[szopa]

I started at a hybrid company a few months all, after working remotely for a long time (way before Covid). I was initially very skeptical, but then I noticed that coming to the office positively affects my psychological wellbeing. I actually enjoy hanging out with my colleagues.

I really liked the dream of working from wherever, but now I would prefer not to go back to remote work. Granted, this very much depends on your coworkers.

[deskamess]

And your commute and the weather. My coworkers are nice, but I would not trade WFH for drive + coworker company.

And there are people who insist others come back since they themselves are extroverts, and they need someone to talk to (not my company, but family).

[dakiol]

The main downside of hybrid work (or office work) is that you're limited to the job offers in your city. If I want to work for a software company that has HQ in Paris but I live in Lyon, well I need to move to Paris. That sucks.

[pseudocomposer]

When you were remote, did you ever work from coffee shops or coworking spaces? In your hybrid role, are you actively working with others in-person?

I’ve definitely found that having other people around during some of my work week has a positive psychological impact for me, and solve it this way. At the coffee shops and spaces I frequent, I often see and cowork with folks I know from my various hobbies and clubs in town.

I remember that, even when I was in-office full-time (pre-2020), sitting in the same cube/desk area as my teammates… we mostly communicated over Slack about work. Only very occasionally would we come look at one another’s screens - less than I screen share over Zoom or Slack Huddle with them these days. (Slack Huddles are especially more efficient than anything that could be done in-person, as you can both view one another’s screens.)

I definitely did enjoy hanging with my colleagues in those days - really, socialization was the majority of our in-person interaction (well, and meetings, which I might argue are better conducted over Zoom, as some people being physically imposing, reducing helpful input from others, was always a thing).

I’d also say all our in-person hanging made us more of a monoculture - half my team would hit the gym downstairs and be spotting each other on bench press during lunch breaks. Whereas in my current remote role, I work with folks who never go to the gym, but are into dance, cooking, theater - all sorts of more varied things! I think the variety of life perspectives may make us more productive as well, though obviously there are too many variables at play to really compare these work scenarios with any sort of objective metric.

[loudmax]

It depends on coworkers, it depends on the office environment more generally, and it also depends on the type of work you're doing.

I'm not a particularly social person, but in general I'd rather work in an office near my coworkers than remotely. But, I'd rather work remotely than work in a large open office space. A cubicle might be okay, depending on how many people are sharing the same room.

Another big factor is your commute. Spending an hour or more on a daily commute is very taxing, especially if you're raising a family.

[gedy]

Yeah independent of commuting, I'd not want to work for my company if I had to spend a lot of time with my coworkers in person. You want people to gel like that in person and I'd need really different demographics. Online it's fine.

[alabastervlog]

I prefer working in a good office, in a nice area, to wfh.

That describes only some offices, and also I definitely don’t prefer it to the tune of thousands of dollars and a couple hundred hours per year and a bunch more micromorts.