Hi there!
Is anyone back in an office full-time, hybrid, or fully remote? Has everyone been running Teradici, and if so are we talking about remoting into an in-office server or a cloud-based one? Are clients coming in where you’re sitting in, clients sitting in the flame suite with you remoting in, or are you seeing fewer in-person client sessions?
We never left. Machines onsite. We do have Teradici capability for odd times we work from home. Teradici performance is sub-par for large monitor resolutions. Clients come in, but less than before.
I’m 95% remote. Since the pandemic I’ve worked 35 days on site, the other 500 ish I’ve been remote. There are a only a few studios that are cloud based, most of which are post-pandemic-born studios. Only one established studio I know of has converted. Some have overflow Flames for freelancers the cloud.
95% remote
5% in person
Of the remote…
80% is working on my own kit locally for studios/brands/agencies.
10% is remote controlling other people’s local Flames
10% is remote controlling other people’s cloud Flames.
Pre-pandemic, client sessions were very rare already. Now for me, they’re basically non-existent. I only work on my own systems locally, life’s too short for Teradici stuff…
Ha! I was just thinking the opposite. For me, life’s too short to have to go anywhere specific to work on something specific.
Oh agreed. I mean I only work remotely, but only on my own local systems - no Teradici.
Never left, I am a single seat of flame in a small editorial company. I have an Intel NUC at home and I log in with Z-Central on rare occasions, but interactivity is less than ideal. As for clients, I saw very little of them before the pandemic.
Was in the office everyday pre-pandemic. 95% WFH since. I have a machine at home and also log into a linux machine at work, sharing set-ups via archive (no media). Rarely have clients ask to sit in anymore although we have a supervised session coming up (senior producer training junior producers). Have done some sessions using Evercast and a couple over zoom (not ideal).
100% remote, from before the pandemic. Running my own studio. I have one person working for me who is remoting into one of my systems from a few states over (does that make it remote squared?).
Few remote attended sessions. One popular and affordable platform for that is https://setstream.io/. Many colorists use it to stream their reference monitor to a remote video village from the agency with decent results.
been remote for years now, first sattelite office then full WFH , now i had the desire of creating a office, not one based on clients comming in primarily but more a collaborative workspace, I like it, its not in a fancy area of the city but somewhere I can easily get to and get home with a business fibre connection e.t.c .
Well see if clients will come or not, i for one would really like that, for me entertaining people and collaborating is a nice feeling. I dont force anyone to come to the office though.
I think that’s an important point that is getting lost in the office/hybrid debate.
This is not a black/white decision of (a) work in the big company office or (b) work out of your bedroom. The way this should really be phrased is that everyone should work out of a space that is most suited for their personal circumstances, which includes the space, the commute, technology, and family considerations. The press and the executive makes this so much about you have to come back to the place you were in 2019. But there are a lot of other options. Some people just lack imagination.
If you have a great place to work in your home that has suitable bandwidth, enough space - perfect. Do it. Some people like being at home when the kids come home from school. Great, work from home. Others either don’t have a suitable space, find the rest of the family distracting, etc. But the answer doesn’t have to be the company office a 60min commute across town that has a huge carbon tax. What about a co-working place, or even rented office a 5min walk from your home? Has all the amenities you need, dedicated work space, but you can walk home for lunch. It might even have a common space to chit chat with others over coffee, they just happen to work for other companies, not yours. It’s the choice of designing your workspace that’s ideal for you, and not dictated by some suit.
I think most people don’t mind going into the main office for justified / purposeful reasons, like a happy hour with co-workers, a client meeting, or something that has a tangible benefit. But not otherwise. Most of the executives want justified reasons for every budget line item, for every new system you buy. So why can’t we ask them for the same justification on why you have to be in the office that day?
I for one think that the new hybrid workplace is a huge opportunity for the individuals and the overall work force and society. So I love for us to figure this out properly. Some of the tools have improved already, and the challenge should be not going back into the office, but fixing the rest of the tools to suit the needs (as Satya Nadella articulated correctly). We can improve work/life balance, we can improve family relationships, we can improve cost of living, the environment, re-vitalize rural communities and so much more.
from a technical standpoint however “hybrid” is the most wastefull system of them all and it really doesnt work at smaller scale studios.
Double screens, double wacoms, buy all of it twice? … sorry but thats just ridicolous. For certain positions it might be less of a thing and you can just carry your laptop around - fair. but the CTO in me is crying of the thought to have to support twice the hardware.
For me its either full remote or full in the office, I just dont see the point with hybrid, sure if you have 200 employees and you can rotate seats and machines between people(but again home setups…) that stay home and people that come to the office… that will probably work, maybe but this will still kill work culture if someone is only in the office 1-2 Days…
Havinf hybrid meetings also suck, having 10 people in a meeting and 5 of them remote is way less efficient than having everyone remote.
I just dont see any advantage in hybrid, I either move far away to get cheaper housing/more space or I live close to work?
Definitely. And the answer is that the work itself should be done remote at all times. You come into the office not to work on a Flame, but for other reasons (meetings, etc.). So no double systems. Maybe you have a handful of systems in the office if someone needs to check a project quick, etc. But not to sit there for 8 hours and work.
You should only come into the office for things that require multi-people interactions, not working with a system.
My wife used to take the train into Manhattan every day, walk to the office, sit in a window-less office and spend all day on Zoom calls with her team around the world, then spend more time on the train reversing that. No-one on her team was at the Manhattan office, they were in Chicago, LA, Dallas, and other countries. Now she does the same work, but gets two hours of train time back, they don’t have to air condition an office in the city for her, she also gains another 45min of not having to do all the executive wardrobe and make-up. Of course she only needs a laptop and not a specialized and expensive system. But it demonstrates the inflexibility of the old thinking.
A client I work with, a big national paint company, has gone back into the office in hybrid mode. But everyone finds it more convenient to call into their Zoom calls from their desk rather than a conference room. It makes for more equal framing on the camera, better audio, and everyone has access to their notes and tools. So even if you’re in the office, the hybrid meeting shouldn’t involve a conference room. Though arguably, they wouldn’t need to be in the office that much anyway either.
A lot of companies have found that supporting remote employees has given them access to a much bigger and more diverse talent pool. Not as big an issue if your office is in Berlin or NYC. But for many other companies, they can now hire top talent they never were able to consider before.
BTW - have you noticed how much more pleasant it is to talk to support agents in call centers since the pandemic? Almost all call center work has gone remote, using thin clients like Chromebooks and web based apps. They no longer sit in bullpens where you hear three or more conversations at once while you talk to them. And they can hire quality workers in rural communities at more affordable win-win comp packages.
I personally liked working in an office with other artists. Felt like I learned a lot more everyday being around other folks in the trenches. I also didn’t mind my train ride into Manhattan from Astoria everyday, gave me a devoted time in my schedule to read and decompress before and after each work day (that’s why trains rule, never want to own a car again). But as you said, it’s really a to each their own situation. Forcing people back into the office is not the way to get the best out of people.
5% WFH, 95 in offices, now through pandemic the other way around. I like it, can get multiple jobs done at once and have the ability to get other things done in my day non work related. I miss seeing people in an office and i too like entertaining clients sometimes. it was a part of being a flame artist that can be enjoyable. I also liked managing people on projects and find thats more enjoyable in an office than WFH projects. I do get to work with people more across the globe now though and id like to see more of that happen! we should embrace the positives of how we work now. As much as i like the IT aspects of what we do i would prefer not to worry about such things, and id love to see a fully cloud based if its as fast as local of course! when that happens im all in! totally not there yet. I think ive made less new friends with producers and artists being WFH, thats a negative for sure. Most of my friendly conversatuions i have are with people ive made relationships with over the years so it must be hard for younger artists to get that connection
This is the thing I worry about the most! I run a small motion design studio, and we were distributed well before the pandemic. It’s much harder to develop new talent remotely than it is in-person.
I know I’d be half the artist I am now if I hadn’t worked in the same physical space with many artists over the years. This is a really unfortunate consequence of the WFH model.
@GPM I feel the same. If you don’t mind, how are you dealing with this with the artists you hire?
Well I typically only bring on seasoned vets, so they’ve already got the goods. I wouldn’t know how to foster new talent now.