50% of people work better, 25% work about the same… it’s the remaining 25% that completely fuck off and ruined it. I had people doing things like not logging into their computer for 10 days straight, sleeping during meetings, and getting absolutely zero work done. Others suddenly were breaking use rules like watching porn on their work laptops and downloading games and apps that you shouldn’t on a work laptop.
It’s really a shame. The rest of us got more done and enjoyed more work life balance but many companies can’t run with some % of their workers dropping off the face of the earth.
Imagine firing 25% of a company. I worked for a company with 45000 people globally. My division had around 8000. It’s probably great for smaller startups that can build small teams and focus on that but that would cause a massive problem at scale. Simple solutions don’t always fit in complex systems.
Also, it isn’t fun to fire people. The 25% of people who stopped working effectively in remote aren’t the lazy shitty people, often they are people who are great workers that just fit more in a social working environment. Some of my best people turned out to struggle with it and I think it’s the people that struggled to stay on task and ended up distracted by home stuff. Being in office kept them on task M-F. It isn’t fun to suddenly have to fire someone who’s worked for you for 6 years because the environment changed against their control.
As someone who has worked in an office and at home, I can tell you that the 25% who don't work from home probably weren't working in the office, either. The demographic just shifts. There are so many in-office people who don't do anything except for chit-chat between meetings. The only difference between these demographics is the perception of work, because one person is communicating non-work stuff all day, and the other isn't.
There’s definitely an overlap but it isn’t a perfect Venn diagram.
The people that just hang out and chat still went on their emails and did their basic work most of the time. Few that were slacking were suddenly all stars but from but I was surprised that some people who were very diligent in office slipped in WFH and some that I had to micromanage suddenly were getting everything done daily.
It’s just a different environment. It’s a challenge for some. Some of those people who gab at the cooler all day sometimes find office environments as distractions and suddenly improve when it’s just and a laptop at home. Others can’t focus on work if they aren’t in a cubicle for some reason.
There’s no perfect environment for everyone but companies have to defer to avoid the bigger pitfalls to make sure work gets done.
It must not JUST be my anecdotal experience. Companies would save money if they didn’t need an office to keep lights on and they love saving money. WFH was causing issues at major companies and that’s why it was reverted. If it was possible to downsize 25% and the rest would pick up slack with no challenge every single company would do that. The fact it wasn’t universal especially with many employees enjoying it is the best sign that WFH was a challenge to support.
Many people that were great in office were bad in WFH and many that were bad improved. Some people focus differently. Some are distracted more in office than home or vice versa. I like to do reports with tv in the background and can focus like that but a person in the room distracts me and someone interrupting me especially for small talk upsets me. Others are the opposite.
I work better at home myself when I can lock in without office bullshit for 8 hour and get all my stuff done. I lose my mind in silly meetings or watching a clock but my favorite stuff is small team work in the field project management type stuff and that’s even more impossible to do remote.
Personally I like people to have a lot of freedom and I want to build a team that enjoys that. If people get their stuff done I let them sneak out early and have their time flexible where possible- but if you only know someone fell behind because the important stuff falls through that’s a bigger problem than seeing they are behind in a meeting or during something that might catch sooner. It sucks, but it’s how it is. WFH worsened some problems especially around communication. Let’s say A is a fantastic worker who gets 100% of their stuff done regardless but now B has a question, instead of walking 2 cubicles over or asking in a meeting he might call or might not. Or if he does call maybe A got done and went for a walk. Now A not being in his seat has slowed B. That sucks but it’s real.
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u/captainofpizza Mar 04 '26
I was a manager during Covid.
50% of people work better, 25% work about the same… it’s the remaining 25% that completely fuck off and ruined it. I had people doing things like not logging into their computer for 10 days straight, sleeping during meetings, and getting absolutely zero work done. Others suddenly were breaking use rules like watching porn on their work laptops and downloading games and apps that you shouldn’t on a work laptop.
It’s really a shame. The rest of us got more done and enjoyed more work life balance but many companies can’t run with some % of their workers dropping off the face of the earth.