601–610 of 624 posts
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It seems lately that most accounts arguing in favor of going back into office immediately are throwaways. I wonder why that is 🧐
The site guidelines ask you not to post insinuations like this. Would you mind reviewing them? https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html (Please stick to text here too.)
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It seems lately that most accounts arguing in favor of going back into office immediately are throwaways. I wonder why that is 🧐
The site guidelines ask you not to post insinuations like this. Would you mind reviewing them? https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html (Please stick to text here too.)
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It might be a net positive if they enjoy the walk more than 40 minutes of other activity.
WFH doesn't mean they can't walk for 40 minutes though.
I used to like reading on the train as time for myself but it didn't balance out the other stress & cost of commuting.
If Transport for London said that trains would be free at the point of use & actually put on enough service that most people got a seat I'd definitely consider the office more favourably again
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Most of these are what one might call "first order effects" - i.e. factors immediately associatable with work location. For prolonged situation, higher order effects are going to become more important. Here are some candidates - 1. Improvement in city air quality due to reduced commute - road and flight. 2. Erosion of "social credits" over time due to lower bandwidth interactions when remote. 3. Cumulative impact of…
Most of the points make sense, but this one does not > Impact on the body - prolonged unmoderated sitting in bad postures, eye strain due to constant staring into the screen, bad eating habits, etc. How does WFH change how you sit and the eye strain? You’re doing the same work, what changed? IMO having a good office setup (chair, device, screen, room lighting) is a must for any WFH position, but especially if it’s fu…
For my situation, my home is better than office where could not code in standing (we don't have such culture) and has no place to walk around for thinking. And, at home, I could make lunch healthier with balanced nutrition when there are no good restaurants near my company.
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> Some people are dissatisfied with the online interactions and prefer to talk to humans and not text strings from humans they can't see or hear I think this is easily resolved by audio / video calls. All of my coworkers are significantly older than me and have no issue communicating this way. I dont mind commuting but I dont want to commute as often. I think my sweet spot would be to commute around noon once traffic…
Video calls are not remotely (no pun intended) the same as meeting face to face. In the office I can casually joke with the person sitting next to me, and it is usually visually evident when they are busy and I shouldn't bother them. If we both need a break, we can take a short walk, go for a lunch together or something. Video calls are limited, akward and uncomfortable compared to that. Video calls have their place…
This is a complicated problem with different perspectives that no doubt will get muddled at some point. I'm confident at least the following is true: Some people have long commutes and wfh is great Others have small, expensive apartments they paid for shorter commutes and it's suffocating 40-50 hours a week Some people live in palaces and offices are a step down in comfort Some people are happy with the online intera…
I believe remote work is a temporary phase, with businesses going back to the "old normal" as soon as COVID no longer presents much of a threat.
My first reason for thinking this is I've found inertia is the most powerful force in the office environment. When given the option to adopt a different way of working, the aggregate whole will resist the attempt unless there is no alternative. This conservative nature is the reason why Agile fails to take hold, why compliance rituals will remain long after they're relevant and so on.
The second is extravert culture dominates the office. Most people are extraverted (about 60% IIRC), with even higher concentrations in general and C-level management. This can be observed in the performative nature of the hiring process, the belief in open plan offices, in companies thinking of meetings as productive rather than waste to be minimised and believing in things like brainstorming sessions leading to better results despite research indicating the opposite. An extraverted manager needs to interact with someone on a personal level because they need the stimulation and social contact, and because it's more efficient for them. An introvert has no such leanings.
Third, I believe we're in a leadership crisis, where companies believe "command and control" is more important than improving employee efficiency. In order to control, you need pants in seats. When adopting that stance, you're less likely to want to delegate in the true sense: offer employees autonomy over their tasks, trusting they'll get the job done. Working from home is counter to the control scheme.
As I see it, the voices arguing for a return to the office are the representatives of the conservative, extraverted, control-oriented voices in the business community.
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Sometimes I mess up when I’m in the wrong headspace but usually only for misinformation, aggressive hostility, personal insults. As I said I mess up sometimes and I try not to downvote too often.
No I mean, on HN, I thought you could only upvote. How can I downvote?
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Could you not get on a bus anyway? or sit in a park?
The locale is not important. The important thing is that it's time that is literally impossible to re-allocate to either housework or work-work. Any makeshift substitute won't have that property, and you'll be pressured to skip it in order to do more housework or more work-work.
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Really, there are only 2 costs that matter. On the one side you have the commute--both in time and money. On the other side is whether the place you'd be living in otherwise is suitable for long-term WFH or if you have to spend more money for another bedroom or whatever. So, if you already have a dedicated office in an exurban house (as I do), not commuting--which I rarely did anyway--is a cost savings. As someone wh…
To me the mental cost matters. For me, I'm mentally better off when I hang out with people physically than when I sit at home isolated chatting on slack. For you that might be different. So I'd happily pay the commute cost if I have to for my mental well being. If you don't need that that's fine. You can stay home. I have a gut feeling (so no data) that for many projects a core group of physically together people wil…
The people I want to talk to are usually busy doing actual work so we usually catch up at lunch or after work. I also have the personal numbers of those people. All the people that have time to talk during the work day I'd rather not talk to. I know this is basically an insult for that I'm sorry but I suspect you are one of those people. The awkward guy with no friends that comes to the office for his social interaction fix.
Riffing ideas is not helpful sorry but its just your awkward way of socializing. Has anyone really ever said oh ok I'll just trash this work and start over after "riffing"? No they just go "haha" and continue doing whatever they were doing.
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While everything you listed is a factor, My experience it normally comes down to if you have a actual home office or not. People that have the luxury of a dedicated office at home, an actual room that is just used as an office, not a corner of the kitchen or living room that has the "family desk" that everyone shares, is more apt for WFH I know many people that do not have this space, and do not have the ability to c…
That’s not the only factor. I have a home office and can’t wait to get back. I work in an industry that’s all about relationships and those are hard to build remotely. I just started a new role and there’s no way I could ever progress upward in this state.