Blog: Return to Office
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Return to Office - Tuesday, September 6, 2022
Now that most people seem to think that the pandemic is over, life appears to have gotten back to normal. Well, maybe a new kind of normal.
At the beginning of March, governor Newsom lifted California's indoor mask mandate. And in April, the federal government's nationwide mask mandate for public transit was struck down by a federal judge. As COVID turned the world upside-down in a matter of a couple weeks in 2020, things have gradually started turning right side up in the last year or so as people have gotten vaccinated and as the virus has mutated into a less deadly form. Nowadays, supply chain issues, labor shortage and inflation seem to be more pressing problems than "the rona".
As such, companies have been calling employees back into the office, typically under a hybrid schedule where feasible. Pure gave us notice a couple months ago that today would be the first day of the mandatory return to office (RTO), where most of us are expected to be in the office three days a week at minimum. So at last, after being able to work remotely for 2.5 years, I and most others stepped foot back into the office under the new schedule today.
The office had been open for the last several months, though most people unsurprisingly chose to keep working from home during that time. Attendance had been ramping up over the past couple months as lunches started being offered on Thursdays and then on Tuesdays as well, and as upper management "strongly encouraged" people to come in in order to make the transition to official RTO less jarring. I'd gone in a few times over the last two years, including stepping in a couple weeks ago, but by and large I preferred the flexibility that working from home gave me.
Going back today felt pretty, well, uneventful. I stopped by the IT helpdesk to get another dock, since I'd gotten a new laptop during the pandemic and I'm keeping my current dock at home. I spent time setting up the new dock and cables at my desk, clearing out emails, eating with coworkers, being in two meetings, and I managed to get a little bit of actual work done as well. The Tuesday and Thursday lunches are now buffet style, served in the kitchen close to where my team sits, and today we had BBQ chicken, brisket, mac and cheese, Hawaiian bread, salad, and roasted vegetables. Pretty decent fare. There were cookies and other sweets for dessert, and some cupcakes showed up in the kitchen a couple hours later. There were balloons and some decorations set up in the kitchen, which I thought was a small but nice way to welcome people back, but otherwise, the RTO went by with not much fanfare. Maybe because many people had been coming back already.
I still prefer working from home, but I'm glad for the lunch and the snacks (and I got some leftovers for the next day), and it was nice seeing teammates and some old familiar faces in person. Today was fairly special, but I'm sure the days will start feeling more mundane and more of a slog soon. Maybe let's just try to make the best of it. Having to commute this way again gives me more reason to hit up my gym in Sunnyvale; I kept the membership since it's just $14 a month, but I haven't been going often because I have dumbbells at home and I don't usually have any other reason to drive that way. And I'm looking forward to sometimes biking to work again since my cycling ability has fallen off a cliff during the 2.5 years of working from home. I'm thinking of biking to work this week but we're in a 1-week heat wave after nearly a whole summer that's felt cooler than usual. Today it apparently got up to 107 degrees, tomorrow it'll be 96, and Thursday will be 101. LA's been pretty hot as well; Priscilla's been down there visiting her parents, and one day it was 115 in the San Fernando Valley. We seem to be smashing a lot of climate records in recent years. Yesterday, both Livermore and Fairfield hit 116 degrees, an all-time record for the Bay Area. Hottest day ever? More like hottest day so far! This is fine. Totally.
At the beginning of March, governor Newsom lifted California's indoor mask mandate. And in April, the federal government's nationwide mask mandate for public transit was struck down by a federal judge. As COVID turned the world upside-down in a matter of a couple weeks in 2020, things have gradually started turning right side up in the last year or so as people have gotten vaccinated and as the virus has mutated into a less deadly form. Nowadays, supply chain issues, labor shortage and inflation seem to be more pressing problems than "the rona".
As such, companies have been calling employees back into the office, typically under a hybrid schedule where feasible. Pure gave us notice a couple months ago that today would be the first day of the mandatory return to office (RTO), where most of us are expected to be in the office three days a week at minimum. So at last, after being able to work remotely for 2.5 years, I and most others stepped foot back into the office under the new schedule today.
The office had been open for the last several months, though most people unsurprisingly chose to keep working from home during that time. Attendance had been ramping up over the past couple months as lunches started being offered on Thursdays and then on Tuesdays as well, and as upper management "strongly encouraged" people to come in in order to make the transition to official RTO less jarring. I'd gone in a few times over the last two years, including stepping in a couple weeks ago, but by and large I preferred the flexibility that working from home gave me.
Going back today felt pretty, well, uneventful. I stopped by the IT helpdesk to get another dock, since I'd gotten a new laptop during the pandemic and I'm keeping my current dock at home. I spent time setting up the new dock and cables at my desk, clearing out emails, eating with coworkers, being in two meetings, and I managed to get a little bit of actual work done as well. The Tuesday and Thursday lunches are now buffet style, served in the kitchen close to where my team sits, and today we had BBQ chicken, brisket, mac and cheese, Hawaiian bread, salad, and roasted vegetables. Pretty decent fare. There were cookies and other sweets for dessert, and some cupcakes showed up in the kitchen a couple hours later. There were balloons and some decorations set up in the kitchen, which I thought was a small but nice way to welcome people back, but otherwise, the RTO went by with not much fanfare. Maybe because many people had been coming back already.
I still prefer working from home, but I'm glad for the lunch and the snacks (and I got some leftovers for the next day), and it was nice seeing teammates and some old familiar faces in person. Today was fairly special, but I'm sure the days will start feeling more mundane and more of a slog soon. Maybe let's just try to make the best of it. Having to commute this way again gives me more reason to hit up my gym in Sunnyvale; I kept the membership since it's just $14 a month, but I haven't been going often because I have dumbbells at home and I don't usually have any other reason to drive that way. And I'm looking forward to sometimes biking to work again since my cycling ability has fallen off a cliff during the 2.5 years of working from home. I'm thinking of biking to work this week but we're in a 1-week heat wave after nearly a whole summer that's felt cooler than usual. Today it apparently got up to 107 degrees, tomorrow it'll be 96, and Thursday will be 101. LA's been pretty hot as well; Priscilla's been down there visiting her parents, and one day it was 115 in the San Fernando Valley. We seem to be smashing a lot of climate records in recent years. Yesterday, both Livermore and Fairfield hit 116 degrees, an all-time record for the Bay Area. Hottest day ever? More like hottest day so far! This is fine. Totally.