Return to office mandates in Tech Sector

[AllThingsTech]

What do you think of the impact of RTO mandates on productivity in the Tech Sector?

I believe DropBox are the latest in the series of companies to introduce such!

While I can’t speak for other professions, I feel like it’s difficult to accurately measure performance of software engineers as individual contributors - for example, while number of bugs fixed could be a measure of productivity, that doesn’t account for the complexity of the bugs.

Secondly, the CEO mandating RTO likely doesn’t have a comprehensive understanding of what’s required in technical roles given that the majority of CEOs are not technical themselves, or at the very least, not performing that particular role.

Also in my opinion there is no “one size fits all” approach. While there are exceptions for those with disabilities as legislation requires, the process for obtaining such accommodations can be cumbersome. As such, some, such as those who are neurodivergent, like myself, work much better from home, as social dynamics can be challenging. Many may also fear disclosure of such due to fears of discrimination, intentional or not. Furthermore, employers miss out on talent due to reasons such as neurodivergent, location, etc - many don’t have that flexibility to choose their location e.g. partners job etc.

On the contrary, there are concerns employers have which in my eyes are legitimate. Primarily, there is the concern that employees will waste business time or face distractions. However, can it truly be said that these distractions are worse than distractions within the office space with the constant coffee breaks, chit-chat etc?

The other concern is employees working multiple jobs. I realise this is common in councils and I feel this is probably not least due to poor productivity standards. I don’t believe this is as common in private sector jobs.

In my opinion we’re all different. Some are more productive in the office while others are more productive at home. I believe that accommodating preferences will reduce stigma of neurodivergence and enable all employees to be more productive.

What are your thoughts? I may have come across strong but of course I’m open to different viewpoints

 

[Hitcore]

You got me at "those who are neurodivergent".
If I could make a living remotely, heck, I would never leave the house. Unfortunately I work in a warehouse, and I can't really take a forklift truck back home with me.

Personal preference and situation aside, I think remote work is unavoidable, eventually. The world has automated exponentially, and physical attendence becomes less and less important when the job can be done from any computer from any location. Eventually working-from-home demands will catch up. It would also save a lot of traffic, energy, and thus money.

And you are right: there are certain stigmas on neurodivergence. I've been facing them myself. Online I may come off as sociable and well articulated, but in real life I struggle with expressing myself properly and being among people. To most I'm just "that quiet weird guy who fiddles with his hands a lot", even after explaining what I am dealing with.

I wish people would just let us do our work in peace, @AllThingsTech

That being said, if others feel better working at the office, then by all means, they should. Indeed, different people are built differently. We should all have the freedoms to do our tasks in our own ways.

 

[AllThingsTech]

You got me at "those who are neurodivergent".
If I could make a living remotely, heck, I would never leave the house. Unfortunately I work in a warehouse, and I can't really take a forklift truck back home with me.

Personal preference and situation aside, I think remote work is unavoidable, eventually. The world has automated exponentially, and physical attendence becomes less and less important when the job can be done from any computer from any location. Eventually working-from-home demands will catch up. It would also save a lot of traffic, energy, and thus money.

And you are right: there are certain stigmas on neurodivergence. I've been facing them myself. Online I may come off as sociable and well articulated, but in real life I struggle with expressing myself properly and being among people. To most I'm just "that quiet weird guy who fiddles with his hands a lot", even after explaining what I am dealing with.

I wish people would just let us do our work in peace, @AllThingsTech

That being said, if others feel better working at the office, then by all means, they should. Indeed, different people are built differently. We should all have the freedoms to do our tasks in our own ways.

I’m seen as disruptive in large group settings in person due to my auditory processing challenges. I suppose such groups are not suitable for me as it’s challenging to accommodate this. This is largely why I enjoy participating in online groups!

And yes, it’s a shame that CEOs are often forcing employees to the office without understanding requirements of the role. However, ever since COVID restrictions, as some employers realised working from home doesn’t necessarily decrease productivity (but may in fact improve it due to less chance of burnout due to reduced commutes), they realised that on the whole, remote working is beneficial due to costs of office space rentals saved.