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Working from home is powering productivity

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Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#321

Post by benterix »

jandrewrogers wrote: post #260

I think a lot of people are talking past each other. I’ve mostly WFH since long before the pandemic, in many different capacities at many companies. A lot of people have tunnel vision and the reality is more nuanced than most allow. For IC work that requires minimal collaboration, WFH is often more productive. Fewer interruptions, more focus. However, when the role requires detailed collaboration and regular interact…

> I think a lot of people are talking past each other.

Of course. Apart from the WFH majority there also vocal proponents of hybrid (and I believe some who believe in full RTO, although these seem to be very few).

The solution to this conundrum is to give people a choice. Yes, I worked for a few companies who do just that and everybody is happy! Those who want it, come to the office, those who don't, work from where they wish. Everybody's happy, and it's just that simple. The fact that most companies are afraid of even considering giving people a choice is a sign of... I don't know, a "tunnel vision"?

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#322

Post by watwut »

ahimthedream wrote: post #146
throwaway918299 wrote: post #52

I am literally at least 10x when I work from home. I have ADHD and through years of discipline, cultivating my workspace to suit my needs, and hard work I can be productive most of the day in the zone without (much) sidetracking. Literally impossible for me to do in the modern software dev sweatshop. I also make more money, can spend more time with my family because I don’t commute, and plenty of other positives. I l…

You are the anomaly, not the norm. WFH takes discipline, work ethic and honestly the ability to manage a work life balance. Doing this is hard, like you said. Problem is most people aren’t disciplined:)

I think that he is the norm, actually. Slacking off in the work is easy too, there are many empty discussions that feels like a work, discussions that are not work at all but you still count it as working time. If no one sees your monitor you can watch the same youtube. But, since you are at office you clock at as working.

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#323

Post by watwut »

tiborsaas wrote: post #199
hirvi74 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> WFH takes discipline That is bizarre to me. I find the office takes far more discipline. Do people really get that distracted at home? What is so distracting?

Office is an external discipline forced on you while WFH is an internal discipline no one watching over your shoulders, that's the difference. For an undisciplined person anything can be distracting: birds chirping, picking up a delivery, cooking, a friend dropping by, daily chores like washing, organizing things, etc... it's an endless list really.

Undisciplined people distract themselves in the office and they happen to distract all other workers around them too.

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#324

Post by watwut »

capn_duck wrote: post #248
hirvi74 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> WFH takes discipline That is bizarre to me. I find the office takes far more discipline. Do people really get that distracted at home? What is so distracting?

The 16 pings a minute. The 6 hours of meetings a day because people aren't getting the information they need organically each day. The "hey, can I call?"'s during what I thought would be my free half hour in the afternoon. This is definitely not what it was like in the office. Unfortunately, I recognize this doesn't change unless an org goes 100% back onsite.

> The "hey, can I call?"'s during what I thought would be my free half hour in the afternoon.

This happens in the office more. Someone just coming to you with whatever they need in the moment.

> The 6 hours of meetings a day because people aren't getting the information they need organically each day.

That is excessive amount of meetings. But also, that organic getting information was still a meeting, you just did not considered it one.

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#325

Post by byte_head »

I believe that Returning To the Office represents a significant step backward from a societal perspective. Governments should actively legislate against unnecessary in-person gatherings in offices.

To illustrate my point, I’ll share an anecdote that highlights the harm caused by this trend. I live in a major EU city, and last Wednesday, I had a doctor’s appointment in the city center at 4 PM, a peak traffic hour. Unfortunately, my bus was caught in a traffic jam. Despite the fact that buses typically have dedicated lanes in the EU, we were still stuck.

Suddenly, we heard the sirens of an emergency ambulance behind us. Unfortunately, the ambulance was also trapped in the gridlock. Other drivers tried to make way, but the road was too narrow to allow any effective movement. I don't know what the emergency was or who needed help, but it was clear that valuable time was lost—time that could be critical for saving lives.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, such traffic jams were virtually non-existent, as most people worked from home. Now, consider how many similar situations occur daily in cities around the world. RTO policies that force people to commute contribute to dangerous traffic congestion that can literally cost lives.

The societal disadvantages extend even further. When people work from an office, their homes still need heating and electricity; you can’t simply turn them off, especially in my climate. This means we end up maintaining two properties with full utility costs.

Additionally, there’s the increased wear on city infrastructure from more vehicles on the road, elevated levels of traffic pollution, and the under-utilization of office spaces that could be repurposed into affordable housing.

The push for RTO is clearly wasteful compared to the benefits of working from home.

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#326

Post by dt3ft »

When in office, I typically spend 70% of my time helping coworkers with their issues, since they feel like it's ok to just walk by and ask for help. When I work from home, my output skyrockets.

In essence, I'm a mentor, but have expectations to deliver high quality and reach tight deadlines.

I hate going to the office, since my commute is 45+45 minutes.

The moment I get forced to go to the office full time is the moment I take another offer where WFH is on the table.

Hire expencive, qualified workers who don't require hand-holding, and you won't have to care where they work from. Guaranteed.

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#327

Post by Hendrikto »

matrix2003 wrote: post #251
chii wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why can’t we have both? having both is equivalent to having WFH (but without the cost savings to the business regarding office rentals). People who want an office are likely doing so in the expectation that there'd be people there. What actually happens is that the office is semi-empty on most days, and you'd get a few ghosts here and there (unless there's mandated office days). So in the end, hybrid (without manda…

I kind of think WeWork’s business model might have succeeded in the WFH post-Covid era. It allows the company to be flexible with meeting space budget without being on the hook for permanent space. My company ran out of space pre-Covid, so we would book random meeting spaces (within walking distance) around the city.

There are companies that have pulled off We Work style office renting successfully for decades.

Just without the crazy, megalomaniac founder CEO, without trying to spin it as being the savior of humanity, without a buttload of unrelated and extremely questionable side projects, without trying to sell it as a tech company and inflating the valuation to absurd levels.

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#328

Post by akoboldfrying »

vbezhenar wrote: post #283
jandrewrogers wrote: post #260

I think a lot of people are talking past each other. I’ve mostly WFH since long before the pandemic, in many different capacities at many companies. A lot of people have tunnel vision and the reality is more nuanced than most allow. For IC work that requires minimal collaboration, WFH is often more productive. Fewer interruptions, more focus. However, when the role requires detailed collaboration and regular interact…

It might be efficient to work 60 hours week. Doesn't mean we should agree to it. Remote work improves quality of life. I don't care about company KPI or efficiency, I care about my own well-being first and foremost, as long as I have a choice. Companies should adapt and if it means that their efficiency will decrease, so be it.

It sounds like you're advocating for a legally protected right to WFH. Are you?

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#329

Post by dingaling »

dt3ft wrote: post #326

When in office, I typically spend 70% of my time helping coworkers with their issues, since they feel like it's ok to just walk by and ask for help. When I work from home, my output skyrockets. In essence, I'm a mentor, but have expectations to deliver high quality and reach tight deadlines. I hate going to the office, since my commute is 45+45 minutes. The moment I get forced to go to the office full time is the mom…

> Hire expencive, qualified workers

> who don't require hand-holding,

> and you won't have to care where

> they work from.

But employees only get to that level of capability through early, engaged mentoring. WFH destroys that personal connection. So then you have new, or inexperienced, employees trawling through SharePoint trying to find some nugget of information about how and why X integrates with Y. Hours and hours are lost, I've seen it first-hand.

Whereas 15 minutes of face-time doodling on a page with an experienced analyst will accelerate the newbie's capability out of proportion to the time spent.

Re: Working from home is powering productivity

#330

Post by pjc50 »

noch wrote: post #303
CalRobert wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately this can be a race to the bottom as companies with wfh are driven out of business by those without

> companies with wfh are driven out of business by those without This is unlikely. Notice the parent post said: >> I don't care about company KPI or efficiency, I care about my own well-being first and foremost […] So you have a situation where: - Most of your employees think of your company's success and their lifestyle as competing interests. - Most of your employees are focused on optimizing their lifestyle rather…

Why would you prioritize company success in a world where the company has zero loyalty to you? You trade off your lifestyle in return for no equity and get made redundant at zero notice? Why would you do that?

> Most of your employees think of your company's success and their lifestyle as competing interests.

There are only so many hours in the day.

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