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Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

eig.org

11–20 of 267 posts

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#11
post #7

My kids were born well before the pandemic, but, as remote worker, being able to hang out at home with them has been great[^1] I'm much more involved in their life than I would be if I was getting home at 6pm+ every evening. [^1]: Once they were old enough they didn't need constant supervision. Trying to work from home with a toddler was a nightmare.

> Once they were old enough they didn't need constant supervision. Trying to work from home with a toddler was a nightmare. That's odd, I had no problem with working from home with toddlers, but I wasn't trying to do two full time jobs, on any given day either I was dedicated to looking after the kids or my partner was. Looking after a toddler is a full time job.

Setup matters a lot, eg if you have a separate room to go to or a standalone unit in the back yard.

Kids are "sticky" (once they get into your office for any reason it can be difficult to get them out again).

Number of kids matters, their ages matter, their needs matter, sometimes they "get loose" while carer is busy with one (e.g. putting to sleep), and carers need breaks too.

For my particular situation, I can get noticeably more done on days when all the kids are out, even when someone else is ostensibly caring for them "full time".

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#12
I have been remote for 11 years now and have two children 9 and 12. I can't imagine what it would have been like if I had spent the week out commuting between the hours of 7am to 7pm, we would have lost out on so much bonding time with their daddy being an integral part of their life.

I managed to be highly productive, build a career, yet be there for bath times, tucking into bed, school plays / sports days, nursing when ill, impromptu dancing to toddlers programs on the TV.

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#13

Elon Musk: "Get back to the office, we're going to prove we're badass by going through productivity hell!" Elon Musk: "Population rates are collapsing and it's a crisis we need to address!" EIG: https://eig.org/remote-work-family-formation/ Billionaires should be banned from speaking on anything other than their areas of expertise. They get an outsized platform to spout absolute nonsense on topics outside their core…

It is weird that you mention Elon Musk, but not Apple and Google, for example. These last two also push their employees to come back to the office, especially Apple. Every two months there is an article about Apple trying to bring everyone back working from an office.

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#14
post #5

I had my firstborn from my new fully WFH job, in the middle/tailend of the pandemic. It has totally been a blast having the little one around. I work in my living area which is open plan into my kitchen, so I get to see her learning how to eat out of the corner of my eyes when I'm in work meetings, etc. My personal suggestion: if you're working from home with children, don't try and seperate and go into the study; do…

What's funny is that when my wife became pregnant I had a near panic to find a place so I could have a dedicated area to focus. And we closed on that very house last week. Our baby is only one month old, but I can already feel what you are talking about. Where we are now is basically one giant room, and I actually like it so far. Whoops. Well, at least the "study" in the new house is a large converted garage that has room for office and an extra living room. I've struggled with remote work with the concept of sleeping where I work, so at least this will fix that, and when the time comes we'll have a dang bedroom for her. Not sure we need three living rooms though, that'll be a lot of play areas!

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#15
post #6

Elon Musk: "Get back to the office, we're going to prove we're badass by going through productivity hell!" Elon Musk: "Population rates are collapsing and it's a crisis we need to address!" EIG: https://eig.org/remote-work-family-formation/ Billionaires should be banned from speaking on anything other than their areas of expertise. They get an outsized platform to spout absolute nonsense on topics outside their core…

Just ban them full stop. Huge amounts of people don't have enough money to participate in the economy at the same time as billionaires show themselves to be useless or worse, ban them and have a decent basic income - let's say current min wage + some %

Your proposal is interesting, though I think you may not have thought it through completely. I have some honest questions about it.

Under your proposal are millionaires okay? Or should society ban millionaires too?

If so why are they okay. If they are not okay, what should the wealth cap be?

Is it okay for anyone to have any private wealth? Your proposal sounds similar to socialism wherein everyone has a certain fixed income close to minimum wage and no one may accumulate wealth.

What are the differences between your suggestion and socialism as practiced historically?

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#17

Elon Musk: "Get back to the office, we're going to prove we're badass by going through productivity hell!" Elon Musk: "Population rates are collapsing and it's a crisis we need to address!" EIG: https://eig.org/remote-work-family-formation/ Billionaires should be banned from speaking on anything other than their areas of expertise. They get an outsized platform to spout absolute nonsense on topics outside their core…

I hope you're suggesting that in jest.

Realistically though, the better way to address the problem is to progressively tax capital, no matter the income. A top bracket of 5% of capital gone per year will pretty much solve all but the most efficient of billionaire problems. And progressively tax inheritance in a similar way too.

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#19

Elon Musk: "Get back to the office, we're going to prove we're badass by going through productivity hell!" Elon Musk: "Population rates are collapsing and it's a crisis we need to address!" EIG: https://eig.org/remote-work-family-formation/ Billionaires should be banned from speaking on anything other than their areas of expertise. They get an outsized platform to spout absolute nonsense on topics outside their core…

>Billionaires should be banned from speaking on anything other than their areas of expertise.

Perhaps not even at that (since they can have undue influence on that area, just because they have more money, not because their ideas are better).

They should also be banned from owning media companies or contributing to campaigns in any way.

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#20

Elon Musk: "Get back to the office, we're going to prove we're badass by going through productivity hell!" Elon Musk: "Population rates are collapsing and it's a crisis we need to address!" EIG: https://eig.org/remote-work-family-formation/ Billionaires should be banned from speaking on anything other than their areas of expertise. They get an outsized platform to spout absolute nonsense on topics outside their core…

It is weird that you mention Elon Musk, but not Apple and Google, for example. These last two also push their employees to come back to the office, especially Apple. Every two months there is an article about Apple trying to bring everyone back working from an office.

It’s the hypocrisy that’s being pointed out
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