Is the office culture here more traditional?
Posted by boldjoy0050@reddit | Dallas | View on Reddit | 73 comments
My friends in Chicago, Seattle, and a few other cities are still fully remote or hybrid but just about everyone I know in Dallas, including myself is back to the office full time. I’m currently applying for jobs and 95% of the DFW job postings I see are in office only.
fadedblackleggings@reddit
Yep, I despise the work culture in Texas. Would rather move, than work for a Texas based company.
Substantial-Ad-8575@reddit
lol, my Texas has no issues hiring employers from West Coast/East Coast and competitors. We will easily pay West Coast salary, with no state income tax.
This company has great work culture. Hybrid/Travel is norm for 97% of workers. We have great benefits, cater breakfast/lunch, car allowance, child care allowance(direct bill if they are Montessori for example), nice platinum PPO healthcare with HSA that pays yearly deductible from Jan 1st. Add in 10% matching IRA-402k, heck they even match 50 cents for 529 for your kid. Then we have outstanding bonuses, enough to double-triple one’s high wage. And bonuses can be check, stocks, or cryptocurrency.
Yeah, workers love it here. Like North Dallas and great work opportunities.
OmenQtx@reddit
Is your company hiring?
Substantial-Ad-8575@reddit
Not right now. Looking like next buildout for 2-3 new teams will be in May-June. Unless someone leaves the company.
DadDong69@reddit
In case no one has told you yet, you are a total loser
lovelylotuseater@reddit
Dallas managers are more insecure. Same reason they drive farm equipment to their desk jobs.
ArdentEnigma@reddit
What's wrong with farm equipment?
lovelylotuseater@reddit
Sounds awfully insecure of you to assume something is wrong with farm equipment.
Acceptable_Estate330@reddit
Recently RTO. 3 days a week in the office. Goal is to break silos, I’ll let you know if it worked.
!remember me in 6 months
boldjoy0050@reddit (OP)
"Break silos" - they love this corporate lingo, right?
If I work in accounting, do I really care what someone who caters the cafeteria is doing? They act like we all work together when in reality most people only care about the direct work they do.
dankgpt@reddit
Most companies in the metroplex are transplants and they get tax incentives for butt in seats I am guessing.
LTOTR@reddit
Dallas is more conservative about a lot of things relative to Chicago and Seattle.
A lot of companies here took tax incentives from the counties to put their offices here. No / less office time = no / less return on investment for those counties. They want their money.
ziggyscarbust@reddit
What’s funny is that it costs companies MORE money to have people in the office. If it’s unoccupied, you’re just paying rent and CAM for an empty space. With people there, you pay for the inevitable things like repairs and maintenance, coffee station supplies, etc. If my company didn’t have people in office, we’d cut costs by at least $50 per employee per month, which is a lot of dough in an organization our size. (I will admit that in some companies, culture can be affected if leadership is stuck in their ways, but at the end of the day, it’s work.)
shagwell8@reddit
They need our Starbucks, gas and lunch money!
Ornery-Ad1172@reddit
Starbucks is your choice. Many of us would prefer a FAT 401k
Hot-Ad5095@reddit
“Their money”. I get it, but it irked me when I read it. :(
AdagioBitter@reddit
My company is a small retail startup and I’ve tried to employee recent college grads to help with product uploads on our website. I’ve had miserable luck with 4 different employees the last 2 years in terms of their remote work productivity. They are contract based, so they have flexibility to create their own hours/schedule and have the choice to work in person at our warehouse or remotely. Not sure if it’s an age thing, but the complete freedom & lack of structure has led to completing 10x fewer uploads per week than when they are completed in person. I know this is probably a poor example because it’s not a traditional office/company situation, but I think too much freedom & lack of structure has meant severely diminished productivity in my situation.
badiban@reddit
Our boss said they’re doing RTO because we the employees asked for it. I’d like to meet these employees
d3dmnky@reddit
I’ve met a few. They are the people who generally thrive on the relationship aspect of work and are seldom the high-performers. There are always exceptions, but that’s been my observation.
badiban@reddit
Well their loud mouths ruined it for the rest of us 😂 FWIW I think my boss is full of shit
ArdentEnigma@reddit
I bet that's not true and bosses are just making that shit up...
SuccotashOther277@reddit
That’s why I’ve stopped doing focus groups at work. The decision is already made and they don’t really want your feedback. They just want to be able to say they are responding to our feedback.
Jameszhang73@reddit
The suburbs are more WFH than Dallas. Basically Collin and Denton County are mostly remote with Frisco being #2 in the US
workmeow6@reddit
that's weird bc there are so many big company campuses near frisco/legacy west area
LTOTR@reddit
Yeah I work for one and it hasn’t been “mostly” remote for a long time.
workmeow6@reddit
Same I get to drive from Knox to legacy west 3 (soon to be 5) times per week 🤦🏼♀️
Ive considered moving closer but I like being close to things other than strip malls and concrete
boldjoy0050@reddit (OP)
It’s so frustrating that many of the good jobs here are in Plano and Frisco. I have ZERO desire to live or commute there. About the only reason I ever go there is for HEB or decent Asian food.
heliumeyes@reddit
Irving has a nice amount of jobs as well. And why are you going to Plano/Frisco for Asian food? Carrollton and Garland are better for Korean and Vietnamese.
boldjoy0050@reddit (OP)
I mostly eat Chinese and Japanese and the good places are in Plano and Frisco. Vietnamese is good in Garland and Arlington for sure. I do enjoy Korean but it’s usually not something I’m in the mood for very often.
heliumeyes@reddit
With respect to Chinese you’re probably right but I don’t eat much Chinese food. Japanese though I’m not so sure. There’s a tons of great ramen places in Dallas proper.
kchessh@reddit
The best Sichuan place I found was in Plano. But there are so many great Asian places in Carrollton so I’m glad we live close (we’re on the border of Carrollton and Plano)
workmeow6@reddit
agreed! my company has a downtown office like 10 minutes from where i live, but its for one function. a lot of people got moved up to plano though.
Substantial-Ad-8575@reddit
lol, my company is 97% Hybrid/Travel. Office at Legacy/DNT. Fairly typical to get a new project, assign team members, and they head out to DFW to fly out to client later that day.
Yeah, Denton/Collin is swinging back to RTO/Hybrid. So many new buildings along SRT/DNT that are getting occupied…
Latter_Artichoke_422@reddit
Oh no you have to travel and dress in a professional setting again 😂😂😂
littlemissemperor@reddit
I’m fully remote. They tried RTO about a year and found it didn’t have any impact on productivity so everyone went back remote!
stamos4president@reddit
I work 100% remote but my company is bases in Cincinnati. My old coworkers from around DFW are all in offices, only a few with hybrid options. I'd suggest looking for remote positions online beyond DFW.
Right_Letterhead_120@reddit
Return to office is a soft layoff.
sensitiveeverything@reddit
Dallas is pretty conservative when it comes to being in-office for corporate jobs. I’m thankful my current company doesn’t have an office here. About 90% of my friends who have corporate jobs are back in office atleast 4 days a week.
LibertyEqualsLife@reddit
Depends on the company. My company doesn't even have an office. We hold our super important face-to-face meetings at Pappadeux around noon.
Barfignugen@reddit
My boss would have you believe everyone in the country is back to working 5 days in office, and we should consider ourselves lucky that we get one day at home. My boss is very full of shit.
3pedals4meplz@reddit
Same, we have 3 days at the office and 2 days at home, and they word it in a fashion that makes it seem like we should be thanking them for that little benefit. But then get upset when I'm an hour late cause there was an accident on Loop 12/35 and require I use my PTO to make up for that missed time.
ChelseaVictorious@reddit
So we have the same boss?
Pale-Succotash441@reddit
It really depends on the place and industry you’re in. My last three companies have been 100% remote with no plans of returning to the office. I’m in IT, so I can literally do my job anywhere as long as I have a solid Wifi connection.
No_Society_2601@reddit
Yeah back in office for most companies worth their salt. WFH is where careers go to die.
boldjoy0050@reddit (OP)
You sound like a DFW based middle manager for sure.
SuccotashOther277@reddit
Yeah people who say that likely have no clue about how to use data. WFH has top performers and everything they do leaves a data trail so it’s easy to verify work being done. If you need people to come to the office to verify work being done, you’re a dinosaur
Large-Vacation9183@reddit
As someone who works in the office at a heavy industry manufacturing plant; did it ever even go away?
aeroluv327@reddit
It seems like it, I'm job hunting right now (was working for a company based on the East Coast but they are finally doing RTO so I won't be able to stay on). None of the places I've looked at in the Dallas area offer fully remote, all are hybrid or on-site 5 days a week. The remote positions I've applied to for companies in other parts of the country.
Personal_Might2405@reddit
You’re going about it the right way IMO. If you want remote, you’re looking for a company that offers such a role regardless of location.
Personal_Might2405@reddit
If you’re looking for fully remote then why are you only looking at DFW companies? Expand your search to include companies of that offer remote positions regardless of their location.
heliumeyes@reddit
A lot of office roles are still hybrid. Even if they say in office on LinkedIn, check the descriptions more thoroughly. Usually 3/2 or 4/1 hybrid.
YaGetSkeeted0n@reddit
Most folks I know are hybrid, some at 4 days in office. I’m not sure how much of it is tradition versus the types of jobs tbh. Some tech firm can just have everyone remote I guess, but when your core business is a 24/7 operation (let’s say an airline or railroad, for instance) it’s a bit of a tough sell to have your back office remote (even if it’s fully effective).
Substantial-Ad-8575@reddit
My IT Consulting company is 97% Hybrid/Travel. And the few that are WFH are getting less compensation and less bonuses. Plus RPA/AI will replace majority of our WFH staff by 2026.
Office moved from Dallas to 635-75 to DNT close to Bush to now Legacy-SRT. Getting closer to my home, lol…
jessy_pooh@reddit
Yeah I went back full time in office required around 6 months after the initial shut down. Our ceo actually told us during a company wide meeting that he was sick of hearing people complain about no remote work and we could go to our competitor who offered hybrid work instead. I was like jfc dude way to not keep us happy here.
I will say though, our office is not very traditional, it’s a very collaborative atmosphere so wfh is harder to complete work. We also have “fun centers” with ping pong, Cornhole, bowling lane, bean bag beds etc. so that if you need the break from your desk you can go get a serotonin boost
Substantial-Ad-8575@reddit
This sounds like my company. We thrive with our Hybrid/Travel office. Only a few are WFH, and that number is dropping as their work gets replaced by RPA/AI/Outsourced…
Diligent_Mulberry47@reddit
We’re back to office a few days a week. It’s supposed to work out to 8 days a month but I travel so for me it’s actually only 2 days a month. 🤷🏻♀️
yuppiemike@reddit
Yes, and my theory as to why the return to office in Dallas has been so sweeping is the commercial real estate influence. CBRE, Lincoln Properties, Trammell Crow, ect are all headquartered in Dallas, and they had influence in getting companies back into office.
zeroonetw@reddit
I guess you missed Jamie Dimon’s rant on WFH today.
Realistic-Molasses-4@reddit
Dallas has an inordinate number of office losers that have difficulty making friends outside of work and have decided to make it your problem. My 40-year-old boomer manager in 2020 forced everyone back after a year, wore his khakis and button-up shirt (no jeans), filled half the day with meetings to build culture (hours of shit like, what's your ideal vacation and why), and do "strategic planning." At the end of the day (like, 6:30 PM we all stayed late end of the day), he walks over with his shirt untucked, sighs, and says "I missed this so much." It was the most genuine thing I ever heard him say.
It also made me wonder if I could strange him with the cords plugged into my docking station before someone else could stop me.
Reluctantziti@reddit
We’re in office three times a week. Our company is really scattered tho so it feels really dumb to be in the office but still doing video calls for all our meetings.
CookieTX2022@reddit
I work in Richardson, we are still hybrid. We were fully remote from March 2020 - March 2022 when we came back as hybrid. We were supposed to come back earlier but then omnicron happened. Our hybrid is 4-5 days in office a month. Since then we’ve had a couple of variations of when we worked our 4-5 days a month but it’s never been more than that. Our managers are telling us they don’t expect anything to change in 2025. I hope it’s true. I’ve gotten used to the one week a month and it’s not too bad. Now we are assigned our “in office week” by dept and then the other 3 weeks from home. I like having those 3 consecutive weeks at home before having to go back in.
LightsStayOnInFrisco@reddit
It just depends on who is in charge and holding onto power. That's likely gping to be old, conservative curmudgeons. My company is based in Dallas and in 2021 decided full WFH was best for everyone. Never went back to the office after March 2020 as WFH went from optional to permanent.
Herry_Up@reddit
Apparently so. My bf is dealing with a curmudgeon who refuses to retire and makes their department go in 3 times a week.
Fuck you, Dawn.
Primary_Excuse_7183@reddit
Them tax incentives to move their HQs here. gotta make good on those promises.
Hour-Detail4510@reddit
Texas was only shut down for 2 months during Covid then everyone went back to work. The only places that were closed were bars and concert venues
nomnomnompizza@reddit
My wife was back in the office by June. They staggered half the office being in every other week. They didn't even get real WFH until like 2023 and aren't supposed to do it Monday or Friday.
pacochalk@reddit
Everything here is more traditional. We're a semi progressive city in a very conservative state.
Aggressive-Ad-522@reddit
Yes very
ranjithd@reddit
if the office is in dallas, it’s usually commute to work. if you want to live in dallas and work from home, take a remote job that allows you to work from dallas
STUbrah@reddit
I'm only in office two days
BabyBearMan@reddit
A lot of my clients are slowly getting back to at least 4 office days a week. Lucky for the wife she only goes in once a month.
shaun2012@reddit
I’m hybrid- 3 days in office required
hmmisuckateverything@reddit
Fully depends on the company. My office just came back full time after being hybrid for two years and it’s based in Seattle. I’d say overall Dallas is just more conservative so it’s hard to say.