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You Don’t Want to Work from Home

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Re: You Don’t Want to Work from Home

#11

Post by icc97 »

flarg wrote: post #6

FWIW - I've been working from home for maybe 10 years now and I personally don't have a problem with focus (even with a toddler shouting 'papa' very loudly every half hour :). But in all the jobs I've done there is a gradual erosion of communication with in-office teams which can only be remedied by regular office visits. Not sure what I can do to remedy this; office visits are hard (the office is in a different coun…

Have you tried actually measuring your productivity with something like rescuetime [0]?

[0]: https://www.rescuetime.com/

Re: You Don’t Want to Work from Home

#12

Post by icc97 »

ikeda wrote: post #2

I find I'm much more productive outside of the home. At home it's too easy to interrupt yourself with non-work related chores. In the same respect I don't exercise at home, I go to the gym and get the workout done without distraction. Since I don't work for a company per-se, everyday of the week I go to a different place to work -- libraries, cafes, and coworking spaces. Occasionally I meet with a friend who has the…

You're not completely forced, you can choose to move companies. So unless financially constrained, either you enjoy the company of the people you work with enough to stay there or you should move.

Also sometimes it takes a while to get to know people and you don't necessarily know ahead of time who that will be. Saying that I've had maybe one friend who I would still speak to 5 years after leaving a company.

Re: You Don’t Want to Work from Home

#13

Post by icc97 »

dx034 wrote: post #3

I believe working from home is possible with the right set up and social network. He said that he lived with his grandmother who needed help when working from home. That implies that he probably wasn't able to fully focus on work for 8 horus at a time. Working from home is only efficient (IMO) if you have a room that you solely use for work. You need to have a clear boundary between work and free time, separate physi…

One of the issues of working from home is that you track your hours more closely. So where as in an office if you're only productive for 5-6 hours it's not tracked and so people probably won't notice. If you work from home your expected to be productive for 7-8 hours a day. This can mean working 2-3 extra hours that typically you'd save in commuting.

I don't see myself as being particularly more productive at home. I charge by the hour and so financially it doesn't make sense to commute and pay for an office, but for anyone who's getting a fixed wage I think the commuting benefits can be over stated. The main gain is in flexibility.

Re: You Don’t Want to Work from Home

#14

Post by frobozz »

dx034 wrote: post #5
ido wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've worked from home for years and from an office for many more years (been working as a programmer for about 16 years now). IMO the main disadvantages of working from an office can be alleviated by just working fewer hours - unfortunately companies are not very fond of that (it's almost impossible to find a job as a programmer for less than 40h/week). My optimal work situation would be a commute of up to half an ho…

> My optimal work situation would be a commute of up to half an hour (15 minutes in each direction) and working 9am to 4pm. I certainly agree to that but as you say, this is hard to get. A short commute is probably better than no commute (to prime your brain for the different environment) but most service sector jobs focus on large cities (since few people appear to be willing to move to the country side).

This is true, but the some of the same factors that facilitate WFH can also facilitate those companies locating their offices in suburbs or in large towns/small cities.

Re: You Don’t Want to Work from Home

#16

Post by colept »

borplk wrote: post #9

If you are single and live alone and have a decent home office setup there are no issues with distractions. Toddlers and partners and family members don't apply to everyone.

Being single and working from home for me was isolating and I found myself gradually becoming more seclusive while wanting to be social. When I was living with family I found myself wishing for more seclusion. In the article I try to write more of the abstract :)
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