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I will always prefer to work from home

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Re: I will always prefer to work from home

#171

Post by ghaff »

throwawaysleep wrote: post #55
tqi wrote: post #33

Who is this meant to convince? Has anyone ever changed their mind as a result of reading a listicle of complaints? This seems more like something for people who already agree with the author to read and self righteously think "yeah, this is THE way" There isn't some objective right answer here. Different people value different things, and that's ok. Companies can set their RTO policies as they see fit, and that's ok.…

This particular one needs to be a tribal schism as the preferences cannot coexist. WFH people will always be miserable with in office people and vice versa.

It's not as black and white as all that. People also just have different home situations and different commuting situations. I'd routinely come into our downtown office if I could walk or hop on the subway for a few stops. But it's a two hour drive or train trip. I'm not coming in just to keep you company.

Re: I will always prefer to work from home

#172

Post by exponentialgenx »

tqi wrote: post #33

Who is this meant to convince? Has anyone ever changed their mind as a result of reading a listicle of complaints? This seems more like something for people who already agree with the author to read and self righteously think "yeah, this is THE way" There isn't some objective right answer here. Different people value different things, and that's ok. Companies can set their RTO policies as they see fit, and that's ok.…

I don't think I wrote this to convince anyone of anything. I think its internal kickback I have that flares up when I hear about companies trying to force employees back to the office. I think the end point that I probably need to add to the post is that I believe that the way forward is for companies to actually listen to employees and allow them flexibility if they desire it, assuming the work gets done.

Re: I will always prefer to work from home

#173

Post by r053bud »

metabagel wrote: post #15

I like to go into the office for the social interaction, but I also like working from home one day a week. From the article, the con about being interrupted while working in the office applies equally to WFH. Your train of thought can be just as much derailed by a Slack/Teams message as by a colleague wandering by your cubicle.

This is silly; I can just silence slack whenever I need to or simply ignore it. I can’t ignore a colleague standing next to me tapping my shoulder.

Re: I will always prefer to work from home

#175

Post by Longwelwind »

throw555chip wrote: post #78
Longwelwind wrote: post #43

> Just when I am deep in some twisted train of thought involving a failing JS callback or missing network packets in Kubernetes someone ambles over to my cubicle to ask me some random question about helm that they could have answered in 2 seconds using the search function of their web browser. Train derailed. > Don’t talk to me about collaboration when I sometimes have to turn off slack to be able to hear myself thin…

> should send you a Slack message with their question instead? > you can mute your slack notifications. These things can be done from home or a remote location, what was the point of forcing them to come into the office in the first place, none.

The second quote was the author's response to the argument that working at the office increases collaboration. My point is that some perceived benefits of WFH can be achieved when working at the office with some communication. That way you can keep the benefits of working from office.

Re: I will always prefer to work from home

#176

Post by x86x87 »

throw__away7391 wrote: post #29

Under-appreciated: not wearing shoes all day. Anytime I need to spend a day in an office now, when I finally get home and pull off my shoes and sweat soaked shoes I'm so glad I don't have to do this on a regular basis anymore.

I'm going to stop wearing shoes at the office. collaboration bro!

Re: I will always prefer to work from home

#177

Post by mikebenfield »

the_snooze wrote: post #4

I feel these discussions always go the same way. Working at an office sucks because of some combination of {long commute, open office plan, team not being there}. I quite like going to the office myself because my situation is the opposite: I bike to work, where I have my own office, and my team likes to come in too. Hating the office is totally justifiable given that my setup isn't common; most people are forced to…

> Working at an office sucks because of some combination of {long commute, open office plan, team not being there}

Working at an office sucks because it is a massive constraint on where you can live, even if you can tolerate a long commute. If you live with a partner who also has a career your options are even more constrained. I find it miraculous such a situation works out for anyone.

Re: I will always prefer to work from home

#178

Post by BizarreByte »

lnsru wrote: post #123
BizarreByte wrote: post #93

I thought I would, but I'm no longer sold on full remote work having done it since 2018. I didn't realize just how much of my social interaction came from work and it's something I've not been able to recreate outside of work in my free time. I am hopelessly lonely and the mental health affects have at least in my case been dire. At the same time I'm afraid to RTO because if for some reason I need the flexibility of…

Your colleagues are not your friends. You’re more like passenger in the same bus where somebody will depart in the next stop. It’s dangerous to build relationships with people who are about to leave.

Without fail this is always the response "coworkers aren't your friends".

I didn't say they were and more importantly coworkers don't need to be your friends for you to have social interactions with them. I found those in person workplace interactions helpful for my overall mental health, because even a throwaway conversation at lunch time provides some contact with another person.

99% of the time these days the only person I talk to on a given day is the cashier at the store. I think you don't appreciate how bad some of us have it on this front, but for some of us work was a social outlet.

Re: I will always prefer to work from home

#180

Post by manmal »

grubbs wrote: post #75
rootusrootus wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel you on the winter thing. I added an electric heater to my office so I can keep the temperatures a bit higher than the rest of the house (mostly I do this for my fingers, honestly). And through the magic of LEDs I have a fairly ridiculous amount of light I can turn on. Makes winter more bearable when I can make it as bright as high noon in July. I totally get wanting to go into the office. I would go in a few d…

My fingers get SO cold. Literally to the point I'm about to wear gloves. Every couple hours I'll thaw them out against the space heater.. Any other hacks for this are welcome. Exercises?

Maybe something like this: https://infrarot-fussboden.de/220-Pro-Infrared-Desk-Heater
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