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nfshakespeare t1_j68pey7 wrote

I’d be happy to listen to any well reasoned thought out argument about why. I spend more time working, less time distracted, and a full days worth of time per week not spent commuting, I spend more money at businesses in my local community. That three years later you haven’t figured out how to bolster your tax revenue is your fault and never has been in my job description. Restaurants will exist where there is demand and cease to exist where it isn’t. It has always been so. To demand I work in person, when there is no efficiency gained, purely for the purpose of me spending money to increase your tax revenue is unbelievably self serving and denigrating.

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giscard78 t1_j68wfh2 wrote

> I’d be happy to listen to any well reasoned thought out argument about why.

I think this varies wildly by job and that this doesn’t apply to most jobs in the federal government but in-person collaboration can be better depending on the context. I work in a research position that (in theory lol) supports policy. Some of the best conversations I’ve had are people with people in the five minutes before a meeting or that I run into in the hallway that I wouldn’t normally talk to.

If you’re endlessly filling out whatever paperwork HR people or 1101s or 2210s do, what I said above probably does not apply. For my specific type of role, there is a creative element to research that isn’t always done well via Teams. Not saying people need to be in-person everyday but occasionally in-person together can yield some pretty good results.

Im sure people are gonna downvote that I suggest some people be in-person sometimes lol.

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ExpeditiousTraveler t1_j6968cc wrote

> I think this varies wildly by job and that this doesn’t apply to most jobs in the federal government but in-person collaboration can be better depending on the context.

I think the stage of your career makes a big difference too. WFH is tough for entry level workers. Training isn’t as effective and you miss out on so many of those organic learning and mentoring opportunities. It also makes it harder for the people in the office with the most influence to get to know you. Having that personal relationship can be so important for advancement and/or if your performance is ever lacking.

We’re now seeing people that finished college remotely and have been working remotely for an extended period. At least in my field, as a whole, their skills are noticeably behind where I would expect them to be.

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nfshakespeare t1_j6a3lty wrote

Good point. For instance theatre over zoom is awful because the actors can’t interact. So a research project, where a creative solution is necessary may very well benefit from in person work. Still as you say that is a quite specific scenario.

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silly_frog_lf t1_j6cutfl wrote

You can have special days when you hang out together for those interactions. And those can exist remotely too if you make messaging small talk a normal part of the workday

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darockerj t1_j6dbltt wrote

tbh i’ve been wanting to return to an office bc it’s really hard for me to network and find mentors in a remote environment. i’m a new-ish tech employee and being without those resources has kind of left me without a paddle.

plus, remote work has been isolating. i miss having impromptu interactions with coworkers and seeing others throughout the day. honestly, i don’t care about efficiency. i don’t work to be efficient, i work to make money.

what i’ve been wanting is to feel like there’s a place i can go where i have a job to do. until then, i’m kind of just chained to a laptop in my apartment.

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