In President Biden’s most recent State of the Union address, the president called for the “vast majority” of federal employees to begin transitioning back to the office, citing “significant progress fighting the COVID-19 pandemic has made it safer to do so.” While Biden’s motivation and the current state of COVID may be debatable, what is not debatable is that I fall into the category of “vast majority of federal employees.” Last Wednesday I returned to the office for the first time in approximately two years. Here are a few random pictures and thoughts I had while returning to the office.
I had plenty of time to enjoy the view of some lovely Oklahoma morning clouds as I sat stopped in traffic on I-40. For the past two years my morning commute has consisted of rolling out of bed and walking from our bedroom to my office — average commute time, 45 seconds. Based on the traffic I experienced, it appears federal workers are not the only people on the interstate returning to the office. Rush hour is back, baby. My typical 25-minute drive to work took a little more than twice that amount of time. While sitting on I-40 with a coffee in hand and my car in park, I couldn’t help but think what a waste of time commuting to and from work is. I don’t miss this at all.
Many large corporations, not just the federal government, are touting the upside of returning to work. “I can’t tell you how much I am looking forward to being together again,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook. “I hope everyone is feeling as energized as I am, and that you are looking forward to seeing your colleagues in person again in the weeks ahead,” said Comcast CEO Jeff Shell in a memo to the company’s staff.
At the office, I sit staring at computer monitors inside a cubical located inside a dingy room. I cannot see a window; light comes from rows and rows of florescent lights. At home I have larger monitors, fewer distractions, a large window, and better coffee. My job involves manipulating data that lives on computers I’ve never physically seen. Communication with my coworkers takes place over chat, via email, or through internet-based voice calls. 99.9% of the people I work with live in other states. Nobody I work with can tell, knows, or cares where I am physically located. Like most large organizations We experienced road bumps while transitioning employees to maximum telework in 2020; those issues were ironed out long ago. Everyone in my management chain has been super supportive of telework and I have become accustomed to the convenience and lack of distractions it has provided. For someone with ADD, returning to the workplace and being bombarded by other people’s phone calls and conversations are mentally taxing. My headphones earned their keep Wednesday.
For some reason, everybody returned to work this week except for the cafeteria staff. In lieu of reopening the cafeteria, the campus scheduled food trucks to arrive during lunch. My friends Emily, Johnny and I walked over to the trucks (about a quarter mile) to order lunch. Due to the lines and wait time, we had to take our food back to our desks to eat. My BBQ sandwich, large pickle, and can of Diet Coke was $14.50. Going into the office is expensive.
If there was any highlight to returning to the office at all, it was seeing my friends.
Somewhere between our building and the food trucks my badge fell out of its lanyard. I didn’t notice my badge was missing until I returned to my desk. Without my badge, I cannot log into my computer or even access the door to our office. Johnny and I ended up retracing our steps to the food truck in search of this valuable piece of plastic. For those keeping track that’s 1/4 mile to the food trucks (the first time), 1/4 mile back, and then 1/4 mile each way a second time in search of my badge… which we did not find.
When I returned to my desk I noticed I had a new voice mail. A nice woman named Valerie discovered my badge on the ground while out walking and took it with her back to her building. After making a quick phone call, I set out for another walk. Because of parking lot construction, the walk to Valerie’s building was approximately 1/2 a mile. I excitedly collected my badge and returned to my desk to finally eat my lunch.
At 4pm, building construction begins. The noise is more than distracting; it’s so loud that it’s difficult to hear phone calls. I decided that was a good time to call it a day. On my way out I discovered that the evening construction crew moves quickly, filling the hallway and sidewalk with table saws and other loud tools.
In summary, Wednesday I spent 90 minutes walking to get lunch and track down my badge. The rest of my work day was spent looking at a computer screen, collaborating with people who live hundreds and hundreds of miles away. I looked hard for an upside to returning to the office last week, and other than having lunch with a couple of old friends, had difficulty coming up with anything positive to say. As more people begin to return to the office I suppose things will begin to feel more like the old normal, but I would by lying if I said I didn’t prefer the new normal we’ve come to know over the past two years.
It is really hard to see the value in a physical office building, yes. I’ve only been able to come up with a couple exceptions for when office workers should be at the company office:
– First and foremost, when they don’t have a good home office. Some coworkers have poor ergonomics, kids yelling, no AC – they can’t focus at home and it’s bad for them too
– Second, when in need of training. New employees, particularly new graduates, will often be doing something wrong, and not just wrong, but wrong in a way that they don’t know how to explain. There’s not much substitute for being in person when you need to watch them do the thing wrong in order to correct them.
– Third, sadly, when unmotivated/lazy, in need of constant supervision (but able to do worthwhile work supervised). This is the group that makes it hard for the rest of us, because we have to distinguish ourselves from these folks in order to justify the better environment.