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Permanently remote workers seen doubling in 2021 due to pandemic productivity

reuters.com

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Re: Permanently remote workers seen doubling in 2021 due to pandemic productivity

#71

Post by ondee »

nullsense wrote: post #28
theodric wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clock in when you would normally arrive at work, and clock out when you would leave. Even my employer, a big, ancient, conservative firm, has started telling employees to set boundaries.

Only way I could actually do that would be to have a physical shutdown/timed power switch that cut me off. I have that for my personal devices in order to get to bed on time. If I had to WFH long term, I'd institute that for sure, else there's no way I can just switch off. I can't really set my own boundaries.

Then you need to talk to a professional about it. Life doesn't have to be like this, I promise :)

Re: Permanently remote workers seen doubling in 2021 due to pandemic productivity

#72

Post by vidarh »

tudorconstantin wrote: post #2

Summary: "The survey said information technology decision-makers expect permanent remote work to double to 34.4% of their companies’ workforces in 2021, compared with 16.4% before the coronavirus outbreak, a result of positive productivity trends. About 72% of their companies’ total global workforce is currently working remotely, according to the CIOs." Honestly I would expect it to remain at more than 34%. Who would…

I'd expect it to remain at more than 34% too, but people are likely reluctant to make that decision this quickly. I'd expect we'll see the number they predict will keep increasing as more people get confidence it works for them, and as they get better at navigating it.

Re: Permanently remote workers seen doubling in 2021 due to pandemic productivity

#73

Post by throwaway0a5e »

bobthepanda wrote: post #31
iam-TJ wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The solution to the home-work separation, which also has potential to improve mental and physical health, is to go for a 20 minute brisk walk at start and end of the work-day.

Personally I don't know why we need to keep prescribing one-size-fits-all solutions for people who may respond differently. Prescribing fully office was terrible, why is prescribing fully remote not?

Because prescribing simply, easy to agree with yet wildly inaccurate (by their very nature) rules of thumb for every situation is a quick easy way to rack up cheap virtue points.

You get what you incentivize. See that number in the corner? That's why the solution for everything gets turned into lowest common denominator five world sentences.

Re: Permanently remote workers seen doubling in 2021 due to pandemic productivity

#74

Post by ckdarby »

baskire wrote: post #39
yuribro wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working remotely doesn't have to mean working from home. You could be working from a rented office or shared office space, friends, a hotel and so on. What's great is the flexibility and customization for each individual employee.

And who pays for that? For many remote work involves less take home pay.

Employees who adjust to the change and moved out of the high cost of living area.

An example from my own circumstances, I was paying $1800/month for a 1 bedroom in Toronto but now for a little bit less I have a 3 bedroom house with a small yard.

Re: Permanently remote workers seen doubling in 2021 due to pandemic productivity

#75

Post by wastedhours »

visarga wrote: post #62
wastedhours wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't quite get your flippance - you weren't doing it before, and are now doing it. What's changed? Why are you working extra hours at home when in the office you wouldn't have? What's the externalities here? Why has 2 hours downtime turned into 2 hours more work, rather than 2 hours of downtime at home? I admit the OP was blunt, but it's not a ridiculous question - where has the time gone?

It's not a problem of time being gone, but a problem of being harder to control how much we work at home.

> being harder to control how much we work at home

I find this really hard to relate to though, I know the lines do get blurred and overworking by a bit is easier (personally, I maybe close the lid at 6:10pm rather than 5:59pm), but I can't see how (in any non-toxic work environment) the boundaries can get so blurred in such a short space of time to extend the working hours in a day by 25%.

If it was perfectly acceptable to log off at 6pm when you were in the office, I don't see how it's "the fault" of homeworking that's pushing that to 7pm. Likewise - if you were in the office for 9am, why log on at 8am at home?

If the only thing stopping some people from overworking themselves are simple environmental cues, that sounds like something that needs to be solved, and solved quickly for homeworking (and by any non-asshole manager). It's unlikely it's not going to be a major part of knowledge working in the future. For a lot of us, we're already months into doing this full time by now, and likely, months away from even venturing back into the office part time.

Re: Permanently remote workers seen doubling in 2021 due to pandemic productivity

#76

Post by dudul »

nullsense wrote: post #12
panny wrote: post #7

The article is light on reasons for increased productivity, but according to anecdotes I've heard, it's due partly to even longer working hours at home. Concretely, when salary employees WFH, all hours have become working hours for them. I've read accounts where people are having mental issues due to the dystopic new reality where they are always at work. They end up working around the clock, because they are constan…

My 1 hour commute where I got much needed downtime during which I would read books was replaced with sitting in front of my screen working. Basically wound up working additional 2 hours a day. Just totally unable to switch off either. Fucking hate it. Muh happier commuting and working with real people in an office.

Did someone force you to spend this hour in front of the screen? Its up to you to decide what to do with the 1 hour you used to spend commuting.

Re: Permanently remote workers seen doubling in 2021 due to pandemic productivity

#77

Post by vidarh »

bobthepanda wrote: post #6
tudorconstantin wrote: post #2

Summary: "The survey said information technology decision-makers expect permanent remote work to double to 34.4% of their companies’ workforces in 2021, compared with 16.4% before the coronavirus outbreak, a result of positive productivity trends. About 72% of their companies’ total global workforce is currently working remotely, according to the CIOs." Honestly I would expect it to remain at more than 34%. Who would…

This is great if you have a house with lots of space. Personally as a single young adult I like living in the city with lots of amenities nearby. I would hate being forced to WFH, the same way some hated being forced to go into the office.

That's a great argument for pushing employers to be prepared to provide an allowance for office space (whether to cover costs of adjusting your home, or for membership at a co-working space convenient for you). We don't need to go back to centralised offices to solve that issue.

Re: Permanently remote workers seen doubling in 2021 due to pandemic productivity

#78

Post by roland35 »

quaintdev wrote: post #3
tudorconstantin wrote: post #2

Summary: "The survey said information technology decision-makers expect permanent remote work to double to 34.4% of their companies’ workforces in 2021, compared with 16.4% before the coronavirus outbreak, a result of positive productivity trends. About 72% of their companies’ total global workforce is currently working remotely, according to the CIOs." Honestly I would expect it to remain at more than 34%. Who would…

While saving money on fuel and avoiding pollution. If you can avoid pollution in India you can literally increase lifespan. The problem here in India, when I brought up "WFH is future", all the experienced manager above 10yrs were not happy with idea. Why? Probably because they are paying EMIs for hefty loans they took for buying flats. People like me who are relatively less experienced don't want to take that risk a…

At my company we recently had an incident related to the recent WFH with a subcontractor in India. He was providing his credentials to another contractor who impersonated him, which is something that he probably would not have tried in the office!

Although maybe he would have tried it, because the impersonator called into meetings and everyone noticed that he sounded completely different (had much better English) and the work was different (less skilled)! If it was me, I would be checking the sub-sub-contractors work and at a minimum calling into meetings myself ;)

Re: Permanently remote workers seen doubling in 2021 due to pandemic productivity

#80

Post by roland35 »

panny wrote: post #7

The article is light on reasons for increased productivity, but according to anecdotes I've heard, it's due partly to even longer working hours at home. Concretely, when salary employees WFH, all hours have become working hours for them. I've read accounts where people are having mental issues due to the dystopic new reality where they are always at work. They end up working around the clock, because they are constan…

I think it depends a lot on expectations - I have had different managers who have had different expectations even in the office! I even had one manager who said I was walking from my desk too much and I definitely don't miss that (maybe schedule less meetings??)

With WFH I generally don't respond at all off hours. I keep track of my hours on a pad of paper for the week for both my timecard and for my sanity, so when I get to 8 hours I am DONE!

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