Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Remote-first work is taking over the rich world – research hints at why

economist.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

421–430 of 487 posts

Re: Remote-first work is taking over the rich world – research hints at why

#421

Post by tablespoon »

Steltek wrote: post #412
znpy wrote: post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I used to bike to work, a productive 2 hours of exercise that kept me very healthy Just go and bike for two hours around the block and don't bother people fine with wfh. It's literally something nobody is preventing you from doing (besides yourself).

That was a pretty rude dismissal of a fraction of my experiences during all of this. You might want to reflect on what WFH has done to your social skills.

> That was a pretty rude dismissal of a fraction of my experiences during all of this. You might want to reflect on what WFH has done to your social skills.

I agree with you there.

The problem with WFH is that it doesn't force very many "transitions," which turns a lot more things into intentional acts that take more mental energy to initiate. The result it it's a lot easier to slide into a "blah" kind of state without even realizing it, and a lot harder to pull yourself out of one.

Re: Remote-first work is taking over the rich world – research hints at why

#422

Post by borski »

ren_engineer wrote: post #415
Steltek wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as a contrast, I think I've had the exact opposite WFH/lockdown experience as you. My quality of life has tangibly and significantly degraded across every positive point you listed. Even if my employer began offering office access, I don't think it will ever be the same as what I had before. I used to bike to work, a productive 2 hours of exercise that kept me very healthy, mentally and physically. I got to see…

>I got to see other people, even if they weren't strictly friends. Hell, I went outside on a regular basis! all of the complaints about remote work are more about the pandemic rather than remote work

Somewhat. Seeing people during WFH also requires advance planning now, to align schedules, etc. In a non-WFH environment, it was much easier to see people spontaneously. That has nothing to do with the pandemic and everything to do with the fact that you were already colocated and could thus grab lunch, dinner, go out to karaoke after work, or whatever, and it could be done without significant advance planning.

Re: Remote-first work is taking over the rich world – research hints at why

#423

Post by lowkey_ »

znpy wrote: post #418
Steltek wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was a pretty rude dismissal of a fraction of my experiences during all of this. You might want to reflect on what WFH has done to your social skills.

My social skills are absolutely fine, i can assure you of that. But I am utterly annoyed with selfish people effectively pulling the whole collectivity back to the office because they can't go bike for two hours or some other dumb reason. It's okay if you got a bit lazy during the pandemic and no one is denying that... but you don't have to pull all your coworkers to the office, you can just go bike or do some other…

> I am utterly annoyed with selfish people effectively pulling the whole collectivity back to the office

You might want to re-read their comment — there was no call for everyone to go back to the office, and the parent comment is right that you're being antagonizing for no reason.

Here's an analogy for you: I had a childhood I very much enjoyed, where I wasn't on the computer as often and I spent more time in nature. If I were to state this and how much happier I felt, would you start harassing me for trying to drag everyone back to the dark ages and ruining productivity? (No! I can express my own personal opinion and preference, just as you can express yours, and it's not automatically a call for everyone to do the same as me!)

Re: Remote-first work is taking over the rich world – research hints at why

#424

Post by disgruntledphd2 »

dSebastien wrote: post #181

There's no going back to the legacy reality. I don't know why some people can't seem to cope with the idea that reality is something that changes over time. I wrote about this a while ago: https://medium.com/management-matters/going-back-to-work-no-...

That's a really great article, thanks for sharing!

Re: Remote-first work is taking over the rich world – research hints at why

#425

Post by borski »

vinbreau wrote: post #386
evenhovercraft wrote: post #349

Very grateful that my employer has committed to remaining flexible with remote work. Full time in the office, hybrid, or full time remote. It’s up to the individual. Full time remote has done wonders for my health - instead of a 2 hour commute I get to exercise. Instead of coming home stressed, annoyed, and sitting in front of the TV, I go outside for a solid hour+ after I close my laptop. I travel more liberally now…

I started a new job this year. The employer and our manager have made it clear, IF you feel safe coming into an office once the company declares it safe you can. If you are never comfortable ever again with coming in to the office, you won't have to. They have dedicated themselves to what works best for each employee, zero pressure. Nobody on my team is going in it's been decided. I am way more productive at home. I…

Heh. I’m not disagreeing with your experience (as it’s yours, obviously) but I’m amused because I also have ADHD and an way less productive with WFH because home has so much more distraction; in an office where others are working it was much easier for me to focus than at home where Netflix or hacker news is only a tab away, and there’s no risk of anyone walking by. Plus, pairing was sort of focusing by default as well, and that’s harder (though not impossible) to do now.

Re: Remote-first work is taking over the rich world – research hints at why

#426

Post by Steltek »

ren_engineer wrote: post #415
Steltek wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just as a contrast, I think I've had the exact opposite WFH/lockdown experience as you. My quality of life has tangibly and significantly degraded across every positive point you listed. Even if my employer began offering office access, I don't think it will ever be the same as what I had before. I used to bike to work, a productive 2 hours of exercise that kept me very healthy, mentally and physically. I got to see…

>I got to see other people, even if they weren't strictly friends. Hell, I went outside on a regular basis! all of the complaints about remote work are more about the pandemic rather than remote work

Very true but it felt strange how everything that evenhovercraft listed as something gained from remote work was also something that I had lost. I don't think a post-Covid world would change that for me. My office is downtown, with restaurants and attractions and people. My home is in a streetcar suburb and while it has lots of nice things to walk to, it doesn't have what you would call a night life.

Re: Remote-first work is taking over the rich world – research hints at why

#427

Post by wing-_-nuts »

SturgeonsLaw wrote: post #235
zerocount wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those things are also insurance against being killed. Are you supposed to just hope the bad people don't pick you? No, you invest in offense so you can have a better defense.

I know man, I know. I'm not so naive as to say that if a country was enlightened enough to disband their military, then other countries would leave them be. They would be a seen as a ripe fruit, and they would be picked. I just wish it wasn't like this. I wish we didn't have people engaged in the business of enabling industrial scale murder. I wish it wasn't profitable. I wish the citizenry would see through the prop…

Understand, there's a lot of distance between 'we don't need a military', 'we need a military to defend American soil', and what we have today.

I am strongly in the 'we only need to defend American soil' camp. I'm not sure how much that costs, but considering we're a nuclear power, we have two relatively friendly neighbors and thousands of miles of ocean between us and our nearest peer enemies, it wouldn't surprise me if we could get away with spending a miniscule fraction of the 700B we do today.

Re: Remote-first work is taking over the rich world – research hints at why

#428

Post by tablespoon »

znpy wrote: post #418
Steltek wrote: post #412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That was a pretty rude dismissal of a fraction of my experiences during all of this. You might want to reflect on what WFH has done to your social skills.

My social skills are absolutely fine, i can assure you of that. But I am utterly annoyed with selfish people effectively pulling the whole collectivity back to the office because they can't go bike for two hours or some other dumb reason. It's okay if you got a bit lazy during the pandemic and no one is denying that... but you don't have to pull all your coworkers to the office, you can just go bike or do some other…

> My social skills are absolutely fine, i can assure you of that.

I'm not so sure.

> But I am utterly annoyed with selfish people effectively pulling the whole collectivity back to the office because they can't go bike for two hours or some other dumb reason.

> ...but you don't have to pull all your coworkers to the office...

You're projecting that on him. He was just saying working at the office was better for him than WFH, he didn't actually advocate forcing anyone back, which was even made reasonably clear when he said:

>>>> Even if my employer began offering office access, I don't think it will ever be the same as what I had before.

Re: Remote-first work is taking over the rich world – research hints at why

#429

Post by borski »

znpy wrote: post #420
borski wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First: you can disagree with someone and not be an asshole about it. Please consider reading the HN guidelines again. Second: you are dismissing the fact that having an office to go to gave a lot of people a routine as well as forced social interaction. Now, it requires strict discipline to try and enforce it on yourself, whereas before it was a default. I share this commenter’s experience. That you don’t is fantasti…

I just want to point out that reading rudeness in that comment is your own choice, my intent was really a suggestion. Rudeness here is in the eyes of those who call it that.

You responded to someone describing their experience with an aggressive “just do it and don’t bother people fine with wfh,” implying that the poster was somehow trying to encroach on your ability to WFH. They never said that.

You even express your frustration directly in a sibling comment below.

Pretending your comment wasn’t rude, especially after elsewhere expressing your explicit frustration, is only half-true at best.

Have a nice day. :)

Re: Remote-first work is taking over the rich world – research hints at why

#430

Post by dymk »

nigrioid wrote: post #171

You guys are missing it. This leads straight to outsourcing.

Doesn’t seem to have made any downward impact on my yet, at least. If anything, my bargaining power has gone up, given the upped frequency of recruiting emails for fully remote positions.
Post reply on HN