41–50 of 400 posts
I think working from home works perfectly if you know exactly what to fill your workday with or if you're in a position where you can make decisions smoothly. If you're not sure what's expected of you or your team has poor communication, remote work seems to lead to some issues, such as being unsure if you're doing enough, feeling more guilty about slacking (even if a break is needed) and an increased amount of block…
Because 'we' prefer it? I like going into the office. The morning walk to the office with its clear demarcation between work and not work, the ritual of grabbing a coffee in the morning with some colleagues and catching up on what's happening in their projects even if they're not directly related to anything I'm working on, having a dedicated space and a dedicated computer that's just for work, all those little thing…
You're certainly lucky to be able to walk to your office. Most people in my company need to drive at least 50 minutes to get to the office.
PRO
Work from anywhere with internet: In the last 45 days, I have worked from the Caribbean, from Spain, and from Ireland. Granted, these travel experiences aren't full vacations (and in fact sometimes were stressful when internet quality was not tops), but they sure beat my previous "open office" bullpen.
Work when inspiration strikes: Sometimes my brain won't shut up the useless stuff, and other times it wants to really drive a useful project. When it's a good time, I usually can choose to work uninterrupted and make great progress. When it's not a good time, I can just go do chores around the house or go enjoy the weather.
Answer fewer tech questions for other employees: If you're within earshot, less technical people will ask for help the instant they think they need it. But if it takes more effort for them to reach you, they will work a little harder to solve their own problem. Most of the time, they solve the problem (or realize there was no problem -- just a moment of confusion). This saves me SO much time and occasional frustration.
Not commute: This one is kind of obvious, but not having to commute saves 1-2 hours a day. That's time for gym, coffee, reading news, etc. It's also so much less stress. When I drove in traffic to and from work, I would often arrive very frustrated. When I moved to Europe and had the luxury of riding a train(s) to work, life was better... except when trains would break or a surge of travelers would result in no seats available.
CON
Communication can be more difficult: I have found voice calls to be essential, at least compared to just txt and email. Text messages were the worst and most likely to result in annoyance or confusion. Emails are a bit better, but reply-hell is real. You definitely have to work a bit to find the right tools and methods for each of the people you need to work with; but once found, it works almost as good as face to face.
Work is _always_ there: This has been the hardest for me. I always have more work to do than I can do, and now I can work any minute that someone else (partner) doesn't need me. This can get out of control if you're not careful. Some people are strict and disciplined about home working, but I like to stay flexible. Still, one must set some limits or reminders of reasonable behavior/expectations.
Fewer jobs: Since most companies don't go for remote work, you have to decide what's more important - freedom, or a particular job. I choose freedom, and at this point I don't think I'll ever go back. Once you've tasted freedom, and once you've proven to yourself that you can work (well) alone and unsupervised, the thought of being back in a noisy office with people passing by behind you, potentially judging you if they don't see you with a code window open 99% of the time, is just untenable.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're certainly lucky to be able to walk to your office. Most people in my company need to drive at least 50 minutes to get to the office.
I live in the city centre as well as work in the city centre. One of the benefits of living in a small capital city like Tallinn. I walk to and from work for about 20 minutes (total 40 minutes each day). The thing is, I would prefer this to be a bit longer because often times it's the only time I don't actually sit behind a screen. When I worked in Barcelona and lived there, I walked about 40 minutes to work and back…
I lived 10 mins away on foot from my job. It was all fine and dandy for some time, but then things got seriously tense in the workplace and it meant the super short commute gave me no time to unwind. It ended up being mentally taxing to live so close to my workplace, even when I was not working since I ended up being near or walking in front basically anytime I got out. Nasty. Too long a commute and you're wasting so much time and energy in our life, but too close and it can have deleterious effects too.
Has anyone studied if people outside of cushy tech jobs want to commute? particularly people with lower wages and things at home they would rather escape for 9 hours a day. Most people can't afford a home office too.
But regarding people who might want to avoid being home, that is a whole different problem that needs solving. Wanting escape should not be an argument for commuting.
I work from home as much as I can, but nothing trumps seeing your colleagues face to face. Text can also cause misunderstandings, and apparently no one likes video, at least in my company. I don't like video much either, though.
We could still work from home and have time where we meet our coworkers? I read somewhere that gitlab is trying out something like this. I'd love to learn wrist they conclude from this experience.
We had one guy who had a nice house with a big dining room, and once a month we'd work from there in one room. Less work got done, but some things that otherwise might never have been done/resolved got handled. Plus it was "kind of" fun.
So unless you're geographically too far from colleagues, there's no reason why you can't have meetups (and I would advocate for them... occasionally).
Because 'we' prefer it? I like going into the office. The morning walk to the office with its clear demarcation between work and not work, the ritual of grabbing a coffee in the morning with some colleagues and catching up on what's happening in their projects even if they're not directly related to anything I'm working on, having a dedicated space and a dedicated computer that's just for work, all those little thing…
Well, working remotely doesn't mean you can't commute! I used to walk with my wife to her office and back when I started full remote work (it's been 6 years, in a fully remote company). Also, you're free to rent coworking space or shared office space if you like to. Working remote means you have a choice - not that you have to work from home :)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
We could still work from home and have time where we meet our coworkers? I read somewhere that gitlab is trying out something like this. I'd love to learn wrist they conclude from this experience.
I find it psychologically very different knowing that anyone can talk to you (and you can't ignore like if you were online) and see you. It forces me into a "work mode" psychology. Granted, I'm pretty bad at self-discipline
I think that the 'importance of face-to-face interaction' argument is a helplessly contrived one, an attempt to avoid the elephant in the room. There are plenty of examples that show that working remotely without daily face-to-face interaction can work very well. What's markedly different about environments that successfully adopted remote work are aspects like: - a lack of cargo cult work organisation and office pol…
Right, except the elephant in the room isn't laziness or the value of face to face interaction, it's trust. The driver of this lack of trust is the rise of managers (e.g. MBAs) who have limited expertise in the fields which they manage. For jobs where there are measures of performance that are accurate and not gameable (e.g. certain call center workers) and/or it is a job executives probably reckon that they could do…
I doubt that the government will allow any remote work any time soon because most of the people here have never heard of a VPN or even know what a secure password is.
If your job is well defined, e.g. make an app or a website design, you can do it anywhere in the world. The app/design is your deliverable that anyone can see and judge.
If your job is a poorly defined "management" or "product ownership", with no real deliverable, how can your work be judged? Your job turns into convincing other people that your job is useful. Work long hours, seem busy, attend meetings, leave the office late. An epitome of the corporate environment.