Work in office or remote?

[irvinehomeowner]

Yeah... I just found it funny that someone on the "news" was actually trying to make a story out of it. So that's why I went Googling about and found how much of a small percentage this might actually be (if even that is true) and how this would be an issue given other options.

Even if you had to sell your OC house... if you bought at the height in the last 3 years (April 2022 according to Redfin), prices are still about even right now.

I'm still shocked at how much prices have gone up since 2021. If not for these high rates... I would really be tempted to buy somewhere else on the West Coast for cheaper since I can be remote (like Washington with no income tax).

 

[Liar Loan]

So I heard on the news that companies forcing back in office are causing people to sell their home. There is even an article here that references Redfin's survey (which only says 1 out of 10 move due to back in office policy):

Return to Office Mandates Forcing Workers to Sell Homes at Loss

Some workers are being forced to choose between their home or their job - and losing money in the process.

tech.co

Not really sure if it would be a loss considering in many areas prices have been flat or up if you bought when rates were low. And rather than sell at a loss, why not rent it out (since your mortgage should be low compared to rent) and then rent close to the office?

Didn't you sell your rentals because you didn't enjoy the hassles involved? Not everybody wants to be an accidental landlord.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

Didn't you sell your rentals because you didn't enjoy the hassles involved? Not everybody wants to be an accidental landlord.

But this is different circumstances.

If I'm looking at a loss or having to sell and then buy into a mortgage with a much higher interest rate... I would consider being a landlord and renter if it meant keeping a property I liked.

In hindsight... I would probably hire a property management company and keep all our homes. There are worse things than being an Irvine land baron.

 

[momopi]

People buying houses to assume WFH is permanent made a mistake for sure and that needs to be called out as mentioned above. One gambled and lost. Take the L with pride.

Work from home is like a trend that comes and goes. 10 years ago my employer allowed work from home 1 or 2 days a week for "quality of life" improvements. Employees in remote offices were allowed to work from home full time and their local offices were closed. Then after a few years the program was cancelled and everyone had to go back to the office full time. If you worked remotely from home full time, you had to either physically move closer to one of the larger company offices and start coming in, or resign from your job.

Then the pandemic hit and we were went home, brought back to office, sent home again, etc. Now we're required to go in 1-2 days a week, but I suspect sooner or later they will increase the required office days.

When I started working from home, I had cancelled my monthly train ticket purchase, but it did not cancel the pre-tax deductions to my commuting account (!). So that account grew to several thousand dollars before I put a stop to it, and was told by HR that I cannot "cash out" or request a refund and it's a "credit" toward communting expenses. Duh. OK, whenever I have to go back to the office 3-5 days/week again, I'll use it for my train tickets.

 

[morekaos]

Get your butt back in the chair loafer!!!...

Layoffs hit remote workers harder, analysis finds

Tuesday, January 30th, 2024

A new analysis suggests managers are more likely to lay off remote workers compared to employees who work from an office or have a hybrid role, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Remote workers were laid off 35% more in 2023, according to an analysis of 2 million white-collar workers conducted by Live Data Technologies. The employment data provider found 10% of remote workers were laid off in 2023, compared to 7% of hybrid or in-office employees.

"When a hiring manager gets news they have to cut 10% of the staff, it's easier to put someone on the list you don't have a close personal relationship with," Andy Challenger, senior vice president at Challenger, Gray & Christmas, told the Journal.

Managers may also have more favorable perceptions of in-office workers' performance. In a 2021 Gartner survey, 68% of leaders said in-office workers were higher performers than remote teammates.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/car...fice-peers-but-they-quit-more-too/ar-BB1hkUi4

 

[irvinehomeowner]

Hah. Was going to post this but figured Mr. Negative would eventually. Same with the Arrival EV collapse.

Remote is the best for those who can do it. At lunch and some guy at another table is saying he thought hybrid would be the best of both worlds but realizes the days he goes in, he doesn't really need to.

 

[morekaos]

Unless he gets fired soon, then the point is moot.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

It all depends on person, position and job duties.

Someone who works well, complete tasks and is a vital part of a company should be more layoff immune whether in-office, hybrid or remote.

You work for yourself in an office of your choosing... so really.. you are sort of like a remote worker... so your opinion is colored. Again, I was a big proponent of in-office workers only... but it all depends on the type of business and the other factors I mentioned. If I were a startup and didn't have to meet clients, I would definitely be 100% remote and maybe use of one those temp office services. With much IT infrastructure in the cloud, there really isn't a huge need for large office spaces for many types of companies.

But I get it... many just don't work very well unless they are in an office... and even in an office they don't really work... so you either pay for the office to get that "security" of people actually working, or your trust people to do their jobs and have a better live-work balance.

 

[morekaos]

that’s where we diverge, I don’t trust that people will do the right thing

 

[akkord]

I haven't been in the office since Oct, when I hired someone new to the team. Was only in the office about 10-15x last year, most of it was for training the newbie. Our whole team works from home. 1 person does choose to go in 4 days a week, but he did that through covid and doesn't like to work from home, but it's like he's remote too since the rest of us are from home.

 

[irvinehomeowner]

1 person does choose to go in 4 days a week, but he did that through covid and doesn't like to work from home

I had a coworker like that too... even through Covid he came in (as did I) and he had a long commute (which improved because there was no traffic during Covid)... but then they closed the office and we had no choice but to work remote. When they opened a another office (that was even closer to him), guess who didn't want to come in anymore?

Can't even get him to come in for office lunches.

 

[usctrojancpa]

I'm hearing from more and more clients that they need to get back in the office more often....from remote to 1-2 days a week in the office to 3-4 days in the office now and they suspect that it'll soon be all 5 days back in the office.