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More Americans now work full-time from home than walk and bike to office jobs
- booleandilemma 10y agoWhy am I not one of them? :(
- brianwawok 10y agoWhy don't you find one? weworkremotely or stackoverflow careers have a fair amount.
- Arizhel 10y agoNot in my experience. Last time I looked on weworkremotely I think I saw fewer remote-relevant jobs there than I have fingers on one hand. ("Remotely-relevant" for me means just searching for C and C++.)
- Confiks 10y agoIn less click-bait-y headlines: "A record 2.6% of American employees now go to their jobs without ever leaving their houses". In more absurd headlines: "A record 2.6% of American employees now transfer to their jobs INSTANTANEOUSLY."
- rz2k 10y agoDid the title change? "More Americans now work full-time from home than walk and bike to office jobs" sounds like context, rather than click-bait.
- dao- 10y agoI found the headline a bit ridiculous to say the least. It seems to suggest that working from home is particularly popular, until you realize that the US probably has an exceptionally low rate of people walking or biking to office jobs. So this really just says that working from home is gaining some popularity.
- eloisant 10y agoIt make it sounds like it's a lot, when the reality is that there are very, very few people who walk or bike to work in US.
- Markoff 10y agoIOW: Less than 3 Americans out of 100 are not afraid of physical activity * * not taking into consideration people living too far from work to walk or bike, which would skew numbers a lot, since majority of people can't walk or ride bike to work because it's not within reasonable distance
- bryanlarsen 10y agoMeanwhile 56% of people who work or study in Copenhagen commute by bicycle.
- jankotek 10y ago... because they can not afford to buy a car.
- cozzyd 10y agoHave you been to Copenhagen? Would you prefer it look like downtown Atlanta?
- saiya-jin 10y agoI am not sure if you are aware that danish car tax upon purchase is around 180% value of the car. I presume he meant this little detail rather than that danish people are poor.
- jankotek 10y agoYes, I have been there. But winters are cold & rainy and cars are taxed to oblivion.
- xapata 10y agoMaybe that's a good thing.
- ryancouto 10y agoand because the city has great bike infrastructure and has great (i.e. not hot) weather for biking
- buckbova 10y agoI doubt they have the hills I have to contend with. I don't want to show up to work drenched in sweat.
- Androider 10y ago"Nearly 8% of programmers now work from home, following a staggering increase of nearly 400% since 2000." Could working remotely reach a tipping point where it becomes the default? I could see it happening in the next 20 years, the advantages are too numerous. Most of the downsides are typically related to the inherent friction between onsite and the offsite workers, meaning companies that start out as remote-first will have a big advantages over companies that later add remote working options.
- xeromal 10y agoThe biggest downside to me is decreasing the ways to make a friends and being social. I worked remote for about 8 months and I got bored seeing the same room in the day and the night. Of course not having a commute is an amazing thing and environmentally friendly, but I felt very disconnected from the world. I think once working from home is the norm something will have to exist to allow for meeting new people besides the status quo.
- clarkmoody 10y agoWell with the time saved from your commute, you could get involved in something locally. You could talk to your neighbors...
- eric_the_read 10y ago...who are all working in their offices, because most of them aren't programmers.
- colmvp 10y agoI think this is where a lot of remote workers fail to adapt, myself included for a few years. Remote working has its disadvantages but it's not unsolvable. Nowadays, I make it a point to go to local meetups on a consistent basis, which actually allowed me access to social networks far outside the limited network within my company. What's nice is that it forced me to learn how to make friends outside of typical environments (work, school). It was far easier than I realized, and now I regret not doing it earlier in my life.
- jordache 10y agook as if everyone is cognizant of the magnitude of people who walk or bike to jobs.
- jonheller 10y agoI consider myself, without doubt, to be an introvert. I hate parties with a passion, and am perfectly happy in my own head compared to even hanging out with a good friend. But I hated working at home. The isolation was terrible, not to mention the challenges of working on project teams (even with Slack etc). I felt lonely and less motivated. It is funny though, because my wife is the opposite of me on the social scale. She loves groups of people and social interaction. And yet she's fine working at home. Part of this I think is because she very much goes into her own world when working with how focused she becomes, so she doesn't even notice the isolation.
- pawelwentpawel 10y agoAfter working from home alone for about a week I start to feel less and less motivated too. For the couple past weeks I was working on my own project and to keep my energy levels up I rented a desk in a almost next door coworking space. It is definitely boosting my productivity and is great for networking too.
- douche 10y agoI feel exactly the opposite. Working an entire week at the office will have me so demoralized and burnt out by Friday that I have to go get away from everyone in the woods for the weekend. The most effective mix for me is going into the office on Monday, and getting all of the meetings and planning and face-to-face busywork out of the way, and then working from home the rest of the week. It's easily 2-3X as productive, and I'm just so much happier.
- dota_fanatic 10y agoAgreed! That's an ideal kind of setup. Total conjecture but the people who I have seen struggle with WFH are the same people who don't have a social group outside of work, so WFH ends up meaning no social life and they become very lonely and isolated as a result. For people who do have that social group, they tend to want to get the work done as quickly and efficiently as possible so that they can then spend time with their family and friends, ie the people they want to be around, not the people they have to be around to make money for their employer => themselves. With family and friends you can talk about life and have fun. With coworkers, often you talk about work or things indirectly connected to work...
- the_cat_kittles 10y agoworking at home is great for me because its super efficient and i dont wrap my identity in my work. so it pays bills, then i can use the free time to do social things and things i care about
- revelation 10y agoThat's just because fewer Americans than ever walk or bike to office jobs.
- grangerg 10y agoI've been working from home for 10 years; our entire company is a virtual office. For me, there's far more positives than negatives, but every personality is different. Some people can't handle it. Sometimes work invades personal/family time, and sometimes it's the other way around. I miss the social, in-person part, but I spend more time with my family. And we have enough calls, IM's, and occasional in-person meetings that I'm satisfied. But then again, I've also been known to not go outside for a full week and it doesn't phase me. ...which reminds me, it's Spring. I'm going to go take 5 to lie down in the grass in the backyard and watch the clouds until my next meeting starts. :)
- rubicon33 10y agoThis is fascinating to me. I've been working from home for about 4 years now. With only the later 2 years being 100% WFH (I had office time the first 2 years). I really wish I had your same relaxed feeling about social interaction. More than being outside, it's the random social interaction I miss. I notice more and more it's having a negative impact on my health. I feel less motivated, less energetic, and downright depressed some days. I attribute it to the fact that, like you, I can go a full week without going outside... But unlike you, it really is starting to hurt me. In a given week, I'll have face to face conversation for as little as 30 minutes. I've never considered myself a very outgoing, or "extroverted" person, so this has all been something of a surprise to me. I would never have thought that random social interaction could be so important (for me).
- grangerg 10y agoI definitely feel my family helps a lot in that regard. If not for those interactions, I'd want an office job.
- matt_wulfeck 10y agoI biked to work in the Bay Area for awhile. The mediterranean climate here is perfect for it. Except people here drive like maniacs. I was tired of feeling like I was taking my life into my own hands from people regularly going 20 or 30 over the limit and treating me like a road obstacle. Off-lane bike paths are important. Sane driving practices are also important.
- qqg3 10y ago> mediterranean climate Have you been to the med?
- wdbbdw 10y agoAbsolutely! I'm in Chicago, where the weather is decidedly not mediterranean, but the biggest challenge for me is finding a safe enough route to ride on. The most direct route for me puts me on some pretty busy streets with a "shared lane" (i.e. an image of a bike painted on the road), but by adding about 5 minutes each way to my ride I'm able to spend 2/3s of it completely off of the streets thanks to our elevated 606 path and the lakefront trail. I often fantasize about some dystopian scenario that renders all motorized vehicles inoperable, leading to a utopian world where streets are safe to use for cyclists. Chicago gets a glimpse of such a world once a year on the "bike the drive" event where lake shore drive is closed to car traffic for a few hours and is filled with cyclists.
- faet 10y agoI'm in SoCal and even with our own bike lanes I refuse to bike to work. I'm 2 miles from work and will walk every now and then but never bike. 3 months after starting my job I was coming home from work one night I saw a guy with a mangled bike laying on the side of the road. Later I read that he died shortly after being hit. The driver of the minivan that hit him wasn't paying attention. Maybe if they were protected. But, even then I'd still be hesitant. Drivers just don't care.
- s73ver 10y agoThe biggest hurdle to biking and walking, for those who are already comfortable doing those activities, is showering. I don't want to show up to the office drenched in sweat, making the work area smell like a gym. And there are some things that you can do, like the wipes and that, but they don't feel anything like a shower. The more offices that either put in showers, or locate near gyms and places that do have showers, the better.
- kgabis 10y agoIf you're not fit or live in a hilly area then you can buy an electric bike to avoid sweating.
- colmvp 10y agoIt also doesn't help that most cities and towns in North America aren't designed with high standards of bike safety. I live in one of the biggest cities on the continent and our council has taken DECADES to implement bike lanes downtown despite the rise in population and car usage.
- rlglwx 10y agoYou don't have to bike like a madman when you commute. You can bike at a moderate pace 10-12 mph (roughly 4x walking) pace and not break a sweat.
- seattle_spring 10y agoThe 400 foot elevation gain in my commute respectfully disagrees.
- hellofunk 10y agoConfucius say, Working from home much harder after having baby.
- ge96 10y agoI wish I didn't feel in the way when riding a bicycle on the road. So I walk instead. Oh well. Then my next fear is being confronted by strangers asking for a lighter then money. It's not so bad though, I just feel anxious to be encountered.
- buckbova 10y ago> my next fear is being confronted by strangers Don't make eye contact, eyes straight ahead, walk with a purpose.
- bdcravens 10y agoNot being afraid to say no works too.
- ge96 10y agoIt's that whole guilt thing. This one guy kept insisting he was hungry/homeless like it was my problem. But first he asked for a cigarette, then a lighter, then $1,$2,$5 ahh... I had just gone to a store and had a bunch of singles/quarters for the bus. Could I spare a few bucks sure. Do I waste money on myself sure. I remember one time I was scammed haha. This old lady's like "You're a good boy, you had a good mother." Haha as they walk off with $20.00 for "gas" where I could have pumped gas into their car but insisted on cash. Oh well I just think if it's my time it's my time.
- dkarl 10y agoIt's interesting to see that the average earnings of people who bike to work are increasing so much faster than the other groups. There's a stereotype that people who bike for transportation are just rich spoiled white liberals. I have no idea where it came from, and I'm pretty sure that historically it has been the opposite of the truth, but it's used as a political weapon by people on both ends of the political spectrum to argue against investments in bike-friendly infrastructure. People on the right stereotype cycling as a snotty badge of childless affluence and liberal virtue. On the left there's obviously a lot of support for bike infrastructure, but there are also public transit zealots who paint bike infrastructure as a perk that white gentrifiers award themselves, basically using the logic that public transit = diverse and good, cycling = rich and white and bad, therefore it's regressive to spend scarce alternative transit money on cycling. The common thread on left and right is the assumption that biking as transportation is an activity of the affluent and educated. I've always wondered if a social stereotype that is so widely held across different groups in society can avoid becoming true. Maybe the rise of the average of wages of people who bike to work shows the stereotype taking effect by inducing more and more well-off people to see biking to work as an appropriate activity for someone like them.
- saddestcatever 10y agoKeep in mind - Real Estate prices are a driving factor in this stereotype. Biking to work is cheap. Living close enough to work that you can comfortably bike is often expensive (especially for families/households).
- Nimitz14 10y agoIt's true. Go to Europe, poor people ride the bus the better-off use a bike. I think it'd have to do because of things like getting a bike requiring a larger initial capital investment, plus there's the danger of it being stolen (which is smaller if you live in a nicer neighborhood).
- InitialLastName 10y agoThis raises a funny distinction between the US and Europe... Outside of urban areas of the US, almost everybody drives cars, which are MUCH larger capital investments (and a larger long-term expense) than bicycles, regardless of income level.
- Johnny555 10y agoOne downside of full time working from home is that the WFH workers are faceless, and easier to cut if it comes time to lay off employees. It's harder to tell the worker you eat lunch with every day that you're laying him off than the worker you only know via video chat.
- padobson 10y agoThis is true. As someone who's worked remotely for the last four years, I can say that you want to be in the room for decisions that are made in the room. For those who are thinking of going fulltime remote, I recommend doing so at companies where everyone works remote, or on teams where everyone works remote. Freelancing and contracting can work too, if you don't mind the extra hustle needed to line up clients. But being the only remote guy at a company full of cubicle dwellers is just asking to me left out of important discussions or being the first to be fired or blamed in times of trouble.
- greglindahl 10y agoI thought that it was still common practice to fly employees to the same place so that they can meet in person? It's been part of the onboarding process of every part-remote company I've been involved with.
- papabrown 10y agoBy extension you could say that working with a remote office would make them easier to lay off as well. I'm sure there's some truth to it but I think it all comes down to perceived value. If you're in someone's face everyday reminding them of how valuable you are, it does make it seem you are more valuable. A remote worker or someone working in a satellite office is going to have a more difficult time tooting their own horn. That said, I work from the main office and we have an additional three offices spread across three different countries and I don't feel that it would be easy to lay off someone in one of those offices anymore than it would be to lay someone off in my office. Each person has a specific skill they're bringing to the table and without them that work wouldn't get done. Perhaps if there was real or perceived redundancy in job skills, the situation might be different but then you've got redundancy and if times get tough, someone has to go anyway. Now we're just talking about who. If there are 10 people on a team and only one of them works remotely, well, that might be the person who gets cut first but if you have 10 people and 4 of them are working remotely, you're back to the same issue of their perceived value to the organization. Whether working from an office or working remotely, the people who have done the best job at standing out are the least likely to get cut.
- ArtDev 10y agoThe best thing about working from home is no one knows/cares where you are working from. If you sick of your home office, go somewhere else! I have spent the last two summers working remotely from Europe. My favorite office was a houseboat in Amsterdam! Its good for my wife and kids to go on trips too. I bring a extra screen and they (mostly) respect my workspace. I am more happy and more productive after becoming remote. Its been 4 years.
- pwthornton 10y agoI think this might be pretty damning on how unwalkable and unbikable America is.
- Markoff 10y agoi think this would be similar in bigger European cities too, it's just too far to ride bike especially if you live in suburbs
- kutkloon7 10y agoAnd here I am, thinking the comment section would be about how unhealthy Americans have become...
- remotehack 10y agoWhen I work remotely (a.k.a. WFH), I exercise on the treadmill at lunch every day. I feel better and my blood test numbers prove it. When I have to work in an office, I am too tired to exercise when I get home and my health suffers for it.
- paulryanrogers 10y agoTwo biggest issues I had walking, later biking, the last leg of my commute were the air pollution and time. Still, it was good exercise. Now that I WFH exercise has to be more deliberate.