[IamNikhil]

Originally Posted by am1m

This is only my opinion/point of view- but as an IT worker in his early 40s, I'd like to be able to log in, do my job professionally, and log out. I'm not necessarily interested in bonding over lunch, antakshaari, or paintball. Yes, I have formed good relationships and even friendships that extended beyond my tenure at a particular organization but those were based on professional respect and shared job goals.

Originally Posted by AltoLXI

The unwritten rule in corporate world is your colleagues are not your friends.

I will maintain good professional relationships with my colleagues but nothing more than that. Never believed the idea of bonding via all the stuff HR tries to do in the workplace. Maybe freshers just of college may appreciate these "fun" activities but certainly not for me.

I think this is a generational thing. I'm closing in on 31 and have been part of multiple organisations over the past 10 years, and there have been a minimum of 4-5 relationships across all companies that have extended from professional to personal and all of them have developed into a deep bond.

HR had no role to play in any if it. The reason we became such good friends was solely because of our own dynamics and willingness to look beyond the usual office crap. I'm yet to encounter an HR who is genuinely interested in employee-welfare; considering almost all of them are employer-oriented. Also, these team-building activities etc are just gimmicks, IMHO!

[twinblades]

I have been working from home since the start of the first lockdown. It was interesting moment when the lockdown was announced because the client and my company wasn't ready for a business continuity plan which involves working from home. I have had a unique chance of a lifetime to drive the empty roads of Bangalore.

After working for so long from home there are days I wish I was back in office because the the solution for security involves making my laptops to act as a dumb terminal which logs into the client's network and no data is stored on the laptop. However when the VPN servers can't handle the load of full workforce working from home, I get so annoyed because we are wasting time trying to resolve VPN or connectivity issues instead of being productive. As a person who manages a team, I do my best to be there for my employees who encounter these network issues because I personally know how frustrating these issues can make you and then we loose interest in work. Having said that when there is a option to keep people safe considering it will be a while before a larger population get fully vaccinated. I tell me myself that we need to power along and hope for the best. Here are a few snap I took in April 2021 on the Outer Ring Road in Bangalore. Reminded me of a Zombie Apocalypse movie scene

[SnS_12]

My company is going to have its own challenges to get back to normal WFO routine as the company has been on a hiring spree since last year, while giving up on rental office space.

Further, with train commutes still not accessible to normal Mumbaikars expecting everyone to return to work will not be logical because of the cost and time spent in travelling by road.

Also, our business has actually grown since the first lockdown was announced and the company has been saving big time on rent, air travels (domestic and international). These are cost factors, which would play on ones mind as the business was growing while saving on these costs.

However, once we see life getting back to normal I feel only the back office staff might have an option to continue working from home, which can help save big in rental income in a place like Nariman Point but the marketing sales team will be back in office as most clients and employers will expect to have a face to face interaction like the old days..

[motorpsycho]

The best part for me, moving to my home town during this pandemic, is how easily I can plan trips. While in Bangalore, one always needed to plan when you start so as to avoid the traffic, most places around Bangalore see tourist rush during weekends.

My friends and I, have gone on multiple trips to locations around my town, without any planning, the nearest beach being just 3 hours away, the same time it took me to go from Hebbal to Begur near Electronic city a few times.

[DDIS_RE650]

3 hours you can save per day, save 60 litres of diesel per month, get extra 1 hour sleep per day, no problem in attending meeting during 5PM to 7 PM.If you feel tired or lazy in afternoon take 30 mins of power nap and recharge your body.
You can see your child growing and get assurance that little fella is safe. I feel work from office should be made optional wherever it is possible.I am more productive with less stress and no fatigue.I have better control on diet, while working from office always lead to Andhra Mess or some Punjabi kitchen.
I never imagined that I will get chance to stay in my hometown for more than 2 weeks. Thanks to WFH, I am here for 8 months and very happy about it.
Don't shy away to buy good inverter, spacious desk, comfortable chair and quality printer. You are favour to yourself so stop expecting from Company for silly things.
My laptop key stopped working, I raised helpdesk ticket but for quick resolution got a wireless keyboard.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by am1m

I completely agree about HR being SO much more than these things. Grateful for all the work that Human Resources personnel do to create a safe, comfortable, and enriching working environment for us!

I haven't personally dealt with HR since the 90s. But while I was in TCS in the 90s, I have to admit HR did bring rest of us closer. They were one group everyone loved to hate, and most of us bonded while venting and griping at HR.

[DudeWithaFiat]

Originally Posted by aashishnb

The one important impact to be considered - companies are not really saving costs due to WFH but transferring the costs (directly & indirectly) to employees. For e.g. the power cost for computer, AC, lighting, etc. is now borne by the employee; cost of consumables & your regular tea/coffee/water etc.

On the other hand, we save on fuel, wear-and-tear of our vehicles due to rush-hour traffic, and most importantly TIME!. I see it as a win-win.

Originally Posted by aashishnb

your regular tea/coffee/water etc

At least for me, this one balances out. Even with the free tea/coffee at office, me and team-mates go out to get some 'fresh air' to the nearby tapri/Kannu-Ki-Chai stall, costing us more than the same number of tea/coffee made at home

But most importantly, the fact that employees' will tend to be provided an ergonomic chair (to live up to the employer standards & reputation) in office and would most likely be working on his dining table, bed, sofa, study table, etc. at home leading to bad ergonomics and resultant problems. Even if one were to buy a proper chair, chances are it won't be an as fancy ergonomic one at office.
[/quote]

Agreed.

WFH will also need some strict discipline from the side of the employee too.

[am1m]

The local management at one company I know of seems to be disappointed that the global management doesn't want to risk re-opening offices in September and has extended WFH for the rest of this year. So the local management are discussing...wait for it..."implementing core video working hours!"

I mean, which era are we in and isn't this supposed to be the cutting-edge IT industry?! Who on earth thinks that what is essentially video surveillance of each employee at home for x hours a day is even remotely (pun intended!) a good idea and will boost productivity, say nothing about morale?! Creepy guys, gives you a real insight into the way that sort of micromanaging personality-type thinks! If an employee is not completing their work consistently while working remotely, by all means ask why and fire that employee if required. But asking all employees to work with their cameras on for more than the required meetings where that would make sense is something I thought would occur only to some government babu or mantri. Looks like the private sector has it's share of people like that as well.

Originally Posted by Samurai

Well, they get showcased on BCC for their monitoring skills.

Oh my, what characters! Looks like it happens everywhere:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/techn...-surveillance/

Suddenly I appreciate my company a lot more after reading and hearing about things like this!

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by am1m

I mean, which era are we in and isn't this supposed to be the cutting-edge IT industry?! Who on earth thinks that what is essentially video surveillance of each employee at home for x hours a day is even remotely (pun intended!) a good idea and will boost productivity, say nothing about morale?! Creepy guys, gives you a real insight into the way that sort of micromanaging personality-type thinks!

Well, they get showcased on BCC for their monitoring skills.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54289152

[girimajiananth]

Originally Posted by am1m

T
I Who on earth thinks that what is essentially video surveillance of each employee at home for x hours a day is even remotely (pun intended!) a good idea and will boost productivity, say nothing about morale?!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/techn...-surveillance/

Suddenly I appreciate my company a lot more after reading and hearing about things like this!

Originally Posted by Samurai

Well, they get showcased on BCC for their monitoring skills.

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54289152

I worked for two companies in the last two years which developed such "productivity" tracking tools. Trust me, even if you go back to office these tools will continue to remain.

Even worst part is, these tools can be installed in stealth mode without an employee knowing that his hours are getting tracked. If someone sitting at the top reads your report wrongly, it paints a bad picture of an honest employee too.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by girimajiananth

Even worst part is, these tools can be installed in stealth mode without an employee knowing that his hours are getting tracked. If someone sitting at the top reads your report wrongly, it paints a bad picture of an honest employee too.

These days all programmers are bombarded with ads from Turing.com, just because they happen to search for programming related keywords. The following data is what I gleaned from Quora reviews. Most reviews are from Turing employees, who try to mislead the readers.

They are basically a company that hires programmers for US clients, and they promise US salary for folks working anywhere in the world. This is very attractive for WFH programmers who may be even having a day job.

1) They only give 50% of what the client pays. That is a big cut because they don't give any benefits like PF, Gratuity, health insurance, etc. They don't pay if you are on bench, you get paid only if you are working for a client. Still, people in poor countries (including India) may find it lot more than local salaries.
2) They will install a spyware on your personal PC so that every keystroke can be tracked while you are at work. This is apparently to assure the end customer that the programmer is actually working. Why can't they just measure you by the output? That is because the people who monitor don't have the ability to measure output.

If this the future of WFH, it is truly depressing.

[sunbaj]

I think that the WFH is going to fizz out like a soda bottle. Initially during the pandemic the companies were giving out all dunk-dory statements about punitiveness of the WFH and how they would be going in for a hybrid model. I believe all this was to send out message to the employees to think positive so that there would be no to least impact to work. But now with the Corona wave getting suppressed and positivity rate reducing by the day the Corporate world had started showing it's true colors. ​

I believe that 90 to 95% of the companies would not bring in any hybrid work model and they would be asking the complete strength of employees to be back to office very soon though it might be in phased manner.

All this hybrid and rotational model was to send a positive note to the employees and for the feel good factor is what my take is.

[IamNikhil]

I work with a media conglomerate. We were informed in April that the company is moving toward a 100% WFH model permanently and we will have to visit office only for high-level meetings, if any.

Today, HR has told us that the company is thinking of resuming physical attendance in office from December!

This was expected though.

[luvDriving]

Well, initially we were also told that we will have to WFH till at least August 2022 and so make the necessary arrangements at home.

Last week we received an email stating that keeping in view the declining number of covid cases, the offices in Pune will re-open from 20th September onwards.

Of course it is completely voluntary and you can come in once a week or everyday if you wish. The normal return to office rules apply of course - Arogya Setu updated plus double vaccination and daily checks at the office - temperature.

Although if there is indeed a third wave in October / November and things turn ugly again, it's anybody's guess that we will be back to WFH in no time. For me, its wait and watch since I have a young daughter not yet eligible for a vaccine and a 75 year old parent at home.

[am1m]

Well, unfortunate but can't say it's surprising that so many IT companies were just paying lip-service to flexibility and are showing their true colours now.

Remember someone on the forum remarking that the restaurants that had hygienic best practices before covid just became more particular, the unhygienic ones just pretended to do so.

Looks like it's something similar in the case of 'flexible' company culture!