Why Working from Home Will Stick [pdf]

NO ONE is claiming or predicting that everyone or even a majority of people will work from home.

The authors, from three different universities, surveyed 15,000 Americans and documented a permanent shift towards more remote work going forward, going from 5% of work days used for remote work pre-pandemic to 25% of work days used for remote work post-pandemic.

If you think for even a moment how much solo work must be done by individuals at most companies (think: one-on-one sales calls, proposal writing, spreadsheet modeling, coding, design work, writing employee reviews, updating accounting/ERP data, etc.), the authors' findings make complete sense.

Here's the abstract:

> We survey 15,000 Americans over several waves to investigate whether, how, and why working from home will stick after COVID-19. The pandemic drove a mass social experiment in which half of all paid hours were provided from home between May and October 2020. Our survey evidence says that about 25 percent of all full work days will be supplied from home after the pandemic ends, compared with just 5 percent before. We provide evidence on five mechanisms behind this persistent shift to working from home: diminished stigma, better-than-expected experiences working from home, investments in physical and human capital enabling working from home, reluctance to return to pre-pandemic activities, and innovation supporting working from home. We also examine some implications of a persistent shift in working arrangements: First, high-income workers, especially, will enjoy the perks of working from home. Second, we forecast that the post-pandemic shift to working from home will lower worker spending in major city centers by 5 to 10 percent. Third, many workers report being more productive at home than on business premises, so post-pandemic work from home plans offer the potential to raise productivity as much as 2.4 percent.

Our survey evidence says that about 25 percent of all full work days will be supplied from home after the pandemic ends, compared with just 5 percent before.

And this is also what will ruin your health in a few decades.

...which will then reduce your productivity.

...which will then get you fired.

...which will then make you lose your health insurance.

...which will then make you lose your savings to pay for all the healthcare bills.

Luckily, none of this will be your employer's problem, because there is another person with healthy enough spine that can replace you at your desk.

Also, I am sure that Stanford online is disappointing compared to in person. But there are ways to improve the social aspects with software. The particular configuration of the software and how it's used will make a huge difference in the types or amount of online social interactions.

For example, if you want you can create a virtual dorm room in Gary's Mod or Rec Room VR and get your friends to log into it at lunch and dinner. But the fact that they aren't forced to interact with you because they are physically in the same space does not seem like it should be the only factor.

The idea that devs in india can never be good as devs in the USA is so absurdly arrogant I don't know what to say. I'm sure mechanics thought the same, engineers thought "no way the japs can make better cars" yea we saw how that went.