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People love working remotely

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Re: People love working remotely

#11

Post by starvingbear »

pikzel wrote: post #5

I think it's especially popular in the US where they've always had long commutes. I work remotely from time to time, and it works fine when I have a specific task to focus on, but I've never managed to replace the spontaneous talks or meetings by a whiteboard with any meeting tool (be it Slack, Hangouts, Skype, Webex, you name it).

Came here to say something similar. Love the office but downtown cores where tech companies usually are are getting particularly difficult and unpleasant to deal with. And a lot of people dont pike the office layouts common now as well. Remote preference seems to be a combo of enjoyment of it and the worsening of the office situation

Re: People love working remotely

#12

Post by Ididntdothis »

duiker101 wrote: post #2

I love remote work too. But I strongly believe it's not for everyone. Not even 50% of the population. It would be a mistake to assume that it's easy for everyone. For me, going in the office means putting my headset on and doing my work till I need to leave, while having as few interactions as possible; so there are pretty much only perks on working from home. Most people crave engagement without even realizing it. I…

Totally agree. I love remote work but you have to be cut out for it. A lot of people aren’t.

I also may enjoy going to an office more if I actually had an office with a window where i could feel comfortable instead of staring at a gray cube wall and listening to my loud neighbors the whole day.

Re: People love working remotely

#13

Post by chapium »

chadash wrote: post #8

> "91% of remote workers said working remotely is a good fit for them." Right, and 97% of current ferret owners say that ferrets make great pets [0]. I'd like the survey to include people who worked remotely in the past and no longer do. Count me in that group. I worked remotely for a six months at a remote-friendly but not remote-first company and here were my findings: * It was lonely being at home. And I wasn't as…

Remote first is key. If your team isn't remote, there is assymmetry in communication. This will lead to problems long term.

Re: People love working remotely

#14

Post by Nursie »

I work remotely 2 days a week. I'd quite like to go to 3 and might soon.

But without being in the office a couple of days a week for collaboration, a lot of stuff just wouldn't work. Conference calls, slack and email are no substitute for the face-to-face conversations that can resolve blocking issues in a few seconds versus a few hours.

I'd definitely recommend partial remote working. Not sure I'd want it fully.

Re: People love working remotely

#15

Post by giancarlostoro »

chadash wrote: post #8

> "91% of remote workers said working remotely is a good fit for them." Right, and 97% of current ferret owners say that ferrets make great pets [0]. I'd like the survey to include people who worked remotely in the past and no longer do. Count me in that group. I worked remotely for a six months at a remote-friendly but not remote-first company and here were my findings: * It was lonely being at home. And I wasn't as…

> * Maybe it's just me, but I find it much easier to explain difficult technical things in person. Yes, screenshares are very helpful, but sometimes a hard problem involves going back and forth between monitors, for example.

To an extent I can see the issue, but when screen sharing this usually ends up with the other person then showing their screen and how it's working.

I am at a remote-friendly place currently, and depending on the project I prefer to work in the office, but longer term I may consider more remote work due to commute.

We are but one of many offices throughout the country too so it's not a huge deal if I don't meet everyone in the company, so long as I know the people part of our division.

Re: People love working remotely

#16

Post by g051051 »

I was full-time WFH for 6 wonderful years. I was happy, my productivity was off the charts, I was saving tons of money because I didn't have to spend it on my car and clothes, I had extra time that I wasn't wasting on my commute, etc.

Then, we had a big shake-up. A bunch of senior people left, and new "leadership" came in to "transform" our workplace. All WFH was cancelled in our division (in spite of still being officially encouraged by corporate policy). The big boss said "a 15 minute fact-to-face is better than a multi-day email chain". My response to that is "What about the other 99.9% of my work time, when I don't need to interact with anyone?" Sigh.

Since I had left the office, they had redone everything to be open plan, low walls, brighter lights, white noise over the speakers, etc. Contractors are packed like sardines, the noise is insane. We're also "Agile" now, so we spend a ton of time in useless meetings.

I'm not very happy anymore.

Re: People love working remotely

#17

Post by dx87 »

pikzel wrote: post #5

I think it's especially popular in the US where they've always had long commutes. I work remotely from time to time, and it works fine when I have a specific task to focus on, but I've never managed to replace the spontaneous talks or meetings by a whiteboard with any meeting tool (be it Slack, Hangouts, Skype, Webex, you name it).

I definitely agree with the part about long commutes. Between the drive to work and having to put on work clothes, brush my hair, etc, it's about 1.5-2 hours out of my day that is completely wasted when I can't work from home. I'm more productive at home as well, since I can take breaks as needed instead of having to look busy for 8 hours and getting bored after 4 hours at the office.

Re: People love working remotely

#18

Post by alkonaut »

chadash wrote: post #8

> "91% of remote workers said working remotely is a good fit for them." Right, and 97% of current ferret owners say that ferrets make great pets [0]. I'd like the survey to include people who worked remotely in the past and no longer do. Count me in that group. I worked remotely for a six months at a remote-friendly but not remote-first company and here were my findings: * It was lonely being at home. And I wasn't as…

I have worked from home for many years now and identify with ALL those drawbacks, but I still wouldn't want to change to a full time in-office position. The drawbacks of that (mostly an hour wasted commuting both in the evening and in the afternoon) is just too big.

Being able to work remotely on occasion, or perhaps the ability to not work remotely on occasion (e.g. work remotely from a coworking space 2 days a week and from home 3 days a week, or work in the real office 1 day per week) would be ideal.

Re: People love working remotely

#19

Post by ken »

Elephant in the room: how many of these people would prefer it to having a private office? Strangely, this article/survey/infographic never mentions that option.

I'd prefer remote work, too, over sitting in an open floorplan office, but I'd much prefer an actual office to either one. The easy "why" is: despite all the drawbacks, a lot of us will do pretty much anything to get out of an open floorplan.

Re: People love working remotely

#20

Post by rficcaglia »

chadash wrote: post #8

> "91% of remote workers said working remotely is a good fit for them." Right, and 97% of current ferret owners say that ferrets make great pets [0]. I'd like the survey to include people who worked remotely in the past and no longer do. Count me in that group. I worked remotely for a six months at a remote-friendly but not remote-first company and here were my findings: * It was lonely being at home. And I wasn't as…

I work remotely and have been at both remote-first and traditional cos...I would “never” go back but I have kids and maybe once they leave I would reconsider.

That said I have lost multiple (mostly younger) employees due to several of the reasons you mention.

I think you nailed it as far as the biggest challenge at traditional cos - remote will definitely kill your career path. It really is only good at those cos once you are an expert in a niche and don’t care about the Corp ladder. Definitely try to find remote first cos if you are not at the zenith of your Corp climbing.

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