4 ms·

Having worked for both small startups and large corporations, I fully understand why remote work doesn't make sense for large companies. Large companies have a

Having worked for both small startups and large corporations, I fully understand why remote work doesn't make sense for large companies. Large companies have a lot of trouble keeping track of what their employees are doing even when they are in the office. I've worked for a couple of large companies where some employees came into the office everyday but did essentially nothing and no one really cared. If those same employees had the opportunity to work remotely, then they might actually have fun on company time - They could even take up a second "full time job" which also allows them to do nothing and they would get two paychecks for doing nothing. It's actually not difficult to put yourself into a position within some big companies where everyone forgets you exist but you still get a paycheck. There are some big companies where employees make quotation signs with their fingers when saying the phrase 'He/she is "working from home" today' whilst chuckling among each other. For employees to be motivated to work from home, they need to be able to see clearly how their work affects the company and their career path - Unfortunately big companies don't offer enough accountability for this to happen.

lovich 9y ago
I can see where big companies are coming from with wanting the people they pay to do work, but if you can't tell if that's happening when they work remotely why would you be able to tell if its happening when they are in the office. The only thing they can tell accurately now is that people are in their cubes/seat/open office plan. They'd be better off coming up with some way to evaluate the output of their employees if this was really about that. However I am of the opinion that this is just layoffs with a different name, and that's why you don't see an effort to actually evaluate output.
- jondubois 9y ago
  It's about incentives. If your employees know that they're stuck in the office all day, they have fewer options; their non-work activities are limited to browsing Facebook, reading blogs and looking at cat pictures - They can either do those things or actually do work. If they're at home they can play computer games, go out, watch a movie, etc...
  - Kirth 9y ago
    > It's about incentives. I see being allowed to work from home as a sign of respect and confidence. Therefor I return that respect by not fucking with said opportunity. Given the ability to schedule in chores or a bit of fun during breaks, my breaks become far more productive. When I get stuck or something or am blocking on someone at work, I tend to browse hackernews, some forums, ... You end up with activities that draw you in more and more, potentially wasting hours without really having the refreshing effect you need breaks to have. When I'm at home, I get up and vacuum a couple of rooms, clean the kitchen or maybe even skip out an hour to work out when the gym's calm to help clear my mind. I'm confident in saying my days spent working from home are by far the most productive of my entire week. > If they're at home they can play computer games, go out, watch a movie, etc... Someone like that can just as well be expected to spend their entire days scrolling through cat pictures. Don't hire someone you think you can't trust working from home, they won't fare much better on-site.
    - jondubois 9y ago
      I'm the same but unfortunately not everyone is honest. I've met people who went to the beach during office hours and did almost no work. Then they bragged about it.
      - lovich 9y ago
        Right, but that means you have no way of evaluating their output. On the other hand, maybe you are evaluating their output and that employee is still meeting their targets. At that point why do you care if they can fuck off half the day and get the same work done, if you aren't going to offer a pay increase?
        jondubois 9y ago
        In a big company (particularly in highly regulated industries) it can get very difficult to measure employee output because quite often an employee may be blocked from completing a task because of regulatory requirements, company policies or scalability considerations - This sometimes forces employees from one team to coordinate with other teams who are working on a project dependency and can lead to busy-waiting. Sometimes employees can be moved onto other temporary tasks while the other team completes their task/dependency but this causes the employees in the former team to lose focus - Making employees context-switch between too many projects carries a cost which may be higher than just allowing them to busy-wait from time to time.
Spooky23 9y ago
For most workers, work from home works as long as you don't do it all of the time and never hire an asshole. I've never seen a team with a big remote work culture that really worked unless it was part of the business where field ops make sense or when most time is interacting with customers.

lovich 9y ago

I can see where big companies are coming from with wanting the people they pay to do work, but if you can't tell if that's happening when they work remotely why would you be able to tell if its happening when they are in the office. The only thing they can tell accurately now is that people are in their cubes/seat/open office plan. They'd be better off coming up with some way to evaluate the output of their employees if this was really about that. However I am of the opinion that this is just layoffs with a different name, and that's why you don't see an effort to actually evaluate output.

jondubois 9y ago
It's about incentives. If your employees know that they're stuck in the office all day, they have fewer options; their non-work activities are limited to browsing Facebook, reading blogs and looking at cat pictures - They can either do those things or actually do work. If they're at home they can play computer games, go out, watch a movie, etc...
- Kirth 9y ago
  > It's about incentives. I see being allowed to work from home as a sign of respect and confidence. Therefor I return that respect by not fucking with said opportunity. Given the ability to schedule in chores or a bit of fun during breaks, my breaks become far more productive. When I get stuck or something or am blocking on someone at work, I tend to browse hackernews, some forums, ... You end up with activities that draw you in more and more, potentially wasting hours without really having the refreshing effect you need breaks to have. When I'm at home, I get up and vacuum a couple of rooms, clean the kitchen or maybe even skip out an hour to work out when the gym's calm to help clear my mind. I'm confident in saying my days spent working from home are by far the most productive of my entire week. > If they're at home they can play computer games, go out, watch a movie, etc... Someone like that can just as well be expected to spend their entire days scrolling through cat pictures. Don't hire someone you think you can't trust working from home, they won't fare much better on-site.
  - jondubois 9y ago
    I'm the same but unfortunately not everyone is honest. I've met people who went to the beach during office hours and did almost no work. Then they bragged about it.
    - lovich 9y ago
      Right, but that means you have no way of evaluating their output. On the other hand, maybe you are evaluating their output and that employee is still meeting their targets. At that point why do you care if they can fuck off half the day and get the same work done, if you aren't going to offer a pay increase?
      - jondubois 9y ago
        In a big company (particularly in highly regulated industries) it can get very difficult to measure employee output because quite often an employee may be blocked from completing a task because of regulatory requirements, company policies or scalability considerations - This sometimes forces employees from one team to coordinate with other teams who are working on a project dependency and can lead to busy-waiting. Sometimes employees can be moved onto other temporary tasks while the other team completes their task/dependency but this causes the employees in the former team to lose focus - Making employees context-switch between too many projects carries a cost which may be higher than just allowing them to busy-wait from time to time.

Spooky23 9y ago

For most workers, work from home works as long as you don't do it all of the time and never hire an asshole. I've never seen a team with a big remote work culture that really worked unless it was part of the business where field ops make sense or when most time is interacting with customers.