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Paradox Interactive's return-to-office policy may be driving employees away from the studio
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this post was submitted on 28 Apr 2025
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46% of employees think the survey results will be used against them to fire them later.
I work in tech and it's surprising how many people want to work in an office. When I ask the rank and file why the reasons are usually dumb things like "I like the commute", "I like the social interaction", and "I like getting away from my kids". Which like...wtf. If you like driving for 2 hours a day then just go do that on your own time? If you hate your kids why did you have them and why do you think your partner wants to be stuck with them? If you like social interaction try getting friends? The reasons are so dumb.
Management of course always has the reason of "it fosters better collaboration" which I do sort of agree with. Meetings are easier to have in person. That said if your day is more than half full of meetings you're almost definitely not working efficiently, and so if people work better outside of meetings at home then it makes much more sense to let people do their work where they are comfortable doing the majority of the work.
So really the only legit reason is "I want to police my people" and "I want my co workers to be policed." Only one person in my life has ever said this and I respect them for the absolute honesty. And then I tried to cut them out of everything I do at work because holy shit fuck people like that.
Offices suck there's no reason to spend 5 days a week in one so you can sit silently on your computer and clack away
As someone who works in an office and isn't in charge of anyone, I'll say that I strongly disagree with the idea that there are no legitimate reasons to prefer being in office.
I get cabin fever pretty badly if I don't have a reason to get out. Finding motivation to do that can be difficult when I don't actually have somewhere to be. I also do enjoy chatting to my coworkers. As an adult fostering friendships outside of work and family is incredibly difficult, and I imagine you know that?
Regardless I'd still work from home if permitted, due to COVID, but the idea that wanting to have a second location that you regularly spend time in is "dumb" is wrong I think.
To reiterate, I absolutely prefer work from home at this point, even though it's undeniably worse for my mental well-being, due to the threat in office work poses to my physical well-being, but it's absolutely a tradeoff.
Also, I just want to say I hope RTO kills Paradox because I'm still bitter that they killed off the Chronicles of Darkness TTRPGs.
You don't need to be in an office to work away from home. Coffee shops, parks, etc. are good spots to bring a laptop.
My work isn't hard but I have to pay attention to way too many different programs to make taking my laptop on its own to a third location viable as an every day thing.
Plus coffee shops aren't free and parks expose you to the weather. I'm not sure what etc even would be here.
And neither of those locations actually position you to socialize with peers.
Also I in my role, while I'm not dealing with anyone's SSN or anything I frequently enough with people's personal data that it would be inappropriate to let just whoever at the coffee shop view over my shoulder.
Home or the office are the only real options.
I hear you and get that there's no perfect solution. I just don't want to be forced back to the office. If you want to go, fine, but if I'm working at the same place as you I am not coming in. You can catch me on Zoom or Teams during core hours.
But also a lot of these problems are solvable.
I don't believe you should try to make friends at work. They are good-weather friends and rarely more than that. It's more likely that they will find a way to screw you over or rat you out to a boss so they can step over you and move up in the org. I've had enough co-workers do passive-aggressive BS to me to be wary of that.
Instead of looking for socializing at work look for a third space elsewhere. Game stores, libraries, community events... left organizing? A MTG Commander deck or RPG book is a good way to add lots of social nights out to the calendar.
There are screen protectors for laptops that cover what you are doing unless you are looking straight at the screen.
Obviously don't go out when its raining, but on a nice clear day? Get out there and get some vitamin D. Touch grass. See some nature. I guarantee when you are old you'll appreciate those moments of peace more than whatever TPS report you wrote for a paycheck.
I don't really want to do a line by line conversation but I don't really feel like my comment is being read in good faith here. It feels like you're ascribing stances to me that I didn't take including ones that I explicitly rejected in my original comment because I know that what I'm saying is somewhat heterodox on this site and I wanted to ensure that I didn't get misread.
Got it. I was trying to offer some helpful advice and not say anything bad faith. Sorry, will disengage.