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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]

#141

Post by fake-name »

wisty wrote: post #118
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…

I think it's worth looking into "theory of the firm" - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_the_firm Why should employees even exist? Shouldn't firms just sack everyone, then hire contractors? I often hear advocates of remote work talk about "presenteeism" and how managers need to just focus more on outputs. This is fine, but if they can do that why not sack everyone and just hire contractors and pay for the outpu…

> Shouldn't firms just sack everyone, then hire contractors?

I mean, a lot of them are trying to do exactly that.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#142

Post by Fordec »

nine_k wrote: post #130
Fordec wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None of these tackle the one aspect that trumps everything else in the corporate world. Is this better for the company? Even if the majority of companies see things this way, they will return to the office. But those that succeed, survive, thrive or dominate a market will do whatever that makes them successful along the way. It doesn't matter if people like routine if the other guy beats you on revenue, time to marke…

Unhappy and distressed worker is a less productive worker. Some forms of unhappiness and distress may be applied to increase productivity, like deadlines and fear of being fired. But for most people who can even work from home their needs to concentrate and to communicate are way more important for productivity.

I'd trade 20 minutes extra socializing at my first place with the people I love or my third place with the people of similar interests for an hour of socializing with people talking about a sport I'm not into or their kids. I also find that having to do more stuff over email, messaging and zoom has been great for reigning in an overly narcissistic manipulative coworker because their actions are much more record-able now.

I recognize I'm not the norm, but working from home the past year has been amazing for my introverted personality. To imply that the office is a necessity for removing distress is an overly broad brush to paint with that does not apply to everyone.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#143

Post by chasd00 »

Whether it’s healthy or not teams and slack are just fine for socializing to me. I’ve been wfh 100% for about 6 years now. I’m as productive as I’ve ever been if not more so. Lunch is walking to the kitchen and back not an hour long ordeal.

It kind of boggles my mind to think about driving somewhere to do the same thing but in a different place.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#144

Post by briefcomment »

Fordec wrote: post #122
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…

None of these tackle the one aspect that trumps everything else in the corporate world. Is this better for the company? Even if the majority of companies see things this way, they will return to the office. But those that succeed, survive, thrive or dominate a market will do whatever that makes them successful along the way. It doesn't matter if people like routine if the other guy beats you on revenue, time to marke…

I think you're pretty much correct. What will stick for any given company is what makes them more money.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#145

Post by ryandrake »

croutonwagon wrote: post #86
lrossi wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, somehow I missed the time “theft” part. He thinks of his people as if they’re criminals. This is like a textbook example of manager red flags that you should check for and avoid when joining a company.

I wasn’t necessarily talking about my team. In fact mine has remained productive. But it has taken more effort on my part to keep them organized and on task. I’m the opposite of a micromanager, I hate that stuff. But the fact is I’m having to probe more and more as time goes on to keep things moving. Heck it not cuts into my productivity which also cuts into my teams. Heck Just last week I had an admin that it took 4…

If I hire someone on a salary and expect him to do X, and he meets that expectation, I wouldn’t care if he did it in 40 hours or if he did it in 10 hours and spent the remaining 30 hours fishing. I hired him to do X and he did. Why should I care how many hours he’s staring at a screen?

Now if he’s on an hourly contract, I’d expect the hours to be accurate.

For some jobs the expectation is literally “be reachable and physically at this workstation when a fire ignites”. Can’t do that while fishing. But lots of jobs are “do this batch of things, and come to these meetings at these times.” If someone can do this effectively from the middle of a lake, who cares?

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#146

Post by calvinmorrison »

irrational wrote: post #132
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.

For something you're going to spend your life doing, it's a horrible prospect to not expect to make friends at work. As a child did you spend 12 years not making friends in school, since school is for learning and not socialization?

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#147

Post by vharuck »

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?

My home desk already has my desktop computer and my files. I don't want to split the desk space and drawers with work stuff. That's my space.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#148

Post by pishpash »

Fordec wrote: post #142
nine_k wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unhappy and distressed worker is a less productive worker. Some forms of unhappiness and distress may be applied to increase productivity, like deadlines and fear of being fired. But for most people who can even work from home their needs to concentrate and to communicate are way more important for productivity.

I'd trade 20 minutes extra socializing at my first place with the people I love or my third place with the people of similar interests for an hour of socializing with people talking about a sport I'm not into or their kids. I also find that having to do more stuff over email, messaging and zoom has been great for reigning in an overly narcissistic manipulative coworker because their actions are much more record-able…

That's the problem though. Other than companies founded by introverted nerds, most of the corporate world is led by extroverts who set the norm and it won't be working from home.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#149

Post by mc32 »

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…

I really don't know how it's going to lean. Of course some will remain remote, some will return to the office.

The reasons are multiple:

-Some people are unproductive when working from home (for a variety of reasons)

-Some managers want to see their charges (open office panopticons)

-Some people are more productive working from home.

Companies and managers will have to weigh the positives and negatives. I'm sure they have enough data to determine what makes sense for certain roles and individuals within those roles.

Companies will save on real estate by offloading that to your home. But on average they will lose productivity from most people.

Stanford is special in that as far as I know are short on space for parking and for offices, so they will likely nudge some to work from home where it makes sense. So of course they go on their own propaganda to get their people ready for the shift.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#150

Post by konjin »

sjs7007 wrote: post #125
konjin wrote: post #25

One thing I don't see mentioned is the class action lawsuits that will be incoming for unsafe working environments. I haven't gotten the flu once last year, yet in open offices I got it like clockwork at the end of fall and at the start of spring. If covid is dangerous enough to lock down society yet is only x5 as deadly as bad flu seasons open offices are literal murder.

While I'm sure open offices don't help in being exposed to flu, it could also just be because people are more careful these days with the hand sanitizers and mask wearing. https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19-has-nearly-wiped-out-t...

It's hard to get sick from my coworkers when I have literally not been face to face with them in months.
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