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Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

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Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#251
post #142
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…

> has been great for reigning in an overly narcissistic manipulative coworker because their actions are much more record-able now.

What? What kind of workplace do you work at that you need to resort to recording your coworkers to get to the bottom of conflicts?

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#252
post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given if the alternative is that they can get a remote job elsewhere easily, why not?

There for sure will not be that many remote jobs.

If it's evident that being remote is just as effective or more why wouldn't most companies start catching the eyes of their potential candidates with that?

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Working together in person has to be 10 times more effective. Major doubt that anyone thinks remote working is actually more effective from the companies perspective. The only argument I ever here is that antisocial people prefer not seeing other people and getting their work done alone.

My productivity probably doubled when I moved to remote working last year. In the morning, I don't need to commute an hour to the office, giving me an extra hour of sleep. My workspace is also superior to what I'd ever get in the office. But the biggest boost in my productivity has come from the lack of distractions when working from home. If I'm trying to focus on something, I can set my status as busy and mute noti…

> My productivity probably doubled when I moved to remote working last year.

Everyone who claims this is lying to themselves.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#254
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…

> Is this better for the company? Yes. Key positives for a company are reduced cost of office space and ability to draw upon a wider, cheaper pool of potential workers and increased employee satisfaction (for some, not everyone prefers working from home). Key negatives are reduced productivity due to lack of supervision, difficulty of face-to-face meetings with clients, difficulty of training younger staff. Its a tra…

>Key positives for a company are reduced cost of office space and ability to draw upon a wider, cheaper pool of potential workers...[real dollar values]

>Key negatives are reduced productivity due to lack of supervision, difficulty of face-to-face meetings with clients, difficulty of training younger staff.[hard to measure]

Just throwing this experience of mine out there, when faced with actual dollar figures and hard to measure, vague outcomes, companies that I've worked for have nearly always acted on the dollar figures.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#255
post #251
post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> has been great for reigning in an overly narcissistic manipulative coworker because their actions are much more record-able now. What? What kind of workplace do you work at that you need to resort to recording your coworkers to get to the bottom of conflicts?

When I was at the office, there were always two or three people who stopped by my desk every day, and just wanted to talk about some BS thing. Now with work from home I never hear from them. Because they realize that this was non-work related and if they send me an email or chat, that is going to be on the record

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#256
post #247
post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

#1 is because Americans spend way to much time at work, so much time that it's difficult to find time to socialize out of work. People are social animals so they'll increase their interaction there (also lowering productivity in office). I think WFH coupled with reduced hour days or 4 day weeks would be a much better combo for high productivity in the office.

Americans also start work really late. 9 to 5 takes up the whole day. Where I am at most start at 7 or 8.

Where is that? My only other living experience outside of America has been Europe, and Europe seemed to start later and stay later compared with America(sans SF, SF is a special place where everyone goes to bed early and wakes up late).

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#257
post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My productivity probably doubled when I moved to remote working last year. In the morning, I don't need to commute an hour to the office, giving me an extra hour of sleep. My workspace is also superior to what I'd ever get in the office. But the biggest boost in my productivity has come from the lack of distractions when working from home. If I'm trying to focus on something, I can set my status as busy and mute noti…

> My productivity probably doubled when I moved to remote working last year. Everyone who claims this is lying to themselves.

I guess I’m lying to myself too then. My productivity has doubled as well.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#258

I doubt it. Maybe those that haven’t been remote never saw this side of businesses, but as someone that will only work remotely, the options pre-Covid were exceedingly thin. Almost no public companies allowed 100% remote work. Almost none. Honestly I can’t even name a single company that did, but I’m sure there is at least one right? Also, it should be noted that when I say remote I mean they allow anyone, literally…

> Almost no public companies allowed 100% remote work. Almost none. Honestly I can’t even name a single company that did, but I’m sure there is at least one right? Automattic?

They're not public yet.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#259
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…

Working together in person has to be 10 times more effective. Major doubt that anyone thinks remote working is actually more effective from the companies perspective. The only argument I ever here is that antisocial people prefer not seeing other people and getting their work done alone.

Working remotely does not stop collaboration. I have been working primarily remote for the past 12 years. I meet with my team every day for standup and am in constant contact with team members throughout the day, sometimes pair programming or helping to debug issues.

This is not much different than working in a colocated situation, except my coworkers don't have to smell my B.O.

The tooling available these days makes remote work better than in person IMO.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#260

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’m fine with controlling for distractions, am 100% remote for the last year, but as a single late 20s guy in a new city you hit the nail on the head for why I’d like to get back into an office. I would like to not die alone because I’m too old to go out to bars for hookups without it taking a toll and tinder just isn’t my thing. Plus friends would be nice to have again at some point.
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