What would it take for you to return to the office?

I will point blank refuse to return to office until there is thorough ventilation and individual offices. I’m not interested in catching a disease that can cause long term heart damage, immune deficiency, and more.

As for what would make me want to, pretty much nothing. I’m an introvert and sensitive to noise and activity around me. I concentrate better and am far less stressed WFH.

And my home office is sunnier, greener, and altogether more pleasant than any office I’ve ever worked in. Plus not spending time commuting. (A walking commute is actually pleasant and good for health, but extremely rare.)

With safety measures in place, an occasional in-office day would be tolerable, but not more than a couple times per month.

Last job I worked from home with monthly trips down to the London office which was okay.

To go back to the office 4+ times a week I'd be looking for something along the lines of: - 6-hour days without the pay cut - Significant pay rise - A product I'm genuinely passionate about

I just hate the commute and I do not believe anyone who had an inner city or outer to inner city commute who says they miss it. Sure it's fine some days when it's nice, everything is on time and it's not too busy, but most of the time it's grim.

I do think people romanticize what the office was like pre-covid. Only last week I was reminiscing on all the times we would complain about the lack of communication between teams, and that was when they were all sat in the same building.

No admin staff moaning about people leaving a teaspoon in the sink. We earn enough money, just hire a full time cleaner.

Windows that open

People not coming in to the office sick

Making offices plural. Not having one big open plan office

More meeting rooms

Monitors better than mine

Chairs better than mine

Desks bigger and better than mine

AC that doesn’t dry out my throat

I was happiest when I had a quiet separate office with AC and temperature control. It was about 15 minutes walk from my home. I would definitely return.

But I don't think I would have ever chance for something similar. Now all offices are open space and housing unaffordable close to offices in my area.

So I will be probably working remotely forever. Which is OK.

For me, it'd probably require at least a couple of the following things to be true:

1. A significant payrise, perhaps at least twice what I'm making at the moment.

2. A team that I actually get along with well, with a significant amount of shared interests and a passion for technology.

3. The office to be within easy commuting distance, so like 5 minutes from the station I'd get off at.

4. An office environment which feels tailored to developers/engineers, with private offices rather than an open plan layout.

5. Plus the kind of work I'd feel excited to do, involving projects that had a positive effect on the world.

For me, it would be the salary needed to have an amazing flat or house near the office. So, if you have the office in Toronto or New York it’s okay, but I will want many money (probably you won’t hire me)

If I had to commute to NYC from my home in Jersey, that's a minimum of three hours per day gone.

So I guess, to start, my working day would have to start when I leave the door, and would end when I got home. This means I would be arriving at work sometime around 11am, and leaving sometime around 3pm.

Note that besides the time suck, it's also a non-negotiable requirement since I have to drop off and pick up my child from school/aftercare.

An office less than a 15 min commute away - preferably on foot or bike.

It's all about proximity. I live in the middle of a very walkable city so (assuming I wasn't self employed), then if could physically walk or jog to work every day I would have no issue with RTO... the moment it involves driving of any kind you'd have to triple my salary.

People are different. I WFH but miss the office a lot. Wish I had one to go back to! I'd even take a pay cut for a nice team to work with in person.

But I also wouldn't force people to go to the office if they don't want to be there.

As long as I don't get interrupted constantly, I like going to an office if it is conveniently located and has perks.

If I can save time by getting lunch quickly, have snacks and coffee available, and have an onsite gym, I can basically make back the time I commuted and I get a little more 'separation'.

Most of my day is working alone, so occasionally being able to grab lunch with a coworker or someone is nice, and it is very nice not to worry about what snacks and drinks to buy etc.

I realize not every office has these perks, so i'm extra appreciative of when I have it.

2x WFO/week is actually quite comfortable for me. It's nice to meet people and gossip. People travel all the time and bring back exotic snacks. There's not much noise, nobody brings their mech keyboards except the boss.

Office is for socializing, home is for actual work, and the 2x days and open offices reflects that fine.

If it was full 5x WFO, I'd want my own office, like the one my mom used to have. I actually like that old musty office smell, with the air conditioning, books, files, and yellowed out old comics.

1. An office within 10-15 minutes of my house, preferably walking or public transportation

2. Housing I can afford within 10-15 minutes of the office

3. Quiet workspace, ideally a private office

4. Good coffee+amenities, or in a part of town with good coffee

5. Actually located with people I work with

I'm a WFH person, that would prefer to RTO. I think the real issue is how difficult going to an office is right now. Nobody can afford to live close enough to make it reasonable.

I work from home. I’m not sure there’s anything that could convince me to go back to an office. All the things you listed have been huge for my family and my life. I get to spend a lot more time with my kid and my wife because I’m not away for 10-12 hours a day.

I guess some insane level of compensation - something that’d convince me I’d be retiring 15-20 years earlier. Even then, I’m not sure I could justify it.

Nothing. Higher salary makes you a bigger layoff target, comes with bigger expectations and with higher taxes.

Time is a valuable thing.

An office max 15 minutes from me. Ok I could do 40min if I can start at 7am and leave at 4.

But I'm working for a nice US based company from my third world country... I'd love to have a few colleagues in my city.

I think I'd take a 20% pay cut to go back to the office for a job I like as much as the one I have now. Assuming 100% of coworkers were also in the office.

I wouldn’t willingly trade working for myself, from my home office.

But you do what you gotta do!

The horror of offices terrifies me though!

I’ve suffered full nervous breakdowns from having to endure the cage of bleak grey offices, the torment of office politics and navigating the petty opinions of small minded colleagues.

I

less annoying coworkers I have to babysit.

Lots of money.

Free soda / red bull to stay focused

Nothing.

I've worked from home full time since a couple of years before the pandemic, when my company decided to save some money by closing our office, so I've been doing it a while. I have gone to the office a handful of times at my current job, mostly for events (and for a few weeks while I was in between projects).

I only did that because I knew it was a temporary situation though, and even then I didn't go in as many days a week as they wanted, they wanted 4 days per week when in between projects and I only went in 2-3 days a week. Keep in mind I had a ~3 hour round trip commute by bus each day I went in, or I spent at least $20 on parking and drove almost as long.

I'm actually going to a client's office for two days this week, and paying $45 in parking to do so (and will be on the road at around 6am to try to make sure I get there by 8am). But this will be the first time I've been there since last June.

Here's what it would take for me to go into the office more than once in a while:

1. Super close commute, with free parking. 10-15 minutes max.

There was a time when I did 40+ minute commutes five days a week, but I won't do that anymore (unless I absolutely have no other choice).

2. Need to, in writing preferably, allow full flexibility in when I go to the office.

No X days a week mandates (which is looking like the vast majority of companies are doing now). I might have tried to get a full-time job at my current client (and probably would have been hired) if not for their 3 day a week in office mandate.

I'd like to feel free to not go in for a few weeks if I don't feel like it, but come in when I need a break from the house and lack of social interaction.

3. When I do go in the office, not to have an expectation that I'm in there for a solid 8 hours each day, especially if I'm not busy.

That three weeks I went to the office semi-regularly? I was practically spinning in my chair from boredom that last two hours, watching the time crawl ever so slowly to when it was time to leave. I even left a bit early to catch the bus home, so it wasn't even a full 8 hours then. I had stuff I could work on, but I could no longer concentrate on it.

At home I could step away for a bit, pop on a Youtube video to distract my mind for 5-10 minutes, or put switch the laundry, do a few dishes, lift the kettlebell at my desk, let the dogs outside, etc. But there's only so much coffee or restroom breaks I can take, and even those are super boring.

4. If we ever have another proper pandemic again, you better let me be 100% remote.

I'm starting to think some companies wouldn't be willing to do that again next time, that they're tired of the concessions and just want compliance.

If I lived close and you only expected me to show up in the morning and head back home at lunchtime (and go back to work at home), I might even be willing to head in to the office 2-3 days a week on a regular basis, just for the change of scenery and a bit more socialization.

But I'm not seeing workplaces offer that, and most jobs that I'd even be interested in aren't all that close of a commute to me, so I'm a little hesitant to start looking for a new job again.

By the way, if you promise full flexibility in an interview and on the job you say "well actually, we need you to come in X days a week" I will just not show up. You can fire me if you want. I'll probably already be looking for my next job. And/or start figuring out the freelancing thing again, since that's increasingly looking like the only way I'm going to make sure I have the flexibility I want.

BTW, it sickens me that corporations are pushing so hard to have so just about everyone return back to the office when it was shown how well it can work for a lot of people.

From an environmental standpoint alone it's a disaster. Also a much higher number of people have shown that they have a clear preference for it than there are jobs out there that support it nowadays, as evidenced by the swarms of applications that get sent to remote jobs, and much much less to in-person (and the bait-and-switch tactics that recruiters feel they have to use about remote work in order to get people to agree to interviews.