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Ford tells 30,000 employees they can continue working from home


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Ford isn't the only business to find out that people are productive at home and like the absence of office politics and distractions.  It has occurred where I work and some organizations have not shifted away from 100% telework.  I however, am back 100% of the time.  I work in a small office (5 personnel) and we support the other organizations in the building.  Some of those organizations only come in  one to two days a week.  I think by August we will know what the future holds for 100% occupancy in the building.  Companies have come to the conclusion that they can save costs on building space that has been proven unnecessary and may move away from a large footprint presence now and in the future.  We shall see what becomes of this revelation brought on by the pandemic.

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1 hour ago, SevenT said:

Ford isn't the only business to find out that people are productive at home and like the absence of office politics and distractions. 

 

Yes sir SevenT. Apple and JPMorgan Chase found out the hard way that requiring employees that previously did telework to return to corporate offices results in employee resentment, with some leaving their jobs at those companies and finding work elsewhere. Apple employees push back against returning to the office in internal letter - The Verge

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One of the big issues with working remotely is new employees and employees just entering the work force....its hard to train them remotely and people learn better in an immersive environment.  

I had an online training last week and most of the people I was with where new employees to the government and started during COVID...I was fortunate that I was already working in my position for two years before COVID hit and knew everyone I work with.  

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9 minutes ago, silvrsvt said:

people learn better in an immersive environment.  

 

Yes sir. New generation eLearning systems can provide immersive and interactive experiences for learners. The federal government agency that I contract with is in the midst of implementing some of these new systems for new employee orientation, policy training, job aids, etc.  

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Workers have known for over a decade that they can be just as productive working from home if you have a dedicated office space and no major distractions (if most of your interactions are online or phone).  The difference is senior management never worked from home for any extended period until last year.  Now most of them have seen the light.   
 

Ours have finally realized it doesn’t make any sense to have someone in the office if they’re just sitting in front of their laptop on conference calls all day.  Now if you actually work face to face with other folks in the office or you can’t or don’t want to work from home then that’s totally different.

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There is a tragic story developing at a government office building in Sarasota, FL. At least 5 employees have come down with Covid and 1 has died and 2 others hospitalized. Looks like probable Delta variant. IMO, only those employees fully vaccinated should be allowed in any enclosed office building. If you don't care about your health and infecting others, stay home. 

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11 minutes ago, FordBuyer said:

IMO, only those employees fully vaccinated should be allowed in any enclosed office building. If you don't care about your health and infecting others, stay home. 

 

Yes sir FordBuyer. My wife's employer is doing just that. They are only allowing vaccinated people into their office spaces. This includes not only employees, but visitors and vendors too. 

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The tech company I work for is going hybrid. Downsized the office space from ~150 desks to ~20 in Seattle. We're all getting pay raises to cover for the decrease in office space costs. Seems like the way to go. Over 90% of the company when polled wanted 1 day in office a week or less.

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We've been told not to expect an office/cube going forward, and I'm fine with that.  I've been working mostly remote for 21 years, and it fits my job perfectly.

 

My wife works for the state, and they were forced to go back in May (per governor's orders).  Rumor is there may be a hybrid approach coming, but they were told to go back to the way it was before COVID, no exceptions unless you run them up through HR.  Ridiculous as they were getting their jobs done just fine (and better in many cases).  My wife works in payroll and she said the number of voluntary terminations went up drastically after this.

 

Personally, if your job allows it, I say employees should have a choice.  To stay competitive, employers are going to have to offer it.

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52 minutes ago, fordmantpw said:

We've been told not to expect an office/cube going forward, and I'm fine with that.  I've been working mostly remote for 21 years, and it fits my job perfectly.

 

My wife works for the state, and they were forced to go back in May (per governor's orders).  Rumor is there may be a hybrid approach coming, but they were told to go back to the way it was before COVID, no exceptions unless you run them up through HR.  Ridiculous as they were getting their jobs done just fine (and better in many cases).  My wife works in payroll and she said the number of voluntary terminations went up drastically after this.

 

Personally, if your job allows it, I say employees should have a choice.  To stay competitive, employers are going to have to offer it.

 

I know at my old job, I would've loved being able to work from home.  I got let go during all the covid stuff (it was a furniture manufacturer which had a lot of business come from the cruise industry), but I would have loved to not have to do my hour commute each way with the traffic.  I'd have been ok with a hybrid setup - a couple days in office, the rest at home - like someone above said, I was just sitting at a computer all day anyway.....only problem was mine was a desktop, unfortunately.  I do see a benefit to meeting in person/getting to know coworkers, but the opposite can also be true - there was a language barrier with most of my coworkers (they spoke both English and Spanish but would speak primarily Spanish amongst each other, and only 3 of us didn't speak Spanish), so I was basically sitting there not talking to anyone all day anyway.

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19 hours ago, Bluezilla said:

While my company is embracing "flex scheduling" we will still be required to come in for a set number of days during the week... Defeats the purpose of flex scheduling imo. Ford is doing right by their employees.


I think Ford is doing something like that in some departments too

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6 minutes ago, rmc523 said:

 

I know at my old job, I would've loved being able to work from home.  I got let go during all the covid stuff (it was a furniture manufacturer which had a lot of business come from the cruise industry), but I would have loved to not have to do my hour commute each way with the traffic.  I'd have been ok with a hybrid setup - a couple days in office, the rest at home - like someone above said, I was just sitting at a computer all day anyway.....only problem was mine was a desktop, unfortunately.  I do see a benefit to meeting in person/getting to know coworkers, but the opposite can also be true - there was a language barrier with most of my coworkers (they spoke both English and Spanish but would speak primarily Spanish amongst each other, and only 3 of us didn't speak Spanish), so I was basically sitting there not talking to anyone all day anyway.

 

Probably good idea to learn Spanish....helps the brain also. Living in FL, I've found knowing conversational Spanish helps a lot when dealing with landscapers and what not. A third of local tv channels are Spanish only also around here. 

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7 minutes ago, FordBuyer said:

 

Probably good idea to learn Spanish....helps the brain also. Living in FL, I've found knowing conversational Spanish helps a lot when dealing with landscapers and what not. A third of local tv channels are Spanish only also around here. 


I know some, but not enough to participate in full conversations like they had at a million miles an hour with all their inside jokes lol.

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41 minutes ago, rmc523 said:


I know some, but not enough to participate in full conversations like they had at a million miles an hour with all their inside jokes lol.

 

I hear ya. Interesting how some Spanish speakers are as fast as you say and make it tough on us newbies. Thankfully some speak slower so that you can pick up most of what they say. English is not always easy also with "Marlon Brando" mumblers and others who speak way too fast.

 

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26 minutes ago, FordBuyer said:

 

I hear ya. Interesting how some Spanish speakers are as fast as you say and make it tough on us newbies. Thankfully some speak slower so that you can pick up most of what they say. English is not always easy also with "Marlon Brando" mumblers and others who speak way too fast.

 

 

I've been told I speak quickly by non native speakers - I think it's just when you understand, the speed isn't as much of an issue, but when you don't, it makes it a lot more difficult.

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10 hours ago, silvrsvt said:

One of the big issues with working remotely is new employees and employees just entering the work force....its hard to train them remotely and people learn better in an immersive environment.  

I had an online training last week and most of the people I was with where new employees to the government and started during COVID...I was fortunate that I was already working in my position for two years before COVID hit and knew everyone I work with.  

 

We've had that problem, too...and training seasoned employees new processes. The company I work for is a big bank, and they will move all employees back to the office after Labor Day. The  team members who are working from home were productive at first, but the last 5-6 months they've slipped. This is why I'm skeptical about claims of equal or better productivity from people who WFH. It's anecdotal, but my sister worked from home for the same bank (different department). She liked it for a while, but recently moved to a different company because she was tired of working from home(among other issues).

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Working from home would get very old after awhile. Humans need much more stimuli than the same 4 walls month after month. Even a house cat would get bored after a year or so and start getting very neurotic. Maybe that's why they spend so much time looking out window talking to birds. I tell ya....humans have gone bat shit crazy. 

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3 hours ago, AGR said:

The  team members who are working from home were productive at first, but the last 5-6 months they've slipped. 

 

That's a classic case of management or organizational behavior problems at the employer. As mentioned earlier in this topic, almost all cases of dissatisfaction or low productivity on the part of employees who telework have some managerial, cultural, or communication issue as the underlying cause. It's rare that telework in and of itself is the culprit.

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10 hours ago, akirby said:


Trust me it doesn’t.  

Before the pandemic, I would have disagreed with you.  I could telework 1 day a week, but never did.  I just preferred to go into the office.  My office started full time telework in March of last year.  I didn’t expect to like it, but I was wrong.  It’s been 15 months now and I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. 

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On 6/23/2021 at 6:00 AM, silvrsvt said:

One of the big issues with working remotely is new employees and employees just entering the work force....its hard to train them remotely and people learn better in an immersive environment.  

I had an online training last week and most of the people I was with where new employees to the government and started during COVID...I was fortunate that I was already working in my position for two years before COVID hit and knew everyone I work with.  

Silvrsvt,

I agree that on-boarding in a virtual environment can be difficult.  The growing pains of introducing those employees to cube farm life are going to be huge.  I hope HR is prepared for that and the managers can understand the growing pains of integrating a new person into an office dynamic they do not understand.  That will be the biggest hurdle as companies go back to in-person office working environments.

v/r,

Mike

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7 minutes ago, SevenT said:

I agree that on-boarding in a virtual environment can be difficult.  The growing pains of introducing those employees to cube farm life are going to be huge.  I hope HR is prepared for that and the managers can understand the growing pains of integrating a new person into an office dynamic they do not understand.  That will be the biggest hurdle as companies go back to in-person office working environments.

 

Well some of them already have experienced that...one employee was telling me that they went on a rotation back in January and their boss just contacted them directly for the first time just a few weeks ago....

I work for the DOD and they where trying get Telework kicked off pre-covid, but they got kicked in the balls by Covid to force everyone to do it...and from what I can tell people where still getting their jobs done working remotely. I know some of my coworkers don't like it and want to go back in the office since it helps separate work from home life, but the majority like it and it looks like we'll be able to work from home 2-3 days a week, which is fine with me. I kinda miss the social interaction at times 

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1 hour ago, CurtisH said:

Before the pandemic, I would have disagreed with you.  I could telework 1 day a week, but never did.  I just preferred to go into the office.  My office started full time telework in March of last year.  I didn’t expect to like it, but I was wrong.  It’s been 15 months now and I haven’t gotten tired of it yet. 


 

I think it depends on the type of work and whether you have a dedicated office space at home.  
 

As for human interaction, we get that every day on teams or Webex meetings and chat.  Plus there are people outside of work you can interact with.

 

That said I understand how some people don’t like it which is why you should have a choice.

 

But if all you’re doing is sitting at your desk on web conferences and phone calls that’s so much easier to do at home.

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