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Comment by goatinaboat | Hacker News Reader

Now months later I feel like things are starting to grind a bit and productivity is starting to wane because the "pipe" is starting to dry up.

My employer mandated a return to the office about 2 weeks ago. Productivity has declined compared to when we were all WFH for 6 months and I have the stats - pull requests, builds pushed to prod, tickets opened, all are down.

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This whole thing is so multifaceted I think it’s hard to draw any conclusions from it. In CA, we have COVID and fires so I’m essentially a prisoner in my house. If you locked me in my office, my productivity might go up too. But now that’s school is on and my kids are locked in here too. Productivity goes down. All in all, it’s a bumpy ride.

Is this a problem though? Is business suffering? Are there metrics on that?

Out of curiosity, how did your employer convince people to accept the increased risk of covid19 transmission that comes from working in the office?

Easy. Tell them they can come to work or find another job.

I think you may have misunderstood my post. I was asking how that particular employer handled the topic with its employees.

I'm trying to understand how much negotiating power software developers have with their employers these days; in general and on this topic in particular.

Is it possible that folks substituted their commute for extra work hours? There’s really not much to do, socially, when everything is locked down. Some people might take it as a chance to be a workaholic (with the possible burnout not in mind). In the office, I am pressured by folks walking by into leaving “on time” (they don’t realize I often start later than them).

Some people I have talked to are seeing this in their workplaces. They are having to tell the engineers not to work too hard so they don't burn out. Seeing 2+ hours a day of extra work.

Yes, but some middle manager gets to claim his paycheck due to having more meetings in the office now.

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