I've been remote since 2016. It was unofficial until 2019 when they closed a number of offices globally, including my home office, and moved those they were keeping to official remote designation. They've not asked those remote workers back but anyone that was in-office prior to COVID-19 does have to go in at least 3 days a week.
Moving to: m/AskMbin!
### We are moving! **Join us in our new journey as we take a new direction towards the future for this community at mbin, find our new community here and read this post to know more about why we are moving. Thank you and we hope to see you there!**
Still fully remote, working a job some 2000 km away from me. The whole company is remote first now, and it's been pretty good.
I do find the volume of zoom meetings to be unacceptable, though. At first, people really seemed to get that you could have the equivalent of a "quick chat" over Slack or whatever, but they eventually moved on to impromptu zoom calls, or shadow dropping meetings into my calendar to talk about something in camera that can be discussed in chat.
It drives me bonkers.
After 3 years fully remote and isolated, tough, I do kind of wish I could go into the office like ones or twice a month, just so people could see me as a real person, and to have group meetings.
I've been working remotely for a foreign company for 9 years already. Best decision ever. (Disc: married, with children)
I’m doing all right. The company I work for was bought out by another company and they have begun slashing hours and tightening the reins across the board. I’m looking for a new job but I definitely wish to remain a remote worker and won’t be quitting until I have a new position lined up. It’s not easy finding a new job in this U.S. economy however.
Made by the company. 3 days in the office. Not my preference because traffic is nuts, but on work from home days the cats get in front of my keyboard.
I feel you about traffic. If I had to drive into work I don't think I would ever make it to the office before closing time.
I'm technically hybrid, but I haven't been to the office in over a month. I only go in if there're important meetings.
I am full time remote, and I will never go back as long as I have my say. It's so much better this way, for so many reasons. The freedom I have is not something I would want to give up now.
I'm still remote. The company forced everyone to go back 3 days a week, but it was too big of a pain for me with child care being an issue (3 year old and 5 year old). So I applied for permanent WFH and they are sitting on my application. The CTO told me that the heads of the company are not giving permanent WFH for anyone without a medical reason. He did say that he would extend my return to office date until next year, though, so at least by then my 3 year-old will be in preschool.
All in all I'm considering leaving for a permanent WFH position. The work-life balance is just way better when you have small kids.
I'm still working remote, although the company has been going down the 2,3, now 4 days back in the office route. Luckily, my office was closed so they can't push us in yet, but it'll be a matter of time as the CEO is a believer in the collaboration etc etc that doesn't reflect how people are actually working.
It's a bit comical when some of the exec discuss it. There isn't enough office space for all the people, so the ones forced back are hot-desking and having a terrible time of it. The plan is to reduce the amount of offices, so the issue will get worse. A lot of people are on calls for a lot of the day so this just makes the whole thing a mess where you unpack all your stuff, jump onto calls, pack all your stuff again, then leave. Rinse / repeat. The execs acknowledge it but still pull all the synergy / collab / culture stuff.
I'm moving to a new fully remote position before the RTO is enforced. It's hard to beat not wasting hours a day and thousands a year on commuting by train. I get to actually attend my kid's school events, take them training, spend time with them.
I'm fully remote with the exception of a monthly departmental meeting. Remote working worked really well for the majority of teams, so we just never went back into the office. I'm in the Finance department and most days don't need to interact with colleagues to get my work done. I don't think I could go back to being in the office full time now. I enjoy the peace and space I have at home. Sensory issues are much easier to manage. Also, my dog is here and sometimes she just needs scritches and a snack, so obviously I need to be here to ensure her needs are met!
Give her a scritch for me!
I got forced to go back three days a week. I grew resentful and started working less efficiently out of spite, then I asked for more money and got denied, so I quit.
Found a new job a month later, 30h a week for only ~10% less pay than I had with 40h, so 4 day work week and 90% WFH. Somehow I enjoy going into the office now though, maybe it‘s the AC, maybe cause I work less, maybe cause I‘m not forced to do it. So I‘ve been going in most days.
Software engineer here. Been WFH since before COVID, now in my third WFH position. My current company let go of the leases on all its offices. There would be a mutiny if they tried to make us come back.
We've hired a very geographically diverse team over the past couple years so most of us wouldn't even have a location to work from, even if the company hadn't let go of its leases.
Full time remote but management want us to be in 2 days a week. I work with a team from another country and will never meet them in person but the middle management wants to see me once a week. I check managers calender and choose one day unless I'm having lunch with some other college.
Totally worthless decision. 40min commute.
Software dev
I'm fully remote, in software development. It's very helpful for me to be able to pick up my kids from school, and get back to work while they do homework. I used to have an elaborate system orchestrating pick-up and transportation to a daycare service.
Lots of small software companies have taken a remote-by-default approach the last few years. That means job openings are often not limited by geography. I'm working for a company that doesn't have an office on my side of the continent. For companies that means they can throw a wide net to pick up people with very specific skills.
I think the downside is that mentorship becomes difficult. An all-remote company I worked for before the shutdown said they found it only works well for senior-level engineers or above. I learned a lot of what I know from the guy who used to sit next to me at my first job. I'm not sure if there's a good replacement for that for new devs. There is still collaboration in my current job, but it's limited by the friction of video calls, and timezone mismatches.
Technically hybrid but have been full remote for the most of the year thanks to a neck injury. Commuting on the train wrecks me from my neck jostling around.
I've been remote over four different roles with my current organisation and have had zero reason to ever set foot in the office.
Sorry, about your neck injury. That sucks.
My team is hybrid, but I try and be in office most days! I’m lucky that my manager doesn’t mind if we do work from home when things come up.
As long as the work gets done, that’s what matters! Which is how I honestly think it should be.
Mid-pandemic I changed gigs to a 100% remote gig out of state, so they really can't force me to come back to the office when it's a 20 hour commute to a place I've never been!
On a more serious note, my gig may expect >40 hours/week (which I rarely give more than 2-3 at most), but they're at least 100% on the idea of remote collaboration. They downsized the office for this reason and give people the option of coming in, but only people that actually have to physically be in the office to do work are required to go in.
Required to go in 3 days a week. The 2 days at home are unsurprisingly my only productive days.
I'm still full remote.
On a very rare occasion, I might have to go into the office, but otherwise I'm working from home.
During covid I learned I really enjoyed working from home, so I talked about it with my employer.
At first I only got day or 2 at home per week, but eventually I was allowed to work fully from home.