We had a "why can't we work from home" beef just recently. It came down to "because when you get used to not having to be in the office on Tuesday, when patients show up for non-zoom appointments they sit here pissed off until you rip down from 30 minutes away." As soon as we were able to work our way to "I hate being awake before 9am" we landed on "so be here at ten it's not like we give a shit." And remember - we want our practitioners in the office on days they're scheduled to see patients in person. Beyond that? Who cares? I used phat phat PPP money to build out a robust telecommunications system. We've had zero problems with staffing. I recognize that I'm an anecdata of one but it seems that giving people the flexibility to do the job and the salary to make it worthwhile is generally met with enthusiasm. Pay people what they're worth and let 'em do the job so it gets done and you have zero staffing issues. More meta observation: the bigger the company? The more faceless it is? The more management is "allowed" to treat employees like shit because they don't have to look 'em in the eye. And I think the pandemic has made people realize that they deserve better, and they hold all the aces. I think any organization smaller than Dunbar's Number comes out of the pandemic in pretty good shape. I think any organization larger is gonna have to make good or perish.
At the start of work from home, the entire company was told on Thursday to start working from home the next Monday. Everyone except for my managers' groups. We were told to come in Monday normally. Monday, that changed and we went to work from home like everyone else on Tuesday. I asked my team lead why. Why was there one day we were different from everyone else? He won't answer why. I think he's afraid to say our manager said so and then got overruled that Monday. This breeds distrust. They like to say we're better together, but the same leadership does nothing to foster relationships while we're apart. Again, I think that erodes trust. Appearances are they don't care about relationships, so there must be an ulterior motive. I suggested we make time routinely to talk about what we're doing in our personal lives. Nobody would have to talk, but it would make the opportunity. "No, we don't need that, we have plenty of opportunities to talk." Except those meetings have set agendas, and we don't talk. I think there will be pockets of happy people and pockets of unhappy people within the same companies.