The benefits of a more asynchronous workplace • Hacker News Board

Re: The benefits of a more asynchronous workplace

#131

Post by bitL » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 3:09 PM UTC

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #2

I tried sharing these studies at my ex employers in Europe hoping they'd spare me the hellish 40 minute commute in stop/start traffic and they weren't interested at all. Management there only values "butt time in seats" and the ability to come over and interrupt you by tapping you on the shoulder whenever they need something. As one of my ex CEOs put it: "If I don't see my employees stressing out at thier desks I get…

The worst thing is that Europeans take this attitude with them when they move to USA and then enforce it everywhere. They just can't imagine somebody working remotely properly and have the need to micromanage over IM, i.e. employees getting messaged immediately when one's status switches to "away" or similar.

Re: The benefits of a more asynchronous workplace

#132

Post by fwsgonzo » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 3:10 PM UTC

yodsanklai wrote: post #55

I work remotely. I've noticed that one thing that make me work harder than in an office, is that I feel that I need to earn the trust that my employer gives me. In an office, sometimes I feel that just being there is enough to justify my salary, even if I'm just chatting with colleagues or browsing the web. I discipline myself better when I work remotely. Another thing that makes a difference for me: I suffer from ba…

This was exactly my experience too, but I would gladly do remote again still. No chance of "advancement" within the company though for remotes.

Re: The benefits of a more asynchronous workplace

#133

Post by siffland » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 3:13 PM UTC

jrockway wrote: post #10

Sometimes I wonder if the underlying issue is that there isn't enough actual work for people to do. I worry that I'm about to sound super out of touch, but hear me out; I'm not making a value judgement about anyone's job. It is assumed that everyone needs to do exactly 40 hours of work per week, but ask yourself this: for every person in your company, what do their next 40 hours look like? 40 hours worth of HR polici…

I would guess in some positions, like those requiring clearances, that it is more important to have cleared employees there when needed than micromanaging if they are working 40 hours per week.

You wont keep most employees around for part time work, but you want to make sure if your production systems go down or customer orders need to be expedited, or an emergency patch, etc... that you have a team that knows how to do the work, can get it done fast enough and is cleared to do the work (if applicable).

In some cases it might be cheaper to have employees that might be idle a bit than to lose money on downtime. Just a guess though.

Re: The benefits of a more asynchronous workplace

#134

Post by 0xffff2 » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 3:13 PM UTC

gm wrote: post #97

mewpmewp wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know people expect you to answer immediately? I haven't noticed that expectation.

They ask questions which imply "I'm sitting on my hands until you answer me".

Is that your problem? Why?

Re: The benefits of a more asynchronous workplace

#135

Post by jdright » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 3:13 PM UTC

k__ wrote: post #127

BeetleB wrote: post #124

This is amusing. Not long ago I was in a thread about how to do remote work well and the top complaint amongst remote workers was "not responding quickly to IM" ( between remote workers). And the general sentiment was the expectation to respond quickly is greater in remote work. That alone made me not want to take remote jobs. At my current work place, my IM status says that whoever IM's me should not expect a respon…

I worked with both types of people. Funny thing is, when I am a freelancer, who gets paid much more money per hour than an employee, people valued my time and would send me mails or text messages and wait hours or days for an answer,. When I was an remote employee, people paid me less and called me three times before 10am. Somehow, many employers have the perception to own every minute their employees are awake. I wo…

> Somehow, many employers have the perception to own every minute their employees are awake.

This is increasingly true from my perspective as well. Not sure if I was willingly unaware or what.

Re: The benefits of a more asynchronous workplace

#136

Post by k__ » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 3:14 PM UTC

20-40% of the stuff you do at work are considered "real work", this is totally normal on-prem, but not remote.

Where do I get the best ideas to solve a problem?

Not when I'm sitting in front of it for 8h a day.

I get them when I stand up, buy groceries, do my laundry, shower, etc.

Does this provide huge value to the company I work for? Totally

Does the people at the company think I cheat them? Many do

Would they feel better if I sat in their office for 8h, have worse ideas, provide lower value and generally feel worse? Somehow many do too

Re: The benefits of a more asynchronous workplace

#137

Post by iblaine » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 3:14 PM UTC

This article conveniently overlooks problems when remote workers need supervision to keep them in line with expectations. I’ve had both good and bad experiences managing remote teams. The difference seems to be the quality of the remote workers. The quality of a remote persons work is inversely proportional to the supervision they require.

Re: The benefits of a more asynchronous workplace

#138

Post by siffland » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 3:16 PM UTC

kmlx wrote: post #25

my office is hell to work in. everyone simply shows up next to your screen and starts talking. that is why async comms from remote locations has been a blessing for me. i can simply queue the non important messages for later. once they've realised that i won't answer for a couple of hours they started being a lot more aware of what messages they're sending. thus comms improved greatly once everyone started working fr…

I have this issue as well. People will show up at my desk to get something done. Yes it should be in some sort of ticket, but then they are in a queue and might get another admin, so if they just show up they will probably get their stuff done so they will leave me alone and i can get onto other work (it is not that i don't want to see people, but i have lots of work usually).

Re: The benefits of a more asynchronous workplace

#139

Post by twoquestions » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 3:18 PM UTC

greggman2 wrote: post #68

Since remote work seems to be the topic this article on async communication spawned I wanted to throw this out there for reactions. First off let me acknowledge that some people prefer remote work and also say up front I do not. I recent YouAreNotSoSmart podcast interviewed Laurie Santos from Yale and if I understood her research basically claims we often both individually and as a society choose things we think will…

I find interacting with people who are forced to be there (like fast food workers/coworkers/bank tellers) doesn't really count for in-person interaction.

Personally, I'd rather interact with people who are honestly there, and aren't economically forced to submit to me or me to them.

EDIT: Wait, are you a manager referring to your subordinates? If so, you may have forgotten how stressful it is to constantly be submissive to everyone around you. If you're the same rank or above everyone else I can understand wanting interaction, but if you're on the receiving end then any interaction is an implicit demand you cut more flesh off yourself to please them.

Re: The benefits of a more asynchronous workplace

#140

Post by MadWombat » Wed, Oct 16, 2019, 3:21 PM UTC

greggman2 wrote: post #68

Since remote work seems to be the topic this article on async communication spawned I wanted to throw this out there for reactions. First off let me acknowledge that some people prefer remote work and also say up front I do not. I recent YouAreNotSoSmart podcast interviewed Laurie Santos from Yale and if I understood her research basically claims we often both individually and as a society choose things we think will…

"but interacting with the teller adds to your quota of needed interaction for happiness"

Is there some evidence that mundane interactions with total strangers actually make everyone happier? I know some people who thrive on social interactions, but for many of us it is a chore rather than an opportunity. A rather taxing chore at that.