Does Working From Home Work? Evidence From a Chinese Experiment • Hacker News Board

Re: Does Working From Home Work? Evidence From a Chinese Experiment

#31

Post by mhurron » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 7:55 PM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #19

nostromo wrote: post #16

Here's the payload for those not wanting to hunt for it in the paper: "We find a highly significant 12% increase in performance from home-working, of which 8% is from working more minutes of their shift period (fewer breaks and sick-days) and 3% from higher performance per minute. We find no negative spillovers onto workers left in the office. Home workers also reported substantially higher work satisfaction and psyc…

Somewhere (can't recall) it was said that those who predominantly worked from home, while effective as a workforce, suffered from lack of visibility and thus tended to not get raises or promotions as much as those who remained in the office (I assume this was normalized for responsibility/position).

IIRC that was mentioned here and was most likely to occur in teams where just a few worked remotely while the majority came into the office and interacted with management. The same thing will happen if you come to work, quietly do your job, quietly leave and don't interact with management.

Management won't promote the person they don't remember.

Re: Does Working From Home Work? Evidence From a Chinese Experiment

#32

Post by xianshou » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 8:01 PM UTC

the_cat_kittles wrote: post #5

jaggederest wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't find a citation, but I believe that I read that a 20 minute addition to your commute has the same long-term quality of life impact as losing function in a limb. This is for two reasons: firstly, the long term impact of losing function in a limb is far less than people think, and the long term impact of an increased commute is far more than people think.

do you know if commutes are as bad for people when they aren't the ones driving, so they could read for instance?

I couldn't stand a one-hour commute if I were driving, but as I take the train, I'm about 70% as productive during the commute as I could be normally.

Re: Does Working From Home Work? Evidence From a Chinese Experiment

#33

Post by forgottenpaswrd » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 8:24 PM UTC

In my opinion, as a a worker from home now for several years it is the best thing ever.

BUT, it is a skill that you have to learn. I had to read and watch-attend many productivity programs for "getting it".

Probably I will get a job teaching people how to do it in the future, because as networking speeds increase to Gygabits/second (thing google fiber in every house ten years from now), having instant hidef video would mean even more jobs would be possible from home.

Re: Does Working From Home Work? Evidence From a Chinese Experiment

#34

Post by Osiris » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 8:33 PM UTC

varelse wrote: post #27

Osiris wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting that you say that because I have the opposite experience. When I'm at the office I find that people around me talking causes a significant distraction. I use noise-canceling headphones almost all day at work just to block out the noise. In addition, I sit right next to a QA guy that works on my product and I can easy waste half a day dealing with his issues and questions. I find that I get significan…

My experiences are similar. But I suspect putting in a day or two a week listening to your QA guy might be a good thing in the long term.

It has it's pros and cons, that's for sure. In some ways it's very good and in other ways it can be distracting.

Re: Does Working From Home Work? Evidence From a Chinese Experiment

#35

Post by Osiris » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 8:36 PM UTC

varelse wrote: post #26

As someone who has mostly worked from home for the past decade: 1) Really long commutes for the sake of my butt keeping a seat warm to keep a manager happy are dealbreakers. I have never made such a job work out for me. At the most recent example, my brief position at Google involved a 1-hour commute each way only to spend 8-10 hours in a dead-silent office, where no one significantly interacted and for which I was f…

3) Working utterly and completely from home eventually leads to a sense of isolation and depression.

I did that for about three months straight and I agree with the assessment. At my new job I work 3-4 days a week in the office and 1-2 days at home. I find a mix of office and home to be a good balance, though I do find the commute an utter waste of time.

Re: Does Working From Home Work? Evidence From a Chinese Experiment

#36

Post by stock_toaster » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 8:49 PM UTC

Osiris wrote: post #35

varelse wrote: post #26

As someone who has mostly worked from home for the past decade: 1) Really long commutes for the sake of my butt keeping a seat warm to keep a manager happy are dealbreakers. I have never made such a job work out for me. At the most recent example, my brief position at Google involved a 1-hour commute each way only to spend 8-10 hours in a dead-silent office, where no one significantly interacted and for which I was f…

3) Working utterly and completely from home eventually leads to a sense of isolation and depression. I did that for about three months straight and I agree with the assessment. At my new job I work 3-4 days a week in the office and 1-2 days at home. I find a mix of office and home to be a good balance, though I do find the commute an utter waste of time.

I work remote most of the time. I have a family, which I think has insulated me from the sense of isolation to a large extent. It is good to head into the office on occasion though (once every two or three weeks or so).

Re: Does Working From Home Work? Evidence From a Chinese Experiment

#37

Post by EvanKelly » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 8:57 PM UTC

Osiris wrote: post #35

varelse wrote: post #26

As someone who has mostly worked from home for the past decade: 1) Really long commutes for the sake of my butt keeping a seat warm to keep a manager happy are dealbreakers. I have never made such a job work out for me. At the most recent example, my brief position at Google involved a 1-hour commute each way only to spend 8-10 hours in a dead-silent office, where no one significantly interacted and for which I was f…

3) Working utterly and completely from home eventually leads to a sense of isolation and depression. I did that for about three months straight and I agree with the assessment. At my new job I work 3-4 days a week in the office and 1-2 days at home. I find a mix of office and home to be a good balance, though I do find the commute an utter waste of time.

Is this the case with an active social life as well? I don't find that most of my socializing and interaction comes from my co-workers (who are significantly out of my age range).

I've never worked from home, but I'd really like to. I like to think as long as I still socialized after work (happy hour type stuff, kickball league, etc.) I wouldn't feel the isolation and depression.

Re: Does Working From Home Work? Evidence From a Chinese Experiment

#38

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 8:57 PM UTC

Osiris wrote: post #35

varelse wrote: post #26

As someone who has mostly worked from home for the past decade: 1) Really long commutes for the sake of my butt keeping a seat warm to keep a manager happy are dealbreakers. I have never made such a job work out for me. At the most recent example, my brief position at Google involved a 1-hour commute each way only to spend 8-10 hours in a dead-silent office, where no one significantly interacted and for which I was f…

3) Working utterly and completely from home eventually leads to a sense of isolation and depression. I did that for about three months straight and I agree with the assessment. At my new job I work 3-4 days a week in the office and 1-2 days at home. I find a mix of office and home to be a good balance, though I do find the commute an utter waste of time.

[deleted]

Re: Does Working From Home Work? Evidence From a Chinese Experiment

#39

Post by EvanKelly » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 9:11 PM UTC

the_cat_kittles wrote: post #5

jaggederest wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't find a citation, but I believe that I read that a 20 minute addition to your commute has the same long-term quality of life impact as losing function in a limb. This is for two reasons: firstly, the long term impact of losing function in a limb is far less than people think, and the long term impact of an increased commute is far more than people think.

do you know if commutes are as bad for people when they aren't the ones driving, so they could read for instance?

I envy everyone who has access to public transportation to work. My commute is 1 hour maximum, but usually around 30-40 minutes, but even then, I daydream sometimes about being able to read or write while commuting.

I have started listening to podcasts on my commute, and it's much more enjoyable than my music collection or any of the radio options here. I definitely should have started doing it earlier.

Re: Does Working From Home Work? Evidence From a Chinese Experiment

#40

Post by HeyLaughingBoy » Thu, Aug 23, 2012, 9:19 PM UTC

ryguytilidie wrote: post #22

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm having trouble seeing that. When the company I worked for moved 15 miles closer to home, my commute dropped from about an hour to less than 10 minutes. It had very little impact on my QOL. Likewise, when I decided to move 20 minutes farther away, my QOL actually improved, since I liked the area I lived in much more and there was more stuff to do after work.

How could having nearly 2 hours extra each day NOT improve your QOL? That really surprises me.

Because when it was taking me 1 hour to get to work it was about 20 minutes walking to train station, wait 5-10 mins for train, 20 minute train ride reading books/magazines, 5-10 minute walk to work. Fairly enjoyable.

After the move, it was about a 7-12 minute drive to work. Much shorter, but I liked being able to walk before and I could read or nap on the train. Had I been driving to work (instead of taking the train) before, it would have been a 1-2 hour stressful commute in heavy traffic.

As I read what I just wrote, I wonder if the reason for the "loss of limb" comparison is that the 20 minute commute they used as a reference is in heavy traffic. I have a 35-45 minute drive to work 2x a day now and again, dropping it to 15 minutes wouldn't be a big deal for me, but it is a very relaxing commute mostly along country roads where I get to drive at a consistently high speed.