BACK TO THE OFFICE FOR THIS?!

[@JoshuaFluke1]

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[@Mike-qc8xd]

i work from home still though they did make most of return...

[@alterSchwede46]

Open space offices are where hopes, dreams and creativity go to die.

[@Deeptunester]

Out in the open for everyone to see

[@BungieStudios]

Super modernist offices are there to remind you of what you're missing out on. You see, the cubicle office failed because people got better at hiding their lack of productivity from bosses, leading to the open office super modernist design. Both are psychologically tolling. Look at those workers trying to ignore the dude running in circles around them.

[@ayanned]

Don't they know that it's uncomfortable being watch all times while doing work. What these managers and CEOs feel if they were subjected to gazes.

[@TheGhostofAbigailMills]

If my ADHD had a voice and an opinion, THIS would be the take. I hate open concept offices SO much. The stimuli coming from all angles, the expectation to acknowledge who or whatever wanders into your field of vision, the start-stop-start-stop-start pace of the work you're doing because you can't get a good rhythm going with all the noise .... I want to take a cheese grater to my brain just thinking about it. I knew it was over when I started WFM full time. I'm never going back.

[@Deeptunester]

@ When I started my first programming job back in 2017, we sat in traditional cubicles in the upper floor of the office and all of the tech support guys were downstairs in a big open area type concept. I never thought I'd see the day where I was thanking God I was in a cubicle.

[@latashav4281]

This isnt about collaboration its about commercial real estate...they put money into that building so they cant let it sit empty smh.

[@headlibrarian1996]

Management should educate themselves about the “sunk cost fallacy”.

[@sexygeek8996]

If they have so much space that they need to use then they can give people enough space to work comfortably instead of cramming them together.

[@aaroncrandal]

It's the new layoff. D. C. 's doin in right meow and they're not even shy enough to deny it

[@Alex-gt5ho]

They should just convert them to apartments or smth

[@RandomPeasant123]

Their problem not ours. We bail them out with our tax dollars anyway.

[@sammaier4485]

Everyone get back to office so we can get on a Teams call with the regional manager who works from home

[@Ezberron]

This. Fucking this. If the managers are at home, there's ZERO reason to be in the office.

[@trumpetbob15]

Or worse, "Come into the office; we have a virtual call with our support staff in their home office 3 states away." Unless everyone works out of the same building, why does it matter if I call the person in the far-away office from a cubicle with a headset or from my home office where I'm alone with no extraneous noise from all my coworkers on their own virtual calls?

[@CrayolaCoffeeBean]

Ahhh but collaboration and innovation!

[@YouCanHasAccount]

It's not all bad. Every day our manager works from home, me and the boys spend at least two hours in the break room after the call. We even started bringing fancy pastries to enjoy with our coffee. Expecting someone to snitch on us sooner or later.

[@TheGhostofAbigailMills]

With THEIR camera OFF, the bloody hypocrites.

[@daveblackman816]

It’s such a joke. Just sell the building or stop leasing it. Problem solved. Turn them into apartments. I don’t wanna go to the office to hang out. I don’t care about a table or cubes.

[@OnyanaRosa]

Same 😩

[@ZeLogicnator5k]

they get tax breaks from the city

[@mattb4625]

​@@ZeLogicnator5kAnd a lot of those tax breaks are tied to occupancy rates or headcount. So they have to choose between lying to a city government or forcing RTO and losing some of their best employees.

[@StrikerEureka85]

start caring about tables or cubes

[@sigmaramen]

@@StrikerEureka85 No

[@MillywiggZ]

Why do offices have quiet rooms? Why don’t they realise the entire place should be a quiet room and “collaboration spaces” should be meeting rooms you use rarely.

[@rukisar6312]

It's the fallacy of managers, inherently social people, designing work spaces for engineers. Engineers are those who actually need space to think, rather than spending all day in meetings talking to people. It never occurs to managers to ask engineers what kind of space would work best for them.

[@Mayhzon]

The spacy stuff I don't find bad at all. Compare with the part in the video where he shows the jail-line mini-cubicles with the keyboard etching into your chest area. No, having space is fine and the modernist design also isn't bad. But it really depends on the work. Anything call-related is maybe better done in small rooms, as to avoid people talking over each other. More importantly, the cynical element about these offices is probably not the office itself, but the people. A lot of employees not liking other employees, the obligatory hires for quotas. And then there is the different departments sneering at each other because (of course) my sales / production / management / artist / marketing / customer relations / front desk team is so much better than the others. I think that's what makes modern "friendly" offices cynical. It's work related stuff, they tried to humanize it, yet socially we have so many unfriendly elements and elitism surrounding us there, classism and interpersonal differences included. The environment contrasted with people's unspoken hostilities makes for cognitive dissonance.

[@mauricioramirez9744]

​@@MayhzonWow great insight.

[@VictorianMaid99]

They have those rooms so people can freak out when Trump sends more elligal aliens back to the crappy country's

[@davidsroom260]

@@Mayhzon "keyboard etching into your chest area." LOL! Good call. I think it goes even deeper than that. Look what that one woman wrote about her new office space "designed for creativity, collaboration, and growth". All these buzzwords that after time people have come to see right through. But it's not just the office---it's everywhere. The phoniness around us is absolutely cloying when you finally open your eyes to it. You want to see phoniness so think you can actually choke on it? Go work in education. Oh dear God, the degree of inauthenticity. But most of us are in a zombie state, so we don't see this stuff til someone points it out. When they do, you feel like a fool for not seeing it.

[@ClassicMocha]

As he tries to show how non-empty this space is…. It looks incredibly empty and dystopian..

[@blahblahblah-uw4uf]

They have all that space and there’s still nobody there 😂 these idiots can’t even take the hint.

[@handles_are_fucking_stupid]

Wanna bet there's homeless wandering around outside whom the leaseholders would never let in the doors of that building

[@TheGhostofAbigailMills]

It probably feels so liminal in there. Like there's supposed to be people there but also not and everything is probably echo-y and way too cold. The overeager guy running around just makes it worse.

[@johnsmith-ro2tw]

The running around is indicative of a toxic environment. THe running has a connotation of an environment where you are expected to ever sprint. That means, where you are expected to complete 4 weeks of work in 3 weeks, which leads to burn out, eventually. I don't need this fake attitude that "we are all cool dudes here". If the place is cool, I will know it, even without the fancy carpet colors.

[@mauricioramirez9744]

​@@TheGhostofAbigailMillslol 😂

[@ytuser13082011]

I absolutely despise unwanted socialization. I don't want to socialize at work. I want to do my job and go back to what I love. I feel disturbed at work when people are around.

[@oliverroberts1076]

Me too.

[@judasdubois]

yeah my office forces social events and it feels weird because I chose to work here because the money was good and I had the education to meet the requirement. I didn't go "oh my god Jeff works there!"

[@georgerafa5041]

Socialization is fine but it can totally happen via teams or whatever app you guys use.

[@defeqel6537]

I don't mind optional events, but nothing should be mandatory

[@klauseba]

I went to the office yesterday for a short meeting with a big boss and then later had beers which was nice but the bad part was so annoying how everyone walked past my back and I constantly felt that I shouldn't watch any social websites and non stop work or look busy. At home I can do whatever I want after I finish my task and there is no need for big brother to spy on me.

[@ajkulac9895]

Of course the CEO guy has a normal quiet office you could actually work in, while everyone else is enjoying the benefits of synergy in open spaces. If anyone asks why do you insist on full remote I'll show them this video. Pretty much sums it up.

[@ACitizenOfOurWorld]

Notice the CEO isn't even in his office today

[@Mayhzon]

Bonus points for the presenter calling him "CEO guy". This shows how far removed he is OR alternatively how little this employee cares about what he does. Either way not a great look and an immediate favorite for Linkedin Cringe. In this case I can't even blame the CEO. Who the f--- would choose to represent their company in such a poorly thought out way? It's not a one-shot movie thing, it's not live. When they shot this short sketch, they should have seen how weird it comes off and chosen to redo that part. I hope these guys aren't the company's marketing department, otherwise I'll weep for their sales team (without qualified leads to call).

[@Jadty]

Oy!

[@tmac9208]

"Synergy"

[@heatherdoranbiz]

And the finance employees are completely open desks and space. 🤦‍♀️

[@Starscreamious]

Those "cubicles" with no walls should be classified as human rights violation.

[@same.7939]

Amen to that.

[@richpoor146]

Yeah, isn’t that how they raise veal

[@endlesssummer162]

I call them ‘people kennels’ and they are soul-crushing

[@Starscreamious]

@@richpoor146 basically yes

[@evilminionnumber2]

He seems to think that showing off his open office concept is going to wow us instead of making me go, "Wait, screw that, I want my cubicle walls back."

[@BatmanBeyondBelief]

Feels like a college library

[@kaicooper9421]

Back to the office to take more zoom calls

[@SonnyL3773]

Exactly

[@andrewfinch76]

It drives me crazy. I've never met any of my teammates because none of them live in the same state as me. I never talk to anyone in the office because there's no point. I just waste money paying for gas, parking and meals so a billion dollar corporation can get a tax break from this property.

[@chancepaladin]

back to the office to talk to 3 different offsite vendors with 3 of your own satellite locations

[@defeqel6537]

Indeed. If I actually had a local team, then yeah, I'd go to the office more, it usually IS better collaborate in person, but if no one else works in the same location anyway... what's the point?

[@suninaustin]

Right 😂

[@nathanielwalker6213]

If employers cannot tell whether or not workers did work, their managers are failing. That doesn't mean office workers do more.

[@86Framer]

RTO is about hiding just how unproductive many office workers are. We have over double the college admins per student than we did in 1980 for example. And academia isn’t the only place like this. I’d rather come in the office 2-5 days a week and have a job than not have a job.

[@ryanhall3689]

There are many parts of office jobs that aren't quantifiable by just looking at numbers on a spreadsheet.

[@sparkyUSA1976]

Indeed. It amazed me that my job didn't even require something like an EOS report. I started doing it on my own because people would randomly ask me about what was going on with my tasks.

[@tommyseacat3580]

All of this is for 1 thing. To watch you. It's not about work, it's about control. If it were about work then you could just get it done at home.

[@nettewilson5926]

Exactly

[@georgerafa5041]

No it's about real estate values and projecting an image that says look how big and successful we are. I don't doubt some managers are control freaks but those guys aren't the ones calling the shots. They're just there to kiss ass. That's middle management behavior. Upper management is the one that is about impressing investors.

[@Mayhzon]

To be fair, home office isn't exactly conductive to a good work environment for many people. Might be that you're the exception, but I do think that a lot of people will get done less stuff at home (and more unfocussed as they work later into the night).

[@NLBusiness391]

@@Mayhzon and what evidence do you have to back that up? Or is it just something you “feel”?

[@sparkyUSA1976]

@@NLBusiness391 to this I would say more and more people are having to "share spaces" at home as well because real estate and rent prices go up. If you have kids at home (and not a large space so you can "be in another part of the home") or live in 2 bedroom apartment with a roommate doing their thing during the day because they work nights... probably going to be better if you can find a space that's at least a little more conducive to work.

[@andrewobrien8665]

The guy running around the empty office without the paper airplane is what the business side looks like to the technical side.

[@nco_gets_it]

my boss is like that guy. It is like working for an ADHD squirrel. I'm trying to solve a technical problem on a call with a group in Europe at 6am and she is zooming around like a feral cat preventing any work at all. I hate it. They hire us for our technical skills and knowledge--skills and knowledge they don't have--and then waste your time so that your skills and knowledge are absolutely wasted. I hate it.

[@chancepaladin]

@@nco_gets_it cuz the social people absolutely cannot fking help themselves when they're around other people. CANNOT help themselves. its like pure raw sugar to them

[@TheSmark666]

"Can I please go do my work now?" "NO HECKIN' WAY! IT'S EMPLOYEE BONDING HOUR!" "Do I at least get paid?" "NO HECKIN' WAY! THIS IS JUST SUPER HAPPY FUN TIMES!"

[@aluisious]

It’s getting to the point where you have to ask “am I being detained?” from a law enforcement perspective.

[@maryfields1382]

Then, when it comes to your review at the end of the year: We've noticed your team's productivity is down, so there will be no raises. Instead, we're going to have more mandatory "team building activities" and pizza parties. Derp.

[@Novusod]

That is just useless managers trying to justify their paycheck. When really those middle managers should all be fired immediately. They bring nothing of value to the company.

[@gregsodja156]

@@Novusod 100 fucking %

[@aluisious]

@ This is your hint that companies are not about "producing value," they're about exerting social order.

[@molecularmage5443]

Can confirm. Got mandated back this week and its truly this awful. 2-3 hours of my day in traffic, less sleep/free time... all just to get on teams with people 3 feet away from me, sit 6 inches away from co workers in an open office who smak their food and gum, take calls without headphones, and bother me for petty nonsensical questions. My bonus for coming in today was getting a "You leaving already?" for leaving when they stop paying me (im hourly)

[@ynmonroe]

You should ask, "Oh, do we have overtime available?" I bet that would shut them up.

[@molecularmage5443]

​@@ynmonroefunny part is when they hired me i was specifcally told to not do OT because they would have to pay 1.5x my petty wage. They just want me to stay for free and not put it on my timecard. You genuinely cannot win at some places

[@ynmonroe]

@ Understood and I agree. I've seen companies like this. Pay you the bare minimums, no real bonus to speak of, but want you to go above and beyond and overwork yourself.

[@crestinglight]

Best of luck in your job search man, there's better out there for you than this garbage.

[@molecularmage5443]

​@@crestinglight thanks im def looking. Hope we can all get decent jobs ✌️

[@JasonEDragon]

I prefer my own home office with its peace and quiet, the nearby kitchen, the clean bathroom that I get to use all by myself, and the thermostat that I can adjust whenever I want. And besides the horrible corporate open office plans, most offices are dingy, dirty, cramped, and noisy - not the clean, new examples shown here.

[@speedfiend925]

This is HILARIOUSLY sad that they think pandering to people this way will get people to come back to the office.

[@ynmonroe]

They don't; after all they aren't leaving people with a choice. No. What they think will happen is that it will either soften people up to make it not seem as bad or make them want to come to the office, lol.

[@Mayhzon]

Honestly, most of these offices (minus that one sales call boiler room) seem fine. They just have to stop going over the top with the hype. It's a work room, it's an okay work environment, definitely an upgrade from the 90's cucibles. Just don't act like it's the greatest thing on earth. A bit of pride is fine. Really, I think most of these office tours would be better if they were just presented in a more grounded manner. Emotional slant can still be very positive. But have someone actually address the viewer with a reasonable speech. Something like a 10 second shot with "This is my new office, I kinda like it, the atmosphere is welcoming" is more than enough.

[@hughjass4838]

I drive a truck and have zero human contact all day. I had a ride-along the other day and it made me reappreciate how nice it is to not be around people.

[@Mayhzon]

A man like you would probably never get into one of these social-weird jobs anyway. And good thing, too. Pragmatists like you are needed to keep people and nations well and alive.

[@KC51-q6w]

Do it every day all day…you’ll come to re-appreciate the quiet. In general people suck man and nobody truly cares about anyone. People force smiles and play the part, but at the end of the day it’s all fake just to make money. Enjoy the open road and your peace.

[@BangMaster96]

Hanging out with your Family and Friends is fun, hanging out with complete strangers at work or out in public places is just artificial and fake these days, no one truly cares about you outside of your immediate family, so why bother having these awkward and cringe small conversations with random strangers.

[@hiflyer000]

Years ago I had a job where I would service medical equipment at hospitals and doctors offices. I worked alone and had some flexibility with my hours. The pay wasn't great but I really liked the job. I ended up getting laid off, and found a much higher paying job, but I do miss that job from time to time.

[@jimmyjakes1823]

@@BangMaster96 Friends and family are like fish. They start to smell after about 3 days.

[@markipelagogogo]

Awh that guy doesn’t have good healthcare or a core 401k contribution but who needs that when you have a SWING??

[@Deeptunester]

WHEEEEEE

[@markipelagogogo]

@@Deeptunester LoL... I worked for a place that had free bagels on Friday. Couldn't do a good PTO program for the love of anything, but if I wanted even TWO sesame 🥯 I was never lacking.

[@WTHenry2023]

Thank you for giving me a tour of the 7th level of Hades.

[@MajesticLawnGnome]

😂

[@thunderbolt2145]

😄 good one

[@marky2fresh345]

I was recalled into the office and found an entirely remote job within 2 weeks and quit. It would take a 100% raise to even get me to consider setting a foot back in an office.

[@daniellenoblet5131]

I wouldn't do it for a million. Time, peace, and autonomy are priceless.

[@Novusod]

That is the correct response. Demand double pay for going back to the office.

[@molecularmage5443]

​@@daniellenoblet5131 i mean for a million id do it but i get your point lol

[@justinwhite2725]

This is actually part of the plan, they want you to quit so they have to pay fewer people off.

[@TheJase8566]

There was a Nintendo at my office. The only people who used it was managers

[@0KyriX0]

We have a PS5 in the break room, but you have to swipe your badge in order to get the controller... I wonder why nobody uses it 🤔

[@andrewfinch76]

​@0KyriX0 Yeah, let me just play Spider-Man over my 15 minute break a shared console

[@ArchIVEDCinema]

​@@0KyriX0 Forget coffee badging. Catch me PS5 badging lol

[@richardpavlov442]

3:19 They spend all the money on this BS but put you on a naughty list for asking for a raise/promotion

[@Mayhzon]

One thing is deductible and the other likely isn't, is the main reason why. I don't know how it is in the US. I can only speak for Germland, but here having an employee in a mid pay bracket (3000 - 5000 monthly pre-tax) and then granting them a rise of about 100 € after tax will cost the employer some 300 - 600 €. Taxation and social insurance deductables are an absolute racket by the government here. Rent has to be paid, too. But you can write it off from some taxation up to a point, so it doesn't sting as hard. But even then, doing lots of jobs interviews recently and knowing how to get people to talk - I met several companies that purposefully did not get an office in the capitol or the center of big cities, because of the rent going up. Point being - The system in place punishes wage increases, but rewards real estate expenses, so companies will dump excess funds in real estate. Simple as.

[@misterelom]

As a guy who loves his privacy, I would absolutely hate this if I still worked in an office (i'm from the cubicle era). And that guy running through the office trying to make everything seem so cool and fun is just making it more cringe.

[@veiga1000]

I'm now convinced that offices exist just to impress investors. The employees are just as replaceable as the decor

[@staggermeister_old]

They’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on the offices that no one needs or wants, genius

[@TheMrBeaucephus]

If these are the horrors that await me, I shall never aspire to work again.

[@1439315]

Book World Without Men has been out of the closet 1 year now. Great read - veteran

[@MajesticLawnGnome]

Lmaoo 🤣

[@mymoviemania1]

Office isn’t the only place to work.

[@luisvigo3777]

most embarrassing part is, he is likely proud of this video.

[@philliparnold6762]

You know what's cooler than those offices? My house.

[@eng3d]

i can't stop reading it without imagining Muscle Man 😂

[@adamk701]

We realize you can't focus at the office so here is a box off to the side you can crawl into and with no monitors in case you need to get any work done. And if you couldn't focus today, that's OK. We didn't expect you to. We didn't even expect you to come into the office. Heck, we were hoping you didn't. We need to cut payroll badly this quarter while avoiding severance and unemployment. But since your performance at the office is in the gutter, we'll be able to put you on a PIP and get you out the old fashioned way. Welcome back!

[@Mayhzon]

PIP? Must be a sales guy. Yeah I lost my job last year, too. Things are hard right now, don't give up. Better times come around again.

[@sugoruyo]

I go to the office 3d/wk so I can put on headphones and work while I wait for my team, 8 timezones away to wake up so we can have meetings. Then I silently attend my meetings from my desk because admin keeps cancelling my room bookings seeing as there's only two of us from my team in this office and all the meeting rooms are large and they need them. After that, I happily put on my backpack, walk out in the rain and head 42m (128ft) below ground to cram myself onto a sardine can with a couple hundred other commuters and leave the most expensive part of London behind and go home, to the most stabby part of London. Then I hop on my laptop and do more work seeing as much of my work requires me to talk to folks on the side of the world at odd hours. This is something I can do fine from home but I have to actually do this from an office 3d/wk just to stay anxious and waste my valuable time and money.

[@Hollyberry-no-you-didnt]

That is so depressing and so many of us deal with that. WE just got told we have to come back 5 days a week starting in March. My commute is now 2 hours minimum each way. That's an extra 20 hours a week I get to spend in my car (California no good public transport avail). So I will drive into work and sit by myself on zoom call with employees in different buildings - huge campus big tech company - when I could be at home doing the same thing. The only diff is at the bottom of my zoom call it says what conf room or phone booth I'm in. It's becoming too insane for words.

[@TheAzeilbeck]

The myth of spontaneous collaboration from “running into someone at the office” needs to end. This applies only to c-suite executives and their lackeys cropdusting their “innovation” over each other on the top floor. No one else cares or wants to work extra hours for an EVP to get the credit ($) anyway. I wonder how fast the RTO narrative/rationale would change if the rank and file started “collaborating” to form unions.

[@blackcitadel9]

I see these offices with "break rooms" and "large open spaces" and my question is - When exactly do we have time to use any of it? Most of these places expect you to be working and your break is usually too short to even use any of these places, and lunch time, if you're lucky, you might actually manage to get enough time to get your lunch and get back. Obviously I'm not going to use it at the end of the shift, I'm going to go home before it gets even darker...so what's the point of all these amenities?

[@TheGhostofAbigailMills]

Amazing. They were clearly going for "fun, energetic office tour" and somehow landed on "queasy fever dream you get that wakes you up in the middle of the night but everything still feels unreal, so you don't realize you're awake".

[@benbreakfast4314]

Wow, the room with the fans actually looks like a prison.

[@luvzdogz]

Right!? That's worse than most airport terminals!

[@griffin2765]

Looks like an India scam call center

[@ashicks]

The security camera really adds that "penitentiary" touch... I would walk right back out if someone told me that was where I had to work all day.

[@Mayhzon]

The Emperor demands sacrifice, Guardsman. Disregard your notions of comfort, we have Tzeentch Followers to hunt! Yes, they use the internet now. Come to the office, quickly! We got a 100.000 glass fibre connection here to combat them. Godspeed and praise the Emperor!

[@emeseipacs3568]

Looks like most scam call centers

[@germwire90]

If you get caught in the swing, or lounging areas too often you're fired. It's a complete setup.

[@jimmyjakes1823]

I wonder if you could just play their video game console in the lounge area until you get fired and then file for unemployment.

[@jessicasmiles00]

"Lounge and hang out." I do not ever want to "hang out" at work. That will be a no for me. I rather downgrade my lifestyle. 🙄

[@henryuta]

I work so I can "hang out" at home with my family

[@molecularmage5443]

Thats like one my co workers. He just like lives in the office. He stretches an 8 hour work day into like 12 and like barely works lol

[@Wavecheckfoo]

I see people at my job playing ping pong after hours and I’m just like damn yall lives must be sad. They were literally doing it today they’re In their 20s it’s a Friday night and they’re playing ping pong at the office

[@atomixfang]

I cant believe employees gave up on home office so quickly. Luckily I work for myself so I dont have to do home office, but really, what a shame. The pandemic showed it was possible to work from home and it is being lost thanks to the control freak CEOs and middle managers that need to justify their work.

[@MJCLAXDEN]

Josh, when I started working in Corporate in 1988, it was in the era of going from offices to cubicle farms. It was noisy, smoky (indoor smoking was still a thing, even in NY/NJ), and loud (dot matrix printing). It only got worse into lowered cubicles and open floor plans. It was the equivalent of having a jailhouse toilet. What a mess! Companies don't get it.

[@johnsmith-ro2tw]

I have once worked in a company where everyone had their individual office space (2 guys max in one dedicated office space). It was awesome, you had your own space, it was quiet, no jerk around who laughs out loud to impress the manager, or who does shit that distracts everyone. Now, we have those giant open spaces with silly colors and swings. Who designs that ? A child ? Probably not someone with experience working in a team in an office space.

[@allen5930]

I have that too, it's called my home ...

[@Opulent_oatmeal]

I have ADHD. Office environments are absolute hell. I took a remote job and it has been amazing for my life and my work. Then they implemented rto... I have cried so many times this year.

[@sydneyhart]

Request accommodations under the ADA!

[@dynamichunter843]

@@sydneyhart Sadly they will not always give remote work for ADHD/ADA, but just give you a room in the corner or something.

[@justinwhite2725]

If you got the job because it was remote and they changed the terms you might qualify for constructive dismissal. Sounds like this happened awhile ago though and not something happening now.

[@Opulent_oatmeal]

@@sydneyhart Working on it. They are determined to run through every possible accommodation that will put my butt in that seat before granting remote (if they're even going to consider it). So far they've all been terrible.

[@Opulent_oatmeal]

@@justinwhite2725 Announced end of 2023, but it didn't affect my team until end of April. I can at least look into it and see what the options are. Thanks for the tip!

[@BOZ_11]

2:30 - imagine working for a child with gray hair

[@gentlerain3245]

Hurray back to the office where you will have to waste... i mean commute 3+ hours to-from the office traveling, prepare for work, sacrifice your sleep, consume fast food and rush into being on time IF you can make it past the traffic that absolutely NONE of your fault at all just to look at a bland office with cheap IKEA furniture trash and a hell lot of distractions because everywhere is loud and every wall is glass!!

[@bddaawwgg]

I have my own desk, two 32 inch monitors, a rising desk, a treadmill, my cell phone (and google voice if needed), and my own comfy office chair. To Josh's point... why would I drive 2 hours one way to stare at a single 15 inch monitor? And in a phone booth the size of a dog kennel on a very uncomfortable chair?

[@jandraelune1]

Going back to the office is about control, nothing more. It has nothing to do with productivity or cost savings. Collaborations is the same virtual or in-person, but virtual you can keep working at the same time. Having no office means: no office space rent, no paying for building maintenance, no paying for building janitorial, no paying for building security, no one spending extra on travel/parking costs.

[@0752756949]

I get a sort of a perverse grin on my face seeing everyone in the West getting to experience the work life of my parents'generation behind the Iron Curtain. Yes, Comrades, we are all in this mess together 😢

[@Mayhzon]

I think you greatly overestimate the self-discipline of most people. You are right that companies want control over their employees, but don't think that staying home long-term is good for productivity for most people. I challenge this notion.

[@MrSubsound90]

I had that same carpet in my office from the beginning 2006 to 2019. The 100% glass and the "bull pens" (straight desk with no partitions) is something that's been slowly being added to every office. I hate this because people will come up and stand OVER me to chat. If my face is at armpit level at my computer...wear some deodorant at least dude. These constant remodels are also extremely expensive. Money that could easily be spent on things like retention, training, salaries, adequate staffing...but no...we need a gaming console that if you use as a peon you are not working hard enough.

[@saywhatnow57]

I rent an office for myself because I'm self employed, and I like getting out of the house everyday. The company next to me just remodeled their largest room by removing all of the traditional cubes, and cramming everyone into a space half the size, everyone with open desks. I don't know what they're planning for, but they now have a basketball court sized space that's just empty, while all of the employees now fit in a smaller space in the back. And it could not have been cheap. They went very high end on the new desks.

[@Ethergirl]

This was hilarious so thank you for posting! That first video where the guy is running through the huge office space, like he's being chased by someone, did anyone notice that the place is maybe 20% or 25% occupied at most? There were vast open plan seating and desk areas, completely devoid of workers. It makes you wonder WHY they need an office space even close to that large for their staff. That last video with the fabulous little clocks on the wall, was almost Orwellian in its cold sterility. It does indeed look like a place for workers to be punished. I have no idea why they think ANY of these videos would influence workers to return to the office.

[@feralkid9315]

The entire reason for them hyping "the awesome office" is because they don't want to pay their employees in money. They want employees who will work for pay in anything other than money.

[@williammcneill2753]

Employees arent collaborators. They are competitors. Ten employees in a conference room isnt a collaboration, its a cage match.

[@aluisious]

Form a union. NO NOT THAT COLLABORATION

[@johnnyng8527]

@@aluisious😂😂😂

[@ex8722]

Sounds like a team building idea 😂😂😂

[@Mrfinch9999]

I always saw it as them trying to farm you for ideas to steal for themselves.

[@sparkyUSA1976]

🤣

[@scvscades]

I like my current office, down the stairs and to the right. Commute is less than 10 seconds, have everything I need and no one is watching over me shoulder.

[@mixmax6027]

When you realize it's just modern slavery... the masters just called us back.

[@TheUnconfortableTruth]

Fun fact. Capitalism was built from the ideas of slavery. You have workers, and you have owners (Wow, I feel like George Carlin saying that). Now you can work your way to become a "working owner", but being just an owner is somehow always out of reach.

[@drevestedt]

Why is it slavery just because you have someone that is in charge of you?

[@fettel1988]

​@@drevestedt Define how it isn't

[@Demonthese1]

People conflating employment in the US to slavery is hilarious. You are free to work for yourself you know. You will have to work harder than you do now though xD

[@drevestedt]

@ That is not how it works. You make the claim first here, so you have to argue for your claim. So, answer my question, please.

[@LauraSnow-in3nx]

They wasted all of this money on building a new pointless office that is not going to motivate people to do more or to do better. They’re just gonna keep doing the basic. I wonder how much motivation somebody would have if they had just given them I don’t know a bonus a raise something versus just more pointless office space

[@andyzaft8827]

Preach. It feels like we are every day closer and closer to idiocracy and very few people question why we are doing things the way we are doing them. Thanks for highlighting some of this absolute insanity that surrounds us.

[@chrisoberst3531]

I think we're already there.

[@DetroitNinja]

Nope, I'm never going back to corporate. I have my KZbin channel and opportunities are endless.

[@aluisious]

Yeah they’ll never turn off the money hose for you, lol.

[@subu150390]

​@aluisious as if going g to office guarantees an ever flowing money hose 🙄

[@BangMaster96]

How much does KZbin pay tho? Aren't the only People making Money in these Social Media spaces like the top 1%.

[@nekto34]

On being watched. Just quit my last office position to become a trucker. In that office position I was the only brand new person on a team. Everyone else has been there for 4+ years. They touted their tenure with the company. Right off the bat, I got this weird feeling that I was constantly being watched and scrutinized for everything I did and/or didn't do. Thought I was turning paranoid, but then they did give away a couple of clues that I was correct in my suspicion.

[@cw2054]

So companies complain because they think you are not working when you are at home but they are going to put pool tables and gaming systems in office so your not doing your work there. The level of cognitive dissonance. 🙄🤦‍♂️

[@dallasmove537]

We started 5 day RTO this month and I get NOTHING done. The office is a cacophony of noise and interruptions. It's impossible to reserve a private room and my coworkers are constantly fuming that they now have to pay for after school care for a job they'd previously been doing at home for years. We're all calculating how much of a pay cut we're taking due to added expenses for fuel, dry cleaning, lunches, and parking. But hey, we get all that useful "culture" and "collaboration".

[@jeffw1267]

Just because people had free day care for years doesn't mean they deserve it now. Welcome to the real world. I deliver mail at the post office, I have to go to the office to do my job, and no kids are allowed in there.

[@katearcher8881]

We also started a 5 day RTO, I wonder if we both work for the same company? Anyway, I'm not even able to find a parking space, so I have to drive to the office and then drive back home to work. Fck the environment, right?

[@KK-sv7pc]

@@jeffw1267 Tending your own offspring isn’t “free day care”, it’s what you’re supposed to do.

[@Mayhzon]

I will say this - It depends on the office and the type of work. Synergy in some settings DOES exist. I think the real issue here is rolling certain changes out in uniform without adapting them to what the company truly needs. Needs and desires don't always align in that case.

[@NLBusiness391]

@@jeffw1267 I like how just because YOU CHOOSE a job that doesn’t let you do that, you think NO ONE else should get to do it either. I imagine your tune would immediately change if you found yourself in a remote job. Please never become a manager of anyone

[@ChiefBrianIrons]

I hate the office, have to wake up early to beat the traffic and long commute as well. Just to go to a noisy environment because people on zoom calls and people not muting their laptops so all I hear teams notification alerts going off everywhere. Absolutely hate it also get nothing done either in office compared working at home. All offices look the same and food is terrible as well compared to home cooked food

[@thomase5374]

What’s crazy is the amount of this furniture that is probably going to go entirely unused. We have all these booths and chairs and coffee tables in my building all over every floor. 50+ stories full of this. NO ONE USES IT. Everyone sits at their desk or lingers near someone else’s desk. At most a conference room gets used. No one is sitting in any of this furniture. It just sits and rots and then gets sold for a fraction of the price on eBay for Facebook marketplace.

[@creeper2054]

I love the one with the guy running because it has a ridiculous open floor plan layout. Nothing better than being able to stare at each other while working. So much better than working from home.

[@Mayhzon]

Depends on the work honestly. But if it's something where you are better off solo, yeah, that will be a pain. I see these things useful for project work collaborations or such. But I don't know what fields make use of cooperation? Marketing and HR maybe? I don't see it being useful in engineering, coding or sales.

[@creeper2054]

​@@Mayhzon I spent 24 years as a supervisor/manager. I interviewed dozens of people across various roles and industries. I asked all of them to provide ways that they preferred not to be managed. And the first thing that every single one said is that they preferred not to be micromanaged. And that is exactly what this is.

[@Mayhzon]

@ Well yeah, micromanagement is a mindkiller. No objections there. I specifically mean the open spaces and coordinated project work.

[@Fedex211]

Waste of money. My office looks similar with those newly designed spaces. No one uses them. People come in, do their work at a duel screen desk or hog those privacy room’s and then go home. No one wants to “hang” out at work. The pandemic made people realize life outside of work with friends and family was more important

[@sparkyUSA1976]

Do those rooms have proper ventilation and lighting?

[@PixelThorn]

I went to office and the silent rooms were filled with people using them all hours everyday, because they didn't want to work in the open workspace, instantly regretted coming back to the office

[@joannevans9629]

Back in approximately 2023 I worked at a company where they put up to 6 people in a small room with no windows. They called it the Bull Pen. One person in this room at a job that required her to interact with a lot of people. So, people were coming in and out of the relatively small room a lot. I get distracted easily so put on head phones to drown out the noice. But, ended up having to turn up the volume over time to drown it out and eventually I got in trouble because they could hear it too. It was by far the worst working experience I've ever had having to be in that room with 5 other women. All of our desks lined the walls. There was an adjoining large room where they did the same thing and they were not happy as well for much the same reason. WFH has to be far more productive but unfortunately in a manufacturing setting it's just not possible.

[@mixmax6027]

Wagie cages!

[@petek2832]

As much as I hated my old cubicle, at least I had my own private little space. These modern offices that try and look so open and collaborative, actually look dismal and sterile. Everyone has headphones or earbuds to drown out the noise around them, there is literally no personal space. This is an introverts nightmare.

[@ArchibaldNorman-vl5ci]

Super awesome! Your humility is humbling... or is it just the laughter?

[@MiaMizuno]

Last Monday I was back in the Office (we have now 2 days a week rule), and it was surprisingly full. I had hard time to find a desk. Then 2 hours later some project lead coming to our project lead, complaining that there are too many employees. He is gonna write a complaint, that he did not have enough space for his coworkers, as they had some team event 😂 You just cannot make up those things 😂😂😂

[@99solutionsit10]

Had my own office, closed to cut costs. Discovered that working from home has no really influence on my performance.

[@ge2719]

on your performance sure, its your company. do that with 500 workers, and see how performance falls through the fall.

[@matthewnirenberg]

@@ge2719 Simple - if they can't do the required work whilst working remotely, they deserve to be fired. Anyone dumb enough to think that the workspaces shown in the video let anyone actually get work done shows just how out of touch with reality they are. The bullpen type workspaces are impossible to be productive in, and are extremely depressing. Also, anyone who needs to be monitored every second with someone looking over their shoulder or watching their keystrokes and mouse movements, isn't someone who should be employed as they've completely failed to be an adult. Life is tough and too many are useless snowflakes. Reality has shown that during the plandemic, people were far more productive whilst working from home, and that their productivity dropped when forced back to the office. Sure some people were useless when forced remote, but they got what they deserved - they were fired! Stop simping for corporate. Micromanagement is how you lose employees and productivity.

[@angelica3744]

I am so fine with having a simple, paired down workplace, just compensate me fairly and provide me with a decent measure of independence, freedom, and dignity.

[@Mountainclimber-zv4u1]

Offices suck

[@likwid_magma]

I loved RTO so much I quit my SWE job and became a registered nurse. Now I work in a facility where an open workspace is actually needed and collaboration is genuine and helpful instead of representing some weird control freak's fantasy of how software development should happen

[@drevestedt]

They put so much energy in everything else just not to build private offices. Why not just put that energy in building private offices and stop trying to work around what actually works?

[@WTHenry2023]

Cmon man. That would take money and concern for the employees' well being. Gotta be able to monitor the inmates. 😂

[@drevestedt]

@@WTHenry2023 Ah, sorry, my mistake 😀

[@defeqel6537]

@@WTHenry2023 it wouldn't really take more money than the BS they've done here

[@WTHenry2023]

@@defeqel6537 Agreed, I was just being facetious.

[@chknchkn6385]

The lack of privacy panels and any of the desk areas or workstations is bad. Workers are going to feel constantly on display. You'll always have to manage your body language and facial expressions at your desk as you tackle higher level tasks that might present moments of struggle, frustration, or annoyance.

[@Vitamin_Protein101]

It is the year 2025, and I am still trying to understand the advantages of working from the office when you need to do the same remote work, you could have done at home, after traveling to the office. For example, financially, the companies did not grow after RTO mandates. The recession still persists.

[@stevecarter8810]

My home kitchen has a microwave but my office kitchen has FOUR. Can't get that at home. And at work i get to join a line for hot water that comes out of a safety interlock to stop you scalding yourself. At home i could DIE filling my cup. I go to the office twice a week to stay connected with whoever sits near me and to retain a desk allocation. The people i actually work with are scattered around the world.

[@justinmartin845]

Half of those office spaces are barely heated, I can't wait to drive 45 minutes into an office and freeze for 8 hours all while having to deal with the morning smell of shit that comes wofting out of the bathrooms.

[@Nickgyw6]

White collar office culture is so weird to me. All I see is depression, emptiness, and mental anguish. It doesn’t have to be that way. Your building your own prison.

[@blahblahblah-uw4uf]

Unbelievable amounts of cringe.

[@PiotrekSzostak]

We have 47" TVs hanging randomply from the ceiling in different places around the office, just so they could display company logo - most of them have that logo burned into the screen because HR lady who thought of that had no idea how LCD works. We also have wallpapers with diversity related drawings and sketches, designed specifically for our company by some instagram artist who charged the company millions for it (unsurprisingly it looks like those crappy stock drawings of people doing mundane things). Then we also have a huge photo wallpaper with a mountain view glued to the wall that is used for a fixed projector - so they had a white wall, they glued an expensive picture on it so they could then go out and buy even more expensive projector screen with electric drive, so they would have white space for projector...

[@fromrighttoleft8328]

Now there's the mass return to office mandate for the US federal government. So much for the concept of DOGE, remote work has undoubtedly saved the federal government literal billions of dollars over the last few years.

[@MrHasenfeffer]

The Epic campus in Madison Wisconsin is the only office complex I've gone in and thought, "Wow, this is cool!" Each employee has their own office, and each office building has a theme. The environment is like a theme park. That said, I would still prefer to work from home.

[@stevieMats]

Left a company that had a hard RTO policy for a company with a more relaxed "flex/common days" policy and couldn't be happier

[@BangMaster96]

The plebs must come into the Office while the Managers, the Directors, the VPs, the CEO, and the Board can of course work remotely from Home even if they live 5 minutes away from the Office.

[@dandydan999]

Wish we had cubicles. These open floor plans with rows and rows of 4x4 desks facing each other in groups of 400-500 people is insanity. Maximize ratio of seats to sqf at the cost of productivity. If Dilbert were alive today, these open floor plans put jokes on cubicle life to shame. Ratios: Phone booths 1:300 ppl Conference rooms: 1:200 ppl Bathroom stalls: 1:50

[@MrApplewine]

We don't need officespace. Pun intended.

[@princessmarlena1359]

“That is my stapler!”

[@thebigb1286]

I think it's cool how design affects use, how people interact. The openness is nice looking and so that 1 person can watch whole rooms. The work areas are long tables with people side by side where they watch each other. I'll bet it was designed very carefully, just not for what they're sating it was.

[@Lina-yx6hb]

The second office is depressing . But at least, as an introvert, I could sit alone in a room. :D I'm currently unemployed and will soon start looking for a new job. Honestly, I'm a bit nervous about the office situation because, in my country, hybrid or on-site work is the norm. This video scares me even more lmao.

[@xbmarx]

I was fully remote pre-COVID, since about 2016. They are actually going so hard on RTO that *I* may get pulled into an office. Like wtf.

[@computerguy1579]

I've managed to continue 100% remote work as a software engineer since the start of the Pandemic. I hope to keep it going. I think the RTO push has been happening because we have been in a recession -- especially for office jobs. The tech sector has really had some serious pull back over the past two years. As we pull out of the recession, my guess is that more pressure will be put back on companies to do more remote options.

[@Timothy-y7e]

I watched this video while in the office. It's 2:28 and i've yet to speak to another person...in the last month. Brilliant to have people here to overhear each other's zoom calls

[@govegmofomakeamuffin6620]

really? how is that even possible? I've only ever worked remote with software so no clue how offices work. but that sounds even lonelier than remote work

[@Timothy-y7e]

@@govegmofomakeamuffin6620 we do desk "hoteling", so I sit around different people every day. My boss is fully remote in another state. So it creates this odd situation where I'm on an island with new faces or unfamiliar faces every day. And no in-person meetings because my team right now is just me and her. My wider department is in other states as well (mixed remote and field operations). The other in-office staff does work that doesn't intersect with my department, so if its not a personal chat we don't have a reason to speak. In the past month i've sat beside M&A attorneys, HR, Marketing, and a Greek guy. After the usual good mornings its solitary confinement until I give up on the day and leave around 3 or 4 and get the usual "leaving already". I need to start coffee badging 😅

[@abrin5508]

They just announced RTO 3 days a week for me. Utterly devastated. That will be 3 days a week sitting in teams meetings or listening to others in teams meetings - I work with no one in my local office. What a waste of time.

[@WHATABOUTPIZZA]

This channel is priceless. You do God's work in the modern era Josh. Never ever stop.

[@TheCarnivoreSoprano]

Just when you think it can't get any worse.

[@Orlando_Steve]

Or I can just keep working from home, not wasting time or money on commuting, and not being disturbed by anyone like in one of these stupid open offices.

[@awkwardtexan]

3:02 He's the only one excited about the office. 😂🤦🏼‍♀️

[@Bob-yh7ir]

What a crock of shite. So glad I got laid off last year. Turned it into retirement. On the rare occasions when i had to hit the office, i didn't do work. People gathering in rooms, cafeteria for talking about their fantasy league, whatnot or outside for smoke breaks 10 times a shift. Very little work gets done in open offices.

[@princessmarlena1359]

It’s all about control [of employees], and racking up tax deductibles by wasting money on “business related expenses”. No thanks, I’ll stick to zipping around town on a moped to make deliveries, driving my car for rideshares (my neighborhood is near the airport), or doing tasks of the rabbit variety (people pay pretty good money for stuff they don’t want to do). Or I’ll be doing the occasional showbiz gig.

[@CarimboHanky]

1:08 running in the office...basic safety violation