this post was submitted on 09 May 2024
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Technology
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It's a way to filter out people, for good or ill.
Depending on the group/team/organization, physical presence makes a huge difference.
Even though I can work from home at will, I still go to the office a lot, about 60%-70% of my time is there. Physical presence just makes a lot of things easier, and it makes teams more cohesive. I can't imagine spending less time at the office - those random hallway conversations make a world of difference. If you're not there for the convo, they'll tap someone else, not by design or intention, just by that person being in front of them.
Now a call center? Maybe not so much, though I was once on a call center team and the ability to tap a teammate on the shoulder was a big help. Much better than using chat tools. So it really depends on the organization.
And then there's management that need you there to justify their role. That's just a poorly managed company, when senior management permits that (though some of them need their own staff count to justify their roles).
At our small company many of us became more productive with working from home, to the point that they closed the office. A couple of people are finding it difficult because of their home situations, so it would be good still to have a space to work outside the home. But generally we're getting more done these days, and most who do work that needs prolonged concentration find this more conducive to that.
It varies between different companies, teams, roles and temperaments. What Dell is doing sounds like corporate heavy-handedness.
This is why most of the nice cafes in my city are packed for most of the afternoon. A lot of people are WFH but don't want to stay home for whatever reason they have.