All Wet?
"...team synchronised swimming to ensure editors and reporters are all on the same page."
Poor Dabsy has to do it with a webcam and a bit of a delay, eh?
One in five Googlers will be permanently working from home once the pandemic abates but for the majority it seems free meals in staff canteens, guest celebrity speaker appearances, resident gyms and massage therapy are irresistible lures. A pre-Christmas directive from the Chocolate Factory was for the majority of employees to …
That's because some actual nerds still work there. Nerds with social anxieties.
Still, the goal is to get their people to spend most of their working hours hanging out, minds loosely-work related. I suppose for some green grad with no family, it would be some kind of paradise.
Spot on.
Trouble is that HR and (executive) management tends to attract bubbly extrovert types who thrive on get-togethers and team games on stage.
Notwithstanding the rhetoric about "inclusion and diversity", their ultimate goal seems to be to "fix" the nerds and help (force?) them "reach their full social outgoing potential" so they can be "normal human beings".
For proof one only has to look at the Open Office Floorplan that was foisted on tech workers. It was declared a success even before implementation. Anyone objecting was told "they'd learn to love it" and naysayers were dubbed "saboteurs of true interaction". Answers to survey questions to gauge buy-in tended to be limited to variations of "Love it!" and "Absolutely love it" - and the execs declared that they had been right all along. After all, the survey said so.
How is having three strictly defined options, sanctioned by your manager flexible?
Flexibility is saying "come in or stay home, whichever works best for you - however your manager reserves the final decision if we think you're taking the piss", no?
I'm one of the few who actually feels somewhat short changed by the WFH "revolution". My previous job was usually 4 days on a client site, 1 day WFH however if I needed too I could WFH or I could work all 5 (or sometimes more!) days onsite. Went to my actual company office for a total of 4 days in 2 years and that includes my 2 day mandatory induction. WFH for a week when you are report writing or being in the client's office for a full week during a project kick off where you generally decide (with your clients agreement) seems perfect in my opinion. YMMY of course.
Hence WFH exclusively has been something of a negative to me personally, but I appreciate I'm in the minority on this one given my "privileged" prior working arrangements.
Forced long term WFH proved to me that I *could* do it, so now the perks of getting to do it when it suits is going to be awesome.
It's also demonstrated to employers that were reluctant that it does work. So I'm going to be very wary of anyone who has irrational rules prohibiting it in the future.
I know you meant "union", but I am just picturing Larry and Sergei destroying onions in the style of Regular Ordinary Swedish Meal Time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEZVdxhB9J8
Hacka Löken!
Beer because Friday.