4 inconveniences associated with returning to the office and how to reduce them

Now that the world has decided that the pandemic is over, business leaders are increasingly demanding that employees return to the office, at least a few days a week.

In my opinion, such back-to-work mandates are not a good idea. Working from home has three advantages:

Saves workers travel time and money, Reduces risk of Covid-19 transmission – US cases on August 1, at 121,400, were up 53% from a year earlier (which is an underestimate as home testing d 'today are not widely reported as those given in 2021, according to the New York Times), and Could allow executives to reduce office space, helping them reduce costs.

Despite my objections, business leaders are asking people to come back. While some who have been out of the office for the past few years miss working in person with co-workers, they may have forgotten the many inconveniences of working in person.

Here are four such annoyances and what business leaders should do to minimize them.

1. Food fights in the fridge.

People who work in an office bring food to work and put it in a refrigerator near their desk. While they're not looking, co-workers steal their food without telling them. When the owner of the food confronts his co-workers, he finds excuses, such as the fact that the owner of the food has not been clearly communicated.

This is a major annoyance for managers. Gary Bush, the sales manager of a car dealership, for example, had to settle a dispute between two employees over "a large container of apple juice", according to the Wall Street Journal. < /p>

The dispute was between the employee who brought the container planning to drink it later in the day and the co-worker who admitted to drinking most of it while denying responsibility for not labeling the container. container as his own, the Journal noted.

The time Bush spent mediating this dispute could have been better spent motivating the dealership's sales force to attract more paying customers. To avoid food fights in refrigerators, companies could give each employee a mini-fridge or require workers to clearly label their food before placing it in a communal refrigerator.

2. Food in the microwave smells bad.

People often bring their lunch to work, with the intention of reheating it in the microwave before consuming it.

Destiny Palmerin, a sales and marketing coordinator for a health product maker, told the Journal that her co-workers were fighting over the microwave all at once. Also, the microwave often spreads a stench throughout the office, like burnt popcorn, Palmerin complained.

There are ways for maintainers to avoid these problems. For example, they can create a shared Google doc where co-workers sign up for a 10-minute microwave date to avoid scheduling conflicts. Additionally, managers can place the microwave in a room that has a high-ventilation door to keep cooking odors out of the building.

3. Noisy farm mates.

Business leaders often place people in cubicle farms, i.e. offices separated by partitions that are not high enough to block the noise generated by co-workers. Technology business support specialist Josh Ross said he was surrounded by rowdy co-workers who typed loudly on mechanical keyboards and audibly vented their frustration.

In my opinion, the best solution to this problem would be to let these customer service people work from home. If that's not possible, business leaders should provide them with soundproof spaces so that they don't have to endure the annoyance of keyboard clicks and groans of frustration from co-workers.

4. Battles for air conditioning...