Along_the_Wire you took the words right out of my mouth. Stay at home and tread water. I have worked in sales and BD all my life and you don’t forge the kind of essential relationships both inside and outside the office needed to progress stuck at home all week. Different if you are a number cruncher in accounts etc.

  • C_J replied to this.

      RichM depends on the role to a degree, and whether you work in a team or as a lone wolf I guess, but as a young employee, you need to get to know and learn off people and forge relationships to thrive. Will always be the case. The kind of conversations you can share in the office with managers etc will never be replicated virtually.

          alistair completely agree, but that needs the experienced people in the office too, and at the same time as the youngsters.

            Along_the_Wire If you WFH most of the time, you won’t be getting promoted at our place.

            Yeh that’s pretty much same at the place I was at and now contract for. Which is pretty much why I stayed at home as much as possible. Not interested in higher management, prefer a life.

              Fuck the young guns. I want to be able to make egg on toast, play a game of Hot Wheels on the PS4 and have a midday wank.

              The trick with working from home is get up, do as much work as possible. Make it fully noticed by as many people as possible you are up and at it, then at around 930am go back to bed for a full hour or so with your phone ringing the talking clock and call wait off so it’s engaged. 👍

              alistair I hear what you’re saying and I agree that nothing builds rapport like being in the same room.

              But the rise of zoom and teams calls have also contributed to me building rapport with people on the other side of the world or even the other side of the country. People that previously you might see a few times of year, or never, because getting together is too inconvenient - now you can “see” them (online) a few times a week. And you get to see them in their home office environment rather than in offices or at formal gatherings.

              Care to respond to that point?

                  Have never worked a day of my life from home. I work face to face in technical wholesale, and was at work every day of what was the version of lockdown we had in Finland. Except for when I had covid. Lol.

                  Would have much rather been at home mind, wearing a mask for 10 hours a day for 1,5 years will not be missed.

                  C_J for those of us that have already done those hard yards and have established relationships, Zoom and Teams has been very additive. The ability to present and share marketing and sales collateral on the screen has been especially beneficial. It has made the phone redundant in a way but it is still no substitute for a client meeting lunch. I am thinking that for younger workers in teams, climbing the greasy ladder, the office is essential for socialising ideas, building relationships with colleagues and managers and problem solving. I am also not sure I would have been able to have worked effectively in the places I was living m my twenties

                      C_J But the rise of zoom and teams calls have also contributed to me building rapport with people on the other side of the world or even the other side of the country.

                      LOL, nice try. But I don’t want ‘rapport’ with Rhouses in Hyderabad thanks.

                        bit of an odd comment to be fair Dave. But thanks for your contribution.

                        alistair for those of us that have already done those hard yards and have established relationships, Zoom and Teams has been very additive. The ability to present and share marketing and sales collateral on the screen has been especially beneficial. It has made the phone redundant in a way but it is still no substitute for a client meeting lunch. I am thinking that for younger workers in teams, climbing the greasy ladder, the office is essential for socialising ideas, building relationships with colleagues and managers and problem solving. I am also not sure I would have been able to have worked effectively in the places I was living m my twenties

                        ali summed up in one post.

                          you know what’s really annoying? being sat in an open plan office trying to meet a deadline while surrounded by cunts on teams calls shouting into their headsets / surrounded by young cunts socialising.

                          another daft office thing which should be obsolete is searching for meeting rooms / cunts occupying meeting rooms and way past their allotted times.

                          A lot of recent research has confirmed what anyone who has ever worked in an open-plan office already knows:

                          Productivity is lower, morale and mental health is reduced, absenteeism increases.

                          All so you can ‘collaborate’ (which can be facilitated in other ways anyway).

                            bosstrabs

                            100%. Plus, that team collaboration is just the term they use when they really mean we want you in the office so we can see what you are doing. That has always been the rub for many employers that they just don’t trust people to wfh.

                                whatever as a manager, wouldn’t you want to have some team oversight and I don’t mean staring at them in their living room with the dog barking. Another thing that hasn’t been mentioned is the difficulty in training new employees remotely

                                    alistair I’m a manager. I gauge my team based on their output. If someone isn’t delivering on their targets and actions I’m not sure how being in person or remote makes much difference.

                                        Millsy My initial post supported hybrid not full time office or virtual so it’s a bit of a moot point. Every situation is different and I know what works and what doesn’t in the context of my sales team. Have you closed your office?

                                            alistair nah. But we have downsized. The reductions in global office rental and T&S is a positive.