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I hope work from home continues

ryanmercer.com

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Re: I hope work from home continues

#41

Post by JumpCrisscross »

mikece wrote: post #6

While the cross-pollination of ideas from different teams and departments is lost, along with interesting and serendipitous discussions, I'm also in the boat of hoping I never have to go back to an office. Not having a commute, being able to spend more time with my kids, not eating less-healthy fast-food rather than home-cooked meals, being able to spend my (lunch) breaks working in my garden... I never want to go ba…

> not eating less-healthy fast-food rather than home-cooked meals

Anecdotally, the people I know reluctant to go back to the office have some combination of lovely homes into which they've put care, terrible offices reflecting zero care or empathy and/or introversion, sometimes to the point of social anxiety. (Stark minority in the third, but a life changer for them.)

Offices don't have to have terrible meal options. Nice homes can be chosen close to work, thereby negating commute. And co-workers don't have to be inept to the point of constantly interrupting your work flow.

There will always be a section of the population happier and more productive working from principally home. (Though for how long we can command a wage premium remains to be seen.) But I suspect, if offices were a bit more desirable and city center housing a bit more affordable, that slice would narrow quickly.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#42

Post by core-questions »

mikece wrote: post #24
benbristow wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lucky you. I live in a top-floor apartment so don't have the luxury of a garden and I'm isolated by myself as I live alone. It's not the same for everyone.

Luck had nothing to do with the choices I made in my career and life.

Almost implies you have _bad_ luck, then, if there's nothing at all you can ascribe to fortuitous chance.

My career was made by someone finding my resume in a trash can.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#43

Post by cyberlurker »

benbristow wrote: post #11
mikece wrote: post #6

While the cross-pollination of ideas from different teams and departments is lost, along with interesting and serendipitous discussions, I'm also in the boat of hoping I never have to go back to an office. Not having a commute, being able to spend more time with my kids, not eating less-healthy fast-food rather than home-cooked meals, being able to spend my (lunch) breaks working in my garden... I never want to go ba…

Lucky you. I live in a top-floor apartment so don't have the luxury of a garden and I'm isolated by myself as I live alone. It's not the same for everyone.

Eventually you’ll have the choice to work in the office at most places, but with a permanent remote option you could also move.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#44

Post by spoonjim »

mylons wrote: post #16
benbristow wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lucky you. I live in a top-floor apartment so don't have the luxury of a garden and I'm isolated by myself as I live alone. It's not the same for everyone.

That’s fine. Don’t make me come back to the office because you have undesirable accommodations.

Nobody’s making you do anything, if your employer forces a return to the office and you don’t like it you can find a new employer.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#45

Post by jonnycomputer »

Things I miss:

- interacting with my colleagues, going out to lunch

- the very high-speed and reliability of being on the network wire

- dedicated work-space outside of my home where home-chores don't press on my mind while I'm trying to work

- my commute: I cycled into work, and the daily exercise was great

- a clearer separation of work and home life

Things I don't miss:

- interacting with my colleagues, when i don't want to (group office, oy)

- having my boss pop in over my shoulder (my bosses are great though)

- my commute: I cycled into work, and the daily ride was sometimes a grind, in cold or wet weather. And it takes a lot of time

- not having my work at home when I need to work late (I have a work laptop, but still)

- having the campus police officer give me the eye when they see me working at 2am

I'm considering coming in Thursday/Fridays.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#46

Post by mikece »

peanut_worm wrote: post #10

My employer sold their office because they were saving so much money having everyone work from home

My employer has been adding so many customer support positions and basing those in the office that we cannot bring the developer teams back into the office. That, combined with an INCREASE in productivity since working from home the plan for now is for all of the software dev teams to continue to work from home while the customer support team swells to occupy the whole space of the office.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#47

Post by duxup »

I wonder about the advantages for folks who have room at home to work from home efficiently.

I have a big house, a space just for work.

I worked with folks who didn't work from home because they simply didn't have the space to do so. I wonder how they're doing.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#49

Post by tanseydavid »

bluefirebrand wrote: post #13
nomy99 wrote: post #4

Amazon is bringing back their office employees as the default operating mode; citing inefficiencies in the creative process. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/31/amazon-expects-some-employee...

Is Amazon really a model company? With all of the horror stories about their warehouses I have to imagine the offices aren't great either. Like I would expect them to be as miserable as Amazon leadership thinks it can get away with.

>> Is Amazon really a model company?

It depends. If you are a shareholder then it is a model company. If you have to work there, then not so much.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#50

Post by danpalmer »

bluefirebrand wrote: post #13
nomy99 wrote: post #4

Amazon is bringing back their office employees as the default operating mode; citing inefficiencies in the creative process. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/31/amazon-expects-some-employee...

Is Amazon really a model company? With all of the horror stories about their warehouses I have to imagine the offices aren't great either. Like I would expect them to be as miserable as Amazon leadership thinks it can get away with.

From what I've heard there are nice parts of Amazon (as an office employee), but that on the whole they don't really see it as a priority.

There's the fairly normal things like charging for lunch at the office canteen (fine, but for a big tech company this is a little different), the slightly odd things like charging for parking at their office (seems like an easy win to not bother?), and then there's the downright crappy ("your role entitles you to 4GB RAM in your laptop, even though Excel needs much more, if you want more buy it yourself").

I think there are better companies to use as role models for creating a good working environment.

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