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Why Do We Still Commute?

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Re: Why Do We Still Commute?

#321

Post by a-priori »

swat535 wrote: post #225
wpietri wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can no longer focus. I am constantly pulled into meetings. I think this is often an environment and culture problem. When I'm setting something up, I work hard to create spaces that minimize noise and distractions. And I think it's important to limit meetings, because they'll definitely expand to fill all time available. But most places don't bother with either of these, throwing people into noisy open offices an…

I would really love to have those options but living in the Greater Toronto Area doesn't leave much room for those. In addition we have some of the harshest winters with freeing black ice falling from sky :)

Ottawa checking in. I think it's cute you think you have harsh winters. ;)

Re: Why Do We Still Commute?

#322

Post by wolco »

dsacco wrote: post #274
BjoernKW wrote: post #14

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…

> - a lack of cargo cult work organisation and office politics Speaking as someone who has worked in three different remote companies of varying sizes, I have not found any evidence that remote teams achieve this any more frequently than conventional ones do. > - an atmosphere of trust rather than petty control freaks who need to constantly keep an eye on their subordinates in order to know they're still 'working' Ag…

I think if companies want the best employees they will need to change established culture or risk losing them to a more modern company with an open mindset

Re: Why Do We Still Commute?

#323

Post by shams93 »

Some tips from a software engineering work from home vet to successfully work remote. Work the same hours as your onsite counter parts, just having tools like slack and jira won't help if you're working outside the same time window during your day. You have to be transparent and give detailed information on your tickets. Always track your hours on tickets, and you need to be very careful about making sure your tickets are do-able within 1-2 days and you're closing tickets with equal or greater velocity than your onsite counterparts.

Re: Why Do We Still Commute?

#324

Post by JBlue42 »

marcosdumay wrote: post #233
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> free public transportation Because someone has to pay for it.

And yet, here we are, paying it through the nose by losing time in transit, and contemplating wether it would be a moral thing to pay poor people into taking a longer route.

Yeah, commute times are lost productivity. The stress factor can lead to health problems. Society will always pay a cost.

Re: Why Do We Still Commute?

#325

Post by JBlue42 »

ataturk wrote: post #123
twoquestions wrote: post #98

We commute because businesses can push off the cost of commuting to their employees. I'd personally be in favor of a "congestion tax" or somesuch for companies that force their employees to come in rather than work remotely. Commuting takes up energy and resources, and the congestion incurs costs on third parties (car accidents, higher gas prices, and the like). While it's debatable whether remote works for businesse…

Something has to happen--my commute is only 11 miles but it often takes 40 minutes because of a stupid bridge that has had every social engineering plot applied to it to no avail (HOV lanes with pay-to-use transponders being the latest fashion and cops to enforce the rules slowing everyone else down). My career has suffered because I have never wanted the stress of a long commute nor could I afford the real estate pr…

Not a whiner at all. It sucks.

I'm on the job market now and the most feedback I get are from jobs that would be 45 min - 1 hr minimum (in the same city). I've done it before, it's terrible for my health and mental state.

Moving closer isn't an option because it's even more expensive than the already expensive area I live in now and the salaries won't compensate to offset that.

Re: Why Do We Still Commute?

#326

Post by swendoog »

One aspect of remote work that I feel is often missing from this discussion is the impact on mental health.

Some have alluded to it in posts here but unless you've worked from home for an extended period of time you can't really understand how strong of an impact isolation from your peers really can have.

I believe that everyone's individual need for human interaction varies but we all require it on some level. We take for granted just how much of our social requirements are met by being in an office. Face-to-Face interactions aren't important because they're a better mechanism for developing product... They're important for the individual, because without them your "social brain" will effectively atrophy. Interacting with people on a daily basis is the only way to stay sharp when it comes to social interaction. Slack can't replace that, unfortunately.

Re: Why Do We Still Commute?

#327

Post by swendoog »

mattbeckman wrote: post #314

Only thing I wanted to comment on (as a remote worker now for 6 years or so) is that it's very hard for me to work more hours when, actually, I want to do so. In my dynamic (with young kids), any attempts to work later than 20 min past the predetermined closing time are often met with baby/kids being "let loose" on Dad. For the family, it's a plus. But sometimes ... holy shit I have stuff I need to finish. Finally, i…

You've been WFH for a long time so I'm sure you've already done this, but...

Early on in my WFH career I had to make it VERY clear to my family (and friends) that when I'm working they need to consider it as being NO DIFFERENT from me being 30 minutes away in an office.

I refuse to structure any part of our life around the belief that I am more available or more flexible.

In practice, yes, I am more available and more flexible. So occasionally, I can do things like run an errand in the middle of the day. But my close group of family/friends understands that this is an exception to the rule. In general, they should consider my work as being no different from theirs.

Re: Why Do We Still Commute?

#328

Post by [deleted] »

dagw wrote: post #9

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…

[deleted]

Re: Why Do We Still Commute?

#329

Post by gozur88 »

s73ver_ wrote: post #298
gozur88 wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In effect they do, because nobody would commute if there were a job that paid as much closer to home.

I don't really think you can say that. Labor is not a perfect market.

It's close enough over large groups of people. On average you're going to make more money doing the same thing in SF, for example, than you would in the East Bay.

Re: Why Do We Still Commute?

#330

Post by scythe »

savanaly wrote: post #276
twoquestions wrote: post #98

We commute because businesses can push off the cost of commuting to their employees. I'd personally be in favor of a "congestion tax" or somesuch for companies that force their employees to come in rather than work remotely. Commuting takes up energy and resources, and the congestion incurs costs on third parties (car accidents, higher gas prices, and the like). While it's debatable whether remote works for businesse…

>We commute because businesses can push off the cost of commuting to their employees. This is a severe misunderstanding of the economics of the situation. Employees know that they're going to be spending time commuting, and they take that into account when they decide whether to take a job. In more academic terms-- that information is already informing the labor supply curve of which each individual is a part, and th…

This is true for the effect of the worker commuting on himself but the company does not have to pay any cost premium for the effect of the worker commuting on other people (and neither does the worker). That part (more traffic) is the externality.
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