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Chief
Any OTT recommendations for the weekend?
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For me, it helped to think about what would make my mornings more enjoyable. Whether that's a periodic stop for an iced coffee, buying myself some particularly enjoyable audiobooks, or otherwise figuring out how to make the commute more "me" friendly. It seems silly, but it absolutely helped because I did not want to go back at all.
Our hybrid schedule is expanding to 3 days and most will have longer commutes when we move offices this fall. It'll be another 20 min each way for me, plus the uncertainty that can come with a longer drive (more opp for backed up traffic).
I, too, am fearing this change and am starting to enact a plan. First, identify what bothers you about the change? What are you afraid/concerned about? Ask yourself why a couple times to drill down. Make a visual mind map if needed. Then identify solutions to those concerns. Here's mine:
1) fear about lower productivity and working longer to make up the time - I'm going to guard my time in office so I can finish work and leave on time. I will utilize our small CRs or put up a flag on my cube for focus time. (The collaboration desired by corp leaders is actually quite distracting! So boundaries are needed.)
2) concern about traffic - if traffic is bad at end of day, I'm going to use the new gym or go for a walk in the office park, or run errands at a shopping center on my way home. These are things I could enjoy but DON'T do now with my flexible schedule and short commute.
3) concern about loss of sleep - I'm going to be active EOD to be tired and go to sleep sooner. Simple but takes discipline.
Start making changes now, and do more of what rewards you but will also be expected. Habits take time to change. Good luck!
I found that crying helped. In all seriousness though, I had a very difficult time with the transition. It really sucks giving away so much of my time for free, and sacrificing a lot of my productivity at work, for seemingly no reason. My advice is to give yourself a lot of extra time in the morning so that you don't feel like you're starting your day off in a rush. Make extra sure that you guard your personal time. No checking in to work outside of your set hours.
Start working on developing better sleeping habits now. This was the hardest adjustment for me when we RTOed. I'm a night owl by nature which was never a problem when I was working remotely. I could wake up at 8:54, brush my teeth and still be logged in by 9. I have to be up at least an hour earlier now, and that proved really hard to do when I was still regularly staying up until 2 AM. Figure out a way to get to bed by 10 and asleep by 11. Melatonin, working out and reading before bed all helped me make it happen.
Just going every day you get used to it again!
Ugh I hated having to return to office. Best you can do is ease back into it. It gets easier as time goes on but the first few weeks were brutal.
Subject Expert
Quick update on day 1. We had lunch provided and a happy hour scheduled tomorrow. That’s pretty cool!
Subject Expert
It’s funny by Thursday the office was a ghost town again. I feel like the only people I saw have little kids at home.
Those ghost town days can be so productive! Also perhaps counterintuitively, it's easier to connect with a coworker on those days - if you are the only ones there, it creates an opportunity to have lunch together or have a chill, impromptu chat without the chaos of the full office. Great time to connect with the boss, too.
Mentor
It’s been a few weeks now. On the non-mandate days the office is a ghost town now. Even on the mandated days my floor is empty by 4:30pm. Makes me curious how many people are putting in at least 8 hours days.
Mentor
Any idea on how companies measure the impact of RTO initiatives? Is it high level like increase in revenue or margin? Or qualitative like employee satisfaction?