What's the Work From Home situation?

[Ble_PE]

I probably won't be back in the office until September. We're going to transition to what they are calling a hybrid work environment where we'll be in the office a few days a week and home the rest. We're still not sure what it's going to look like exactly, but more than likely it's going to mean not having an assigned space in the office. They've already started sending out headsets to people to replace their desk phones using an app on our computers. They've made it abundantly clear that this is a financial decision for the company, not a benefit to the employee, so I'm interested to see what happens to our office space. At least I get to spend the summer at home, that means more time at the beach since I can work from there.

 

[jeb6294]

One of the things they talked about was doing a hybrid work week with people staggered throughout the week. They asked for my opinion a lot because I was the only one who was 1) still new, and 2) had the benefit of working in the office before we started teleworking. We've got a really good remote system. Being on computer at home is almost exactly the same as if I was in the office. The biggest downside of not being in the office was not having the other people around when you have questions or need some guidance on something. I told them that if there were only going to be 2 or 3 of us in the office at a time, it's really no benefit and we might as well be at home.

 

[Fisherman504]

I had to do WFH right after Covid was announced (March 23ish, 2020), then they slowly staggered us back in with days in office and days at home. I was never given an opportunity to telecommute due to the fact that I'm an engineer and most of my job requires steady state modeling. Now the company sees that it works, so they have offered me 2 days at home WFH, even though non-engineers were already offered that incentive years ago.

 

[ruggercsc]

No masks at work if you are vaccinated, but it is on the honor system. You get a sticker on your access card to show you are vaccinated if anyone asks. I had my Vaccination Card and asked one person if I need to show and they said they can't legally ask for it, while another said HIPPA does not apply to private employers outside of a healthcare operation and I should have it on me just in case. They explained it that it was like a school requiring proof of vaccinations. Honestly I think that latter may be wrong, but I am not going to get worked up about it.

 

[P-E]

I’m looking forward real soon to going in late, leaving early, taking a long lunch, shooting the sh!t around the office, taking a couple 1/2 hour dumps and 5 or so coffee breaks. Damn I miss the office.

 

[Dleg]

Employers are NOT prohibited from asking you about your vaccination status. HIPAA only prohibits your health care organization from sharing your information with someone other than you, without your permission. But anyone else can ask, even a store employee.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...f145ec-b9ad-11eb-a6b1-81296da0339b_story.html

 

[Dothracki PE]

I've been going back to the office at least two days a week since September. Started 4 days at the beginning of the year although it's kind of been optional. Can't wait for full return to normal, it's been boring with the same few people in the office and few places to go to sit and enjoy breakfast or lunch when I'm going from different jobsites.

 

[DLD PE]

I've been slowly losing weight since going back to the office. I worked from home for the first time in a while this past week since I had to go to a job site on the way to the office. I had fried eggs, homemade fries and smoked sausage for breakfast. Now I know how I gained those extra pounds during COVID.

 

[csb]

I've been back since last May. Most of my people came back in the summer and then we sent a few of them home again when COVID spiked in November. Now most everyone is back. We'll have one guy who's permanent WFH and another will be alternating. I had a large number of employees who could not WFH ever.

 

[ruggercsc]

Employers are NOT prohibited from asking you about your vaccination status. HIPAA only prohibits your health care organization from sharing your information with someone other than you, without your permission. But anyone else can ask, even a store employee.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/life...f145ec-b9ad-11eb-a6b1-81296da0339b_story.html

Thanks for info. I have my vaccination passport on my phone and a paper copy on me in case I am asked, but for now we are on the honor system and just reporting vaccination dates, location, and type of vaccination with no proof.

 

[Tiger15]

I'm still 100% WFH.

I work for a manufacturing company and my company has been VERY careful with people coming into the office. The touch-labor, who are actually making our products, HAVE to be on site. And if they get sick then we lose money because we can't fulfill our orders. So during the height of the pandemic, the company policy was basically: The production people have to be here; everyone else stay the **** away so they don't get sick!

The company is working on its return to work plan now, even though my city/state has been open for a while now. Like I said extra careful.

The official plan hasn't come out yet, but from what we've been told. WFH vs on-site vs hybrid will be a decision made between each employee and their supervisor. The company is not trying for consistency; the goal is to arrive at the best individual answer. So it depends on:

• your specific job responsibilities (e.g. engineers doing hands-on equipment work or running tests have been back at the office for a while)
• how effective you are at home vs in the office
• what you want to do

Most of our employees have been very effective working from home. All the engineering managers have said productivity has stayed the same or gone up since COVID. So if your job doesn't require you to be on-site, it's going to come down to personal preference for most people. From the rumors I hear, it sounds like it will be ~10% WFH permanently, ~25% on-site permanently, ~65% hybrid.

Interestingly, if you decide on WFH permanently, they are taking your cube/desk/office away. I think that's part of the reason more people are choosing 100% WFH.

Edit: I will add that my company culture is pretty special. I've worked a few different places and this one is uniquely great.