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giscard78 t1_j68wfh2 wrote

Reply to comment by nfshakespeare in Opinion: It’s time for federal employees to return to the office by 22304_selling

> I’d be happy to listen to any well reasoned thought out argument about why.

I think this varies wildly by job and that this doesn’t apply to most jobs in the federal government but in-person collaboration can be better depending on the context. I work in a research position that (in theory lol) supports policy. Some of the best conversations I’ve had are people with people in the five minutes before a meeting or that I run into in the hallway that I wouldn’t normally talk to.

If you’re endlessly filling out whatever paperwork HR people or 1101s or 2210s do, what I said above probably does not apply. For my specific type of role, there is a creative element to research that isn’t always done well via Teams. Not saying people need to be in-person everyday but occasionally in-person together can yield some pretty good results.

Im sure people are gonna downvote that I suggest some people be in-person sometimes lol.

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ExpeditiousTraveler t1_j6968cc wrote

> I think this varies wildly by job and that this doesn’t apply to most jobs in the federal government but in-person collaboration can be better depending on the context.

I think the stage of your career makes a big difference too. WFH is tough for entry level workers. Training isn’t as effective and you miss out on so many of those organic learning and mentoring opportunities. It also makes it harder for the people in the office with the most influence to get to know you. Having that personal relationship can be so important for advancement and/or if your performance is ever lacking.

We’re now seeing people that finished college remotely and have been working remotely for an extended period. At least in my field, as a whole, their skills are noticeably behind where I would expect them to be.

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nfshakespeare t1_j6a3lty wrote

Good point. For instance theatre over zoom is awful because the actors can’t interact. So a research project, where a creative solution is necessary may very well benefit from in person work. Still as you say that is a quite specific scenario.

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silly_frog_lf t1_j6cutfl wrote

You can have special days when you hang out together for those interactions. And those can exist remotely too if you make messaging small talk a normal part of the workday

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