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

The effects of remote work on collaboration among information workers

nature.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 216 posts

Re: The effects of remote work on collaboration among information workers

#21

Post by robertlagrant »

macando wrote: post #20

We expect that the effects we observe on workers’ collaboration and communication patterns will impact productivity and, in the long-term, innovation. Yet, across many sectors, firms are making decisions to adopt permanent remote work policies based only on short-term data52. Importantly, the causal estimates that we report are substantially different compared with the effects suggested by the observational trends sh…

Perhaps the issue is that remote workers at Microsoft are constrained to using Office 365 for information exchange.

Re: The effects of remote work on collaboration among information workers

#22

Post by axpy906 »

silisili wrote: post #4
maxclark wrote: post #2

“Together, these effects may make it harder for employees to acquire and share new information across the network.” Remote is hard and not every company is going to adapt to this long term. I’m happy that remote is now an accepted structure but I worry that full time remote employees will miss out simply because they aren’t present.

I've been remote a loooong time and that's always been the case. I miss out on so many 'oh, because Timmy in the SOC told me so' type things, spontaneous whiteboards, and much information. It certainly makes things a bit more complicated. Further, I found it harder to get promotions in general. All in all, I still prefer it despite its drawbacks. But it's certainly not for everyone, especially people who get or had l…

How does it make it harder to get promoted?

Re: The effects of remote work on collaboration among information workers

#25

Post by aaomidi »

Here's an anecdote. I left because Microsoft was being weird about long term remote plans and I wanted to actually be able to plan ahead.

They lost me because they couldn't give me a straight answer if I can continue working there if I went fully remote or not.

Re: The effects of remote work on collaboration among information workers

#26

Post by tzamora »

axpy906 wrote: post #22
silisili wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been remote a loooong time and that's always been the case. I miss out on so many 'oh, because Timmy in the SOC told me so' type things, spontaneous whiteboards, and much information. It certainly makes things a bit more complicated. Further, I found it harder to get promotions in general. All in all, I still prefer it despite its drawbacks. But it's certainly not for everyone, especially people who get or had l…

How does it make it harder to get promoted?

Networking? Interactions person to person can achieve you promotions if you know how to move.

Re: The effects of remote work on collaboration among information workers

#27

Post by huetius »

civilized wrote: post #13

Next paper from these guys will say: "the shift from an open office plan to private offices caused work to become more siloed. Previous research shows this may impede the flow of information through the network" People need to stop fetishizing "breaking down silos" and "serendipitous hallway encounters" and all that nonsense and think about the big picture. You're more likely to have something worth saying, and a wor…

I can sympathize with this, given that truly high-functioning, collaborative work environments are anything but ubiquitous, but I think that these kinds of environments are still the ideal, however rare and difficult to achieve they are. I’ve only worked for two orgs that really got it right, and they were far and away the best work experiences I’ve had. I can’t imagine those orgs being able to thrive in a completely remote environment (I know factually that one has big attrition problems since COVID hit).

The problem is that it takes a lot of effort and attention from all levels of the company to really get it right. You also need a commitment to subsidiarity and shared vision, which most companies actively disincentivize, despite rhetoric to the contrary.

EDIT: wording, typos, formatting.

Re: The effects of remote work on collaboration among information workers

#28

Post by icedchai »

aj_nikhil wrote: post #23

Normal work from office as past will resume in next few months. WFH is not sustainable or enjoyable experience for most people.

I thought that back in June, when Covid cases were heading down to a reasonable level. Today, not so much.

You are right though, WFH is not sustainable for many. Many folks are burnt out.

Re: The effects of remote work on collaboration among information workers

#29

Post by mmaunder »

“ Our results show that firm-wide remote work caused the collaboration network of workers to become more static and siloed, with fewer bridges between disparate parts. Furthermore, there was a decrease in synchronous communication and an increase in asynchronous communication. Together, these effects may make it harder for employees to acquire and share new information across the network.”

So less interruptions and more asynchronous work. That’s awesome! But it’s framed as a negative outcome.

Do we really think that a company fully geared up for in-office work for over 100,000 employees in the USA alone would produce an impartial report on the effects of remote work?

Re: The effects of remote work on collaboration among information workers

#30

Post by silisili »

axpy906 wrote: post #22
silisili wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been remote a loooong time and that's always been the case. I miss out on so many 'oh, because Timmy in the SOC told me so' type things, spontaneous whiteboards, and much information. It certainly makes things a bit more complicated. Further, I found it harder to get promotions in general. All in all, I still prefer it despite its drawbacks. But it's certainly not for everyone, especially people who get or had l…

How does it make it harder to get promoted?

From my experience, often being the only remote on the team...frankly, because you're generally forgotten about quite often. You aren't as chummy with your direct, you don't do lunch together, small gifts/favors, etc.

I don't mean that as a suckup or anything, just things people generally do with one another. If you have two equal performers, and one came to your wedding, gave you a jump, etc....and the other you often forget exists, the choice is quite natural. And I don't find any fault in that or hold any bitterness, it's human nature.

Also, you see your direct's boss in the cafeteria, or hallway, get to chatting, etc. I'd never just ping him or her on Slack to chat, for example.

Then again, I'm only speaking from experience at where I've been. I'm sure others are more strict about meritocracy, perhaps.

Post reply on HN