Yes people goof off more but it turns out that just replaces the time wasted commuting, being depressed in offices, being distracted in offices etc
Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds
501–510 of 597 posts
Re: Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds
#502Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, but then we're discussing remote work as an employee benefit, which is a different discussion driven by a different part of the company etc. Not as a thing which improves the company's bottom line which is where C suite and shareholders spend the vast majority of their attention. If it doesn't improve job productivity then at the level where decisions get made I can think of two really significant points regard…
Reducing costs by hiring in other countries is not as easy as it seems. In reality there is an opportunity to hire wider pool of full time applicants in US because now you can offer even 1 day a week in the office instead of 5 or doing 1 day a month. If I have to consider company that is 2h driving away - one way - and be there 5 days a week, that is a deal breaker. Doing that once a week is still much more manageabl…
> Reducing costs by hiring in other countries is not as easy as it seems.
Over the last 2 years, my company has had multiple rounds of layoff with US bearing the brunt of them. All new headcount is in Canada, LATAM and India. India sucks because of timezones and LATAM sucks because of language barriers, but our management loves Canada - cultural compatibility, no language or timezone barriers and Canadian worker is cheaper than even the cheapest US workers. Canada is also opening up its borders big time for "skilled labor", so there will be a downward pressure on wages for a long time.
Re: Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds
#503> And while many US companies have been pushing employees to return to the office I still don't see the reason why you should go to office if you do your work just right. There are more expenses if you go to office rather than being remote.
Depends, did you get a sweet tax deal for locating your HQ with the implicit understanding that putting the HQ there would drive tax revenue back to the city? Did you tell your friends and top investors of this decision and did they purchase real estate in the area with the implicit understanding that they'd be landlords for your new HQ? Work from home is a cost savings companies so it would seem they'd be motivated…
This.
The investor class is furious about remote work, because it affects their real estate pyramid scheme.
Re: Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds
#504Bloomberg doesn't even bother to link to the study that they're writing an article about? Makes me really want to believe them when they hide their source so I can't actually read what it says for myself ...
Re: Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds
#505Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bill might like a long commute as much as Gladys likes to work from home. Hard to call Bill a sucker in that case.
The only reason I can imagine that somebody would genuinely like a long commute would be if they hate their home life and are trying to escape from it. They'd probably be better off just getting a divorce instead.
I did once work with someone who intentionally found a job far enough from home that he could justify a "bachelor pad" in town and just go home to the family home at the weekends. I wonder what proportion of weekend commuters do it out of a desire to stay away vs. financial reasons.
Re: Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds
#506Earlier quoted context omitted.
The only reason I can imagine that somebody would genuinely like a long commute would be if they hate their home life and are trying to escape from it. They'd probably be better off just getting a divorce instead.
My commute is about 40 minutes each way by bus, plus a 5 minute walk on both ends. I love it. I get outdoors for a short walk four times a day, I read books and magazines on the bus, see what's being built or new businesses opening around town, sometimes I get to meet neighbors and other commuters, or help out random strangers with directions or whatever. My commute to work is definitely a benefit to my life.
Nothing stops you from doing that if you work from home, so while the trip might be a benefit to you, it is entirely orthogonal from whether you work from home or an office.
On the contrary, not being forced into the office let's you choose your journeys.
Re: Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds
#507Earlier quoted context omitted.
90-minute lunches, extended ping-pong table visits, "attending" meetings one doesn't contribute to are various ways to waste time at the office, but no one is eager to banish those. It appears it's only a problem when people slack at home; on the flip-side, no one is offering bonuses for those when they work until 7 or 8 pm because WFH can blur division between work and not-work life.
There are many companies where long lunches are frowned upon (unofficially). People eating at their desks etc...
"Productivity" is just the flimsy fig leaf for RTO, a bunch of people have openly admitted that it's all about the "energy" they get from being around many people at the office, even of those people are slacking. It's not surprisingly that such personalities are overrepresented in leadership roles.
Re: Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds
#508Earlier quoted context omitted.
During my last job change I gave concrete numbers to recruiters on what getting me into an office would cost. In the end I ended up working remote, which is what I preferred, which wasn't surprising given how much the commuting time was worth to me.
Once you add those numbers, the total is usually insane. While I do miss being in the office sometimes (mostly for the social life), it's just too expensive for me as a worker right now. It's not just the time spent on commute, it's also the money that you have to spend to stay within a commutable distance from the office. Also, my profession is being a Software Engineer, not a train passenger. I made a calculator fo…
Money to stay within commutable distance, but also the cost of the commute itself.
E.g. my yearly cost of commuting when I did added equivalent to about $2.5k/year in after tax transport costs.
I've typically told recruiters about 20%, from a high base, and frankly that is lower than it ought to be when accounting for both the time and costs, but given I already live where I live, I feel I could justify it in terms putting extra cash straight into my pension pot and retiring earlier. But not enough to lower it further to find a point where someone is more likely to take me up on it.
Re: Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds
#509Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think they would be referred to as 'suckers' because they are spending time for their employer for which they are not compensated in that scenario (two options, both pay the same, but one requires you to sacrifice significant portions of your day for no compensation).
You negotiate compensation before accepting the job and generally have the option to move. If anything it’s people failing to consider commute times when looking for work that’s the issue not company’s requirements. Going they will pay me 10k more per year but I’ll spend X more hours a week commuting is effectively being paid to commute.
Hence calling them suckers. Doing the commute is fine, but not taking it into account is potentially seeking yourself short(even if you end up feeling forced to take an offer you feel doesn't take it into account - at least then you're aware).
Re: Remote work doesn't seem to affect productivity, Fed study finds
#510Earlier quoted context omitted.
My commute is about 40 minutes each way by bus, plus a 5 minute walk on both ends. I love it. I get outdoors for a short walk four times a day, I read books and magazines on the bus, see what's being built or new businesses opening around town, sometimes I get to meet neighbors and other commuters, or help out random strangers with directions or whatever. My commute to work is definitely a benefit to my life.
Nothing stops you from doing that if you work from home, so while the trip might be a benefit to you, it is entirely orthogonal from whether you work from home or an office. On the contrary, not being forced into the office let's you choose your journeys.
This nearby comment does a good job explaining why that doesn't really work out for me: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39042945