Anthropologists and the business of sense-making at work
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Anthropologists and the business of sense-making at work
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Re: Anthropologists and the business of sense-making at work
#2It almost feels like there is a conspiracy brewing to talk down on WFH despite most employees loving it. I suspect that the commercial property owners and middle managers are behind this because they are the ones who have mostly lost out here.
The cat is out of the bag I think. Once people can work from home in a post covid world where they can socialize normally, I think many companies, and especially in software development will become very remote friendly.
Re: Anthropologists and the business of sense-making at work
#3It almost feels like there is a conspiracy brewing to talk down on WFH despite most employees loving it. I suspect that the commercial property owners and middle managers are behind this because they are the ones who have mostly lost out here. The cat is out of the bag I think. Once people can work from home in a post covid world where they can socialize normally, I think many companies, and especially in software de…
It’s funny because I feel like I’ve been reading article after article recently about how working in offices is dumb and they can’t imagine why anyone would do it anymore unless they were zombified corporate stooges. My feeling is that working in an office makes it possible for me to separate work from the rest of my life, and my commute (about 30 minutes, soon to be fifteen or less via public transit once I move) nicely bookends it, separating it off from the rest of my day. I have been dying to go back to the office since April 2020.
Re: Anthropologists and the business of sense-making at work
#4I wrote a booklet[0] about being thrown into remote work, and as I gathered, really the only objections are the likes of this article, something along the lines of "We had this good thing in the office and now we don't have it therefore we need the office".
They all fail to use the important lesson Henry Hazlitt thought us:
> The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.
Looking at the direct effects of being in or out of the office is very naive. They go further than that.
Re: Anthropologists and the business of sense-making at work
#5It almost feels like there is a conspiracy brewing to talk down on WFH despite most employees loving it. I suspect that the commercial property owners and middle managers are behind this because they are the ones who have mostly lost out here. The cat is out of the bag I think. Once people can work from home in a post covid world where they can socialize normally, I think many companies, and especially in software de…
It’s funny because I feel like I’ve been reading article after article recently about how working in offices is dumb and they can’t imagine why anyone would do it anymore unless they were zombified corporate stooges. My feeling is that working in an office makes it possible for me to separate work from the rest of my life, and my commute (about 30 minutes, soon to be fifteen or less via public transit once I move) ni…
I saw a comment in the Apple thread where someone said people who don't like WFH hate their family, or themselves. Which was a shocking comment.
I love spending time with my family and daughter, but I get paid to work to support my family, and working from home makes me feel distracted.
I thought working from home would be the best part of a job, but losing the separation of work/life, going from avoiding meetings to looking forward to them for social interaction with my co-workers, missing the lunch time outings with co-workers, the chit-chat, asking for help or being asked for help.
I've come to really miss working in the office. I was WAY more productive, kept better hours, and coming home from work to family was great.
Re: Anthropologists and the business of sense-making at work
#6It almost feels like there is a conspiracy brewing to talk down on WFH despite most employees loving it. I suspect that the commercial property owners and middle managers are behind this because they are the ones who have mostly lost out here. The cat is out of the bag I think. Once people can work from home in a post covid world where they can socialize normally, I think many companies, and especially in software de…
It’s funny because I feel like I’ve been reading article after article recently about how working in offices is dumb and they can’t imagine why anyone would do it anymore unless they were zombified corporate stooges. My feeling is that working in an office makes it possible for me to separate work from the rest of my life, and my commute (about 30 minutes, soon to be fifteen or less via public transit once I move) ni…
> My feeling is that working in an office makes it possible for me to separate work from the rest of my life
This is seems to be pretty common, can you explain why it's so hard to separate?
Generally I start the work day by turning on the work computer, when I'm done I turn it off and anything beyond that is the sort of rare exception I would have logged in from home for even if I was working in the office. That and a couple of other little rituals like switching coffee mugs and wearing pants gives me all the separation I need.
Re: Anthropologists and the business of sense-making at work
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s funny because I feel like I’ve been reading article after article recently about how working in offices is dumb and they can’t imagine why anyone would do it anymore unless they were zombified corporate stooges. My feeling is that working in an office makes it possible for me to separate work from the rest of my life, and my commute (about 30 minutes, soon to be fifteen or less via public transit once I move) ni…
I saw a comment in the Apple thread where someone said people who don't like WFH hate their family, or themselves. Which was a shocking comment. I love spending time with my family and daughter, but I get paid to work to support my family, and working from home makes me feel distracted. I thought working from home would be the best part of a job, but losing the separation of work/life, going from avoiding meetings to…
I guess finally it comes down to individual choice.
Let people choose where they want to work from!
Re: Anthropologists and the business of sense-making at work
#8It almost feels like there is a conspiracy brewing to talk down on WFH despite most employees loving it. I suspect that the commercial property owners and middle managers are behind this because they are the ones who have mostly lost out here. The cat is out of the bag I think. Once people can work from home in a post covid world where they can socialize normally, I think many companies, and especially in software de…
Indeed I know we shouldn't instigate conspiracy shilling without evidence.
However it does feel that there is an agenda from the Savills of the world to justify office leases with a lot of these fragile reasoning articles coming out.
Of course remote meetings will not have the same 'feeling' as a live meeting the question is do you have the right tooling and processes to achieve the same outcome.
That is something companies need to adapt to, rather than force everyone back to the office.
Re: Anthropologists and the business of sense-making at work
#9It almost feels like there is a conspiracy brewing to talk down on WFH despite most employees loving it. I suspect that the commercial property owners and middle managers are behind this because they are the ones who have mostly lost out here. The cat is out of the bag I think. Once people can work from home in a post covid world where they can socialize normally, I think many companies, and especially in software de…
I don't think it's a conspiracy necessarily, there are people with vested interests in returning to "normal" working conditions and yes they will encourage the view that the economy/society will collapse if we don't all go back full time.
Even when it was plain that a second/third wave was going to hit the UK the government (and elements of the press) were insisting that we should all go back to the office for the good of the economy [0]. Two months later a new lockdown was announced to prevent a "medical and moral disaster".
0 - https://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/evening-standard-...
Re: Anthropologists and the business of sense-making at work
#10It almost feels like there is a conspiracy brewing to talk down on WFH despite most employees loving it. I suspect that the commercial property owners and middle managers are behind this because they are the ones who have mostly lost out here. The cat is out of the bag I think. Once people can work from home in a post covid world where they can socialize normally, I think many companies, and especially in software de…
I feel like it is just the concept of the vocal minority. People who are seeing the world go their way tend to just enjoy the ride. People who don't like how it is going tend to be quite vocal about their displeasure. Minority opinions can be quite loud, in any aspect of our society.
Personally, I want to respect our differences. I support people figuring out where they want to work and finding companies who let them do so. We don't all have the same desires, and we should not expect everyone to want the same thing. I do believe that companies will have to support the desires of their workers more than they have in the past, and hopefully that will be well balanced with what people really want.