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A recent poll of employees who are working remotely

today.yougov.com

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Re: A recent poll of employees who are working remotely

#3
This article misinterpreted the survey. 91% of people don't want to work from home, 91% want it as an option, and that's only people who are currently working from home who used to not.

57% seems more accurate: "But once the crisis is over, most (57%) of those who were working before the outbreak and who intend to stay part of the workforce say they want to be able to continue working from home."

Actual survey results: https://yougov.co.uk/topics/economy/articles-reports/2020/09...

Re: A recent poll of employees who are working remotely

#4

It seems unlikely to me that the disaster that's been schooling-from-home has somehow been a stunning success for work-from-home, and I think most employers see it.

Yup. Publicly employers are stating how important children are and that they're fully understanding. No doubt in the board room it's a bit more like "stupid children distracting our employees. This needs fixing"

Re: A recent poll of employees who are working remotely

#5

This article misinterpreted the survey. 91% of people don't want to work from home, 91% want it as an option, and that's only people who are currently working from home who used to not. 57% seems more accurate: "But once the crisis is over, most (57%) of those who were working before the outbreak and who intend to stay part of the workforce say they want to be able to continue working from home." Actual survey result…

I agree. I feel like there's a VERY important needle to thread here about what people mean by saying they "want to work from home".

And that sentiment might also change post-COVID.

I also wonder what this means for people who aren't in the best situation to work remotely.

Re: A recent poll of employees who are working remotely

#6

It seems unlikely to me that the disaster that's been schooling-from-home has somehow been a stunning success for work-from-home, and I think most employers see it.

In my broader circles, there is a massive divide in this between people with school-age children and people without, which shouldn't be a surprise I suppose.

Re: A recent poll of employees who are working remotely

#7
I suspect a lot of the "we're all going to be remote from now on" sentiment is overblown.

It seems to me more likely that there will be a few more remote friendly companies, and a very few more remote-only companies after the dust settles, but the real shift will be for most "office based" workers will be the expectation of partially working from home.

There is a big difference between "never going to an office again" and "not going in 5 days a week".

Re: A recent poll of employees who are working remotely

#8

This article misinterpreted the survey. 91% of people don't want to work from home, 91% want it as an option, and that's only people who are currently working from home who used to not. 57% seems more accurate: "But once the crisis is over, most (57%) of those who were working before the outbreak and who intend to stay part of the workforce say they want to be able to continue working from home." Actual survey result…

To me the concern here is that if a company offers working remotely as an option, remote workers will always be second-class citizens. (The bad habit of Slack DMs instead of conversations in a public channel is already pretty entrenched.) People that work in the office will have casual conversations that exclude people working remotely, and the remote workers will always be a little behind. I think for that reason that all or nothing is the most fair. (I wonder if giving people a coworking space for free is the answer to people that need to get away from home, which is a completely reasonable concern.)

Re: A recent poll of employees who are working remotely

#10

It seems unlikely to me that the disaster that's been schooling-from-home has somehow been a stunning success for work-from-home, and I think most employers see it.

Work from home has given me opportunities that were previously unavailable because companies did not want remote employees (it was not in the culture). I can now pick up some part time contract work at these places to help save $$.

IMO WFH is a lot easier on smaller teams/org's, where you have deep expertise. It is not a pancea, but it certainly is better then no WFH.

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