Nervous about going into office

are you just staying locked in your apartment? no way you’ll win that argument if you’re currently doing anything social in nyc

I think you should voice your opinion to your direct supervisor (associate?). As long as you’re working hard, delivering work on time, and providing quality work, it shouldn’t matter where you work. 
 

Obviously if they give you a hard time then you’ll have to go in but it’s better to ask and potentially get wfh versus not getting it all. 

Just wear a mask at all times, and try to keep your distance.

What’s the deal with your company? They all right wingers or something?

I won't work for any company that doesn't provide me with a permanent WFH option.

I left a BB in late 2020 due to shit WL balance and now work for another IB where I can live wherever I want.

Ya'll need to just stop working at shops that don't have WFH options at this point...send a message.

The reality is you're expendable to these banks. They only care about profits and if you don't like it, then you should just leave for something else. Google is wfh forever... And pays better 

people here are so dismissive. i think its a legitimate concern. don't know why banks tryna force people to head back to office. not only is omicron still dangerous to elderly and other vulnerable groups, but times are changing. firms are moving to hybrid or wfh so its just archaic for OP's firm to be so hung up on outdated work styles. honestly it sucks OP, I'm not sure what to do in your situation...in the end they're the one holding your job.

Legit concern. Given the option of staying healthy and falling sick, logical choice is staying healthy? Can you say you're at risk (childhood asthma or something) if that's the case?

Agree with everyone who says it's a legit concern. Even if it's flu like symptoms, I'm not about to increase the risk of getting a fever for no reason at all. 

Not nervous about going into the office. I don't want to be there all the time if I don't have to be. Wear a mask, get the boosters if you want but live your life.

unless you have some kind of underlying condition, i would suggest behaving like a man and sucking it up 

I actually really prefer WFH, here I get my gf to cook me meals all the time, have a phenomenal coffee machine and can work in my sweats and a tank top. What kind of boot-licking cuck actually wants to go back in?

I am curious to know if any banks are sticking to a permanent hybrid WFH model. For a lot of growth equity shops, many are ok with switching to a hybrid model for the foreseeable future.

if you haven't been given orders to return to the office, don't stir shit that isn't there

if you're concerned about covid, get vaccinated/boosted and get in good shape

if after being vaccinated you are still afraid of covid and don't have comorbidities or cohabitating with immunodepressed senior citizens, then you should really take a step back and look at the logic of your fears. so I ask you: what, specifically, are you afraid of? and why is this risk worse in the office than elsewhere? I presume you live in an apartment building in NYC with less than stellar ventilation and since it's winter with closed windows. news flash: this is how the first sars pandemic spread, so you're arguably less safe at home than you are in the office.

and in case you think I'm talking out of my ass, I got delta right before christmas, was like a sinus infection, didn't take off work or skip a workout, just took the workouts easy and couldn't see grandparents at xmas. take your precautions, be smart (e.g. don't see a 90 year old when you just tested positive, DUH), and then move the fuck on with your life

edit: so I can distance myself from the people who are advocating that OP should get the virus or other comments about being a man, I'm not. I'm just saying his calculus around relative risk is most likely off, and that the office is probably no riskier than his apartment building (assuming his apt is in NYC), so I think the idea that wfh carries little to no risk whereas the office carries high risk is just wrong. I think it's dumb to force people to work from an office. I think it's dumb to assume you're safe at home in the winter from a respiratory disease known to spread through ventilation systems. I think it's dumb to judge people for their vaccine status. I think it's dumb to be afraid of something without taking a nuanced approach (e.g. being equally afraid of omicron as you were from the first variant pre-vaccine). this is why I advocate taking a step back, looking at all of the facts, and making a better informed decision.

So, I work in pharma. Some drawbacks, but I have a hybrid work environment but may possibly change soon given Omicron and the new 'deltacron'.

Vaccinated, boosted plus flu shot. Somehow I caught the flu and now recovering from it. Tested negative for COVID (blessings).

My old financial institution I worked for (considering going back), are all WFH permanently until further notice, and launched a new program to make it possible.

The gold standard is always in person, even as my current company will eagerly push for in-person, as well as law firms I know of are pushing for in-person attendance.

However! Today's dynamics and risks are different then those of the past, and employers need to provide flexibility or permanent WFH capabilities to not only retain talent, but also ease/reduce the spread of a highly contagious virulent illness.

Worked at a PE firm in Toronto. CEO would force staff to come into the office (this was before the vaccines were even available) and would threaten to fire people who didn't come in. Dickhead contracted covid from not being careful and still wanted people in the office around him. So many dickheads in PE/IB - it's common decency to allow WFH right now.

You’re nervous about catching covid? You’ll ultimately be fine. I might be slightly unpleasant at most but you will be fine.

I think it makes you look weak to voice concern.

OP indicates that they work for a BB. While I am not in NYC, I do work for a BB. 

1 - Most BBs have slowed down their return to the office as a direct cause of omicron. Perhaps yours will do the same? Give it a little more time. 

2 - Most people managers that I have met (including myself) are fairly lenient when it comes to covid concerns - everyone is reacting in their own way, their own family concerns, their own health management, etc. I think that if you approach your manager in the right way, and assuming your manager isn't a total douche, you might find some empathy there and have some accommodations made for you. Just do it privately and at the right time and I think you'll be fine. Besides, its still the Great Resignation, most companies will do anything to avoid losing a good worker right now.

Stay optimistic, I think this can work out for you if done right. Good luck!

I got the most recent variant (presumably since I got COVID recently). Sucks. Yeah, I’m 26 so it didn’t kill me and it was more like a flu or really bad cold- still sucks. I mean I wouldn’t knowingly get a cold just to prove my “manliness”. I mean wtf kind of logic is that above? Also just because it likely won’t kill you doesn’t mean it’s something to not care about.

OP you’ve gotta decide what’s important to you- trying to be in the perceived good graces of a firm or feeling comfortable with your living and work situation. Personally I’d just say “Hey I’m concerned about this new variant, I’d like to stay remote until it’s spreading is under control and am happy to accommodate with check ins and other deliverables to make sure my performance isn’t impacted.” Maybe this is shit advice but I fully adopted the “tell, don’t ask” mentality. If someone has a problem with it fuck them, I’ll get another job, my life won’t be over. That’s my $0.02 anyway 

Know a firm who was all “manly, come into office we want to see you, your lazy if you aint here, we young and healthy.” Week later senoir individual’s whole family got it and poof everyone was wfh. 

Finance is hierarchy they give zero shits about you so stand your guard and say I am not comfortable cases up and do you wfh, they have zero legal standing anyways.

Are most BB's work from home? 

Upvote me so I have enough rep to throw monkey shit on this post

I guess this forum proves you don't really need a brain to work in finance. Risk / reward for health is obviously favouring wfh. Already working like a dog with little sleep...why even risk it? Easily can turn into something more serious. Flu just ebbed and flowed, but covid is a god damn pandemic spreading like crazy. Also the biggest concern isn't that omicron is mild. It's that the more people get infected, the more it has a chance of mutating into something else. You fuckers all learned about future value in finance. Look to the future here when more people get fucking infected. Also consider that covid damages a whole list of organs. Omicron is mild because it spares the lungs, but it may still affect other organs, which going back to my original point, why risk it? Even though hospitalization rates are low with omicron, a small percent of a large number is still large, which is exactly why the NYC hospital system is strained. Like wtf? How did you all even get through college with such fucking illogical small brains? This is literally one of the few times where self-interest and larger societal interest is aligned...and I hate wearing masks as much as the next guy. 

Back to the original point, I agree with others about wearing a mask in the office. If they give you stink eye, so what? If your work product doesn't suffer in quality, what can these dumbasses say to you? "Your work is great, but we need you to stop wearing masks." Maybe that's when it is time to look for a new bank or group who doesn't have as many stupid fucks in the group. 

Do you retards realize a lot of people dont like getting sick??

You sound like a gigantic pussy. I'd sit on that shit if I were you 'cause you'll come off as weak otherwise. You need to turn off the TV and social media -- the fear mongering the've been doing is clearly working.

It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when you get covid. You can get it now or later, there is no avoiding it.

You cannot spend your life hiding from these strains. If you get it, you will be fight through it and gain immunity. Avoid the elderly while your contagious.

If you feel symptoms, stay active, drink water, take Zinc, Vitamins C and D, and Melatonin at night.

I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice.

If you want to WFH because it provides better WLB, then I don't see why that's an issue. You'll still be forced in, but I understand the argument.

What I don't understand is wanting that perk under the guise of fearing Covid. A bunch of 20 somethings in accounting who never had to go into the office before are kicking and screaming, projecting their dishonesty on everyone else, and being terrible at their jobs because they don't know how to ask questions in person or over Teams. If this is what you want, you're just wasting your own time.

Look, if you are vaccinated, just carry on with life as you would. Covid will clearly be something we deal with forever. In my office, which required vaccination to be in, we had a 35+ breakout of cases in Omicron in a week on my floor. While this sounds drastic, almost everyone who tested positive did so due to office HR encouraging regular tests. Almost everyone who tested positive were asymptomatic with the remainder having very mild cold-like symptoms. So to you your friends who got it with bad symptoms, I question were they vaccd/boosted? And did they find out if they got delta vs omicron?

If you're at a larger bank, your management has likely made a decision on whether or not they want to have people in vs not so I think if you've taken your protective measures, go about your life as normal. The chances of you having a bad reaction are relatively low and even if you do get it, it will likely be just like getting the flu. Not pleasant but it is survivable and something you've likely already gone through before.

Realistically you're going to catch it whether or not you do this. The main vector of transmission to date (across all variants) has been grocery stores and those cloth masks people wear are now being said to be useless by medical authorities.  Being in the office won't matter much, and even then the masks won't keep you safe the entire day (even military grade gas mask filters don't last a whole day).  FYI even what the military calls MOPP 4 (full, head to toe sealed protective gear with a gas mask) is not intended for you to hang out in a contaminated area, but rather to be a barrier that holds up long enough for you to get to safety.  

TLDR: doesn't really matter what gear you wear if you're hanging out in cramped quarters for 14 hours straight.  


My focus instead would be on making sure that you're following the best prophylactic protocols possible.  At this point we know what factors are correlated with the best outcomes for COVID and most of them are easy to do. For example, making sure you're finding a way to get as much sunlight as you can by doing things like taking your lunch and coffee while walking outside and following an anti-inflammatory diet.