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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

#211

Post by ozim »

SoftTalker wrote: post #111
lostlogin wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Commutes can be amazing. Biking home after a shitty day and getting a few segment records on Strava is so great. I also like a commute via train or maybe even bus where I can zone out with some music or reading, then when home have the energy to get something done. A long commute via car is pure evil.

> A long commute via car is pure evil. Not everyone hates driving. I think it's better than sitting on a full bus.

I like driving when it is driving not rolling through a traffic jam.

Re: I will always prefer to work from home

#212

Post by ghaff »

doubled112 wrote: post #200
Plasmoid wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd love another room. Do they sell those at Costco? Can I put it on the lawn? Unironically they do - https://www.costco.com/medano-10%27x12%27-studio-shed--%E2%8...

That's actually amazing. Bad news. The front lawn is only 9 feet across. There is no back yard. Sorry for not being clear and up front in the requirements.

That's cool. I've known people who have had something in that general vein built.

Given that this is probably something north of $25K by the time you pay for everything though, it's not obviously a better deal than just getting something custom built from some plans.

Re: I will always prefer to work from home

#213

Post by LRVNHQ »

I much prefer working at the office.

There's less distraction and better divide between work and private time. When I leave the office, I'm done for the day.

I find somewhat ironic that people use an alleged higher productivity at home as justification for remote work, but but doing chores around the house throughout the day always comes up as a perk of WFH. Doing chores and being productive are antithetic.

Anecdotically I live in Europe and don't know anybody of any age who wants to work 100% remote, although obviously everybody likes the flexibility of working ~50% remote. Hating the office to the point of wanting to be 100% remote seems to be a very american thing, I wonder why. Average commute time the the US is among the shortest in the OECD btw, so the reason must lie elsewhere.

Re: I will always prefer to work from home

#214

Post by tibbon »

I’d be happy to work in an office, had I little commute.

I moved from Boston to Providence in 2019. The thought of doing 4-5 hours of daily commute to get into Boston, pay for parking, deal with taking food there or daily expense of eating out, wear and tear on a vehicle… fuck no. Tech barely exists in providence though, so most in office jobs would be in Boston

I did this to myself yes, but having a house that wasn’t tiny and expensive was important to me

Re: I will always prefer to work from home

#215

Post by tikhonj »

LRVNHQ wrote: post #213

I much prefer working at the office. There's less distraction and better divide between work and private time. When I leave the office, I'm done for the day. I find somewhat ironic that people use an alleged higher productivity at home as justification for remote work, but but doing chores around the house throughout the day always comes up as a perk of WFH. Doing chores and being productive are antithetic. Anecdotic…

> Doing chores and being productive are antithetic.

Creative, high-leverage work like programming isn't a linear function of hours-in-chair. If working from home lets you focus better and be more creative, you can absolutely be both more productive and have time to do chores/etc.

Re: I will always prefer to work from home

#216

Post by glow8 »

LRVNHQ wrote: post #213

I much prefer working at the office. There's less distraction and better divide between work and private time. When I leave the office, I'm done for the day. I find somewhat ironic that people use an alleged higher productivity at home as justification for remote work, but but doing chores around the house throughout the day always comes up as a perk of WFH. Doing chores and being productive are antithetic. Anecdotic…

I personally really enjoy my commute. It does take 25 minutes, but I cycle, enjoying the views of parks and multiple gorgeous monuments. It makes me move a bit, as opposed to my usual very very sedentary days when I wfh. I imagine this isn't as frequent in the US, as I live in Germany.

I have actually moved to a team that doesn't do wfh so much anymore because my days were long and boring. Life is much better seeing humans on a day to day basis (and I still have some flexibility for wfh and working from abroad).

Re: I will always prefer to work from home

#217

Post by Mountain_Skies »

Offices, along with mass transit, are superspreader sites, but we're asked to pretend that they're not, even after going through a pandemic during which we were told to be in constant fear of killing grandma and potentially everyone else we come into contact with. It's amazing how quickly things like caring for the environment disappear the instant they become inconvenient for businesses or governments, and the same is true for just about every single thing that was rammed down our throats during the pandemic that should be forgotten so managers can look out over their underlings and extroverts can get their unspoken fringe benefit of using the office as a place to socialize.

COUGH COUGH! Oh well, none of that pandemic stuff really matters anymore, right? Which is weird considering how much messaging there is around everyone needing to get more boosters. Can't even go grocery shopping with it being announced. So, what is it? Over or not? If it's still on, why are superspreader activities allowed, especially when there's a viable option of not maximizing office attendance?

Re: I will always prefer to work from home

#218

Post by doubled112 »

ghaff wrote: post #212
doubled112 wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's actually amazing. Bad news. The front lawn is only 9 feet across. There is no back yard. Sorry for not being clear and up front in the requirements.

That's cool. I've known people who have had something in that general vein built. Given that this is probably something north of $25K by the time you pay for everything though, it's not obviously a better deal than just getting something custom built from some plans.

I could definitely build something less nice but just as functional for a fraction of that price.

It is basically a shed with a nice front window, as it says on the tin.

Re: I will always prefer to work from home

#219

Post by dmitrygr »

charcircuit wrote: post #207
dmitrygr wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please acquaint yourself with the term "interrupt overhead". Then with the term "email". I can suggest a number of books on effective communication as well. Few of them recommend randomly interrupting people busy actually doing things.

In the TFA the OP is being interrupted in an office without an open floor plan. I am saying that an open floor plan would make it easier for others to read his body language that he currently does not want to be interrupted.

Why does body language need to get into involved? It is a simple flowchart.

Is a building on fire? Yes? Interrupt. No? Email and trust the person to properly prioritize your email between work items.

Re: I will always prefer to work from home

#220

Post by karim79 »

I used to work at a fortune 500, my commute (each way) was 45 minutes in the best of conditions. 100% of my job could have been done from any location.

Back-of-the-envelope calculation for how much time in a year was spent commuting (conservatively, and not factoring in public holidays and vacation days) would be 15 days/year commuting.

So as a proposal, give employees who can fulfil their duties from anywhere, the choice - Want to work from the office? Your commute time will be compensated in days off, or extra pay, or a mixture of both if you want.

I think that has a lot less stink to it than, for instance, Amazon's recent move to block promotions from WFH insisters.

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