This is a weird debate for me. I do feel like I'm able to coordinate and communicate with my coworkers more effectively in person. Especially with people I don't already have a close working relationship with. On the other hand i hate being at an office when i could be making lunch and doing laundry while being on a call.
this post was submitted on 23 Aug 2023
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It seems like the vast majority of people are coming at this from the standpoint of "I know how to do my job, why do I need to be an office". This may be unpopular but you do it for the new people who need a Lot of company support to get on their feet. I remember starting out and how much easier it was to ask people questions in person over lunch etc. It's intimidating for a new person to sit in front of a computer and ask random people they've never met questions, really amps that imposter syndrome.
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I'll get downvoted to hell for this, but the CEO is at least partially right. It is really hard to get to know people and build trust remotely.
I started my first post-college job in August of 2020. Most people were remote, but I was not due to the nature of my work. It is extremely hard to get to know people exclusively over email, phone calls, and video calls. It's frustrating not being able to get to know people even at the surface level. Knowing a little bit about your coworkers allows you to build rapport with them. Video and voice calls can be unreliable, and people can be very difficult to understand without in person cues and the ability to read lips. I say all of this as a very introverted person with social anxiety.
Not downvoted, appreciate you sharing your perspective.
I’ve been successful building trust in remote work settings but it’s a very much about building a narrative that’s much more explicit and communicated in an active way.
But ignoring that bullshit I just typed, I think “building trust” in a professional environment is largely a trap. Not because you can’t trust anyone but that, if you’re building a good team, trust should be implicit. I was hired to do a job, you were hired to do a job, let’s trust that each other to do it.
I think it’s also worth bearing in mind that high trust teams can still build trust, I’m simply advocating for not starting from zero.
Unfortunately so many of the tools and workflows are built explicitly for low trust teams.
Upvoted because you've definitely touched on a very real problem that needs to be addressed.
But you're completely wrong about the cause. The problem is companies with a bad culture. @Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me said it brilliantly in a comment further up the thread, and I did my best (less elegant) job of explaining it above that. The company needs to take steps to encourage a good relationships between people, for example with casual and non-work-related chats in the chat app of choice, or by having people frequently working on problems in pairs instead of solo, especially when first starting out.
I had better relationships with my coworkers fully remotely at my last job than I do at my current job despite being in the office frequently. And that's all down to how the company manages its culture.
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