Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to work we go

[hudebnik]

My Benevolent Employer has decided this is the week for most people to come back to the office -- not every weekday, but typically three days a week (most of my team are planning for Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays). I've been to the office four times in the past five months, and coincidentally four times in the past two years, so this will be a big change.

Being at the office will presumably keep me more on-task: no pleasure-reading or playing video games while waiting for a long compile or test. It will also cost almost two hours a day commuting, during which I guess I can read the newspaper on my phone (at least while above ground) and do some pleasure-reading in physical books (the rest of the time).

I'll need to be more disciplined about the morning routine in order to get to work at a reasonable hour so I can leave at a reasonable hour so I can get home at a reasonable hour so we can eat dinner at a reasonable hour -- which will still be later than shalmestere would like, and since we've had dinner later than she wanted, she'll want to stay up late, thus making it harder to get moving in the morning. Definitely need to be more disciplined about getting to bed.

Comments

[dewline]

I'm sorry for the pains you're now undergoing.

I wish I were joking about that.

[ilaine]

My employer initially set Jan 10 as the mandatory show up week, but walked it back as omicron blew in. Eventually we started coming in 2x/week the week of March 31. I was in the voluntary pilot, because I wanted the bike commute - and that was nice, and I saw some folks, but mostly it was a ghost town.

Now it is a lot more like a quiet day on a previously normal week. Everybody does not take the same two days. Some departments mandate which days so folks are in at the same time, others leave it up to the individual. I notice the 4 hours lost from my week, but I do get book reading done, which I tend not to do around the house.

[cellio]

It's going to be a big adjustment after all this time and getting used to the changes of the last two years. Good luck.

I'm fortunate that, so far at least, my employer is leaving things up to individual employees. A year ago I was thinking that when we could go in at all I'd probably go in one or two days a week, for the social aspect if nothing else. I've been to our office a few times since it opened a few months ago, and between the low turnout (even when we all pick the same day, only a minority are coming in at all) and the reduced productivity of the office versus my home, I'm not doing even that right now. It hardly seems worth the hassle of the commute to see three other people. I might be ready to declare permanent work-from-home for my remaining time before retirement. If my employer becomes insistent later, I can probably find another.