It seems pretty old school to have to commute to an office in order to work. Why is remote work not mainstream yet? Seems pretty obvious we’ll end up all working remotely in a near future. Instead of putting 100% of our resources in green and self driven vehicles. I think Elon Musk missed that one :) [sarcasm]
Ask HN: Why is remote work not mainstream in 2018?
1–10 of 18 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why is remote work not mainstream in 2018?
#2Because studies show that people are more collaborative when they work in the same office as their co-workers. Studies also show that collaborative teams are more productive. There is a lot of value in personal face to face conversations with your co-workers and you don't get that when working remotely.
Re: Ask HN: Why is remote work not mainstream in 2018?
#3Because studies show that people are more collaborative when they work in the same office as their co-workers. Studies also show that collaborative teams are more productive. There is a lot of value in personal face to face conversations with your co-workers and you don't get that when working remotely.
That is old news right? What if we improve our resources to make remote communication like face to face communication? Using VR, etc.
Re: Ask HN: Why is remote work not mainstream in 2018?
#4I think you are underestimating how much has to change in company culture, communication and structure to make a remote office work efficiently and effectively. I am remote and we work hard to try to minimize the issues but there are always extra delays and miscommunications because of time zones or multiple communication channels etc.
And there is something to still getting together to bond as a team, work through problems together and learn how each other work. I travel enough to make sure I work with the team, bond with them and so we all learn how each other function. This makes remote possible, but it is never a panacea of perfection.
Don't misunderstand me, I am very much in favor of remote teams/people/work, but taking a company that is established and adding remote workers just doesn't work without a lot of process changes, additions, the right expectations and time. Starting a company as remote friendly is a lot easier if you follow well known patterns that work but even than there are challenges you wouldn't face otherwise.
Even business structure/registrations etc have to be updated/changed, let's say you are small company in the U.S. state of Colorado and now you employ people in 5 other states. Your company will have to register in each of those states as a "foreign" employer and pay workers comp, taxes etc within those states. Yes, 3rd party payroll services help with a lot of the tax side, but there are so many more things that have to be monitored, registered etc. Now, say you do this cross international boundaries, it gets even more complex if you want to do things legally and have employees. Notice I said employees not contractors, that is a different situation.
Re: Ask HN: Why is remote work not mainstream in 2018?
#5Because studies show that people are more collaborative when they work in the same office as their co-workers. Studies also show that collaborative teams are more productive. There is a lot of value in personal face to face conversations with your co-workers and you don't get that when working remotely.
That is old news right? What if we improve our resources to make remote communication like face to face communication? Using VR, etc.
That doesn't help - you get better business meetings, but you don't get the non-business conversations that might lead to something more.
Real collaboration happens at the coffeepot - when people who didn't know they should talk accidentally run into each other and happen to talk about something they can help each other with.
Re: Ask HN: Why is remote work not mainstream in 2018?
#6"If you can do your job remotely, we can hire someone in India to do it for 1/3 the cost." - a former boss of mine.
Mindsets like that are a huge reason and in corporate America, "presenteeism" is still very common. Many people still pride themselves on long hours in the office.
Re: Ask HN: Why is remote work not mainstream in 2018?
#7I’ve worked with distributed, entirely remote, and partly remote teams. My takeaway is that there are some people who just communicate much more effectively in person. And no, videoconferencing doesn’t help.
Re: Ask HN: Why is remote work not mainstream in 2018?
#8"If you can do your job remotely, we can hire someone in India to do it for 1/3 the cost." - a former boss of mine. Mindsets like that are a huge reason and in corporate America, "presenteeism" is still very common. Many people still pride themselves on long hours in the office.
At my company, my boss felt the same way, and he pushed everyone to work long hours. I campaigned to work remotely part time, saying I'd get more done. This was routinely denied until eventually I left and worked for them as a consultant.
In my first month as a consultant, I got way more done than anyone else, and my boss was so surprised that he announced how much I got done at a company meeting (apparently I outperformed everyone).
Managers need to realize that some people thrive when they're able to set their own hours and completely eliminate distractions for hours on end. And no, just because I can work from home doesn't mean someone in India can do my job (we tried that, and it failed miserably).
We absolutely need to break this culture. I get way more done in less time when working remotely.
Re: Ask HN: Why is remote work not mainstream in 2018?
#9Because studies show that people are more collaborative when they work in the same office as their co-workers. Studies also show that collaborative teams are more productive. There is a lot of value in personal face to face conversations with your co-workers and you don't get that when working remotely.
There's also tons of downsides to working in an office, like unproductive interruptions and ridgid schedules.
When I started working from home, I got way more done, and I attribute that to a combination of almost no distractions (slack is way less distracting than physical interruptions) and flexibility. I work most of my hours early in the morning (6AM-1PM), then I go outside for family time, and then finish up in the evening if I have work left to do. I'm happier all around because I get higher quality family time, and I believe this translates to more productivity when I'm working.
I'm available during office hours on slack regardless, so I'm able to help my co-workers when they need it. I've responded to slack at the park, shopping, etc, and I my coworkers don't notice a difference (I see them in person for lunch occasionally because we're friends).
It's not right for everyone, but I think it can really improve productivity for those it does work for.
Re: Ask HN: Why is remote work not mainstream in 2018?
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
That is old news right? What if we improve our resources to make remote communication like face to face communication? Using VR, etc.
That doesn't help - you get better business meetings, but you don't get the non-business conversations that might lead to something more. Real collaboration happens at the coffeepot - when people who didn't know they should talk accidentally run into each other and happen to talk about something they can help each other with.
I work as a developer on a fully remote team. I agree with what you wrote, but a nice thing about being remote is you can conduct these “non-business” conversations on your own terms. When you’re at an office all day you probably only interact with your coworkers. When you work remote, you meet people outside your specific industry at cafes/coworking spaces.