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People love working remotely

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Re: People love working remotely

#131

Post by Agentlien »

ken wrote: post #19

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.

I had a private office for a couple of years. I've also worked in open plan landscapes as well as offices with 4-8 people.

This year, however, I've started working from home a lot. I like it much more than any of the above and generally get so much more done. I can relax and breathe in my own home. Make some tea and sit in the garden when I need to think. My focus, productivity and well being have been through the roof. It also helps that connecting from home saves me an hour's commute each way.

Some things can't be done effectively over VPN (mainly working on Xbox or PS4 specific bugs), but for most tasks it's great.

Re: People love working remotely

#132

Post by microcolonel »

g051051 wrote: post #16

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 off…

It's not going to put your life back together, but these earmuffs really changed my quality of life for the better when I was working in offices; particularly those offices where people say things like "it's just white noise".

https://amazon.com/dp/B00CPCHBCQ/

Re: People love working remotely

#133

Post by eloff »

g051051 wrote: post #16

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 off…

Time to find a new job. I've worked fully remote my whole career, first by necessity and then by choice. There are lots of companies out there.

Re: People love working remotely

#134

Post by pkalinowski »

SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #94
gexla wrote: post #67

This piece has the feeling of being written by "every Friday is Hawaiian T-shirt day" after his employer went all remote and he needed a new task. I have worked remotely more than not and it's not ideal. I suspect that if teleportation machines existed, then remote work wouldn't be a thing. Once you leave the office for the day (or leave the house to go to the office) then the logistical problems start (where do I fi…

I always find any work from home I do to be uncomfortable - my home isn't set up for work, and my house is full of distractions. And the boundaries disappear between the "home" and "work" - I can't just ignore emails if they pop up even if I'm done working, as there doesn't seem to be a discrete line anymore, I'm on call 24/7. I'm always worried about not answering the email, as I'm worried the boss will go "why isn'…

When I log off, I do Command+Q on Slack and e-mail.

Nobody can reach me after work through work channels. I simulate leaving the office.

Re: People love working remotely

#135

Post by okmokmz »

spurdoman77 wrote: post #43
codingdave wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a 15 minute fact-to-face is better... Good thing we have better tools for videoconferencing than ever. I can have a 15 minute face-to-face with anyone in my company, no matter where in the world they are.

Videoconferencing is OK, but it is still common to have issues with it. Bad image quality, setup by lowest common denominator etc. Often you use that 15 minutes just by trying to make it work properly.

Those sound like issues with your IT department, employer, and/or video conference provider rather than issues with working from home. Any company with remote employees should require a consistent, stable solution

Re: People love working remotely

#136

Post by SketchySeaBeast »

pkalinowski wrote: post #134
SketchySeaBeast wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always find any work from home I do to be uncomfortable - my home isn't set up for work, and my house is full of distractions. And the boundaries disappear between the "home" and "work" - I can't just ignore emails if they pop up even if I'm done working, as there doesn't seem to be a discrete line anymore, I'm on call 24/7. I'm always worried about not answering the email, as I'm worried the boss will go "why isn'…

When I log off, I do Command+Q on Slack and e-mail. Nobody can reach me after work through work channels. I simulate leaving the office.

I really need to find myself in a position where I have no responsibilities besides just writing code.

Re: People love working remotely

#137

Post by cromka »

patagonia wrote: post #121

To those complaining about the commute. You’re complaining about city and transportation architecture, not workplace design. We are social creatures. I don’t understand the complete lack of addressing the issue: 8 hours a day I’m cut off from people except virtually. Prisons that force virtual visitation are criticized for this exact issue.

You don't have to work 8 hours non-stop. You can leave, meet friends (i.e. people you actually want to spend time with, not do because you have no one else) at lunch, talk to family, talk to neighbors, go to the gym, walk the dog, go for a swim (if you happen to live by the water) and still interact with people. But that implies you actually do have a social circle outside of your workplace or social abilities. If you don't have those, I doubt your workplace will provide any meaningful, organic interaction opportunities, either.

Re: People love working remotely

#138

Post by microcolonel »

ken wrote: post #19

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.

I created a semi-private space inside my last big office job, and it made a world of difference; colleagues would come to me and discuss things without having to consider whether other people on the team would misinterpret what they were saying.

I think I was probably very blessed to have such an understanding and flexible company to work with, because thinking back, that was pretty crazy.

Re: People love working remotely

#139

Post by wastedhours »

protonimitate wrote: post #47

I like flexibility. I don't want to be forced into a open floor plan office. But I also don't want to be full time remote, or forced into a singular private office. I want to be able to go into an office when I feel like. Work out of a small office/conference room when it gets noisy. Sit in the open when it makes sense. Work from home when I need to be heads down. I wish management would stop looking for the "product…

We do that, and to be fair, it's really positive. We have an open plan area, booths if you want quiet work, meeting rooms for, well, meetings - and then you can WFH whenever you want to.

It's a great approach, and I've enjoyed it for a good 3 years or so. It has the effect of damaging collaboration though - which for some roles is perfect (where I am, some roles you can be ignored for a good few days), but for ones like mine, it actually makes it hard. It also scratches out pretty much all sense of camaraderie, so it depends whether you want to feel connected with colleagues or not.

This kind of agile working is a double edged sword, the benefits give rise to different challenges, challenges I never thought I'd see as such previously.

That being said, working from home from 7:30-9, then heading to a coffee shop for an hour, then coming into the office for a bit, and then going home is freedom it'd be hard to give up.

Re: People love working remotely

#140

Post by okmokmz »

ken wrote: post #19

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.

I'd still rather work remotely. Commuting is one of the majors factors that makes me prefer to work from home
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