Plans for today (2024)

7:30 a.m. meeting every weekday...I work for Ford Motor Company, and there are daily startup meetings before they begin prototype vehicle builds at the assembly plant. Happiy, the meetings are only weekdays...I've had a few on the weekend. And, no, we don't get paid extra for weekends or extra hours worked.

The world seems to be moving back to working in-person. rather than remotely. I worked most of my career that way - 30 years at Ford before everything changed in 2020 - so you'd think this wouldn't be a problem. But, we've proven that we can work without being in-person. There are times in the office now when I think to myself "I drove 40 miles to do something I could have done from my couch".

But, it's good to see people again. I've met some people I've only corresponded with electronically before. That's a good feeling. But, the "collaboration" we keep hearing about as a selling point to being in-person happens only once in a great while. We've been told we need to start going 3 times a week, beginning with the first of the month. Most people aren't happy about it. Plus, we don't have assigned seats. There aren't enough seats for everyone if everyone goes back at the same time. Collaboration with a team that has existing synergy is something that occasionally happens when the moment is right. Synergy between random people who happen to be in the area? Not so much.

I also do feel like more of an adult. I get to play dressup and I have to do fancy things, like shaving, taking a shower, and combing my hair. That's a selling point for sure. And, regardless, I don't have much of a choice. So, I might as well get used to it.
 
The Late Night Gourmet said:
I also do feel like more of an adult. I get to play dressup and I have to do fancy things, like shaving, taking a shower, and combing my hair. That's a selling point for sure. And, regardless, I don't have much of a choice. So, I might as well get used to it.
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Another good reason to retire and start your own business :laugh: :laugh:
 
The Late Night Gourmet said:
But, the "collaboration" we keep hearing about as a selling point to being in-person happens only once in a great while.
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The same is happening here. It’s been sort of tragic-funny watching the loops corporate is jumping through to justify it.

They’re also trying to sell the collaboration point - one problem: my team, my director is in Florida, no corporate facility for him to go to. My manager is sort of near Pittsburgh, about two hours outside the city, where he’s lived since being hired as a full-time remote employee 10 years ago. To go to the office requires a drive, a bus ride, and a tram ride and takes him 2-2.5 hours each way.

I’m 50 miles north of my office in Cincy. Another team member is 10 minutes from the office there. Our third team member is in a suburb of Philly, 40 minutes from the office, and our last one is in a different part of Florida than our director, but also no facility for her to go to.

We all go in to our offices, those that can, anyway, how are we collaborating any differently than when we’re home, because only two of us are physically co-located, and it’s a hump for me, average about 75 minutes each way in commute time?

A lot of people here are in that same boat, so after months of “we need in-person collaboration,” a bunch of us finally pushed back and explained what I just explained above, and the answer was… (think, tap dance, rationalize) …”Collaboration doesn’t just happen with your teammates, it also happens through random breakroom talks and elevator chats with people you don’t directly work with!”

🤦🏻‍♂️ - sure, I routinely discuss my issues with people I don’t know, just because we’re in the elevator for 90 seconds.

Now, I shouldn’t complain, because I’ve (for now, as I keep being reminded) been designated full-time work-remote, so I’m still home, but it’s monumentally short-sighted.

I think I’d feel better about the whole thing if they’d just say what everyone knows the truth is - “We want you back in the office because we think you’re watching Netflix and drinking beer in your underwear all day.” - just be honest about it.
 
TastyReuben said:
I think I’d feel better about the whole thing if they’d just say what everyone knows the truth is - “We want you back in the office because we think you’re watching Netflix and drinking beer in your underwear all day.” - just be honest about it.
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My first real job out of college was writing repair and operor manuals for a defense contractor. The desks were laid on an open floor: the only interior walls were those in the manager's office. He liked being able to peek out his door and see if everyone was working. I once got in trouble for talking to a supervisor about something work-related, because my body language was too casual, and he assumed I was just shooting the breeze. 🙄

Trust has always been a hard thing for managers. Telecommuting (as it was called) was absolutely unheard of until fairly recently in most of corporate America. We all thought that years of things being done remotely for the past few years would be proof that we can continue to work this way. Instead, I'm sure upper management is thinking: "While we were able to do things remotely, just imagine how much better it would be if we were doing things in person!"
 
The Late Night Gourmet said:
Telecommuting (as it was called) was absolutely unheard of until fairly recently in most of corporate America.
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Just a funny side story: I worked at Cargill back in the late-‘90’s. You could apply to work from home, full or part-time, but you had to have some kind of extenuating circumstance.

If allowed, Cargill would come out to your house, install high-speed internet (which wasn’t that common in residences then), bring you an office desk, office chair, other furniture, office phone, complete desktop and printer, essentially building you out a complete office at home, and pick up all the expense for that.

Contrast to now - when I was allowed to work from home just two days a week, in 2007, I had to prove I already had fast internet and a mobile phone, and dedicated office space, all at my own expense.

The Late Night Gourmet said:
We all thought that years of things being done remotely for the past few years would be proof that we can continue to work this way.
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I always say the older I get, the less tolerance I have for game-playing or corporate BS, and this is an example of that.

When we turned on a dime and went full remote, virtually the whole corporation, and not only accomplished the same work, but thrived, and won several industry awards during Covid, executive management could laud employees fast enough. All we were told was how awesome we were, how we were rewriting history and not just meeting challenges, but exceeding all expectations.

Then, the moment the vaccines came out, along with some cautious optimism, it flipped 180° - “We’re not as effective when we’re not in the office, we need face-to-face time to meet today's challenges.” - talk about whiplash!
 
TastyReuben said:
Just a funny side story: I worked at Cargill back in the late-‘90’s. You could apply to work from home, full or part-time, but you had to have some kind of extenuating circumstance.

If allowed, Cargill would come out to your house, install high-speed internet (which wasn’t that common in residences then), bring you an office desk, office chair, other furniture, office phone, complete desktop and printer, essentially building you out a complete office at home, and pick up all the expense for that.

Contrast to now - when I was allowed to work from home just two days a week, in 2007, I had to prove I already had fast internet and a mobile phone, and dedicated office space, all at my own expense.


I always say the older I get, the less tolerance I have for game-playing or corporate BS, and this is an example of that.

When we turned on a dime and went full remote, virtually the whole corporation, and not only accomplished the same work, but thrived, and won several industry awards during Covid, executive management could laud employees fast enough. All we were told was how awesome we were, how we were rewriting history and not just meeting challenges, but exceeding all expectations.

Then, the moment the vaccines came out, along with some cautious optimism, it flipped 180° - “We’re not as effective when we’re not in the office, we need face-to-face time to meet today's challenges.” - talk about whiplash!
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I've lost track of how many times apocryphal stories are used as the basis for not making a change: "I remember once back in '85 when we tried to make a change like that, and they ended up shutting down the assembly line". "We did this same thing one time, and a piece of machinery came loose and injured one of the line workers". Does that apply to what we're talking about today? Of course not, but the real point is that management has made the decision, and whether the reasoning is legitimate or not doesn't matter.

Our CEO spoke to the company last week, with a look of wonderment at the magic that happens from in-person collaboration. He made it sound like we're missing out on all these great innovations because we're not in the same room.
 
…and I’m in the office today!

I had to come in because I got a new security badge and they wouldn’t mail it to my house. Also, my manager (who’s located about four hours away by car) is in town for a meeting, so we’re all going out after work (all as in three).

I can’t get too in my cups, though - I’ve got to work again at 7PM.

Anyway, no assigned seating any longer, you can just plop anywhere, so I naturally went back to my old cube (creature of habit am I), and the whole row (10 cubes - five a side with a center aisle) was nearly full.

I sat down, got connected up, and then it started…blabbing nonstop about everything except work, hee-haw donkey laughs and snorts, one guy selling chocolate bars for his kid’s school (I thought the whole point of that was the kid had to sell them, to learn a little responsibility and entrepreneurship…silly me!), so a never-ending path of chatty twits at his cube.

I eventually picked my shit up and found a quiet corner on the other side of the floor, between two cubes packed with old equipment getting turned in - my kind of cube mates…quiet!
 
Rocklobster said:
Lol. Incan just see it. After you walked away that guy probably said, “Pshh! What’s his problem?” 😛
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What’s funny is, it seems to be one guy who’s the instigator - I keep having to go over there for one thing or another, and it’s the same guy, standing outside a different cube every time, laughing and BS’ing with whomever’s in the cube, waving his arms, guffawing like a horse, and shouting at everybody.

But I’m in my quiet spot:

IMG_7623.jpeg
 
A good example of the work from home debate. Some do well with it and some don’t.
 
TastyReuben said:
…and I’m in the office today!

I had to come in because I got a new security badge and they wouldn’t mail it to my house. Also, my manager (who’s located about four hours away by car) is in town for a meeting, so we’re all going out after work (all as in three).

I can’t get too in my cups, though - I’ve got to work again at 7PM.

Anyway, no assigned seating any longer, you can just plop anywhere, so I naturally went back to my old cube (creature of habit am I), and the whole row (10 cubes - five a side with a center aisle) was nearly full.

I sat down, got connected up, and then it started…blabbing nonstop about everything except work, hee-haw donkey laughs and snorts, one guy selling chocolate bars for his kid’s school (I thought the whole point of that was the kid had to sell them, to learn a little responsibility and entrepreneurship…silly me!), so a never-ending path of chatty twits at his cube.

I eventually picked my shit up and found a quiet corner on the other side of the floor, between two cubes packed with old equipment getting turned in - my kind of cube mates…quiet!
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I'm also in the office today. We just did a little mathematics exercise:

150 people
90 seats
3 days a week requiired for each person

We need to figure out how to have a desk for everyone on the days they have to be in the office. In the meantime, start collaborating!
 
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