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The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices

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Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices

#511

Post by idontwantthis »

andrewingram wrote: post #121
idontwantthis wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if you go for a bike ride in the morning instead?

Some people (such as myself) rely on the somewhat enforced structure of going into the office to "attach" other life things onto, like exercise and going out. Without that structure, i'm miserable.

This isn't a personal attack, we all live our lives differently, but in my opinion that attitude is holding back a lot of people. It used to hold me back. People who 's main social life is their coworkers, rely on the structure to keep them healthy, need the commute because it's their only quiet time, etc.

Everyone can have all of these things and work from home 100% of the time. It requires greater self awareness, self control, and communication with your family. That can be easier said than done, but if its accomplished it is in all ways better than relying on wasting a large portion of your day in a building you wouldn't otherwise want to be in every day.

Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices

#512

Post by vba616 »

krageon wrote: post #340
rockyj wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not so easy. Changing jobs cannot be always the answer. In Europe there are not many "remote friendly" companies and also it's not that you will get a 20% pay rise every time you switch. On top, it is extremely hard to find software development jobs that pay around or above 100K. Most jobs are around 60-80K. A job change can also mean - inheriting someone else's problematic code base, new office politics and co…

> In Europe there are not many "remote friendly" companies This is not true. There are many such opportunities if you ask, especially now. > it's not that you will get a 20% pay rise every time you switch If you work in IT (generous, but it is HN...), this should be your experience unless you switch more than once every two years. Then everyone will mistrust you, but you can still do it as a contractor. > On top, it…

> it is (socially, in terms of security) a desert hellscape

>Of course, such numbers mostly make sense in the US because it is (socially, in terms of security) a desert hellscape. The lower top salary in the EU comes with the benefit of knowing that if you go blind you won't have to die shitting yourself in some crackhouse.

Can you elaborate?

I assume the canonical source for information about the US is American TV, but I really can't imagine what you watch that makes you think there is no safety net, even for people making $100K.

Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices

#513

Post by kamaal »

greedo wrote: post #428
kamaal wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So many people don't realise this. You haven't seen your cousin or a friend for a while? What is your perception of them now? I am sure all that Facebook liking and commenting hasn't given you a clue of what they are now, and more importantly even the perception of them from when you last had a chance to see them often has now been long forgotten/hazy. The facts here are anybody you don't see often, you don't know th…

Utterly ridiculous. My best friend lives 1600 miles away, and has for 10 years. We chat daily, sharing more details of our lives than I ever thought possible. My mom lives 2000 miles away, I only get to see her once a year. Yet we talk on the phone, write emails, have FaceTime, and yes, like on FB or Instagram. A cousin I haven't seen in a long time will take catching up at meals and activities; that's the role of fa…

>>The idea that you need to be physically close to be emotionally close is just silly.

Note this works with one's mom but not wife. Meaning what is the nature of relationship you are pursuing here? Deeper the stake closer you need to be.

Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices

#514

Post by vba616 »

jerf wrote: post #330
m_fayer wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm starting to doubt this advice. I'm a "change it" sort of personality by nature - a reformer. When faced with these 3 options, I've chosen "change it" many times. And more often than not, I've found myself in a political crossfire, with new unwelcome knowledge of the various forces (typically some combination of self interest, ego, and turf-guarding) that are responsible for the thing I'm trying to change. My curr…

"I'm a "change it" sort of personality by nature - a reformer." One of the things I've learned is that authority is a real thing. If you don't have the authority to change something, don't try. You will fail, and it will do nothing but cost you. I've jousted with this many times, and it was a failure every time. (More technical type stuff, but the same holds for this sort of thing too.) Authority doesn't have to be g…

>If you don't have the authority to change something, don't try. You will fail, and it will do nothing but cost you.

My theory has been that you look for things people already want to do but can't, and try to enable them with the resources at hand. You can change things that you don't have formal authority for (possibly not for the better) by simply removing roadblocks.

Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices

#515

Post by Wintereise »

dljsjr wrote: post #294
dreen wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please tell me you don't heat/cool your house 24/7. Other than that I can't agree with you more.

Some people don't have a choice, in Florida during the summer time if you aren't running your AC full-time the humidity and heat will ruin your home. It stays in the 80's even overnight (both temp. Fº and Relative Humidity %).

26C at 80% is a good day in most of Asia, for what it's worth.

Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices

#516

Post by mecha_ghidorah »

thawaya3113 wrote: post #50

> all the benefits of working from home (no commute, more focus, hanging out with the dog, whatever it may be) More focus…hanging out with the dog… These things literally contradict each other. The fact that someone can type this out and not even realize that just goes to show why everyone is convinced they have become so much more productive WFH, when companies dhar actually track their employees and their productiv…

> More focus…hanging out with the dog…

> These things literally contradict each other.

I don't see how to be honest. I don't have a dog but I hang out with my spouse more now that we both work from home: instead of going to make coffee in the little office kitchen or walking to a cafe we both hang out in our kitchen while we make coffee, we eat lunch together (admittedly we did that sometimes when we worked in offices too because we didn't work too far apart), and we have more time together in the mornings/evenings without having to commute. You add all that up and we get more time together while spending the same amount of time working...

It's the same way that I have more time for housework: I can do things like quickly put a load of laundry in the machine while I'm stuck waiting to hear back from a colleague or do it on my lunch break or I'm waiting for some long process to execute before I analyse the results. In the office I'd be sitting on my hands waiting, at home I can get some non work related tasks out of the way

Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices

#517

Post by fold_left »

vba616 wrote: post #512
krageon wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In Europe there are not many "remote friendly" companies This is not true. There are many such opportunities if you ask, especially now. > it's not that you will get a 20% pay rise every time you switch If you work in IT (generous, but it is HN...), this should be your experience unless you switch more than once every two years. Then everyone will mistrust you, but you can still do it as a contractor. > On top, it…

> it is (socially, in terms of security) a desert hellscape >Of course, such numbers mostly make sense in the US because it is (socially, in terms of security) a desert hellscape. The lower top salary in the EU comes with the benefit of knowing that if you go blind you won't have to die shitting yourself in some crackhouse. Can you elaborate? I assume the canonical source for information about the US is American TV,…

Is there a safety net? (Honest question from a European)

Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices

#518

Post by robomartin »

fluoridation wrote: post #423
robomartin wrote: post #413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Homes in Buenos Aires don’t have hollow walls made from wood and flimsy drywall panels. One good plumbing leak can destroy a house in the US.

Fair enough. I knew homes in the US where typically made of wood, but not that that was also true in Florida. Wood is not a traditional material here because it's obviously going to rot in a humid environment.

Wood homes are easy to build, maintain and modify. They are far better in earthquakes than masonry construction (because they flex). On the other hand, there are issues like susceptibility to humidity and fire risk.

Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices

#519

Post by TrackerFF »

wmkn wrote: post #109

Looking at the comments and article, I almost feel like a freak for actually not minding going back to the office. My commute to the office is about a 10 mins walk - maybe that’s the difference with many others here. Either way, I like the separation between work and home. I also believe that online meetings and chat are not a great substitute for actually talking to people, especially when you are building something…

I, too, don't mind going back to the office. But I also have a very short commute - 5 min walk. OTOH, I work with people that have a 1 hour commute each direction, and they tend to WFH much more frequently.

I think the motivation to work from home is inversely proportional to your commute distance / time.

Re: The worst part of working from home is now haunting reopened offices

#520

Post by krageon »

vba616 wrote: post #512
krageon wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In Europe there are not many "remote friendly" companies This is not true. There are many such opportunities if you ask, especially now. > it's not that you will get a 20% pay rise every time you switch If you work in IT (generous, but it is HN...), this should be your experience unless you switch more than once every two years. Then everyone will mistrust you, but you can still do it as a contractor. > On top, it…

> it is (socially, in terms of security) a desert hellscape >Of course, such numbers mostly make sense in the US because it is (socially, in terms of security) a desert hellscape. The lower top salary in the EU comes with the benefit of knowing that if you go blind you won't have to die shitting yourself in some crackhouse. Can you elaborate? I assume the canonical source for information about the US is American TV,…

> I really can't imagine what you watch that makes you think there is no safety net

Every single US citizen I've ever spoken to has made this clear (sometimes only after a while) without fail.

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