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A comment on Ask HN: Employers, why do you want us back in the office?. Parent comment

Re:Ask HN: Employers, why do you want us back in the office? by ornornor on Sunday February 05, 2023 @03:14PM (#34668777)
> If you only interact during scheduled meetings with a defind purpose, you never engage in work-related small talk

Whats stopping people from scheduling “shoot the shit” of coffee calls though? That’s what I’ve seen many do since the wfh mandate and it works in exactly the same way you describe: people vent, talk about what happened during meetings, etc.

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Re:Ask HN: Employers, why do you want us back in the office? by DangerousPie on Sunday February 05, 2023 @03:37PM (#34669059)
It feels very artificial and takes a lot more planning. I still do this sometimes but it's not the same.
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Re:Ask HN: Employers, why do you want us back in the office? by jemmyw on Sunday February 05, 2023 @03:49PM (#34669184)
Why does it require a lot of planning? I do this, usually it's "bored, coffee break?" "Yep" or I ask a question on slack and the other party says "call?"
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Re:Ask HN: Employers, why do you want us back in the office? by doutunlined on Sunday February 05, 2023 @05:40PM (#34670503)
Because IRL you're effectively always in call. Not sure whats hard to understand about the difference.
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Re:Ask HN: Employers, why do you want us back in the office? by jemmyw on Sunday February 05, 2023 @06:04PM (#34670754)
I just don't see the difference. When I worked in an office I'd wander over to a colleague and say "coffee?" Now I open a dm and say "coffee call?"
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Re:Ask HN: Employers, why do you want us back in the office? by nostrebored on Sunday February 05, 2023 @03:44PM (#34669132)
I hate online coffee chats and love workplace conversation. Coffee chats have an overloaded amount of assumptions — conversation should start off personal, last for x minutes, make you feel closer to a teammate.

This is the exact opposite of a hallway conversation that can be about anything. It can differ based on the person and your relationship.

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Re:Ask HN: Employers, why do you want us back in the office? by jemmyw on Sunday February 05, 2023 @03:52PM (#34669225)
Yeah I'm not keen on the organized chats. We did those pre pandemic and I got nothing from them. Casual conversation has to be adhoc, whether it's in person or by call.
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Re:Ask HN: Employers, why do you want us back in the office? by krabizzwainch on Sunday February 05, 2023 @05:24PM (#34670312)
Our director started scheduling a big group video meeting with all the people that started since 2020 just as a chat room. But he did absolutely 0 planning or conversation guiding or anything outside of "so who wants to talk about something?" and we would just sit there in silence.

It completely feels like the scene from Arrested Development where Gob yells "everybody dance, NOW".

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