VSHN.timer #210: The Return-to-Office Conundrum

Welcome to another VSHN.timer! Every Monday, 5 links related to Kubernetes, OpenShift, CI / CD, and DevOps; all stuff coming out of our own chat system, making us think, laugh, or simply work better.

This week we’re going to talk about how businesses are trying to lure their employees back to the office.

1. An experiment in Return-to-Office (RTO) policies has ended. Expensify is shutting down its bar after six months of operation. The company’s focus will now switch to its „next bold RTO experiment“ involving food carts, live entertainment, and a beer concession. Party time!

https://sfist.com/2023/10/27/downtown-tech-office-shuts-down-its-free-cocktail-bar-for-employees-ceo-says-the-office-is-dead/

2. Benji Weber thinks that forcing RTO on teams with cultures that benefit from remote work will cause more harm than good, particularly for those people with long commutes, or working in noisy and cramped offices. Instead, managers should help teams craft their best environment. Do you agree?

https://benjiweber.co.uk/blog/2023/11/12/tragedy-of-return-to-hostile-offices/

3. Some organizations are so dysfunctional and dystopic that an employee can save them half a million dollars in about five minutes… just by clicking about five buttons. This is the story about why this happened and why it’s a disgrace that it was even possible.

https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/i-accidentally-saved-half-a-million-dollars/

4. According to the Hans Böckler Foundation, 75% of employees who switched to working from home during the pandemic want to keep that benefit. Home office and mobile work challenging for companies. How can they strike a balance between employee satisfaction and collaboration? (Article in German)

https://versus-online-magazine.com/de/artikel/teufelskreis-homeoffice/

5. During the past month, many wrote about their experience working for Google. What is it like? Here are the tales by one of the Socratic founders, by Dan Angell, and by Hixie who left after 18 years. Spoiler alert: Google is a complex corporation, and not all that glitters is gold.

https://danangell.com/blog/posts/i-skipped-to-the-ending/

Are you working in a WFH-friendly organization? How often do you go back to the office? Would you like to share your RTO tips and tricks with our readers? Get in touch with us, and see you next week for another edition of VSHN.timer.

PS: check out our previous VSHN.timer editions about PeopleOps: #7, #13, #15, #26, #35, #41, #52, #63, #85, #92, #116, #131, #154, and #175.

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