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Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

nbloom.people.stanford.edu

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Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#11

Post by ameister14 »

croutonwagon wrote: post #4

The problem is multi-faceted. While this is entirely anecdotal I have observed a LOT of time theft by employees. And been asked more than ever to investigate employee behavior (even when I normally try and advise against the approach) Some more egregious than others. While most probably aren’t going to awol for a day at a time I know a LOT of people that now spend working hours doing leisure things. Maybe that’s a su…

I think remote work will be an option for jobs where it's less about time in the chair and more about what tasks are accomplished. That should honestly be most jobs, and almost all white collar jobs.

Time theft is an interesting concept to me because it implies you're being paid for the time rather than for the utility of your labor. Why do you think time theft is important in your job?

>But even some of my direct reports will slack significantly more if they think I’m not online. Responses that are normally in minutes take hours etc.I have to now probe for updates etc. Much less time is spent on projects of interest (that also benefit the business) during periods of less “fires”. Instead it’s more bare minimum. I know many try to be understanding (myself included) because many have more than just work to deal with but it would need to be addressed if it’s becomes a norm.

Are you saying people are less productive generally? If I noticed the same I'd look into a few things: Are you sure that your KPI's focus on productivity properly? If people are performing at the minimum, are you setting the correct goals?

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#12

Post by devoutsalsa »

NestedLoopGoBrr wrote: post #6

I really hope it doesn’t. I miss the office. Workplace environments prevent myself from socially isolating beyond weekends at best — I know I’m not alone in that.

I miss parts of the office. But I sure as hell don’t miss commuting, staying until the of end of the day because I feel like I need to, and being forced to wear pants.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#13

Post by tjr225 »

NestedLoopGoBrr wrote: post #6

I really hope it doesn’t. I miss the office. Workplace environments prevent myself from socially isolating beyond weekends at best — I know I’m not alone in that.

I’m with you in regards to missing the office. I posted this before but I wonder how many of the newly WFH are merely in the honeymoon phase of remote work.

We should have flexibility however.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#15

Post by charlesu »

croutonwagon wrote: post #4

The problem is multi-faceted. While this is entirely anecdotal I have observed a LOT of time theft by employees. And been asked more than ever to investigate employee behavior (even when I normally try and advise against the approach) Some more egregious than others. While most probably aren’t going to awol for a day at a time I know a LOT of people that now spend working hours doing leisure things. Maybe that’s a su…

> While this is entirely anecdotal I have observed a LOT of time theft by employees.

Are these employees paid hourly? If not, it’s not really time theft if the work gets done on time.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#16

Post by varjag »

TameAntelope wrote: post #8
croutonwagon wrote: post #4

The problem is multi-faceted. While this is entirely anecdotal I have observed a LOT of time theft by employees. And been asked more than ever to investigate employee behavior (even when I normally try and advise against the approach) Some more egregious than others. While most probably aren’t going to awol for a day at a time I know a LOT of people that now spend working hours doing leisure things. Maybe that’s a su…

Caring about the specific hours an employee is working rather than the quality of their output is something I hope dies along with mandatory physical presence in an office.

Quality of work is something people can argue about until they're blue in the face, but hours put are objective.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#17

Post by JMTQp8lwXL »

NestedLoopGoBrr wrote: post #6

I really hope it doesn’t. I miss the office. Workplace environments prevent myself from socially isolating beyond weekends at best — I know I’m not alone in that.

What might your (social) life look like without work? It's good to diversify opportunities to socialize. Better to avoid putting all eggs in one basket.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#18

Post by tjr225 »

devoutsalsa wrote: post #12
NestedLoopGoBrr wrote: post #6

I really hope it doesn’t. I miss the office. Workplace environments prevent myself from socially isolating beyond weekends at best — I know I’m not alone in that.

I miss parts of the office. But I sure as hell don’t miss commuting, staying until the of end of the day because I feel like I need to, and being forced to wear pants.

There are benefits to working remotely- nobody is questioning that.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#19

Post by news_to_me »

croutonwagon wrote: post #4

The problem is multi-faceted. While this is entirely anecdotal I have observed a LOT of time theft by employees. And been asked more than ever to investigate employee behavior (even when I normally try and advise against the approach) Some more egregious than others. While most probably aren’t going to awol for a day at a time I know a LOT of people that now spend working hours doing leisure things. Maybe that’s a su…

> But I still see the need for brick and mortar work for certain....job types

Maybe you wanted to say "certain people"? Working from home is definitely more difficult for some people's work style than others, plus a ton of other factors like how well one's home is suited to working in, how much skill a person has working in that environment, etc.

Time theft is a bummer, especially on the team-level where you just want to get things done. I wonder what causes it? Off the top of my head I can think of:

- People are naturally lazy (I really disagree with this, but it feels like the default "robber baron" answer)

- People are having trouble adjusting to different and various work environments (probably a good amount of this)

- The nature of how we work in America is fundamentally unnatural for many people, and the lack of supervision allows people to assume a better work/life balance

#3 is maybe just my experience in the workplace, but it feels pretty true — I wonder how widespread that experience is.

In any case, I'm glad the pandemic forced many people to reevaluate what "going to work" looks like, and hopefully we settle on something closer to how we'd each like to work.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#20

Post by varjag »

charlesu wrote: post #15
croutonwagon wrote: post #4

The problem is multi-faceted. While this is entirely anecdotal I have observed a LOT of time theft by employees. And been asked more than ever to investigate employee behavior (even when I normally try and advise against the approach) Some more egregious than others. While most probably aren’t going to awol for a day at a time I know a LOT of people that now spend working hours doing leisure things. Maybe that’s a su…

> While this is entirely anecdotal I have observed a LOT of time theft by employees. Are these employees paid hourly? If not, it’s not really time theft if the work gets done on time.

Not sure where you live, but in most places in the world the workweek is regulated.
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