2 hours per day wasted for commute hurts.
Ask HN: Who doesn’t want to go back to the office?
41–50 of 153 posts
Re: Ask HN: Who doesn’t want to go back to the office?
#42I will probably never work in an office again. Work from home provides so much more freedom to facilitate my kids schedule and ensure that things around the house are taken care of. The flip side of this though is that now I have almost zero in person communication with people that are not my family. I lost touch with friends many years ago for various reasons so not being able to chat with work people in person essentially kills that important social interaction. Covid has also put a damper on that so now I actually struggle to make conversation in real life. Not really great all things considered.
Re: Ask HN: Who doesn’t want to go back to the office?
#43I have structured my entire life around not going into an office since about 2004.
I am looking forwards to finally getting off my ass and finding a new pole dance studio to keep myself in shape, though. I moved just before the pandemic.
Re: Ask HN: Who doesn’t want to go back to the office?
#44Surprised to see so many people in this thread who don't want to go back to the office at all, but I do understand. I've been given the flexibility to define my own schedule with regards to when I'm in the office and when I'm working from home. I can't WAIT to go back: it's great having a dedicated work space, I like hallway conversations and in-person meetings, and it'll be AWESOME to be able to snag a hot meal at o…
Seems strange to comment that you can't wait to go back in a discussion about people who don't want to go back to the office. Surely you meant to post in one of the other dozens of WFH threads?
Re: Ask HN: Who doesn’t want to go back to the office?
#45100% remote was always a goal anyway and my company right now is 100% remote. We don't have an office to return to and we're spread across the country anyway. This was a change, though. Before switching jobs, I worked in a SCIF on classified projects, which can't be done remotely so I had no choice.
For me, it's barely even really a choice. Thanks to spine problems, I can't sit for long, but of course standing all day is too hard on the legs, so practically speaking I took frequent resting breaks and was lucky there were places to lay down, but no work could be accomplished while doing that. Now I can work from bed and actually work. I was also limited because I can't realistically commute by driving myself, so that meant I worked at a place that was near a train station. Also meant I needed to live near a train station.
No longer having those kinds of restrictions on my life is tremendously liberating.
Re: Ask HN: Who doesn’t want to go back to the office?
#46I had a series of arguments with the boss in the weeks leading up to the first lockdown and WFH order, i remember feeling as if I was being gaslighted. Neither me or my team would come into the office but he forced us back; despite our "remote-positive culture", no one was allowed to unilaterally work 100% remote.
I'll keep my options open, but I never want to find myself in a situation again where I am expected to sacrifice my health for the insecurities of upper management.
Re: Ask HN: Who doesn’t want to go back to the office?
#47Pre-pandemic, we were remote by default with quarterly “offsites”. I’d love to go back to that. A few days of intense collaboration and alignment once per quarter is a pretty nice rhythm.
Re: Ask HN: Who doesn’t want to go back to the office?
#48I don't want to go back, I can get my day job done in Do your tasks in as little time as it takes leaving more room for leisure, this is the first time I'm feeling the benefits of that 'increased productivity per hour'[1] economists talk about. [1] https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/exports/labor-productivit...
I feel like I can do my daily work in 2-3 hours, but I end up spending all day procastinating between tasks.
This made me laugh. I am totally with you. I burn myself out by stretching 3 hours of work into 9, punctuated by podcasts, reading the news, doing household chores, ... basically whatever I can find that will allow me to avoid what important work I have in front of me.
Re: Ask HN: Who doesn’t want to go back to the office?
#49I've been working semi-remotely (at least 1, but often 2+ days per week) for a large majority of my career. I honestly cannot imagine a world where I would actually show up to a cube situation or "open office concept" 5 days/week.
The supply/demand curve for the talents most of us here have simply don't require us to bend to this type of ridiculousness, and the employers that enforce arbitrary location rules under the guise of "better culture" or "collaboration" are going to find themselves lacking engineering talent eventually (or rather immediately after this pandemic has normalized remote work for so many of us who perhaps were not previously accustomed to it).
I don't want to go back to any situation that requires me in the office physically more than maybe once a week/max. Honestly once per 'iteration' is probably _plenty_ sufficient to get some face-time with coworkers and establish those more human bonds. I might be willing to bend a bit if the office is very close to my home, though I am not willing to accept zero remote regardless of the opportunity.
Re: Ask HN: Who doesn’t want to go back to the office?
#50I don't want to go back. Commuting is a massive waste of time. Assuming 261 workdays in a year, I will save 783 hours a year. I get over a month of my life back. I can run errands whenever I choose and work whenever is convenient. I can help care for my children. It's a no-brainer for me.