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People love working remotely

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Re: People love working remotely

#241

Post by eikenberry »

ken wrote: post #19

Elephant in the room: how many of these people would prefer it to having a private office ? Strangely, this article/survey/infographic never mentions that option. I'd prefer remote work, too, over sitting in an open floorplan office, but I'd much prefer an actual office to either one. The easy "why" is: despite all the drawbacks, a lot of us will do pretty much anything to get out of an open floorplan.

I don't know. I'd assume the order would be remote > private office > open office. I'm full time remote and there is no way I'd prefer a private office. That'd mean a commute, being away from my family and an inferior work environment.

Why would you prefer an office to home? The only situation I could imagine where I'd like to occasionally go into an private office would be if I were single and living alone, so I could see people occasionally.

Re: People love working remotely

#242

Post by siruncledrew »

Summarized thread takeaways are:

1. Those that WFH mostly prefer to WFH. Not really a surprise. Akin to "Those that like cooking enjoy making food at home".

2. Plenty of personal reasons why WFH working habits should be generalized across everybody because someone prefers it for themselves.

3. WFH works out better when home is already a convenient place to work; not necessarily if someone lives in a 80 sq ft room or wants to meet people/do things in a certain place.

Re: People love working remotely

#243

Post by feocco »

ken wrote: post #19

Elephant in the room: how many of these people would prefer it to having a private office ? Strangely, this article/survey/infographic never mentions that option. I'd prefer remote work, too, over sitting in an open floorplan office, but I'd much prefer an actual office to either one. The easy "why" is: despite all the drawbacks, a lot of us will do pretty much anything to get out of an open floorplan.

I just made my own private office in my home. Easily done with cost savings of remote work.

I suspect you mean private office at HQ, or alike. To which I'd say... that'd be a hell of a lot better than tradition or open office layout. But you'd still lose most of the remote benefits for what I suspect is little gain.

Re: People love working remotely

#244

Post by Agentlien »

ken wrote: post #174
Agentlien wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a private office for a couple of years. I've also worked in open plan landscapes as well as offices with 4-8 people. This year, however, I've started working from home a lot. I like it much more than any of the above and generally get so much more done. I can relax and breathe in my own home. Make some tea and sit in the garden when I need to think. My focus, productivity and well being have been through the ro…

Maybe I'm missing it, but these still sound like variations on the theme of "my office is lousy so working from home is relatively nicer". An hour commute is just nuts. According to statistics I found, that's more than double the average. I've worked at places with a 5 minute commute, and they're great. I realize not everyone has infinite flexibility in where they live, but a workplace would have to be pretty amazing…

You have a few valid points, but seem to be missing a few things, as well.

You say an hour is terrible and talk about an average. Average for whom and where? I live in Sweden, 30km outside of Gothenburg. It's a nice 15 minute walk through a wooded area and along a stream, then a 25 minute ride with the commuter train. On the train I read the latest articles while listening to music or play on the Switch. Once in Gothenburg it's a ten minute walk from the station to the office.

The office isn't terrible and has a lot of good things going for it, including a beautiful rooftop terrace. It's also quite social, filled with people who very passionately share my interests and with whom I play magic over lunch.

The main issue is that it's very busy and I often need peace and quiet. Even when I had my own office and could think uninterrupted it still wasn't as good as being home. It's the comfort of being home, with all my things and a beautiful house in a peaceful neighbourhood with a large garden at the edge of the forest. It would be unreasonable to expect an office in the busy downtown area to be able to compete with that. Also, when I need to think at home I often do household chores, and then they're done and i can spend my whole evening playing with my kids or spending time with my wife.

Re: People love working remotely

#245

Post by jefftk »

> Why Everyone Loves Remote Work ... 91% of remote workers said working remotely is a good fit for them.

There's a large gap between "the small fraction of workers who are remote love working remotely" and "everyone loves working remotely". My wife works remotely, and likes it a lot. I've worked remotely, don't like it at all, and am back in an office.

(For me, I'm just happiest if I'm in the same place as my coworkers. The place I worked at remotely seemed to do everything right, but I still felt disconnected and lonely.)

Re: People love working remotely

#246

Post by colordrops »

wolco wrote: post #104
g051051 wrote: post #16

I was full-time WFH for 6 wonderful years. I was happy, my productivity was off the charts, I was saving tons of money because I didn't have to spend it on my car and clothes, I had extra time that I wasn't wasting on my commute, etc. Then, we had a big shake-up. A bunch of senior people left, and new "leadership" came in to "transform" our workplace. All WFH was cancelled in our division (in spite of still being off…

Happened to me. What I did was go into the office and constantly talk to the vp's and ceo. Not about anything important really boring weather/how are you doing? The more removed the person from my department the more I would go out of my way to talk to them. Start asking difficult questions at the all staff forums. Always threw in doubts in meetings with non-tech people. I asked for a special chair for my back. Start…

This sort of sabotage wouldn't get past the management where I work. They'd see right through it and fire me.

Re: People love working remotely

#247

Post by wccrawford »

jdboyd wrote: post #88
g051051 wrote: post #16

I was full-time WFH for 6 wonderful years. I was happy, my productivity was off the charts, I was saving tons of money because I didn't have to spend it on my car and clothes, I had extra time that I wasn't wasting on my commute, etc. Then, we had a big shake-up. A bunch of senior people left, and new "leadership" came in to "transform" our workplace. All WFH was cancelled in our division (in spite of still being off…

> a 15 minute fact-to-face is better than a multi-day email chain What if it takes you 4 hours to come up with a good answer?

I've had plenty of face-to-face conversations with my boss demanding an answer to an immediately problem that basically ended with me saying, "I need to look into this," repeatedly until the conversation ended and I could actually work on it.

Re: People love working remotely

#248

Post by rdtsc »

g051051 wrote: post #16

I was full-time WFH for 6 wonderful years. I was happy, my productivity was off the charts, I was saving tons of money because I didn't have to spend it on my car and clothes, I had extra time that I wasn't wasting on my commute, etc. Then, we had a big shake-up. A bunch of senior people left, and new "leadership" came in to "transform" our workplace. All WFH was cancelled in our division (in spite of still being off…

> "a 15 minute fact-to-face is better than a multi-day email chain".

It could be they really believe that. But it is often one of these real reasons:

1) They want some people to quit, but they don't want to lay them off explicitly to avoid looking bad. The idea being some employees won't relocate or enjoy driving to the office every day so they'll just leave.

2) They think people are lazy and don't work when they are at home. So they want them in the office to supervise them.

3) It makes them feel important walking around and seeing all their subordinates right there in one place. Sometimes it is just as simple as that.

Re: People love working remotely

#249

Post by r00fus »

g051051 wrote: post #16

I was full-time WFH for 6 wonderful years. I was happy, my productivity was off the charts, I was saving tons of money because I didn't have to spend it on my car and clothes, I had extra time that I wasn't wasting on my commute, etc. Then, we had a big shake-up. A bunch of senior people left, and new "leadership" came in to "transform" our workplace. All WFH was cancelled in our division (in spite of still being off…

In so many ways, your direct management team influences heavily your quality of life at work.

If you're not tight with your manager (or whoever else is a strong dotted-line with power over your employment situation) then it's time to move (or at least make your discomfort known).

Re: People love working remotely

#250

Post by ptero »

oneepic wrote: post #216
ptero wrote: post #9

Remote work can be great, but it requires two key things. First is the ability to actually do useful work at home or other non-office location. This is not hard (I suspect some people working remotely do goof off, but I suspect those people are not super useful sitting in the office either). Second, much harder, is the employer support. Direct manager of remote workers should know how to manage them (which is a rare…

>First is the ability to actually do useful work at home or other non-office location. This is not hard (I suspect some people working remotely do goof off, but I suspect those people are not super useful sitting in the office either) You'd be wrong to suspect that. I am very productive at work but I just end up getting distracted at home. It is hard. It's a mentality thing. Additionally, when I'm at the office, I ca…

Agreed, clarification needed. I meant "many/most", but made the sentence read as if I meant "everyone".
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