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I live in northern Bergen County, right near the border of New York state, and I have been working for 6 months for a company in Scotch Plains. When I first started, I was fully remote, but I knew this was temporary until the office was finished being renovated. Management initially said that while they really preferred us to be in the office full time, people could still work from home two days a week once the renovation was complete with no penalty.
Well, this didn’t age well. For a variety of reasons which I don’t care to get into, management bagged that whole hybrid idea. Effective last week, we all have to be in the office 5 days a week. We are not allowed to work from home at all, not even a hybrid schedule.
They really did a great job building the office (coffee shop on campus, various amenities, etc.) and I really like the people I’m seated with in our cube farm. However, the commute is a killer. It’s 50 minutes with absolutely zero traffic, which we all know never happens here. It ends up taking me around an hour to get there (90 minutes yesterday in the bad weather), and between an hour and 90 minutes to get home. Even leaving before the sun comes up, the Parkway is pretty much a parking lot from Exit 150 onward. I get on at Exit 168, and I get off at 142B.
I get up at 5:30AM, leave home at 6:45AM. I take an hour lunch, so it’s really a 9-hour day. I leave there around 5, and I typically get home between 6 and 6:30PM. This gives me just enough time to make a quick dinner, clean, watch maybe one episode of a TV show, and go to bed at 9:30PM if I want to get 8 hours of sleep. I know I sound like a baby, and “people did this or worse before COVID,” but it’s really affecting me mentally to sit in that traffic every single day. 3 days a week even would’ve been a lot, but tolerable. 5 days is an absolute beast. I’m basically working 11-12 hour days and being paid for 8. I don’t mind being at the office at all, but getting there and back is just horrible.
My manager (not the one who revoked the hybrid policy) seems to think we will eventually go back to hybrid, so I’m trying to ride it out for now and accept that my life will suck during the week. But I don’t see that happening. If they got us in 5 days and only lost a couple of people (out of hundreds) over it, what sense would it make for them to suddenly go back? If it doesn’t go back to hybrid like I suspect, I will eventually need to choose between living in Bergen County (which I love) and my job (which I also love). I’m really resentful that they did this, and I am very grateful to have a job in this economy. But I don’t care if I sound whiny either.
I’m really resentful that they did this, and I am very grateful to have a job in this economy. But I don’t care if I sound whiny either.
It's still a great job market. If the commute is too much and you don't want to move, there are other places to work. It sounds like they did a terrible job communicating with employees. I'd be angry about that too.
Economy isn’t great overall, but it hasn’t really hit the job market yet (and might not significantly).
I wouldn’t be surprised if the company is forced to go back to hybrid. I would give it 6 months before making any crazy decisions. They get some poor feedback and resignations, things could change in a hurry. You are at a competitive disadvantage requiring full time in office if it’s purely office work (and not, for example, office staff supporting a hospital or something like that).
Would also rather give up the job then living in Bergen county, especially because they seem to be jerking employees around. Things overall have become a lot more employee friendly over the last few years at most companies.
Economy isn’t great overall, but it hasn’t really hit the job market yet (and might not significantly).
I wouldn’t be surprised if the company is forced to go back to hybrid. I would give it 6 months before making any crazy decisions. They get some poor feedback and resignations, things could change in a hurry. You are at a competitive disadvantage requiring full time in office if it’s purely office work (and not, for example, office staff supporting a hospital or something like that).
Would also rather give up the job then living in Bergen county, especially because they seem to be jerking employees around. Things overall have become a lot more employee friendly over the last few years at most companies.
I should have mentioned, my department can 100% work remotely. It is purely white collar computer work, no in-person interaction with clients. And neither of the two teams I support have anyone living in NJ, so our meetings are still on Teams just like they were before when I was remote.
I’m young, I actually prefer hybrid over fully remote to get out a bit, but sitting in that traffic every day sucks, even though I know other people do worse. Not to mention the reduced QOL during the week. It’s 11:09 now. I’ll once again be driving in on 6 hours of sleep because I allowed myself to have a late night phone call with a friend. The 3 days (or even 2) would have been a great balance and allowed me some time for myself during the week.
It's still a great job market. If the commute is too much and you don't want to move, there are other places to work. It sounds like they did a terrible job communicating with employees. I'd be angry about that too.
It’s an amazing company, but senior management certainly has some flaws. This is one of them.
It's funny, but my longest commute (90 min both ways) coincided with my easiest job. So, even though it was a long commute I was out at 5:30 every day. And I still had lots of energy most days.
I distinctly remember coming home and watching Seinfeld at 7 PM every single day.
I'm 90+% WFH now, but I work like 8-10 hour days, and it can end pretty late.
What I'm basically saying is if the workload is reasonable, I'd keep it. Consider moving.
Because you don't know what the next company will be like.
Don't let others define whether or not you're wimpy.
Are you happy or not?
Life is full of tradeoffs. Your tradeoff for having a great job is having a lousy commute. Is it worth it to you? Are you willing to move so you can keep your job, but also have more time to yourself? Would you take a worse job that is closer to home? Those are the questions you need to be asking.
Since you like where you live, why not just look for another job that’s closer to home? I know you love the job, but you will grow to hate it when that daily commute wears you down.
The current NJ job market is very strong. Have you been looking to see what other options you may have? You should have no problem finding a job that is closer to home, or that allows you to work from home
You don’t have to deal with a soul-sucking commute everyday if you don’t want to.
You're not wimpy. 2 hours a day is a lot of time. Spending 12+ hours a day on work and having only 1-2 hours per day of actual free time is not worth it.
If you spent 2 hours a day developing a hobby or learning new skills to enhance your career, you'd get really far. Or even time you can spend with your family. But right now you're just trading time of your life you can never get back for an arbitrary amount of money.
You're not being whiny. I would never go back to a full time commute again if I can help it. Currently commuting to the city 2 days a week and I absolutely hate getting up for those days. Especially when I sit alone in my office all day and 99% of my interactions are still by phone and zoom.
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