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Does Working From Home Work? Evidence From a Chinese Experiment

econ.brown.edu

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

#41

Post by adnanofsteel »

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…

I suspect this perhaps also has to do with the type of person you are as well. If you are a natural introvert and long for solitude to help you re-charge yourself, working from home can be a great source of productivity and general happiness. I am at times allowed to work from home myself, and I do indeed get more done that way. I am also a lot happier and less prone to stresses and downtimes when I've had one or two day break from the ''natural'' work environment.

In our day and age, I really feel as though traditional office work conditions are archaic and in fact do not encourage productivity, as they instil the idea that the employee should forget about his or her job as soon as the clock hits 5PM. I believe this is also why many children and students find it hard to do their homework after school. We can get a lot more done now as we are constantly connected and online. Many of us still do our work outside of, and before, working hours. In return, there should be more freedom of movement and flexibility.

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

#42

Post by jmadsen »

I tend to reply to "Does working from Home work?" with "Does working from Work work?"

Having spent a few years in a corporate environment, and many more as a consultant in other people's corporate environments, I can tell you first hand that the amount of work you do has very little to do with where your chair is located.

Either you are the type of person who gets stuff done, or you aren't.

There are huge distractions everywhere you go. People who get things done incorporate them into their schedules & stay productive. Others use them as a welcome escape from actually working.

That said, home workers are 1) monitored more closely and 2) fresher from not having to deal with commutes, so no surprise to see the numbers show them as "more productive"

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

#43

Post by gmrple »

jontas wrote: post #17
gmrple wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[anecdotal] Last year I would allocate 4 hours a day for commuting to Chicago via train. I now commute 2-4 hours via car to work. I thoroughly enjoyed my commute to Chicago for quite/reading time and predictability. I hate my commute to work now. I will be moving closer soon.

I went through a similar experience, and I eventually discovered that audiobooks made my driving commute almost as enjoyable as the train.

Talk radio helps a bit, and I know my dad has done the same as you. I might just give that a try, I know my local library has quite a few on hand.

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

#44

Post by yeureka »

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.

Agreed. I have been working from home for more than a year now and I do feel isolated. When I am working on something interesting this doesn't affect me much, but when I am stuck in a problem it is easy to feel a bit anxious and depressed.

To cope with it I exercise and try to see my friends as much as I can.

Running and weights seem to be more effective against isolation induced anxiety. Swimming helps me relax when I feel frustrated with a specific problem.

Reading HN helps as well.

I am much more productive working at home, but as soon as I finish my current project I am going to try to get contract work that involves some office time before I loose my sanity.

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

#45

Post by patrikmcguire »

vasco wrote: post #28

"The frequency of working from home has been rising rapidly in the US" I don't understand why they even mention the USA. Do they try to extrapolate that USA workers would react the same way Chinese workers did? I'm don't know if they would but it is reasonable to fear that the very different cultural environment could affect results. Or not, we don't know. Hence my question.

A lot of classical psych studies get completely different results when run in non-Western societies (I'd link but Wikipedia cites a print publication |:). There's a tendency to view everything in the West as "the default" and deviations from that as culture bound. So to answer your question, it would be a pretty tenuous extrapolation from Chinese to American workers.

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

#46

Post by pault »

EvanKelly wrote: post #37
Osiris wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You underestimate how much of your social interaction comes from your coworkers. I've been remote for 3 years now, and my social network has atrophied to nothing, with the exception of some superficial interactions on facebook with people I used to see every day. To be fair, I have been traveling pretty consistently since I started this arrangement, and nobody wants to be friends with a transient. I mostly cope by working out several hours per day, but I'm at the end of my rope and all I really want is to settle down (as soon as I find a mid-sized city with year-round perfect weather, cheap cost of living, and a thriving community of creative technical professionals ;)

edit: That being said, I'm not sure I would be able to return to regular office work and all the social posturing that comes along with it.

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

#47

Post by jaggederest »

HeyLaughingBoy wrote: post #10
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.

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.

Ah, the study I was talking about was covering car commuting, only. Public transit has a different cost curve, clearly - one more related to how long you spend waiting than how long you spend riding.

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

#48

Post by EvanKelly »

pault wrote: post #46
EvanKelly wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You underestimate how much of your social interaction comes from your coworkers. I've been remote for 3 years now, and my social network has atrophied to nothing, with the exception of some superficial interactions on facebook with people I used to see every day. To be fair, I have been traveling pretty consistently since I started this arrangement, and nobody wants to be friends with a transient. I mostly cope by wo…

I certainly interact with my co-workers at work and talk about the normal stuff (sports, news, politics, etc.), but outside of work I see my co-workers 0% of the time, unless I coincidentally run into them.

My outside of work socializing is simply people I've either met on my own or through the 2-3 people I knew in the city befor I moved here 2 years ago.

I would recommend Honolulu for your relocation, but cost of living is a little steep (but manageable...and worth it) and our tech community is definitely in the development stage (though it is existent and fairly active).

EDIT: I want to clarify that I probably do underestimate the benefit of my work interactions. The reason I go out and socialize so much is that I find myself feeling isolated and lonely on nights/weekends where I choose to stay in.

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

#50

Post by enraged_camel »

jmadsen wrote: post #42

I tend to reply to "Does working from Home work?" with "Does working from Work work?" Having spent a few years in a corporate environment, and many more as a consultant in other people's corporate environments, I can tell you first hand that the amount of work you do has very little to do with where your chair is located. Either you are the type of person who gets stuff done, or you aren't. There are huge distraction…

Your post comes across as very cynical, and I disagree with it completely. The type of environment someone is in always has an effect on their productivity. In my case this effect is huge. For example, I build software demos for a living (Sales Engineer at a software company), which requires big chunks of uninterrupted time. I cannot find that at work, even with noise-canceling headphones. If I'm at home though, or even a coffee shop, I get in "The Zone" very easily and can stay in it for quite a while before needing a break. This way, I've built demos in one day that would otherwise have taken me over a week.
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