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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

#551

Post by andrewingram »

idontwantthis wrote: post #511
andrewingram wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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, s…

I'm not entirely sure what communication with my family would have to do with it. But honestly if there's one thing I don't think anyone would accuse me of is a lack of self-awareness. I know how my motivations work, and I know that the structure of physically _having_ to leave the house is beneficial for me.

My main social life has never been my coworkers, it's been the salsa parties I used to go to 4-5 nights a week, primarily after work. If I'm already in town, it's significantly easier to motivate myself to go to them.

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

#552

Post by tonyedgecombe »

gonzo41 wrote: post #127
tonyedgecombe wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Money doesn't solve every problem.

Yes it mostly always does. To think that it's not is to be in a position where you have to much of it.

Not in this case:

>I'd leave, I even feel I'm morally in the wrong for not leaving.

>But the thing is that the pay is good

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

#554

Post by tetromino_ »

Chinjut wrote: post #539
tetromino_ wrote: post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the end, someone has to pay for office space: either you as the employer, or your employees in the form of higher rent/mortgage for a larger home with dedicated office areas. (And for employees with families based in urban areas, such a larger home may be entirely unaffordable.)

Larger home with dedicated office areas? How many people are living in homes without computers? People already want homes that support using a computer, WFH status or no.

Sure, everyone has some sort of a space where a computer could be used. But there's a huge difference between "kitchen counter or dining table or couch where you can unfold your laptop on occasion" and "a place where you can work in comfort and without interruptions from the rest of your household for 8 hours at a time every day and not develop back and wrist pain".

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

#555

Post by afr0ck »

giantrobot wrote: post #166
afr0ck wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think WFH could be a blessing when you have a family. I still like WFH to a certain extent because I get more focused and more productive. But it has one major drawback: for solo people, like me, living alone, far from friends and family, it's very hard to not feel lonely. And to fill the loneliness gap, I tend to work more, casually burning out myself and then ending up depressed and feeling overworked. I am still…

> And to fill the loneliness gap, I tend to work more, casually burning out myself and then ending up depressed and feeling overworked. This happened to me working in an office every day. I moved to a new city for work and lived alone. My friends and family were hundreds of miles away. Co-workers are not going to solve this problem for you I am sorry to say. They're a temporary reprieve at best. You're going to need…

It's the harsh reality but I completely agree on your take. As you summed it up, "You wouldn't drag around a broken leg".

How did you approach this issue? Did you manage to create a strong social circle outside of work? Any helpful tips for the lost me would be appreciated.

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

#556

Post by spaniard89277 »

Aicy wrote: post #528
spaniard89277 wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work until 16 and here in Spain you still have sun and plenty stuff to do. I live in the colder part so I it's pretty confortable. Un Madrid I guess I'll visit my friend, some museums and stuff and go eat and drink out with people.

Cries in Englishman

Portugal is waiting for you. If you're able to get a remote job, you're set.

You don't even have to become a freelancer. Remote.com and similar companies can set you up as a portuguese employee.

I'm saying Portugal and not Spain bc I think it's better for foreigners right now. And Portugal is amazing.

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

#557

Post by dsq »

asdff wrote: post #461
peoplefromibiza wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's also a cultural thing. US commute is particularly bad, I work from home and been doing it on and off for the past 20 years. My commute has never been longer than 20 minutes total. I now live 5 minutes walk away from my office, I'm not going, but if I had to I would walk there and have a very nice breakfast in some bar on the road there. One thing that's always overlooked is how much WFH is selecting people who a…

Honestly the US commute is not even that bad. Avg transit commute in like Paris is 50 mins. Meanwhile even though Americans have to suffer in traffic or whatever (which imo seems better to have your own personal air conditioned bubble full of music than a cramped sweaty bus), avg commutes even in places like Houston that have the worst traffic out of anywhere are hardly over 30 mins.

I have noticed that the 'American system' works best in - America, although copied all over the world. The cars, houses, gas prices, street width, availability and size of parking spaces, etc. are all optimal in the US. Even Canada, supposedly a US clone, has higher gas prices, less parking in the cities, and lower salaries and higher taxes (though less gun crime). Europe is even worse (again, in those parameters). So, if you are going for the US lifestyle, be in the US. Otherwise, stick with what is better where you are: public transport, walking, public healthcare to take pressure off sticking with car centric job, etc.

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

#558

Post by lifehasleft »

underdeserver wrote: post #259
onion2k wrote: post #75

Employees need to be on site, we’re told, because collaborating with one another has been harder to do when everyone is working from separate locations. I think this is true, but only if the main part of your job is collaborating eg talking to other people to reach a consensus. That is easier face to face. The problem is that only higher up management roles are actually like that. Lower down the tree people are expec…

I strongly disagree. I find that talking to other people is required at every single level. Junior engineers need mentoring, need to talk to other people to understand what's asked of them. Mid-level engineers/ICs need to talk to other people to understand the architecture design, collaborate with other mid-level engineers, and push back or report back issues that arise during the work. Seniors and up need it for des…

I agree with you about juniors, new hires, and maybe about advancing your career, but I would argue many technical discussions are just as good if not better in a virtual environment. Sharing screenshots, code snippets, or just being able to reference information during the discussion makes it all easier.

For me, my boss has told us he wants 2 people on site every day per week, doesn’t care who. In the event a new server or other hardware is shipped to the building he wants a safe two-man lift to be possible. I think it’s fair, and he doesn’t care who goes in, so it ends up being the people that like being in the office the most that show up.

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

#559

Post by aerique »

adwww wrote: post #31
aerique wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've got a 35 - 45 minute bicycle ride which makes it a nice workout. I really felt it when we started working from home during corona and I was sitting on the couch just eating chips and ice cream.

This is great, so long as you have the choice to just WFH when you're not feeling it - you have a cold, the weather is shit, the bike needs maintenance etc.

I live in one of the busier parts of the Netherlands and have a choice of bike, public transport and car. And also the option to WFH.

Bike maintenance is really low, btw. I might bring it by the bike shop once a year, pay 100 euros and be done with it.

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