something different. If you are at home and your printer doesn't work, part of your routine is to find another way to print the document. People seem to work better when they are responsible for things rather than relying on someone else to do their job.

My niece works from home, and I have never seen anyone work harder at their job than her, except maybe my sister who worked from home for six years before retiring.
both live here in Southern Oregon. My niece's office is in San Daigo and my sister's was in Portland.

But like I said, I have never worked from home, so this is all theory and observation.