Job and General Employment Thread

[NTP66]

As of July 1, our witholding at work is changing, as they are moving us on the timekeeping end to 80/20 WFH. I believe they're doing this to continue receiving good deals from Philly, so now 20% of my time will be counted against Philly's income tax. The dream of never having to submit a refund request ever again dies.

[faftorial]

As of July 1, our witholding at work is changing, as they are moving us on the timekeeping end to 80/20 WFH. I believe they're doing this to continue receiving good deals from Philly, so now 20% of my time will be counted against Philly's income tax. The dream of never having to submit a refund request ever again dies.

That's a "you work in our city so you have a pay a tax here" tax? Your local town doesn't have something similar?

[NTP66]

They just want to account for some tax dollars for situations where we have to go into the city for a meeting or something. We should be paying Philly wage tax for that day. So they change our status to basically 1 day/week having Philly taxes deducted.

[skullman80]

I'm sitting here in a mostly empty office building since my company wants us to come in 1 day a week. They are still only allowing 25% capacity which is about 300 people.

We have to reserve a spot in a planning tool before we come in on any given day so capacity can be tracked. Most days seem to average at most 50 people, maybe 75. We have use of two whole floors so no one is really that close together unless you go into a meeting room...but you can't even do that because most meeting rooms can't have that many people since it's 25% percent capacity.

The property owners still want everyone to wear a mask even if fully vaccinated while inside. This is really annoying. At least traffic isn't too bad yet.

[iamjs]

I'm sitting here in a mostly empty office building since my company wants us to come in 1 day a week. They are still only allowing 25% capacity which is about 300 people.

We have to reserve a spot in a planning tool before we come in on any given day so capacity can be tracked. Most days seem to average at most 50 people, maybe 75. We have use of two whole floors so no one is really that close together unless you go into a meeting room...but you can't even do that because most meeting rooms can't have that many people since it's 25% percent capacity.

The property owners still want everyone to wear a mask even if fully vaccinated while inside. This is really annoying. At least traffic isn't too bad yet.

Our building is similar: 100ish people who have the option of working in the office, and it's basically the same 5-10 people each day. It's always a combination of me, my manager, the two new people and their manager, our VP, and about 2-3 people down the hall. There's also one department that has somebody here 24/7, but I don't really count their group because they have to be here and they never leave the room.

We were told that we're getting a one day a pay period option of working at home, as long as your manager allows it. Both me and my manager live quite close to the office. I'm about 3 miles and he's even closer than that, but I'm wondering if they're going to want us in the office anyways.

[skullman80]

I'm sitting here in a mostly empty office building since my company wants us to come in 1 day a week. They are still only allowing 25% capacity which is about 300 people.

We have to reserve a spot in a planning tool before we come in on any given day so capacity can be tracked. Most days seem to average at most 50 people, maybe 75. We have use of two whole floors so no one is really that close together unless you go into a meeting room...but you can't even do that because most meeting rooms can't have that many people since it's 25% percent capacity.

The property owners still want everyone to wear a mask even if fully vaccinated while inside. This is really annoying. At least traffic isn't too bad yet.

Our building is similar: 100ish people who have the option of working in the office, and it's basically the same 5-10 people each day. It's always a combination of me, my manager, the two new people and their manager, our VP, and about 2-3 people down the hall. There's also one department that has somebody here 24/7, but I don't really count their group because they have to be here and they never leave the room.

We were told that we're getting a one day a pay period option of working at home, as long as your manager allows it. Both me and my manager live quite close to the office. I'm about 3 miles and he's even closer than that, but I'm wondering if they're going to want us in the office anyways.

It sounds like we are going to be at one "team" day for at least the next few months. Eventually though they want to get back to 3 days in office, 2 from home like it was pre pandemic.

I had a discussion with my boss yesterday and basically laid out that the days I am in office I will be leaving by 3 or 3:30 at the latest to not get crushed in traffic going home, and if need be I'll hop on to wrap things up via email once I get home. I've told him how much more productive I am and how much more work I get done not being in the office. I lose 60-90 minutes easily in commute time driving to/from work... which is even more true now driving into Shadyside where our new building is.

Our "core" hours are 10-3 as far as answering slack, being available for meetings etc. Now people never pay attention to that and schedule meetings at all hours, but it is what it is. I've learned to hit the decline button when it's not something urgent.

Thankfully my boss is great and basically told me I'm not worried about you or our team in general. I trust everyone as adults to get their work done and I'm not going to micromanage anyone. Do what you need to do and come in and leave when you need to. He's like I know you are someone who if I reach out with an emergency during non-standard hours or on the weekend you are the first to respond so why am I going to worry about what hours you actually are in or not in the office? I'm very thankful to have the boss/management team that I do.

[NTP66]

Source of the post Thankfully my boss is great and basically told me I'm not worried about you or our team in general. I trust everyone as adults to get their work done and I'm not going to micromanage anyone. Do what you need to do and come in and leave when you need to. He's like I know you are someone who if I reach out with an emergency during non-standard hours or on the weekend you are the first to respond so why am I going to worry about what hours you actually are in or not in the office? I'm very thankful to have the boss/management team that I do.

[meow]

That’s a good boss. He knows his above average, average and below average people.

[skullman80]

Yeah.. I have no complaints. I also think I've honestly earned the leeway that I get with these sorts of things. I get my stuff done (as do others on our team), and it's done right the first time. We are a pretty well oiled machine. No one missed a beat working from home every day for a year plus... and I think that got taken into account by our boss.

[nocera]

I'm going into the office on Thursday. They want us to come in and just sort of re-establish our space I guess. Then I'll do one day a week in July, two days a week in August, and finally three days a week in September. They could take some of the sting away by allowing casual dress but nope, it's business casual baby. Because that's how business is done.

[robbiestoupe]

Yeah.. I have no complaints. I also think I've honestly earned the leeway that I get with these sorts of things. I get my stuff done (as do others on our team), and it's done right the first time. We are a pretty well oiled machine. No one missed a beat working from home every day for a year plus... and I think that got taken into account by our boss.

This is exactly my situation, but our boss has told us he wants us back into the office 5 days a week starting soon. I get it, a good portion of my work is in a lab and there are times 5 days a week in the office makes sense. But to make it a blanket statement and take WFH off the table (except with prior authorization) is strange. I'm thinking the people in our group that cannot work from home (lab techs) complained and here we are.

[NTP66]

Source of the post I'm thinking the people in our group that cannot work from home (lab techs) complained and here we are.

Poor management allows that to happen.

[robbiestoupe]

Source of the post I'm thinking the people in our group that cannot work from home (lab techs) complained and here we are.

Poor management allows that to happen.

Right. Offer them another perk that isn't available to WFH people.

[faftorial]

Source of the post I'm thinking the people in our group that cannot work from home (lab techs) complained and here we are.

Poor management allows that to happen.

Right. Offer them another perk that isn't available to WFH people.

Free lunch when in the office.

[robbiestoupe]

Source of the post I'm thinking the people in our group that cannot work from home (lab techs) complained and here we are.

Poor management allows that to happen.

Right. Offer them another perk that isn't available to WFH people.

Free lunch when in the office.

I've told you where I work before. The pickin's are slim in that area, so I wouldn't call that a perk

[NTP66]

Source of the post I'm thinking the people in our group that cannot work from home (lab techs) complained and here we are.

Poor management allows that to happen.

Right. Offer them another perk that isn't available to WFH people.

That would work. But at the end of the day, if your job requires you to be onsite, others shouldn't be penalized for that.

[NTP66]

We were just told that we're getting merit increases this year, which is a welcome surprise to me. That confirms that, financially, we're doing well.

[Shyster]

I've now been back in my office on Thursday last week and today this week. For the time being, I'm thinking I'll do Tuesdays and Thursdays at the office and the rest at home. My firm hasn't taken any sort of official position yet as to whether it wants the attorneys in the office or not.

[dodint]

Your wardrobe missed you, I'm sure.

[nocera]

We had an all staff today where the execs pitched their case for return to office. Clearly they've been getting a lot of pushback from the grunts and they admitted that not only were we able to function 100% remotely but we thrived and had one of our best revenues in the last 5 years. But the main big lie they're pushing is "spontaneous creativity." AKA running into somebody in the hallway and having a random conversation. You see, in Teams, you would've had to schedule that interaction. So clearly we need to be back in the office.

I might respect them more if they just called it like it is. "We just put millions of dollars into a renovation, we're old and afraid, and it's easier to hold the whip when you're in striking distance."

[Morkle]

If you're gonna sit there and tell me you had one of the best revenues in the last 5 years, but we're missing out on spontaneous creativity ie bullshit discussions, I wouldn't even want to hear that.

That's the same BS being peddled here.

[shmenguin]

If your business did better with remote work, then they would keep you remote, unless there is a clear, distinct reason not to.

Filling a newly built office space is not one of those reasons. You don’t threaten revenue to justify a sunk cost. This isn’t like the boss really wants that koi pond filled and can’t do it if you’re not there.

There’s something else going on that they aren’t telling you. Or your company is so incompetently run that it’s a miracle they’ve lasted this long.

[nocera]

If your business did better with remote work, then they would keep you remote, unless there is a clear, distinct reason not to.

Filling a newly built office space is not one of those reasons. You don’t threaten revenue to justify a sunk cost. This isn’t like the boss really wants that koi pond filled and can’t do it if you’re not there.

There’s something else going on that they aren’t telling you. Or your company is so incompetently run that it’s a miracle they’ve lasted this long.

They spent the first 20 minutes going over revenue. It's very clear that we've had one of our best years since I've been around. Now, they failed to mention that 30 people lost their job, many of whom were long-term employees. There are a few teams who would likely benefit from return to office but not many. The company has been around for over 100 years, though the last 10 have seen a giant shift in focus. If you talk to the old timers, it IS a miracle they've lasted this long given the changes they've implemented lately.

[NTP66]

Spontaneous creativity is a load of horseshit. When I ran into people at work, we didn't actually talk about work. Sounds more like boomer managers needing to justify their existence.

[Morkle]

Spontaneous creativity is a load of horseshit. When I ran into people at work, we didn't actually talk about work. Sounds more like boomer managers needing to justify their existence.

Most of my hallway interactions.

Me: "How's it going?"

Them: "Living the dream"

scene.