The question of 'WFH impact on family formation' is fairly obvious considering time saved from commuting and 'parent-work hybrid' mode at home. However, since this is a study on working class woman, is the overall trend of increased birthrates true if we consider non-working e.g. jobs lost from covid?
Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation
81–90 of 267 posts
Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
First off, there is a huge difference in being 100% available and not outputting work. They are not exclusive. I WFH with people with babies and kids and they absolutely exceed expectations. Second, people in office can be just as unavailable or unproductive as from home. There are a million ways to slack off or be intermittently absent. Third, it's a matter of gender equality too. If the childcare is split 50% then…
I expected just as much. So, gender "equality" of the spouse of my coworker is reason enough for my coworker to slack off, and me being coerced into keeping my mouth shut? No. People can demand things like that, but I am not playing that sort of game for them. Your first two points are both ireelevant to me, because "can be" doesn't help in my daily work. All that counts, in this subjective report of mine, is my expe…
I think underperforming coworkers is a problem regardless of the work situation. If the worker was slacking off while in office, would that be evidence that remote work should be mandated? Or would that be an incident to be corrected by HR and management?
Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation
#83I 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…
My mileage varies a lot. I suppose it has to do with how each person's executive functions are wired, but personally, I absolutely cannot get into deep work while family stuff is going around in the same physical space.
I know folks who have setup a room at home that looks complete unlike the rest of the home to work in.
Paint, flooring, lights, switches, door handles, ask completely different.
It helped them shift in and out and it was pretty cool to experience, similar to when someone has a basement that feels like it transports you to another place entirely in a desired way.
I find wfh and hybrid life has me thinking about design much more
Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation
#84I 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…
I’ve also been working from home and very glad to have been there for my kids when they are young, but highly productive are not two words I’d use to describe the experience. I guess my time management and prioritization skill have improved by necessity, but the lack of uninterrupted quiet time is real.
You really need to have your own office space, and treat it like you are "going to work now" and working in your office. That space needs a door you can close.
I know it sounds hard to do if your family is used to you 'floating around', but I can tell you with 100% certainty it will just not work out long term any other way.
Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
The thing that's not acceptable is micromanaging bosses and the attitude that business is more important than family.
If family is more important then your paycheck, why dont you resign? Why should someone without a family invest more at work just because you consider work a secondary thing?
Because people have to pay bills and there aren't other options readily available. And I think it's OK for workers to try to change company culture over time while employed.
Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation
#86I 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…
Yep this is what I ended up doing too (and am still doing). I have a separate study room I was going to move into, but until it's completely necessary I'm not going to.
Having a few spaces setup in the open and in a study complete with dual monitors etc can let you change up the scenery or when needed be present elsewhere and keep things moving.
Distractions at home might be like distractions and interruptions in the office
Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’ve also been working from home and very glad to have been there for my kids when they are young, but highly productive are not two words I’d use to describe the experience. I guess my time management and prioritization skill have improved by necessity, but the lack of uninterrupted quiet time is real.
You really need to have your own office space, and treat it like you are "going to work now" and working in your office. That space needs a door you can close. I know it sounds hard to do if your family is used to you 'floating around', but I can tell you with 100% certainty it will just not work out long term any other way.
I notice it depends on the task. For some things 50% work 50% recreation works great for me (specially at the end of my energy)
Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation
#88I 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…
I’ve also been working from home and very glad to have been there for my kids when they are young, but highly productive are not two words I’d use to describe the experience. I guess my time management and prioritization skill have improved by necessity, but the lack of uninterrupted quiet time is real.
> but the lack of uninterrupted quiet time is real.
Do you have dedicated office space in your home? This is crucial.
Additionally, once the kids go to school the house gets very, very quiet for most of the day.
Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation
#89Found my wife and got married during the pandemic, have a 4-month old now and working from home 3x a week gives me the chance to see her grow. I would not be as happy if I had to commute everyday to work, even though i'm more of an extrovert and like to hang out with others. Being at home more also means I get to do more house chores. But the joy of seeing my baby grow is incredible! Yes, if you are at the office 24…
There are countless of people like Elon (overworked) who have never achieved anything incredible in life, and will never achieve anything remarkable.
Maybe it’s the journey for some and not the destination.
Reframing things can be as positive as negative or self enabling or sabolaging as one likes.
Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation
#90I 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…
I've been remote for 4 years with a 4 and 2 year old and....same. Generally more productive work-wise and can't imagine going back to commuting 30-40m each way as I did previously (which isn't even a "bad" commute). And the additional time with the family is irreplaceable.
My company's local office is open, and I do go in 2-3 times a month for various reasons (which I also enjoy as a change of pace). But every time I do it's a total ghost town. And not just our floors, but every floor.
It sure seems to me that commercial office space leases are going to collapse in on themselves over the next 3-8 years as the longterm leases come up for renewal and companies say "no thanks" or "we'll take 10% of the space we currently used".