How do you deal with "it's a remote contact but... we expect everyone in the office"

[PerfectStorm]

I knew certain types couldn’t wait to bring presenteeism back

[PCTNN]

I knew certain types couldn’t wait to bring presenteeism back

In my (limited) experience it seems to be that over 50s are much more open or even extremely keen to go back to the office while younger demographics tend to prefer remote working. It's a generational issue.

[Lance]

In my (limited) experience it seems to be that over 50s are much more open or even extremely keen to go back to the office while younger demographics tend to prefer remote working. It's a generational issue.

in my experience it is the other way round....

Older people are sick of the commute.
Younger people, particularly new starters, feel very isolated when they could do with a more welcoming environment than home working gives.

[northernladuk]

In my (limited) experience it seems to be that over 50s are much more open or even extremely keen to go back to the office while younger demographics tend to prefer remote working. It's a generational issue.

indeed. Problem is not everyone can be responsible enough to truly work unsupervised or with so many distractions. It's second nature to us as we are a forum of professionals and it's also likely we've got enough space to work from. People in smaller houses, with families and multiple people working at home just don't have an environment conducive to a full days work. There are then a whole raft of people who just work to live and will try get away with the minimum. Civil service particularly. It was bad enough trying to get a days work out of many people in the office let alone from home.

So many people say they get more done from home. In many cases I am sure this is true but I'd be willing to bet that's not true for many more. Sometimes, for a good chunk of people, being in an uncluttered, distraction free environment is the only way to get a full day from them. 100% WFH cannot work for 100% of the people.

My 21 year old is only in the office one day and he openly admits he gets more done in the office than he does at home. He's too tempted to lay on his bed and play on his phone. All his mates are much worse than him. Maybe I'm an old fart with out of date views but many younger people will like working from home because they can get less done.

It's a balance. There is no one answer to fit all.

[dsc]

[...]Maybe I'm an old fart with out of date views but many younger people will like working from home because they can get less done.[...]

Imho phones (and social media) are a massive distractor for young people, few years back I was in a team of mid 20s and couldn't believe how much time the spent glued to their phones (or chatting).

[jmo21]

<snip>

It's a balance. There is no one answer to fit all.

This.

If you have the right people, a 100% remote can work very well, and I am firmly in the camp of wanting to be 100% remote myself.

It can save the individuals themselves lots of money and hassle (no commute expenses, live further away in potentially cheaper accommodation, less need for certain types of childcare eg afterschool, sharing your office space with Rover) and it can save companies money too (less office space, lower bills, wider net of hireable individuals who don't live within an hours travel)

But there are numerous downsides for all sorts of people (higher home utility bills, small apartments/shared houses, no break from your better half) never mind work aspects (mentoring, communication, networking with colleagues/other teams - admittedly the technology is better than it has ever been, but there is still a lot to be gained from being in-person doing these things).

[SussexSeagull]

Ultimately we are a service industry and if clients want to see us back in an office more then it isn't an unreasonable request.

[PCTNN]

Ultimately we are a service industry and if clients want to see us back in an office more then it isn't an unreasonable request.

Not the point that we're discussing at all but.

[NotAllThere]

in my experience it is the other way round....

Older people are sick of the commute.
Younger people, particularly new starters, feel very isolated when they could do with a more welcoming environment than home working gives.

Same. Where I work, we're all home office. One of my younger colleagues quit because he wanted an office environment. Unfortunately, his new office is full of morons. He regrets quitting.

[SussexSeagull]

Not the point that we're discussing at all but.

Respectfully these are the conversations we need to be having.

Hybrid working isn't new - I was doing it 15 years ago for a contract - but the widespread expectation of it has. We work in an industry where personal relationships benefit our business and it is difficult to cultivate them at the end of a camera. On the plus side I have been able to do contracts that I would have been geographically excluded from but that also means others - including offshore - can do the same.

These are interesting times that present opportunities as well as risks but I get the impression some people think they won't need to go to an office again.