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Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

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Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#131

Post by tgsovlerkhgsel »

chrisseaton wrote: post #28
WalterGR wrote: post #3

I haven’t read all 63 pages, but I’m surprised that the abstract doesn’t mention: All the $$$ that businesses get to save by eliminating or reducing office real estate, including $$$ saved by pushing some of those costs onto employees.

What costs? Even people who work from an office still usually have a home study or office for doing their bills or whatever. Do you mean electricity costs to run your laptop? What does that add up to?

Even among high-earning tech people, the number of workspaces actually suitable for working from home (without destroying their health) was shockingly small.

Many, many people will come out of this with their backs ruined from being hunched over a laptop with no external screen for 8 hours a day.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#132

Post by irrational »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #29

I've been 100% remote and run remote teams since 2014 and I promise that it won't stick for the broader society. Here's why: 1. Socializing is the primary activity that happens at work for the vast majority of workers. The gal or guy coming by your desk to "check in" or "see how your weekend was" etc... is literally where they find their social outlets and personal connections. 2. Managers like to be able to watch th…

1. This is the main reason I prefer remote working. I don’t like socializing. I’m there to work, not to chit chat. You’re not my friend, your a fellow worker.

2. Time to get a better manager who trusts you.

3. Commuting is a waste of time. I roll out of bed and immediately start working. The company loses on time I could be working by having me commute.

4. Yeah, I definitely can’t relate to this one.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#133

Post by AlwaysRock »

buggythebug wrote: post #123
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #29

I've been 100% remote and run remote teams since 2014 and I promise that it won't stick for the broader society. Here's why: 1. Socializing is the primary activity that happens at work for the vast majority of workers. The gal or guy coming by your desk to "check in" or "see how your weekend was" etc... is literally where they find their social outlets and personal connections. 2. Managers like to be able to watch th…

Your analysis is way off 1)People hate small-talk $hit. They will not go back to work so they can small-talk 2)Like to - doesn't mean it's going to go back. Plus they can save by firing Manager who used to come and "check in" 3)People will find other ways to have normalcy - no one is going to miss commuting. 4)This is a toss up. I can see it going both ways. Going to work is a drudgery for a huge swath of Americans,…

Different folks different strokes. I hate hate hate small talk. One of the guys who worked for me in the past loved it. He had a hard time working remote until he got a roommate he could talk to. A lot of people are probably somewhere in between.

Just because these things dont make sense to you it does not mean they are not true for many people.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#134

Post by Danieru »

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…

Thank you for sharing. I find it incredible how so far all responces to your post are in-denial.

Being productive while remote is hard work and requires a high level of self-awareness and self-control. We cannot "will it into existence" by denying the negative experiences of employers.

Time theft is a real concept businesses care about. Business think they are buying time, with an eye to capture the results. If any one reads this gets confused or angry about this: go contractor. If you want to be selling results not your time then you best move into a working relationship where you sell results. Salary is a time-selling relationship.

As a remote contractor, with my own remote employee, I can say I expect the time logged to be productive time. I don't care if my employee stops work mid day to paint his house: but he better log that time. Flexibility is a responsibility, if people continue to abuse work from home you can bet companies across the world are going to return to office at the fastest opportunity.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#135

Post by nine_k »

mrcartmenez wrote: post #97
zabzonk wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The commuting routine, even if it's a nightmare, offers a sense of normalcy that most people have gotten used to and in a weird way rely on for grounding. You have obviously never been on the Tube at rush-hour in London. All it offers is a sense of stress and anger.

Weirdly grounding stress and anger

Undergrounding, even.

The 25 minutes of commute in NYC subway, even packed (but not London-packed, though) are my 25 minutes of uninterrupted reading, or thinking, or otherwise being alone and on my own, paradoxically. I miss it.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#136

Post by wernercd »

altgeek wrote: post #129
wernercd wrote: post #75

Working from home will stick FOR SOME... but not for others. I have a long commute and don't miss it... i do miss the books/podcasts and I miss the office. I hope we go to a 3 day home, 2 day office but we'll see. Managers like having butts in seats. we'll see how it goes long term

So true. The big (top 5) global bank I worked for loved butts-in-seats. I've finally arrived at a place where I refuse anything that requires more than 3 days in-office.

I work at a bank and they had remote tools in place that were very flexible... but it was still "be in the office" 5 days a week. The pay and perks are too good to pass up and I didn't have "remote experience" before - which I have a year of now.

I'm still enjoying the job so we'll see how things go over the next, say, year.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#137

Post by Beached »

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…

my experience is that there is FAAAAR more time theft in the office. coffee, extended breaks, walks, catching up, meetings running long to shoot the shit, " oh hey, did you see this happen last week", those quick "what do you think about... that turns into 30m convos. I clocked over 2 hours of wasted time every day for the average person for the 4 teams I am able to observe from where I sit. all expectations were met, and on time and on quality with this 20% time wasting. wfh has freed up 1.5 to 2h a day for me because people don't walk up to my desk a literal 6 times a day to go get coffee or see what's up. also the volume of "can I run something past you" had plummeted to only 10% of what it use to be. that use to happen once or twice daily, and now happens like once a week. if people don't see me sitting there, they don't ask me how to do their job. it's amazing.

not to mention I can now walk on a treadmill while at my desk, save time commuting, save money on dry-cleaning and gas, and I can be productive with my life during all those meetings you are forced to attend but don't involve you in any way. wireless headsets with the camera off is great. I can talk when needed, mute myself for 50 of the 60 minutes, and do a mindless task like vacuum, dust, dishes, fold laundry, etc, while listening to people debate pointless shit.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#138

Post by tjr225 »

ghaff wrote: post #27
tjr225 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The thing with "flexibility" is that it may mean that you can come into the office but a lot of your co-workers won't be there. (Of course that is already the case with people who work on very geographically-distributed teams.)

I think it can be done right. My situation before I went fully remote a few years ago was a pretty flexible policy where you could wfh 2 days a week. I think you could extend this to 3 days a week or maybe even just have a mandatory 2 days at the office.

The effect is you spend most of your time at home but still get to go into the office. Think everyone is in office T W TH or T W F or something. I miss that setup and have since returned to that job and I hope I can go back in this year.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#139

Post by johnrgrace »

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…

How is taking more time to respond slacking?

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#140

Post by sinsterizme »

buggythebug wrote: post #123
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #29

I've been 100% remote and run remote teams since 2014 and I promise that it won't stick for the broader society. Here's why: 1. Socializing is the primary activity that happens at work for the vast majority of workers. The gal or guy coming by your desk to "check in" or "see how your weekend was" etc... is literally where they find their social outlets and personal connections. 2. Managers like to be able to watch th…

Your analysis is way off 1)People hate small-talk $hit. They will not go back to work so they can small-talk 2)Like to - doesn't mean it's going to go back. Plus they can save by firing Manager who used to come and "check in" 3)People will find other ways to have normalcy - no one is going to miss commuting. 4)This is a toss up. I can see it going both ways. Going to work is a drudgery for a huge swath of Americans,…

What about those of us who hate small talk but enjoy being around smart, interesting, and fun co-workers? If your interactions at work amount to nothing but small-talk then you need to look for a new job
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