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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]

#391

Post by BlargMcLarg »

joelbluminator wrote: post #354
shrimpx wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree with all the points, except (1). If one has a hard time creating a social life outside of work, working remotely is terrible.

Are work friends actual friends? Seems to me in the vast majority of cases once a person switches jobs he switches his work friends as well...which happens about once in 3-5 years...

This is my experience as well. Most "friends" only stay friends for as long as they share activities together, and if there is too long of an absence in activities, it will be harder to plan activities or reconnect later down the line. They'll usually drop down to acquaintance level and stay there. Goes for work, hobbies, and more. Friends who stick around for who you are, rather than what you do together, are exceptionally rare. Especially later in life, when everyone is "too busy" for activities outside what they already do.

I hope my experience is the minority, as the increasing loneliness that seems to be present as the younger generations grow older to me indicates the over reliance on work for friendship is the exact opposite of what we need. And on a much darker and more cynical level, it provides an opportunity of social manipulation for companies to keep one tied to their job at a lower wage, or risk crippling loneliness.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#392

Post by chrisseaton »

vharuck wrote: post #147
chrisseaton wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Maybe you do a different work to me... but what 'stuff' is there? Like most people I just work at a computer that'd be there anyway.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#393

Post by b3kart »

KozmoNau7 wrote: post #367
anonytrary wrote: post #292

This is ironic coming from Stanford, who is currently fucking up every single aspect of their handling of covid, as many Stanford students will attest to. Colleges are basically scammers at this point. The whole benefit of going to college is being able to meet like-minded smart, young people like yourself. Remote college isn't a thing and never will be. College is about people, as much as it is about learning. The u…

I've been almost permanently WFH since April, with a few weeks back in the office during summer when the incidence rate was lower, then back to WFH when the second wave hit. I enjoy not having to commute, but I absolutely miss the banter across the desks and lunch conversations. I would absolutely like to keep 2-3 weekly WFH days in the future, which would also give me more flexibility in where I choose to live, I re…

One negative is that such a hybrid mode still ties you to a location, albeit more loosely. Being able to travel and live in arbitrary (often cheaper) places is a benefit of pure remote work that many people seem to enjoy.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#394

Post by bjornsing »

anonytrary wrote: post #292

This is ironic coming from Stanford, who is currently fucking up every single aspect of their handling of covid, as many Stanford students will attest to. Colleges are basically scammers at this point. The whole benefit of going to college is being able to meet like-minded smart, young people like yourself. Remote college isn't a thing and never will be. College is about people, as much as it is about learning. The u…

> This whole thing makes no sense.

I this is highly subjective and depends on how social you are, how much of an outlier you are in cognitive ability or interest and on what kind of social environments you have physical access to. If you are “middle of the pack” in all these aspects then sure, remote first doesn’t make sense.

On the other take me as an example: I enjoy working with other people face to face, but I’m extremely picky in terms of sparring partners. Most people just slow me down. Some are even offended, probably because they feel a bit intellectually inferior when I get going, leading to unnecessary conflict. I’ve been looking for people with similar cognitive style and interests in my physical surroundings for 20 years, and I’ve only found a handful. They are eccentrics, often in high demand and not easy to collaborate with.

There are of course physical environments where I would not be an outlier, or where I would even struggle to keep up. I’m not Terrence Tao. But I don’t have access to those environments.

From this perspective remote first makes a lot of sense. And while I am a bit older now I don’t think it would have been much different in my 20-ties.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#395

Post by frays »

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 are you currently tracking against your KPIs/targets? Have they also dropped as well?

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#396

Post by cheph »

bjornsing wrote: post #394
anonytrary wrote: post #292

This is ironic coming from Stanford, who is currently fucking up every single aspect of their handling of covid, as many Stanford students will attest to. Colleges are basically scammers at this point. The whole benefit of going to college is being able to meet like-minded smart, young people like yourself. Remote college isn't a thing and never will be. College is about people, as much as it is about learning. The u…

> This whole thing makes no sense. I this is highly subjective and depends on how social you are, how much of an outlier you are in cognitive ability or interest and on what kind of social environments you have physical access to. If you are “middle of the pack” in all these aspects then sure, remote first doesn’t make sense. On the other take me as an example: I enjoy working with other people face to face, but I’m…

> I this is highly subjective and depends on how social you are

I am incredibly anti-social. I can't stand working from home.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#397

Post by Viliam1234 »

jasonkester wrote: post #373
anonytrary wrote: post #292

This is ironic coming from Stanford, who is currently fucking up every single aspect of their handling of covid, as many Stanford students will attest to. Colleges are basically scammers at this point. The whole benefit of going to college is being able to meet like-minded smart, young people like yourself. Remote college isn't a thing and never will be. College is about people, as much as it is about learning. The u…

I don't know, man. Young You sounds like a very different person to Young Me. If my first employer had told young 20-something Me "I'm afraid we're not going to let you come in and sit in this felt cube every day after all. Instead we're going to ask that you fly to Thailand and work from a laptop on the beach from here on out.", I would not have reacted by explaining how work is a social thing that needs to happen i…

Please do not disrespect the cubicles! For people working in open spaces, they are a vision of heaven.

But of course, remote work allows you to choose your own room / cubicle / beach / whatever you like most.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#398

Post by ameister14 »

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…

>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 outputs?

Why not do that anyway? The same reasons apply.

>If they are at work, and can't slack off, then they will use this discretion to create value for the company in ways that the managers don't always have time to exactly specify.

I've never been in a work environment where everyone is working at 100% all the time. Never. Have you?

Pure anecdote - while working remotely I've found that my team is bout the same productivity level, maybe slightly more productive; we've had people build internal tools in their spare time, people are focused on the task rather than wasting time and we've hired carefully and built a culture where people know they are trusted and needed to get the job done.

Yes, it doesn't work the same way in-person works all the time. You have to allow for more asynchronicity, but you can counter that in part by having the opportunity for scheduled check-ins.

In your example, by the way, the staffer has gained no favor from the manager by directly going against what they said to do. They might solve this bug and be a hero but they'll be likely to gain a reputation for not being able to listen to directions.

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#399

Post by Viliam1234 »

Aeolun wrote: post #300
anonytrary wrote: post #292

This is ironic coming from Stanford, who is currently fucking up every single aspect of their handling of covid, as many Stanford students will attest to. Colleges are basically scammers at this point. The whole benefit of going to college is being able to meet like-minded smart, young people like yourself. Remote college isn't a thing and never will be. College is about people, as much as it is about learning. The u…

> You might attract older folks, but you know you want young talent. A lot of the things you say make sense, but this sounds ridiculous to me. Why would you only want young talent? How about older talent? Skill isn’t age specific.

> How about older talent?

Just guessing: older talent is less willing to work overtime and weekends, because they have a family waiting for them at home?

Re: Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

#400

Post by Fnoord »

I really miss the daily commute which counts as physical exercise, a mental switch from family mode to work mode, and a work environment where like minded people get together in physical space, able to share and communicate easily.

While I'm sure some work and some appointments can (and remain) be done remotely, and I am glad its good for the environment, the current way of life (although it is necessary) is not my cup of tea.

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