Were I work the thing I noticed was the only people comfortable to voice their opinion were the extroverts who would talk about how much they get from in office.
Not knocking them. I love talkative people who are great to talk to during the day. But they’re at a natural advantage when you’re in a public meeting and the management is asking where the employees land on back to work policies. Its easier to voice the opinion that aligns with higher but also its easier for the friendly guy every one likes to talk about how they can’t do remote work alone a day in their room. Meanwhile the people who don’t have issues could get unspoken negative pressure to not voice their opinion.
This is why you need anonymous surveys and not anecdotes. But when someone asks “what do you think” extroverts are going to answer. If you don’t agree then you have to speak up either there or in private afterwards otherwise no one will know.
It’s not just an extravert/introvert thing. Some people will say whatever they want their bosses to think about them rather than speak their own mind because they think it will be better for their job if they do. So if they think their bosses want to end WFH, they will agree even if they don’t want to come back to the office because they think they could be on the chopping block if they don’t.
I rarely give my bosses my opinions unless I realize they are directly asking me because I know it won’t actually make a difference except that it will look like I’m rocking the boat. It’s not because I’m introverted, it’s because I’m pragmatic.
The company where I work did a bunch of surveys and shared the data with everyone throughout 2020 and 2021. They were completely anonymous and done in a browser in about 5 minutes. Opinion shifted back and forth over time, but the general consensus is that some kind of mix was preferred. We now have that mix and most people are still happily employed.
I still end up spending most of my in-office days on Zoom, but that’s OK. I am also part of a small team in a 200 person company and really appreciate being around other people outside my team occasionally.
Pretending there is universal agreement in either direction is silly.
Were I work the thing I noticed was the only people comfortable to voice their opinion were the extroverts who would talk about how much they get from in office.
Not knocking them. I love talkative people who are great to talk to during the day. But they’re at a natural advantage when you’re in a public meeting and the management is asking where the employees land on back to work policies. Its easier to voice the opinion that aligns with higher but also its easier for the friendly guy every one likes to talk about how they can’t do remote work alone a day in their room. Meanwhile the people who don’t have issues could get unspoken negative pressure to not voice their opinion.
This is why you need anonymous surveys and not anecdotes. But when someone asks “what do you think” extroverts are going to answer. If you don’t agree then you have to speak up either there or in private afterwards otherwise no one will know.
It’s not just an extravert/introvert thing. Some people will say whatever they want their bosses to think about them rather than speak their own mind because they think it will be better for their job if they do. So if they think their bosses want to end WFH, they will agree even if they don’t want to come back to the office because they think they could be on the chopping block if they don’t.
I rarely give my bosses my opinions unless I realize they are directly asking me because I know it won’t actually make a difference except that it will look like I’m rocking the boat. It’s not because I’m introverted, it’s because I’m pragmatic.
Same. I never voice my opinion anymore because it doesn’t seem to matter.
It’s also likely to have a lot of those people reconsidering after they’ve thought about it more.
When it dawns on them that the office is is that hellhole.
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The company where I work did a bunch of surveys and shared the data with everyone throughout 2020 and 2021. They were completely anonymous and done in a browser in about 5 minutes. Opinion shifted back and forth over time, but the general consensus is that some kind of mix was preferred. We now have that mix and most people are still happily employed.
I still end up spending most of my in-office days on Zoom, but that’s OK. I am also part of a small team in a 200 person company and really appreciate being around other people outside my team occasionally.
Pretending there is universal agreement in either direction is silly.