Paul_Shepherd

I think thats a nice idea.... as we all need exercise especially now all fitness outlets are closed, but I think it depends on your type of work, it would be impossible in my job, we have to share a screen everytime to explain what we are taking about, usually a model or a drawing....so unless I mount a large monitor on a selfie stick infront of me and hope I don't walk into anything its not possible for me, but it will work for some.

I cant wait to get back into the office, makes life so much easier, and it feels good to leave the house everyday, and come back to your home on the evening. I haven't even seen the office of the company I currenrly work for or most of the people that work there, whcih I find very strangem and trying to learn a new job and new software from home has been more than challenging, no sign of things changing yet, but i am crossing the off on the calendar!

Danny B

Anyone else here a TWAT like me?

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/costoflivin...nsfw-1.6500507

Pulaski

My employer has no firm, or company-wide policy, but is apparently aiming for 3 days in the office per week, ... by September, but that certainly ain't happenin' so far. Due to the length of my commute I have apparently been exempt from any "requirement", but I am being "encouraged" to go to the office 2-3 times per month. When I have been in, three times so far, people wander in by 9-9:30, and then we are allowed to wander off again soon after lunch. I felt bad leaving around 2:15 in time to collect my daughter from school, but most people in my department had already left by then!

On a related note, about 12 months ago my employer announced a very firm line on returning to the office. Thanks to Omicron the schedule got pushed back several times, but then it became obvious that the minions were a lot less excited to be returning to the office than the senior management!

There were some truly cringeworthy video conferences in late 2021 and early 2022 of senior managers telling us how "great" it was to be back in the office!

Then people started to resign, citing the mandatory return to office requirements as the reason for leaving.

Apparently senior management were blindsided by this development (I have no idea why, I had long assumed that successful working from home would be used to slash the corporate real estate overhead, so I'll admit I was blindsided by the attempt to enforce a mandatory return to office) and their stance softened. This might have been reinforced by the fact that hiring replacements became a lot more difficult when interviewees lost all interest when told that they'd be required to work in a corporate office three days a week.

dbd33

Something similar has happened where I work. The message from senior management that returning to the office is great was somewhat blunted by the fact that they each delivered it from home but, hey ho, "authenticity" is something to babble about at management classes, not something to demonstrate. I think the RTO campaign has to do with the construction of a vanity tower in the middle of nowhere. This environmental disaster looks even less conscionable if no one is going to sit in it so people must be made to commute.

I go to one or the other of the offices when there's "an event", typically a lunch, and was in one yesterday. So were three or four other people in a building lit, heated or cooled, for a couple of thousand. I had a good lunch but $40 in petrol, $40 in parking and fewer productive hours is not a sustainable approach to working.

Very many people have changed jobs over the RTO issue. I assume the remainder are on some sort of retention bonus arrangement and will go as their projects end. It's all a colossal waste of money, I fear that my faith that corporate management is primarily concerned with the financial well being of the organization has been rather dented. At least it would have been if I'd ever had any.

JamesM

In my experience of management in the Golden Horseshoe- Corporate Management's prime motivation is survival. One could argue this is linked to financial well being but at most organizations I've not seen it to be particularly evident. The levers that are pulled tend to be fear, hiring friends and brown nosing. The big companies are oligopolies protected by government lobbying so growth is somewhat secured and the little companies are VC funded with rich white people giving money to other rich white people in the guise of venture capital. It is seldom their own money but it is garnered using presentations on product market fits that don't exist.

In terms of vanity are you referring to the new CIBC tower?

dbd33

No, but I don't imagine the situation is very different.

dbd33

Here's a new twist. There are two major internet providers in Canada. One is down today (I think they're both shit but they rarely fail simultaneously so I have both and a generator so I can usually work from home), In the case of people who use the broken system, should they be obliged to go to the office? Obviously if they don't, they won't get paid for the day, but should there be sanctions beyond that? WFH is a privilege and the company shouldn't be dependent on their having chosen a flaky service. otoh, working remotely is now seen as "normal".

sharkus

I was about to post a new top tip: Don't use Rogers Joking aside, the same kind of outage could happen to Bell too.
You do pose an interesting question about wether you should go into the office if they are not affected by the outage. One of the issues with the Rogers outage is that it's affecting more things, for example online debit and interact e-transfer is down for many, and it seems ATM's and merchant payment processing systems are down too because they utilize Rogers infrastructure. So perhaps you might, providing you don't need to reload your presto card, or pay for a ticket, be able to get downtown. Then you might find lunch may require you to use cash, if you happen to have some on you, and if you don't you might not be able to get any out of an ATM as it's not working.

Danny B

Outage? what outage?
For once, I am happy to be on TELUS

Former Lancastrian

I wonder if Shaw subscribers are thinking you know that deal about Rogers for 26 billion that is being talked about is it still a good idea?

Pulaski

Surely that depends if they're buying the subscriber base or the technology.

(I doubt that Shaw subscribers care either way, nor should they.)

Atlantic Xpat

I faced this dilemma on Friday. Our home internet is Rogers. We switched from Bell a year or so ago as I saved $150 a month for the same connectivity & that seemed like a good deal. Still is really. Anyway, the office is on Bell so I made the 15 minute drive into he office. It was quieter than I anticipated so either most of my colleagues are on Bell, or on vacation or just took the day off because Canada's internet was down. I worked a half day before going into the hospital to bring my daughter home for her daily visit home. I suppose technically I could have stayed at the hospital and worked because their internet is also Bell, but I'm not that dedicated...

dbd33

Rogers is still down here so tomorrow I have to go to the office. Not because I have Rogers, I have Xplornet and Bell, but because some utter planks in my team only have one internet provider at home and that's Rogers. I have to go to sign them in because they've never been to the office before. I have to say I'm some pissed. It's Canada, nothing works very well so everyone who wants to work from home should have multiple internet providers and a generator.

Almost Canadian

Is Starlink available where you are? If so, I would give it a look. We muddled along with Xplornet after we moved out of the city but there wasn't a day that went by when it didn't work for some periods. We have not had an issue with Starlink and, now that you are not geo limited as we were when we first obtained it, it is possible to take it around with you (RVing for example) if that is your thing.

dbd33

i’ve heard good things and will look if ever something goes wrong with xplornet.