I have genuine reservations against remote work and I think it has larger societal and personal costs that remote work enthusiasts don't really have answers for. I think a hybrid approach makes the most people happy between the two extremes of fully remote vs 100% on-site.
BUT: The employers who have gone the hardest into return-to-work policies have been the ones who have been trying their hardest to make workplaces miserable. It sounds like in many offices you don't even have a desk anymore - you have to reserve them and hop around the office like some kind of cubicle rental. Why do they want people to come back to work and experience the "team building environment" when workplaces are becoming more anti-human over time?
There's also something really quite perverse about the Suburban NIMBY-in-Chief (Ford) forcing people back into commuting while ranting about traffic and congestion and bike lanes at the same time. And making it impossible to plan communities where you can live near your workplace. I think it's true that The Public™ needs to believe that public servants are working and can be seen to be working, but I have no faith that Ford is the guy to manage any of that.
BUT: The employers who have gone the hardest into return-to-work policies have been the ones who have been trying their hardest to make workplaces miserable. It sounds like in many offices you don't even have a desk anymore - you have to reserve them and hop around the office like some kind of cubicle rental. Why do they want people to come back to work and experience the "team building environment" when workplaces are becoming more anti-human over time?
There's also something really quite perverse about the Suburban NIMBY-in-Chief (Ford) forcing people back into commuting while ranting about traffic and congestion and bike lanes at the same time. And making it impossible to plan communities where you can live near your workplace. I think it's true that The Public™ needs to believe that public servants are working and can be seen to be working, but I have no faith that Ford is the guy to manage any of that.
local cambridge weirdo