Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace • Hacker News Board

Re: Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace

#61

Post by hodgesrm » Sun, Oct 27, 2019, 6:01 PM UTC

b112 wrote: post #49

As others have said, in this thread, there are a lot of mixed issues in this article. Living a nomad/traveling lifestyle =! remote work. Loads of people remote-work from home, but change nothing else in their lifestyle. I've been working remotely my entire life. 30+ years now. One thing that is key, is looking at the blue sky . Being outside occasionally. You will note that the article talks about work/life balance,…

Speaking as an employment _provider_ I fully agree nomad != remote. I'm actually hesitant to employ nomads if they are likely to move without warning to time zones that aren't convenient for the rest of the team.

For example, one of the things that makes distributed teams work is to have a small number of very stable meeting times that remain invariant for long periods of time. The reason is that people need to structure their lives (e.g., dinner with family) and if you change things capriciously it affects relationships with families or other things in their personal lives. Having team members suddenly move and then want meeting times changed for everyone is a real non-starter for me.

Re: Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace

#62

Post by buboard » Sun, Oct 27, 2019, 6:01 PM UTC

jaequery wrote: post #41

I’ve been working remotely for about 2-3 years now but due to a new job I will be working at an office now starting tomorrow. It is a terrifying feeling to say the least. I am trying to be optimistic and hope to get over it quick. Working remotely have been amazing and was a life changing experience for me. It was good in that I got to see the world as it is for the first time. Being able to drive out or walk around…

Good luck and report back to us in 3 months!

Re: Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace

#63

Post by greggman2 » Sun, Oct 27, 2019, 6:01 PM UTC

kirstenbirgit wrote: post #31

EMM_386 wrote: post #13

I am a fully remote worker nowhere near my "office", which is simply where our company is technically HQd. I have never met my boss or any of my coworkers in person. I do highly technical work, on a team that only hires very senior developers who have prior remote work experience. And I can say, it is NOT for everyone. If you do not have a life out of work, if you live alone, if you do not have a good network of real…

I've been traveling a lot lately to figure out whether I'd want to move. Currently in Denmark which is great in all sorts of ways except the weather. I really hope I can move to South Europe at some point. Unfortunately I don't work remote, but if I did, I'd just cancel my apartment lease, put my things in storage and travel around the world and live out of hotels for a year to find out what I want.

I tried this but it didn't work for me. was very lonely. travel gets old quick for me. The 7th church and 14th museum is just not that interesting. Traveling once in a while works better for me.

I also didn't find out what I want.

Everyone is different so I hope it works for you.

Re: Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace

#64

Post by Nasrudith » Sun, Oct 27, 2019, 6:02 PM UTC

Tempest1981 wrote: post #39

This shocked me: "to encourage wellbeing: 40 days paid vacation per year: True disconnection is fundamental to help people de-stress and recharge." Is this common elsewhere in the world? In the US, it Seems like 10 or 15 days is the norm, and maybe 20 after 5 years. What do the FAANG+ companies offer? Does the 2 months of vacation also contribute to that disconnected feeling, I wonder?

Given that teachers with summer break I doubt it in itself. Although that level of generosity usually has a cost, perhaps logistical passed on or factored in.

Like expecting longer "on hours" or a bit lower pay in exchange for the benefits. Of course as always it could be circumstances which give it cheaper or "free" like if there are down times where there isn't much meaningful work available.

Re: Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace

#65

Post by throwaway413 » Sun, Oct 27, 2019, 6:03 PM UTC

b112 wrote: post #49

As others have said, in this thread, there are a lot of mixed issues in this article. Living a nomad/traveling lifestyle =! remote work. Loads of people remote-work from home, but change nothing else in their lifestyle. I've been working remotely my entire life. 30+ years now. One thing that is key, is looking at the blue sky . Being outside occasionally. You will note that the article talks about work/life balance,…

I wholeheartedly agree with this. I've been remote the past several years, and have lived in apartments the entire time.

This fall was the first time I was able to find a suitable single family home for rent in my desired area. The house has a comfortable, fenced backyard with a large glass slider in the living room. One of the first things I have noticed while living here is how big of a difference it makes having access to that outside space. Being able to step outside, see the sky, take in some fresh air, and best of all to do it with relative privacy, has done wonders for my mental health.

I highly recommend a house, preferably with outdoor space, versus an apartment if you are a stay-at-home remote worker and have the means.

Re: Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace

#66

Post by Tempest1981 » Sun, Oct 27, 2019, 6:05 PM UTC

mieseratte wrote: post #7

unlinked_dll wrote: post #4

This article isn't about remote work, but being a social hermit. In my experience, if you have difficulty making and sustaining friendships without the heightened social context of a dorm floor/office water cooler, then you're going to wind up experiencing a bit of cabin fever when you are removed from those environments. I had to make conscious efforts to go out, make friends and do things outside work when I moved…

I have no trouble making and sustaining friendships with or without an office, in fact only one of my (former) co-workers is an actual friend. Regardless, something about the isolation of working from home for anything more than a day here or there is just too mentally harmful for me. A much lesser form of solitary confinement, I suppose. Even going out and doing things after work every single day is no cure. I've tr…

In an office, I can intersperse social contact with programming. And the socializing requires almost no effort, since there is more common ground (job, commute, lunch, etc)

At home, I'm isolated for 8-10 hours straight. By dinner time, I'm mentally exhausted, making it harder to drum up energy to go out and meet new people.

Re: Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace

#67

Post by buboard » Sun, Oct 27, 2019, 6:05 PM UTC

jcroll wrote: post #17

I don't really see why people keep trying to "defend" remote working looking for optimizations in a practice which is fundamentally broken. At what point in our evolutionary history do you think the human animal, which evolved as a pack hunter in a highly socialized environment, was designed to work from home 40 hrs a week? We should be focusing on creating more flexible office environments for our workers where they…

> was designed to work from home 40 hrs a week?

At all time in history before the industrial revolution? You worked at home, which was right next to your field, or in front of /under your home. Commuting to work wasn't even an option ; usually only merchants traveled.

The weird situation is when you have to move away from your family in unfamiliar cramped apartments just so you can work in a factory nearby and perhaps send them back money. It's not "normal", it's rather abnormal but cities have adapted to this abnormal situation. The trend to economies becoming 100% services is helping to bring people back to ancient normality.

> We should be focusing on creating more flexible office environments

No we should be working to make residential areas more social and turn them to mixed residential/commercial, just how it used to be (and still is in most of europe). Offices are a relic.

This is actually going to happen spontaneously as soon as everyone has 4-5 neighbors who also work from home. It's a matter of time

Re: Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace

#68

Post by chiefalchemist » Sun, Oct 27, 2019, 6:07 PM UTC

I'm on a fully remote team. I do like the convenience of not wasting time with rush hour commuting and such. That being said, the next time I have the opportunity to negotiate an added perk I'll be hoping to get a small budget for a local co-working space. Once or twice week would be perfect.

Re: Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace

#69

Post by ericmcer » Sun, Oct 27, 2019, 6:07 PM UTC

EMM_386 wrote: post #13

I am a fully remote worker nowhere near my "office", which is simply where our company is technically HQd. I have never met my boss or any of my coworkers in person. I do highly technical work, on a team that only hires very senior developers who have prior remote work experience. And I can say, it is NOT for everyone. If you do not have a life out of work, if you live alone, if you do not have a good network of real…

The ideal remote work situation to me would revolve around the ability to travel, want to go to Hawaii for two weeks? No big deal. People who talk about using a remote job to move to X city seem a bit detached from reality in my opinion.

Re: Isolation, anxiety, and depression in the remote workplace

#70

Post by crustacean » Sun, Oct 27, 2019, 6:08 PM UTC

davidy123 wrote: post #35

I have decades worth of remote work experience. I don't think the problem is social isolation, as others point out that's another issue, you can experience isolation (alienation) regardless of your work situation. But if you want to be more than a gear on a team, the main decision making and insight is often strictly between local workers, regardless of what gets said in meetings it's the water cooler or after work b…

I totally agree with you. I like all-remote teams. I’m wary of teams that are part remote and part collocated, especially when the leaders are part of Team Collocated and I’m not.