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Poll: Do you prefer the office or work from home?

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Re: Poll: Do you prefer the office or work from home?

#111

Post by twayt »

I find that I get more emotionally jerked around working in person and can insulate myself from it working from home.

Coworker acts curt to me as though they are superior and more productive than me? Rage ensues and I get an ungodly amount of work done.

Come across an inspiring/encouraging coworker or get recognition for something? I feel great and feel like I take more risks.

Coworker types super loud or acts inconsiderately? My productivity is hampered and I keep focusing on that instead of getting work done.

Attractive coworker or someone I want to impress within sight? I can’t concentrate on actual productivity and try to overcompensate by typing more and acting zoned in.

Feel like a social failure during lunch and forced to sit passively as a couple douchebag workers on adderall dominate the conversation? Feel like a bitch for a few hours.

At home, I’m as productive as I need to be and my motivation allows me to be. No more emotional volatility regarding how I relate to others around me.

Fucking incredible if you ask me.

Re: Poll: Do you prefer the office or work from home?

#112

Post by cjohnson318 »

ketzo wrote: post #13

At the start of the pandemic, I knew I would miss working with people in person, but thought I would be totally great with WFH. Now, I know that I badly need some amount of in-person time with my coworkers on a weekly basis, or I go crazy. It's a motivational thing for me. I thrive on solving problems for and with other people, and there's an "out of sight, out of mind" effect for me over zoom. It's just harder for m…

Yeah I've been WFH since 2018, and I'm not a people person, but dang... I miss people.

On the flip side, being able to drop everything and go to the DMV without feeling the social pressure to skip lunch or work late is nice. I feel like I only have a finite number of super productive hours a day, and it's not eight, and they're not always squished together back to back.

Re: Poll: Do you prefer the office or work from home?

#113

Post by halestock »

I struggle with ADHD, and I know I work much more effectively from the office. I learned during the pandemic that I really need and missed the social interactions that occur in the office, both for my mental health and for my job (there's nothing wfh that beats a five minute hallway conversation to meet new people, learn about projects, brainstorm, problem solve, etc etc). I also need the commute to help force me to bike and stay in shape (and it does wonders for my mood!).

But at the same time, the flexibility of working from home is incredible. I have been baking like a fiend because it's perfectly suited for the periodic breaks I take during the day. I can take a nap or go for a walk almost whenever I want. I don't feel bad about these things because I'm not wasting time walking to a meeting or waiting in line for the bathroom, and they make me more productive.

So, hybrid I guess.

Re: Poll: Do you prefer the office or work from home?

#114

Post by Trasmatta »

changxi_hn wrote: post #104
derekp7 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's a story that explains this concept. A programmer goes to his manager, presenting a paper with a lengthy problem for the manager to solve. The manager looks over the paper, thinks for a few minutes, then writes down the answer. The employee then tells the manager "What were you doing for the last 5 minutes? It didn't look like you were working at all". The manager responds saying "I was thinking about the probl…

I'm a software manager and this isn't what happens in practice at all. The more comfortable they are, the sloppier and lazy their resulting code as they feel no pressure to take their work seriously. I can, and will, stand behind devs for hours to keep them determined and on-task.

Surely this post is parody, right?

Re: Poll: Do you prefer the office or work from home?

#115

Post by alecbz »

Hermitian909 wrote: post #75
mortenjorck wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You describe my ideal hybrid schedule. I don’t miss being in the office Monday through Thursday at all, but I really miss Fridays in the office. In my experience, remote work typically has no direct productivity downsides, but team cohesion absolutely can take a hit. I find being in the same room with someone doesn’t help us work any better, but having been in the same room with them at some point (ideally not all th…

> In my experience, remote work typically has no direct productivity downsides, but team cohesion absolutely can take a hit I'm sure this varies based on the type of work you're doing, but I found the hit to team cohesion led to long term productivity losses. At first we were getting more done than ever. As time went on our raw work output day-to-day did not decrease but a lot of unneeded work that previously would h…

> the hit to team cohesion led to long term productivity losses

It obviously ought to, right, or else why does (should) anyone care about team cohesion in the first place?

Re: Poll: Do you prefer the office or work from home?

#116

Post by Sebb767 »

Hippocrates wrote: post #81

I'm an EM who went from full onsite, to hybrid, to full remote. This is my favorite topic. Throughout the pandemic we surveyed employees and they largely preferred to WFH. A lesser but significant cohort preferred a hybrid setup. Almost nobody at all was in favor of full-onsite. I was in the hybrid camp. I thought I could have the comraderie of the workplace and the dynamism of a bustling city, plus enjoy the comfort…

> As an employee: I found that the office felt empty and dead which made me question commuting in. Nobody was really around to go to happy hours or have events. A significant portion of the people I wanted to be around were opting to stay home more.

Having a fixed office day really helps. Also, what I really liked about the hybrid approach is that the commute can actually be better; i.e. I don't mind driving 1h to work if I do so once per week.

> It's a revelation to realize that you don't _need_ to be IRL buddies with coworkers, just do great work together, and then go do your own thing.

You also don't need to love your job, you just need to pay your bills. I don't think this is a revelation; at least for me, being friends with my coworkers is a significant part of what makes working fun. And even with WFH you still spend a lot of time working. This is of course just preference; if you're not much into socializing, cutting out that part of your life and instead spend the time somewhere else can make sense.

Re: Poll: Do you prefer the office or work from home?

#117

Post by nell »

Hippocrates wrote: post #81

I'm an EM who went from full onsite, to hybrid, to full remote. This is my favorite topic. Throughout the pandemic we surveyed employees and they largely preferred to WFH. A lesser but significant cohort preferred a hybrid setup. Almost nobody at all was in favor of full-onsite. I was in the hybrid camp. I thought I could have the comraderie of the workplace and the dynamism of a bustling city, plus enjoy the comfort…

> Commuting is literally wasted life

Commuting is not the same as setting time on fire. The distraction endemic negates the advantage and makes it worse. The forced time in the car with limited options lets me use it somewhat productively, notably makes me do one thing. I spend that time thinking about work, taking phone calls, sometimes listening to podcasts and audiobooks. I have read zero books, but finished 2 audiobooks in the car this year. I find myself setting time on fire during weekends on social media. If instead of commuting the hours are spent on Netflix/Social media etc has gone up then the point is moot.

Re: Poll: Do you prefer the office or work from home?

#119

Post by paulmooreparks »

chc4 wrote: post #38

Working from home was very bad for both my productivity and my mental health. Going in and seeing coworkers every day as mandatory social interaction is a godsend, and I now know I don't want to work for any company that is 100% WFH. The lower friction to just talk to people sitting next to me over having to DM them, and overhearing them complain or talk about whatever random thing they are working on is also a subst…

It is interesting to me how big of a gulf there is between the pro-office and pro-WFH groups. It isn't the case that one is completely right and one is completely wrong. Clearly, there are different working styles, different personalities, and different social needs. How do we build work environments that can accommodate both?

Re: Poll: Do you prefer the office or work from home?

#120

Post by bee_rider »

fartcannon wrote: post #42
bee_rider wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah. I'm working from home. I'm loving the convenience and the ability to use, for example, my favorite keyboard. But working in my bedroom and livingroom has kind of ruined those rooms for me. I think I'd enjoy it much more if I had a separate home office room to go to.

My job supplied a laptop and I just use another desk for that. So When I'm working its the work desk, when I'm at home its the home desk. Conveniently they're at 90 degrees but share a chair which let's me sometimes be at home when I'm at work. Which is nice.

I actually have a desk in my bedroom which is completely devoted to work. I believe the problem is that it is in my bedroom, but this is how it worked out with two people working in a tiny apartment.
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