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Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds

bloomberg.com

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Re: Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds

#431

Post by flurdy »

genman wrote: post #396
nine_k wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BTW this is where commute by public transport shines. My 30 minutes to the office are my dedicated reading time, an hour a day. If instead I had to drive, that would be lost time, because paying enough attention to the book distracts enough from driving to add unnecessary risk.

It depends. In my case the commute is a (seriously) bumpy bus ride that takes 2-3 times more than by car (the bus has stops and it takes a longer route and I have to change the bus at least once, that adds extra latency). Fortunately the bus is relatively empty in my stop so I don't have to stand. This means that I couldn't read anything. Shaking of the bus also gives me time to time a mild headache. Now if the ride…

When for many years I had a long commute into London I appreciated I was lucky that it was on a train line without any train changes required. So that was a calm productive "me time" on the train for over an hour each way. Usually do some work on my laptop, some hacking on hobby apps, some film watching etc. Also a lot of snoozing.

But I also self-selected roles closer to the end station in London so the commute at the other end was short-ish.

Whenever I had to do any other commute: by car, bus, multiple changes, etc it was always a grind and shortlived.

However, I was able to stop even the not-so-bad commute long before COVID as I wanted to be at home when the kids came back from school as they are only young once and briefly so. Though I miss the "me-time".

Re: Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds

#432

Post by hosh »

lacrimacida wrote: post #376
nine_k wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

BTW this is where commute by public transport shines. My 30 minutes to the office are my dedicated reading time, an hour a day. If instead I had to drive, that would be lost time, because paying enough attention to the book distracts enough from driving to add unnecessary risk.

I enjoy my commute as well but no amount of justifiying it changes the fact I’d be much better off with either a shorter commute or none whatsoever by going fully remote. I’d even be okay with hybrid. Wasted time on commute ads up to a minilifetime that could be used in different ways

And then there are the people who want to visit family far away from their home and still be able to work. That’s enabled by remote work.

Re: Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds

#433

Post by zajio1am »

e_i_pi_2 wrote: post #258
epolanski wrote: post #173

The fundamental issue I see in this debate is a lack of sensibility and nuance in human nature. The whole matter is debated (understandably in a way) on big numbers and averages. I could write a long post but I'll cut it short to this paragraph stating that humans differ. For some commuting is stressful, the offices are noisy and full of distractions and those individuals may thrive in a remote setup. There's people…

> the decision C-suite have to make when planning projects > in the setup that's decided I'd argue this shouldn't be a top-down decision - you can just let teams and individuals decide what works best for them, then that can be communicated upwards so the company can plan office space/resource allocation

'place of work' is usually (here in Czechia) defined in a labor contract. So that cannot change because 'team decided'. I have contract with my employer, not with my team.

Re: Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds

#434

Post by hnbad »

BeetleB wrote: post #352
brvsft wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am starting to use coworking spaces now because WFH has something of a toll on my family, primarily because kids are loud, and it can be frustrating to work while your loud kid is screaming in the next room without enough of a sound barrier to prevent you from hearing it. I'm not angry at my child, but sometimes I get upset with my wife for not preventing this, or for telling me it's not that loud when it is imposs…

> I know it's a bit of an outlier (SAH mother + WFH father) Not much of an outlier.

In this economy? Maybe not in your income bracket.

Re: Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds

#435

Post by williamcotton »

shermantanktop wrote: post #351
williamcotton wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As margins slim in our industry, which they will, would you rather have management understand the true costs of things or would you rather have over-hiring followed by mass firing? I already fill out hourly timesheets as I work in legal services and we bill clients by the half hour, albeit just for external purposes. This isn’t just Taylorism. I’m also describing Activity-Based Costing, a key component in managerial…

That’s very industry-dependent. I worked in a tech company that acquired a creative production company, and the tech leadership attempted to impose a metrics-based approach to what was a traditional creative process. That process had obvious signs of waste, including a high failure rate, excess travel expenses, etc., when compared to averages. The result of this approach, centered on metrics, ranking, making lists an…

I’m talking about simple costs! Putting dollar values on activities, not weird Git rankings, OKRs, etc.

Re: Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds

#437

Post by steveBK123 »

repeekad wrote: post #402
steveBK123 wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know how important all this social science stuff is to be honest. I've worked for 20 years in global teams, and written communication is very important. Having US/UK/Ireland/HK/Singapore split team isn't much different from remote. Over the years I've worked in smaller orgs with a higher % of local people. What I can tell you is that the amount of chatter grew exponentially. One place I used to call it "bilat…

Oh and to be clear I’m less commenting on productivity, more on the soft stuff like sense of belonging to the org, enjoying time at work, and building real relationships. These things are strictly local, no one expects to form relationships with the accounting team in Ireland, and having an explicit process for interacting with them is probably more important than an explicit process for interacting with your manager…

I mean I get the intention of this stuff, but some of it skates dangerously close to accidental discrimination. I am not accusing you of this, but just saying people should be mindful it can accidentally lead you down the wrong path.

Places that are very focussed on "culture fit" or if they'd "have a beer" with the person they are interviewing.. leaves a lot of people behind. Women / non native speakers / older folks generally fail these types of implicit or explicit screens.

Building a development team is something like building a baseball team. A bunch of specialists, a few generalists, and the ability to get along. Whether they'd grab a pint after a game isn't really important.

I certainly have and maintain friendships at work, some of them from before remote, some of them from after. Some of them are people whom I've never lived in the same continent or city as.

Re: Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds

#438

Post by anthomtb »

wsc981 wrote: post #239
brailsafe wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Some people require micro management and constant oversight Aside from having an actual assistant, is this just hypothetical or do you know someone that prefers being micromanaged?

Seems if you have staff that needs constant oversight and micromanagement, it's a waste of your own time. Do you really want to check someone 8 hours a day, 5 days per week to make sure they do what they are supposed to do? I think in such cases it might be better to get rid of such staff, for your own sake and theirs.

> Do you really want to check someone 8 hours a day, 5 days per week to make sure they do what they are supposed to do?

I had to do something like this. Not every hour, but several times a day was needed to keep this person on track and productive. And no, I did not want to check on an otherwise-functional adult that frequently. Nor did anyone else, but circumstances led to them working on my team.

> I think in such cases it might be better to get rid of such staff, for your own sake and theirs.

Yes, that was the best option and is ultimately what happened. Going through the required HR hoops was just as much effort as micromanaging, which is why no one bothered to do it for several years. It was easier to shuffle them off to another project and tell the lead "they're alright, they just need to work on communication".

Re: Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds

#439

Post by anonyfox »

lets take this at face value and assume productivity is equal no matter if in-office or remotely.

now thinking in business terms. you can run a (remote compatible) company without having an office at all, which may reduce cost very significantly, giving you an economic advantage. being a remote company also forces everyone to exchange thoughts/data/documents digitally one way or the other, making automation ideas with AI tools more feasible, which would then be another economic advantage that still needs to be realized in the future but its there.

now add ontop that people don't waste their time and pollute the environment by commuting, that employees can live wherever they want (probably: way cheaper and with higher QoL) than in commute distance, so they have more money left each month to spend (instead of it going to insane rent/...), which stimulates the economy in theory.

not going into the discussion that some people actually like to be in the office with others, basically forcing everyone else to do the same indirectly or directly. just the pure economic advantages. did I miss something that counters my points?

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