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Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

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Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#91

Post by passwordoops »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #55
passwordoops wrote: post #47

This is all true, and I do feel very lucky to have a WFH arrangement, but I always think of the people who have jobs that cannot be remote - hospital, care takers, teachers (right now). Most are carried out by women, earning low wages, doing what's been termed "essential" work. There is a definite bifurcation between the (generally upper) laptop class and the (generally lower) caretaker class. I'm not sure what the s…

>I'm not sure what the solution is (shorter work weeks, flexible scheduling, etc), Solution is more people becoming qualified to work in the “upper”, laptop class, hence decreasing supply of labor for the “lower” caretaker class, resulting in increasing prices for caretaking labor, leading to changes in caretaking labor environments such as shorter work weeks and flexible scheduling. I.e. wealth redistribution from l…

Makes sense on paper, but so far the solution has been importing cheap foreign labor from overseas (0).

Automation is probably the route we'll end up taking.

(0) https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/01/06/1069369...

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#92

Post by ideamotor »

ragebol wrote: post #74
drekipus wrote: post #5

I had my firstborn from my new fully WFH job, in the middle/tailend of the pandemic. It has totally been a blast having the little one around. I work in my living area which is open plan into my kitchen, so I get to see her learning how to eat out of the corner of my eyes when I'm in work meetings, etc. My personal suggestion: if you're working from home with children, don't try and seperate and go into the study; do…

We had our first in June 202, so early in the pandemic. I was already WFH since 2019, my wife joined me in that while pregnant in March 2020. I used to have my offic in the living room, but as soon as our son could walk IIRC, we moved the office. Office is now separate but reachable for the kids. But the separation is better for my concentration. What was my office in the living room is now the play area, filled with…

I cannot wait for the electric cargo phase. The day care we’ve selected is a 15 minutes bike trip away. How long were your kids when they could handle being on the bike?

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#93

Post by j45 »

agomez314 wrote: post #23

Found my wife and got married during the pandemic, have a 4-month old now and working from home 3x a week gives me the chance to see her grow. I would not be as happy if I had to commute everyday to work, even though i'm more of an extrovert and like to hang out with others. Being at home more also means I get to do more house chores. But the joy of seeing my baby grow is incredible! Yes, if you are at the office 24…

The thing is becoming a parent in pandemic introduced a different kind of prioritization and focus to be present in the best ways and not just duration. Increasing hours before effectiveness can cap out per quick.

As my spouse reminds me the people who will most care when I’m dead grad my kids and spouse if I’m lucky. Everything else is how much good will, memories and moments you can experience with others.

What kind of memory do we want to be? Preparing for and around that for the next many decades allows me to plan and execute in decades and not be obsessed with maximizing work hours now all the time. Outsized impact gets easier with each wave of tech that does more with less.

Big changes go very slow and then very suddenly.

Raising kids is passing too quick but experiencing existence together is far beyond that.

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#94

Post by ragebol »

ideamotor wrote: post #92
ragebol wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We had our first in June 202, so early in the pandemic. I was already WFH since 2019, my wife joined me in that while pregnant in March 2020. I used to have my offic in the living room, but as soon as our son could walk IIRC, we moved the office. Office is now separate but reachable for the kids. But the separation is better for my concentration. What was my office in the living room is now the play area, filled with…

I cannot wait for the electric cargo phase. The day care we’ve selected is a 15 minutes bike trip away. How long were your kids when they could handle being on the bike?

The advice we got was from ~8 months, when they can sit up on their own. For the 2nd kid, that's been only a few weeks, but it's so nice to be much more nimble than with a stroller and less bulky than a car to go places with 2 kids.

Can't wait for the weather to warm up a bit and go on bigger trips with the two kids in front.

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#95

Post by prmoustache »

Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #25
jossclimb wrote: post #12

I have been remote for 11 years now and have two children 9 and 12. I can't imagine what it would have been like if I had spent the week out commuting between the hours of 7am to 7pm, we would have lost out on so much bonding time with their daddy being an integral part of their life. I managed to be highly productive, build a career, yet be there for bath times, tucking into bed, school plays / sports days, nursing…

Well said! Did you ever in that time get any pushback from an overzealous boss about going back to the office?

replace "overzealous boss" with "boss tired of counting his fingers".

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#96

Post by j45 »

humanrebar wrote: post #72
passwordoops wrote: post #47

This is all true, and I do feel very lucky to have a WFH arrangement, but I always think of the people who have jobs that cannot be remote - hospital, care takers, teachers (right now). Most are carried out by women, earning low wages, doing what's been termed "essential" work. There is a definite bifurcation between the (generally upper) laptop class and the (generally lower) caretaker class. I'm not sure what the s…

> Most are carried out by women, ... Is that true? I can rattle off a list of male-dominated jobs that are absolutely not remote, like basically all the "trades" and a list of jobs popular with women that are at least somewhat remote friendly. Does someone have evidence?

Instead of trying to discredit the experience of others or women could it not be a “yes, and trades” instead of a “yes, but”?

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#97

Post by j45 »

meindnoch wrote: post #59
passwordoops wrote: post #47

This is all true, and I do feel very lucky to have a WFH arrangement, but I always think of the people who have jobs that cannot be remote - hospital, care takers, teachers (right now). Most are carried out by women, earning low wages, doing what's been termed "essential" work. There is a definite bifurcation between the (generally upper) laptop class and the (generally lower) caretaker class. I'm not sure what the s…

Don't worry, the laptop class is on its way to become the unemployed class due to ChatGPT. Or so I was told...

Maybe the talkers and bsers

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#98

Post by j45 »

lynx23 wrote: post #67
dreadnip wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is not acceptable Why? I'm a software engineer working in an agency and I work exactly like you're describing. If I feel like going on a run, I'll mark myself as AFK and go on a run. If I feel like closing my laptop at 3 and go shopping, I'll work later in the day when I'm not busy. I still deliver on my deadlines and contribute more to the company than most colleagues. If you ping me on my phone I'll probably…

I am not a dev. I need to coordinate with my coworkers during the day. And since we dont have documentation for every miniscule step a team mate performs, we need to actually talk to each other from time to time. I am sure as a dev, with sufficiently large work packages, WFH is just a breeze. But not in my job.

Record async video.

Someone clicking and talking through a question or process at the time that works best so a meeting isn’t needed unless there’s disagreement.

It’s amazing.

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#99

Post by prmoustache »

falcor84 wrote: post #66
drekipus wrote: post #5

I had my firstborn from my new fully WFH job, in the middle/tailend of the pandemic. It has totally been a blast having the little one around. I work in my living area which is open plan into my kitchen, so I get to see her learning how to eat out of the corner of my eyes when I'm in work meetings, etc. My personal suggestion: if you're working from home with children, don't try and seperate and go into the study; do…

My mileage varies a lot. I suppose it has to do with how each person's executive functions are wired, but personally, I absolutely cannot get into deep work while family stuff is going around in the same physical space.

I use both a separate space and sometimes move to the living room, kitchen or rooftop depending on my activity. Staying in the same room and possibly same position all day is not perfect either. I definitely need that separate office when in full focus mode but usually a working day is not 100% like that, same as in a regular office.

My 9 and 12y old kids are at school until 2pm, I love taking that pause at 2:30 to have lunch with them and then I send them to do their homework. Once they have finished it is either they stay quiet or I kick them out of the house and they have to play in the street for an hour.

You can't avoid all interruptions, like when kids are sometimes fighting which is the moment to be strict.

Re: Early Remote Work Impacts on Family Formation

#100

Post by ideamotor »

ragebol wrote: post #94
ideamotor wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I cannot wait for the electric cargo phase. The day care we’ve selected is a 15 minutes bike trip away. How long were your kids when they could handle being on the bike?

The advice we got was from ~8 months, when they can sit up on their own. For the 2nd kid, that's been only a few weeks, but it's so nice to be much more nimble than with a stroller and less bulky than a car to go places with 2 kids. Can't wait for the weather to warm up a bit and go on bigger trips with the two kids in front.

Your cargo bike has them in front? That’s what I’m leaning towards because I’ve had a few close calls from behind. I’m already petitioning my city to fix a few missing bike lanes haha, I also wonder about wearing reflective decals and using flashing lights. Only so much you can do. Once I’m past 15 minutes of roads we can basically access all of the best parks of the city through an awesome trail.
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