Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

newyorker.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 260 posts

Re: What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

#141

Post by anyfoo »

mtalantikite wrote: post #33

I've been working remote for 13 years now and I really wish I had rented an office outside of my house much earlier than I did. At 23 your threshold for pain and discomfort is I think much higher in many ways, but I definitely burnt myself out by having my workspace also be my living space (small apartment in NYC). Once I started sharing a loft space with some friends to co-work out of things got a lot more enjoyable…

Counterpoint: I have a small room that is now my home office, and I really enjoy that it is essentially "zero commute", and think that even just a small 10 minutes walk would make that worse.

Because a 10 minutes commute is not actually a 10 minutes commute, for me at least. In the morning, I have to shower even if I still feel clean (my hair otherwise would need hours to look like I didn't just wake up), I have to dress for outside, I have to take my breakfast with this constant mental reminder that "you should get out to work soon".

With my little office room, I just declare "over!" at some point in the evening and am happily at home instantly.

But everyone's different, and I had generally observed that the lack of physical separation that some lament seems to affect me less. On the weekends, I still use my "office room" as a recreational room, and I sometimes also work from my living room couch and am happy to just declare "over!" by closing the laptop, without the impression that this has somehow "spoilt" my living room.

Re: What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

#142

Post by deviation »

Some people fail to recognise the actual problem here. I, among many, live within The deciding factors were - that I didn't have to leave the room for a personal call so that I didn't disturb anyone. - that I didn't need to have six seperate conversations in the morning before being able to sit down and begin my work. - that I didn't need to sacrifice portions of my lunchtime to grab a coffee with others and look like a team player. - that from home I could now show affection to my partner that I would otherwise likely be ostracised for in an office environment.

Do I seem antisocial to you? Probably. But that's how I'm wired and want to live. I have (easily) another 1 1/2 productive hours in my work day now, and that's without children or a long commute. I'm the happiest I've ever been.

When I'm feeling exceedingly social and want to connect with others, I will work that specific day from the office.

Re: What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

#143

Post by shannongreen »

legerdemain wrote: post #82
cujo wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Classic comment missing the point that not everyone needs or wants the social interaction with their work mates.

THIS, 100% this. I don't want to be "social" with you, I don't want to "bond" with you, and I don't care about you as a human being. You are 100% just a queue of work tasks and a source of pay checks. The less I see, hear, or know about the other people on my team, the happier I am and the better off they are . WFH forever, don't mess with a good thing.

FWIW, I would hate working with someone like this. You don't have to be super active, socially, but treating the other people (and they _are_ people) on your team as just drones is a) not conducive to good collaboration and b) pretty damn rude.

Re: What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

#144

Post by egypturnash »

shard wrote: post #91
egypturnash wrote: post #19

This has been my life for years except without the “renting a place” part. I work in cafes. I work in parks. I work sitting on a bench taking shelter from the rain on my way to somewhere else. I work anywhere I have space to take my Wacom tablet out of my bag and plug it into my laptop, and the desire to spend more time working today. I also work at home in my studio but getting away from the distractions of home is,…

I wouldn't mind working in a different place than at home, but I've grown accustomed to having a 27" screen, and having to switch to using just the 13" screen of my work laptop would drive me bonkers. Perhaps one day when rollable monitors are a common thing and I can carry a 27" scroll screen in a poster tube...

yeah all you people who Absolutely Require a giant screen, or multiple ones, are stuck at desks. Me, I like plugging my laptop into the 24" screen on my desk, but I also like sitting out in a park with birds and cicada singing, so I've got my tools set up for both ways.

Re: What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

#145

Post by TuringNYC »

wott wrote: post #113
kristjansson wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone of course, and one should be attentive to and accommodating of teammates that feel that way. But surely “let’s knock off at three today and go down the pub, thanks for all the hard work” is a positive for most people?

> But surely “let’s knock off at three today and go down the pub, thanks for all the hard work” is a positive for most people? Definitely not. 1. I am not fond of drinking with workmates. An occasional, incidental, one-on-one or not much more: OK. In groups ("teams"): no thanks, this isn't school, we are not students, so no pseudo school party. 2. I abhor having drinks with people who have any kind of hierarchical po…

>> 2. I abhor having drinks with people who have any kind of hierarchical power upon me.

Funny thing is the opposite isn't great either. I've seen a startup that likes doing this. Except all the decision-makers are in SF, not at the field office. So HH at the field office means none of the participants have any real power to see your passion, hear your ideas, or conversely for you to learn from their wisdom. It is still bonding for the team, but the team site is all terminal dead-end jobs.

Re: What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

#146

Post by perl4ever »

bluefirebrand wrote: post #63
blakesterz wrote: post #10

"Here’s my proposal: organizations that allow remote work should not only encourage these employees to find professional spaces near (but distinct from) their homes—they should also directly subsidize these cognitive escapes. The cost need not be prohibitive. If we turn back to our author examples, we see that a workspace doesn’t need to be aesthetically pleasing, or well-equipped, or air-conditioned (or even have wa…

I could not imagine taking anyone seriously who says I should leave my air conditioned house, comfy office set up exactly how I like it, for "that a workspace doesn’t need to be aesthetically pleasing, or well-equipped, or air-conditioned (or even have walls or a roof!" Unreal. The disconnect here is just shocking.

>doesn’t need to be aesthetically pleasing, or well-equipped, or air-conditioned (or even have walls or a roof!"

They're clearly talking about my sagging back porch/deck. And I've tried working out there, but the problem is the noise, particularly of the highway about 250 feet thataway.

Otherwise, in good weather, sure.

Re: What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

#147

Post by dylan604 »

late2part wrote: post #137
dylan604 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah, after pulling long hours to meet ridiculous deadlines, the last thing i want is to be required to spend even more time with coworkers instead of just been given time off.

@dylan604 - I'm curious; do you have any company stock?

nope. i've never worked for a company that gave away stock. i also never wear the swag t-shirts/hoodies that companies give out to employees (or worse sell). why?

Re: What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

#148

Post by Spooky23 »

late2part wrote: post #139
Spooky23 wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some people will bitch and complain about anything. You could hand out $20 bills to everyone you see and in a big enough group someone will gripe. Imo the key is making sure you don’t create a perception that you punish or bully people for not participating. As evidenced by this thread, it’s easy to do even inadvertently.

Correct. But, is it ingrained griping? Or Social Inequity Aversion? I don't like beer, so if you get it and I have to watch stupid sports and drink water, I don't want you to have your reward? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_inequity_aversion

In many cases, yes. Others will complain that coworkers are asocial or they don’t feel an atmosphere of camaraderie.

It’s all part of the package if you manage people. As I said, you need to be careful to avoid behaving in a way that creates bad situations. (Ie I’m not advocating frat house behavior or alcohol culture at work)

Re: What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

#149

Post by ulfw »

JohnWhigham wrote: post #24
nomoreplease wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I would reward them with HH and dinner/late meal. Maybe your team would appreciate a $200 gift card instead of HH + dinner/late meal, especially when some people don't drink or prefer healthy meals instead of steakhouses.

Classic HN missing the point of social interaction and the benefits it provides.

It's a job, not a social club

Re: What if remote work didn’t mean working from home?

#150

Post by late2part »

dylan604 wrote: post #147
late2part wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

@dylan604 - I'm curious; do you have any company stock?

nope. i've never worked for a company that gave away stock. i also never wear the swag t-shirts/hoodies that companies give out to employees (or worse sell). why?

Thank you for answering. I ask because I have this theory that there is a correlation between employees who don't mind working more to make stock to go up if they have stock.

It's never a simple analysis. I don't mind working more for a deadline if I recognize a tangible increase in revenue or cost savings, as I benefit from the stock.

"Gave away" is an interesting term. In our company, stock is 10-40% of our compensation, so it aligns our motives in a way that folks without stock don't have.

Post reply on HN