{"id":10096,"date":"2021-11-05T13:27:57","date_gmt":"2021-11-05T17:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/irreal.org\/blog\/?p=10096"},"modified":"2021-11-05T13:27:57","modified_gmt":"2021-11-05T17:27:57","slug":"leaving-the-office-is-easier-than-returning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irreal.org\/blog\/?p=10096","title":{"rendered":"Leaving the Office is Easier Than Returning"},"content":{"rendered":"

ABC in Australia<\/a> has a provocative article that makes the (obvious) case that it\u2019s easier to start remote work than it is to end it<\/a>. Remote work seems custom made for the tech industry and, indeed, they were among the first to embrace the notion when the COVID-19 epidemic first appeared. Now, though, as they see the end of the threat, they\u2019re trying to get their employees back in the office. Their employees aren\u2019t enthusiastic. Most, but not all of them, don\u2019t want to return.<\/p>\n

The companies make their usual claim that having people in the office encourages synergy: that employees will talk to each other, exchange ideas, and new concepts will emerge. We hear this so often it seems like an inarguable truth. But is it true? Not everyone thinks so. According to the article, Ed Zitron, who runs a public relations firm, has this to say,<\/p>\n

\nThe only reason to have an office, he says, is to satisfy managers
\nwith vested interests in grouping people together \u201cso that they can
\nlook at them and feel good about the people that they own \u2026 so that
\nthey can enjoy that power\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Irreal is inclined toward that view but not everyone agrees. Odd as it seems to those of us who love remote work, some people really do like going into the office. Some folks just don\u2019t like the feeling of isolation. Others feel that going to the office serves to separate their work life from their home life.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to know how it will all play out but it\u2019s probably true that micromanagers who would like to enforce a one-size-fits-all solution are going to experience a lot of pushback. One thing for sure, we\u2019re not going back to the way things were.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ABC in Australia has a provocative article that makes the (obvious) case that it\u2019s easier to start remote work than it is to end it. Remote work seems custom made for the tech industry and, indeed, they were among the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[195],"class_list":["post-10096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-remote-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/irreal.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/irreal.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/irreal.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irreal.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irreal.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10096"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/irreal.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10097,"href":"https:\/\/irreal.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10096\/revisions\/10097"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/irreal.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irreal.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irreal.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}