Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

inc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 301 posts

Re: Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

#231

Post by Nowyouknow »

piyush_soni wrote: post #26

Did their sample involve men with a 2 year old at home that constantly needs their attention as long as they are at home, and thinks that when their father is sitting on the laptop, he's making pink and blue spheres in paintbrush? Honestly, I can achieve little at home these days and feel like I'm doing injustice to both, work and the kid.

Very similar situation as you. Kid will love to hop on my lap and play with the mouse. He's even participated in a few conference calls! Luckily, his grandparents are nearby so I will drop him off every single day. Huge peace of mind and doesn't get in the way of work. I'm considering day care now as I don't want to continue to burden the grandparents (they say they love it, but they have lives too!) Is day care an option for you?

Re: Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

#232

Post by loco5niner »

adriand wrote: post #114

I think it depends on what you want to optimize for. If you want to optimize for individual productivity (and there are no trust issues) then sure, working from home is effective. However, you may decide that the individual productivity loss of having people work in an office is outweighed by the group productivity and morale gain from having people working together. Here are some reasons from a holistic company pers…

> At the same time, measures need to be taken in the office working environment to ensure that individuals can be productive, which means providing quiet working spaces, enforcing do-not-disturb rules, etc.

For me, this is the key point. We do NOT have a quiet working space. We are disturbed constantly. :-(

Re: Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

#233

Post by loco5niner »

roansh wrote: post #115
gowld wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> hackers don't work in noisy, open spaces; they work in rooms with doors. > They work in cosy, neighborhoody places with people around Which is it? That article did not age well.

I guess it's about the freedom to have either one at the time your prefer. Quite environment doesn't exist at open offices. :)

> Quiet environment doesn't exist at open offices. :(

fixed that for you

Re: Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

#234

Post by mrhappyunhappy »

frockington wrote: post #145
wolco wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of these items can be done remotely. Training/mentoring/team work/stand ups/taking accountibility. Showing clients you have employees working might seem like it will help land some clients if you bring them for a visit but more impressive is having a global remote team you can conference in.

You can't greet the client shake their hand and establish a connection over a video conference nearly as easily as you can in person. As a client I find myself paying attention to the little things. Did they offer coffee or water? Did they open the door? How was the handshake? Did they look trustworthy? If you are remoting in a global team it will be more difficult to provide the experience.

Is this sarcasm? I can’t tell. If it isn’t, I want to cry or laugh or both one after another.

Re: Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

#235

Post by loco5niner »

piyush_soni wrote: post #101
gowld wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you live in a 1-room home?

Nope. Whenever I try to work from home, I work from a separate room, and close it - but then the room does not have an attached bathroom inside, and there are other things (water/food etc.) for which you have to come out - and once she knows I'm at home, she will bang the door every few minutes to come in, to talk or play with me.

Just chiming in to agree with the other posters. This behavior can be corrected.

Re: Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

#236

Post by dang »

sheeshkebab wrote: post #138
adriand wrote: post #114

I think it depends on what you want to optimize for. If you want to optimize for individual productivity (and there are no trust issues) then sure, working from home is effective. However, you may decide that the individual productivity loss of having people work in an office is outweighed by the group productivity and morale gain from having people working together. Here are some reasons from a holistic company pers…

In thech companies, the only valid reason to be in the office is that often times upper management (those who pay bills/salaries) are restless crowd that can’t sit in one place staring at screen and have grand desire to run around the floor watching people “work”. The rest of your points are absolute bull shit that can all be done remotely.

This comment breaks the site rule against calling names in arguments. Please follow https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html when posting to HN.

Re: Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

#237

Post by mrhappyunhappy »

TsomArp wrote: post #140
adriand wrote: post #114

I think it depends on what you want to optimize for. If you want to optimize for individual productivity (and there are no trust issues) then sure, working from home is effective. However, you may decide that the individual productivity loss of having people work in an office is outweighed by the group productivity and morale gain from having people working together. Here are some reasons from a holistic company pers…

Exactly. While I love the flexibility of not having to go to the office once or twice a week, being alone all the time is very rough mentally.

Everyone is different. I work alone every day and have not had any difficulty mentally or otherwise. This is probably because I prefer quiet to begin with with and could never stand the office environment.

Re: Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

#238

Post by loco5niner »

kuriho wrote: post #17
terenceng2010 wrote: post #7

I prefer to work in office in the morning and at home for afternoon. Seems to get the most benefits ( communication in office, focus time at home)

While I agree with your sentiment, this is probably the worst solution for people with long commutes.

Agreed. Part of my desire to work from home is to reclaim an hour to an hour and a half of my life back every day.

Re: Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

#239

Post by loco5niner »

aphextron wrote: post #203
throwawaymath wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment seems like a great microcosm of remote work discussions on Hacker News. You didn't dismiss remote working in a thread about it, but you tried (maybe imperfectly) to suggest times when it would be a good idea to not work remotely. It is not being received well! In response most commenters are criticizing your point by focusing on whether or not it is technically possible to achieve any of those things whi…

Personally I think a hybrid approach is the best. I go into the office every morning, get daily meetings done, show face for the boss, have lunch with colleagues, then head home at 1:00 and work remote until 5:00. This allows me to enjoy pretty much every benefit of remote work while still actively contributing to company culture and meeting collaboration which I prefer to completely isolated remote work.

If I didn't commute 40 minutes both ways, I would love that solution. As it is, I would love a hybrid, work from home 2 days/week, solution.

Re: Study Shows a Productivity Boost of Working From Home

#240

Post by zpr »

sdedovic wrote: post #165
adriand wrote: post #114

I think it depends on what you want to optimize for. If you want to optimize for individual productivity (and there are no trust issues) then sure, working from home is effective. However, you may decide that the individual productivity loss of having people work in an office is outweighed by the group productivity and morale gain from having people working together. Here are some reasons from a holistic company pers…

I agree but I found a mixed strategy worked best. Monday, Friday in the office. Wednesday, Thursday out. That way I can get a feel for the week on Monday and a retrospective on Friday. Plus Fridays is usually the "Culture Building" day (taking it easy, maybe having a beer in the afternoon, playing some board games). And Monday's are great to catch up with the team after the weekend, bring donuts or some snacks in the…

What about Tuesday?
Post reply on HN