I think it is easy to say this in the first few months of working at home, but after an extended period of time it can be unbearable to spend so much time in the same place. Cabin fever is very real, and human beings are social animals who want to be around people.
Half of American workers would rather work from home forever: poll
171–180 of 295 posts
Re: Half of American workers would rather work from home forever: poll
#172Who are these people? I've been working from home and I've noticed a steep dip in my productivity.
I usually work remotely and always had fantastic productivity up until the lockdown.
Now I'm really depressed and have terrible productivity.
Not being able to go socialise with friends, see bands in concert and hang around in coffee shops has had an enormous impact on my wellbeing - it's entirely possible your productivity woes are due to the social impact.
Re: Half of American workers would rather work from home forever: poll
#173I wonder if this is related to the long commutes Americans have gotten used to. I'm not in the US, and while I would say I definitely appreciate the flexibility of being able to work from home (or from "not the office") every now and then, and I do like the present drop in meetings, I cannot fathom how people stay sane without a variety of other people around. My productivity has definitely dropped, and it feels like…
It's kind of funny how the 21st century created office and factory jobs. For the most time, people worked where they lived.
Maybe we realize now that technology allows us to move a huge portion of office work back to where people live. Not necessarily a bad thing if you ask me!
Re: Half of American workers would rather work from home forever: poll
#174I think it is easy to say this in the first few months of working at home, but after an extended period of time it can be unbearable to spend so much time in the same place. Cabin fever is very real, and human beings are social animals who want to be around people.
Yeah, but after the pandemic is over, if you're still working from home you can go out to restaurants and bars in your free time and hang out with friends, unlike today where your office and your social space and your restaurant and your bar are all your living room.
Re: Half of American workers would rather work from home forever: poll
#175I've been joking with my coworkers that I'm never coming back to the office when this is over... I'm sorta serious but not sure I'd be allowed to. We were already allowed 2 days per week of remote working but 5 seems like a stretch. FWIW I have a dedicated office at home and no kids. Commute is not a factor - I live ~7 miles from the office, it takes 10-15 minutes to get there or get home. There's also an alternative…
Time to start questioning why that rule is in place?
If you're that close to the office then you can easily argue that you can drive in for important meetings and such.
Re: Half of American workers would rather work from home forever: poll
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
My work is all meetings all the time, now. I’m on the phone most of the day. Little things that used to take 20 minutes now take an hour. I used to enjoy working from home a couple days a week because I got some peace and quiet and knew I could catch back up with people when I returned to the office. I went from loving to hating my job in the last three weeks. I am also constantly distracted by having the kids around…
Re the last parts: I sure hope you're right, but I think we're both a bit jealous and/or afraid that it is we who are ill-suited for a coming WFH future :-/
If you could magically remove commutes or make it automated, I'd still be on-board with working in office.
The only good commutes are near empty roads with nice scenery while I enjoy morning coffee and listen to the news.
Many people had to get used to long commutes in terrible traffic after all.
Hopefully the answer is that we all just gravitate towards companies that prefer one culture over another.
Re: Half of American workers would rather work from home forever: poll
#177I'm going to strike a very different reaction to most here: I miss my office!
The office is where I work. Home is where I don't work. I have a 30-40 minute subway ride between the two for changing gears. Home-no-work. Office-yes-work. Sudoku and Kindle in between. It's a pattern I hadn't realized I'd so strongly driven into my mind.
The first two weeks of this pandemic? I accomplished nothing. I sat down and tried to work at my desk (I even have a dock and a KVM switch so I could use my dual-monitors, keyboard, and mouse) and I did almost nothing for two weeks. I just could not change gears. It was agony.
I finally was able to get working again by moving from my desk to a chair beside it, with just my laptop. I have no pattern for this place- it's a chair usually covered in stuff I need to put somewhere so I have no really deep patterns for what I do when I sit here (is my own self-psycho-analysis). I'm still not as productive as before, but at least I'm getting some things done.
Even then, I miss running into people in the kitchen that I haven't talked to in a while. I miss grabbing lunch with friends from other departments. I miss that first 15 minutes of the day where we're all waiting for the caffeine to kick in, asking what the weekend plans are. The social aspects keep me sane.
And right now I'm trying to train new guys. One guy, we started him during the lockdown by just mailing him a laptop with instructions for how to get on the VPN. Training people remotely is hard. Even mostly-remote companies often start new people in the office for a week or two, then send them back home. There's video calls and screen sharing- it's not the same. I find it very difficult.
I have many criticisms of modern offices, but I still want mine back.
Re: Half of American workers would rather work from home forever: poll
#178I suspect this is going to have a pretty profound impact on the commercial real estate world. Aside from workers wanting to WFH, anecdotally I know of a few now cash-strapped start-ups that are very seriously considering breaking their leases and having much more of the work force WFH. If you live in a city right now, just peer out at all of those sky scrapers. A huge amount of that is currently empty office space th…
> Within a month an office space has gone from essential to being more and more of a luxury
More like a liability. Any company with office space is currently paying rent with no utilization.
Re: Half of American workers would rather work from home forever: poll
#179WFH for almost 2 years 50-60%. Due to corona now 100% for almost 2 months. Used my car 3 or 4 times the last 2 months instead i often walked or used my bicycle, before i used the car at least 5-6 times a week. So WFH can definitely help to save the planet from global warming
Re: Half of American workers would rather work from home forever: poll
#180Many people are blaming the commute, but I've been working from home for almost 6 years, and I actually miss the commute. Especially the bus, but the train was nice too when I had to switch. It was a nice buffer of being able to read or think quietly to myself. The start and end of my day were absolute. Whatever I didn't get done would have to wait, and I wouldn't start until I got there. Along with the social intera…
You could still get on a bus or train every morning and afternoon? You just need to make the journey a loop so you arrive back at your house each time!