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37% of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home

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Re: 37% of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home

#381

Post by WYepQ4dNnG »

30367286 wrote: post #169
WYepQ4dNnG wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's true, but also very sad. I am lucky enough to have a lovely wife, kids and just enough good friends. And that's all I care about. I don't really miss at all the office, let alone my co-workers. Working remote is just what I need, and I am way more productive.

>Working remote is just what I need, and I am way more productive. I acknowledge that you and many others derive personal satisfaction from productivity. I do too. However, I strongly believe we should move away from productivity as the measure of whether we should work from home. Primarily because it individualizes productivity and turns any deficits into a moral failing. It is incumbent on our employers to create t…

For me being productive means that I can get stuff done in less time, hence I have more time for taking care of myself and my family.

Re: 37% of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home

#382

Post by brianwawok »

Terretta wrote: post #354
saltharp wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That is, it's hard to have a strong social life when you commute, at best, 5 hours a week. And that's if you're lucky. "At best"? The average commute in the US is 27.6 minutes, according to the Census Bureau. My commute is a 10 minute bike ride. Luck had nothing to do with it, just a different set of priorities in life. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2021/one-way-...

> 27.6 minutes Something’s wrong with this stat. Almost nobody can get from chair at home to chair at work in that time. My present office is 1.6 miles of which ~1 mile is Interstate, yet it’s at best 22 minutes house door to office door (not chair to chair) if I hit traffic lights, as low as 14 minutes if all greens. Google Maps and Apple Maps say it’s 6 - 8 minutes in off hours. Once car is on street, only greens,…

8 minute drive to the office in Indiana. I still WFH.

Re: 37% of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home

#383

Post by throwaway684936 »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #335
deafcalculus wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what a lot of people thought in the 2000s, but going by SV salaries the automate or offshore story hasn't really played out! Then again, horses seem to have lost their job in the early 20th century after cars came along, and their population just declined thereafter.

You ever wonder why people in old rust belt areas complain about "the globalists" all the time?

No post body was provided.

Re: 37% of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home

#384

Post by nunez »

closeparen wrote: post #218
ethbr0 wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd spin this around and cast it as a challenge -- regular, forced interactions with coworkers is minimally sufficient and retards some people from pursuing social activities outside the home. There are already a number of options in even the smallest town. I expect that will increase as more people move to WFH and seek social outlets. And at the end of the day "interacting with coworkers in the break room" is a pret…

I don't particularly enjoy the forced, stilted chatter but I do get a lot of value from: a) Being obliged to put on clothes and leave the house. b) Spending a large part of the day at a change of scenery. c) Having other people there, around, ambiently. Spending 23 hours a day alone in your room + 1 hour for outdoor exercise, with occasional weekend visitation, is among the worst punishments the state has at its disp…

i do all of those things while working from home. i wear my normal clothes, work from coffee shops or breweries if I need a change of scenery, and workout plenty during the day. no offense, but perhaps this is specific to how _you_ work from home?

Re: 37% of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home

#385

Post by Red_Leaves_Flyy »

Terretta wrote: post #354
saltharp wrote: post #351

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That is, it's hard to have a strong social life when you commute, at best, 5 hours a week. And that's if you're lucky. "At best"? The average commute in the US is 27.6 minutes, according to the Census Bureau. My commute is a 10 minute bike ride. Luck had nothing to do with it, just a different set of priorities in life. https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2021/one-way-...

> 27.6 minutes Something’s wrong with this stat. Almost nobody can get from chair at home to chair at work in that time. My present office is 1.6 miles of which ~1 mile is Interstate, yet it’s at best 22 minutes house door to office door (not chair to chair) if I hit traffic lights, as low as 14 minutes if all greens. Google Maps and Apple Maps say it’s 6 - 8 minutes in off hours. Once car is on street, only greens,…

This is a great point and one I’d wish I’d considered more.

I’ve long given my just my wheels in motion time whenever asked how long my commute is. But that’s disingenuous because my if I were to have have a job I could do from home, all else being equal I would save $1000+/yr on food purchases alone. A further 2500 on gas and get at least 2 unpaid hours of quality time back in my life.

So I’d save at least $3.500 in reduced expenses. I would also be able to get of a car saving thousands more a year. Plus an extra 560 hours of free time a year at my hourly rate? I’m about to threaten my employer with my resignation over these expenses if they can’t better compensate me for my time they monopolize when I’m” off the clock “ but exclusively in their service.

Re: 37% of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home

#386

Post by nunez »

manuelabeledo wrote: post #137
tharne wrote: post #119

I really hope American businesses don't bring this headline to its logical conclusion... "37% of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home...by people in India or Eastern Europe for much less money"

Companies have been doing this for decades already. The current situation is not going to shift even more jobs to India. Reasons being, good engineers from India are already moving to the US in sheer numbers, and good talent is unlikely to remain at Indian IT consultancy companies. Anecdotally, I have worked along with very clever engineers who happened to be Indian nationals living in the US, but I have yet to find…

I've met a few sharp Indian engineers in India. They exist.

Re: 37% of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home

#387

Post by weatherlite »

Workaccount2 wrote: post #331
weatherlite wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it becomes really bad there's a good chance governments will step in and heavily tax offshoring or provide tax benefits for reshoring.

Just like they did with all the cheap offshore manufactured goods... Don't hold your breath.

Hard to tell. This time it isn't factory workers, it's programmers and who knows what more - finance people, marketing, sales and maybe even doctors. A country can lose its competitive edge really fast by offshoring all of that.

Re: 37% of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home

#388

Post by somehnacct3757 »

spookthesunset wrote: post #261
somehnacct3757 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whether workers want it or not isn't going to be the deciding factor. Nor will it be a mental health issue. Just look at their years of ignoring studies about how open offices are bad for knowledge workers. Rather, it will be purely a financial decision. It comes down to whether employers are going to sign many-year leases for a social hangout spot for their employees. As well as accept liability during future COVID…

> As well as accept liability during future COVID outbreaks. Yet somehow grocery store workers managed to work in their "office" and survive the last two years. Why do all these software developer people think they are so special? It bothers me how many people use COVID as a means to push their personal agendas.

You are the person introducing politics into a conversation that had none. And your anti tech worker sentiment out of left field on a tech worker forum is unnecessarily antagonistic. Maybe you're the one with a personal agenda.

Future COVID waves are going to cost companies with offices much more money than fully remote companies. Quite literally a liability. I have no idea what this has to do with grocery stores.

Re: 37% of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home

#389

Post by mantas »

closeparen wrote: post #307
mantas wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my whereabouts weekday evenings is where the fun social stuff goes (well, used to before pandemics). Group rides, group runs, orienteering events, bar trivia nights... You get most attendants on weekdays since on weekends many people are out of town (family, summerhouses, etc) and/or go to full-day events. Theater performances or concerts are not uncommon on weekdays either. Touring artists just have to play on wh…

I think the problem is, since working fully remote means spending about twice as much time in formally scheduled meetings, and those meetings are significantly more draining on Zoom than in person, both I and the people I might socialize with feel a lot more drained at the end of the work day and less interested in doing anything non-vegetative. Previously we would go for dinner or drinks after work pretty often.

Does it? Or is it just some micromanagers who can’t let people go out of their sight?

Having worked remotely for a good decade, I see no reason why remote requires more meeting. Currently I have a couple hours of meetings a week.

Re: 37% of jobs in the United States can be performed entirely at home

#390

Post by closeparen »

WYepQ4dNnG wrote: post #122
Adraghast wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I assume that some people are just very lonely and need face to face Anecdata from Hacker News suggests this is true. A lot of lonely young men here freely admit their coworkers are the only people they regularly interact with in-person, and remote work takes that away from them.

That's true, but also very sad. I am lucky enough to have a lovely wife, kids and just enough good friends. And that's all I care about. I don't really miss at all the office, let alone my co-workers. Working remote is just what I need, and I am way more productive.

I once thought I would like to have kids, based on the incredible diversity and splendor of the experiences and people and places the world had to offer. It seemed right, to create new lives to share in that.

Now that the texture of being a person in the world is mainly to be on Zoom calls, I think it would be cruel. Zoom school, Zoom friends, Zoom job, Zoom dates, only to produce yet another human who can attend Zoom school. What kind of life is that to being a child into?

We’ll still have books! That might be worth it on its own. And places take a while to decay. Maybe we can wander the remnants of places, from back when places were a thing. Maybe there will still be enough weirdos to sustain some kind of live performance tradition in unusual and expensive places. Maybe some especially backwards communities, after they have sold the school buildings, will retain the athletic fields. But I dunno. A world where the default condition is to sit alone on the internet from your nowhere-sprawl house, cradle to grave, is pretty fucking bleak.

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