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    'I drove across town to do remote work in a closet': Remote employee rebels against in-person mandate after company installs "focus rooms" for all-day virtual meetings

    Make no mistake. Commuting to an office just so everyone can be on individual Zoom calls all day is just as dystopian and useless as it sounds.

    We've all been taught to buy into the idea that we are all more productive and focused in an office environment, where there are infinite opportunities for forward-thinking collaboration that you could never possibly achieve at home. 

    Well, it pains me to break it to you, but for many working environments, this promise of fruitful collaboration and family-oriented work is nothing more than a marketing ploy to justify an office lease and a way of life that perhaps felt necessary back in the day but is rather outdated in our contemporary, digitized world.

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    • A male employee puts his head in his hands in frustration in front of a monitor.
      via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

      A male employee puts his head in his hands in frustration in front of a monitor.

      Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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    • Of course, this is not to say that every job that exists today can be done remotely, or that it should. Naturally, there is value in physical interactions with colleagues and coworkers, and depending on the specific field, it can be nearly impossible to imagine a scenario where zero in-person work is the most productive option. 

      In this instance, however, a full-time employee was asked to return to the office now that the company had established what they referred to as “focus rooms.” These were essentially closets that were not exactly soundproof, but were meant to be used for remote work calls. Yes, in order to accommodate bringing everybody back to the office, management needed to redesign the space to allow for remote work calls.

      Make that make sense, ladies and gentlemen.

    • My company installed “focus rooms” for our return to office and I have never felt dumber in my life

      We got pulled back 2 days a week after being remote since 2020 and leadership kept saying the office was redesigned for "intentional collaboration." I was
      via Alderon515
    • annoyed but tried not to be dramatic about it. I packed my laptop, drove 52 minutes, paid for the garage, did the whole little adult cosplay. The funny part is my entire team is in other states.
      via Alderon515
    • A male employee taps on his tablet while surrounded by computer monitors.
      via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

      A male employee taps on his tablet while surrounded by computer monitors.

      Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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    • My manager is in Denver, my closest coworker is in Ohio, the dev team I work with is in Toronto. So I get to the office and it's basically 140 people on different Zoom calls, all
      via Alderon515
    • trying not to hear each other say "quick question" through the same cheap glass walls.
      via Alderon515
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    • Then I find out the "focus rooms" are literally tiny booths where you sit alone and take remote meetings. Like a phone booth, but sadder and with worse air. I spent 6 hours in one yesterday
      via Alderon515
    • talking to people who were not in the building, while people outside waited for the booth so they could also talk to people not in the building.
      via Alderon515
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    • At lunch I sat with a guy from finance I had never met and we both ate silently because we were catching up on Slack. The
      via Alderon515
    • only actual in person interaction I had all day was someone asking if I was done with the charger under the desk.
      via Alderon515
    • A male employee claps his hands while on a video call at work.
      via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

      A male employee claps his hands while on a video call at work.

      Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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    • Today leadership sent a survey asking if the office helped me feel more connected. I want to answer honestly but there's no checkbox for "I drove across town to do remote work in a closet."
      via Alderon515
    • I'm not anti social, I just dont understand why pretending geography is culture has become the hill every exec wants to d on.
      via Alderon515

    • We wholeheartedly agree with the author in this case. If their team is based in entirely different states, then there really is no point in having to come into the office. It could possibly be understandable if some members of the team were there or if there were just as many in-person meetings as there were virtual ones. However, that wasn't the case here, and this author was totally justified in questioning the use of all this commuting.

    • A male employee types on his keyboard in a confined office space.
      via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

      A male employee types on his keyboard in a confined office space.

      Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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    • r-pics-sux. Focus rooms? You know where i already have a focus room? At my house
      via Alderon515
    • Smrty-Moose • Just be professionally honest. They aren't going to listen anyway.
      via Alderon515
    • ArtaxlsAlive ⚫ . I actually love hiding in those superman phone booths because its the only place I can truly be alone. The people who f-b Ib them can go right to jail.
      via Alderon515
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    • Oddly enough, I feel more alone being in the office than I do at home.
      via Alderon515

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