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I wrote a full comment and then deleted it because our blog talks a lot about this. At the risk of being downvoted for pushing my employer's blog, I'll leave yo

I wrote a full comment and then deleted it because our blog talks a lot about this. At the risk of being downvoted for pushing my employer's blog, I'll leave you with a blog post: https://blog.aha.io/remote-workers-vs-office-workers/ https://blog.aha.io/remote-workers-vs-office-workers/ Notable bits: > People get more done when they have autonomy > the office is filled with distractions. This is especially true for those who are in an open-office space, where they are 15 percent less productive, have more trouble concentrating, and are not too pleased with their sound privacy. > People are often surprised to learn that remote workers are actually more engaged than in-office counterparts. [0] > Perhaps the greatest benefit of remote work is that it makes the way for sustainable happiness — giving people the chance to pursue their passions both in work and in life And this is not said in the article, but happy people produce better work. Also, there are more sources in the blog post. We've written a lot about it, if you want to read more: https://blog.aha.io/?s=remote https://blog.aha.io/?s=remote [0] https://hbr.org/2012/08/are-you-taking-your-people-for https://hbr.org/2012/08/are-you-taking-your-people-for

bryanrasmussen 8y ago
my problem is: my home is filled with distractions. thus if I work remotely I need to go get an office to be as productive as I might be at my best in an non-remote office.
lbriner 8y ago
I don't agree that your points can be taken universally. I have employed several people who have performed very poorly with autonomy because they didn't have the motivation to own the things they were working on. Other people working remotely suffer terribly with emotional problems if they don't have enough contact time with real people. Again, some thrive and enjoy the freedom and lack of commute but plenty of people have ditched remote working. In terms of distractions, some people don't like "distractions" but plenty of companies rely on what might be seen as noise to cause chance encouters, overhearing of conversations and the banter and energy that is much easier to generate in an office. In terms of work/life balance, remote working sounds great but plenty of people work in offices and still have work life balance. Some of those people's "life" is their co-workers and the time in the pub after work is their social life (not mine but don't judge).
- closeparen 8y ago
  If you are having “chance encounters” continuously for 8 hours every day (in most open office, there is always a conversation somewhere in earshot), you aren’t doing any work. Most engineers recognize this, and drown them out with headphones.
- peterlk 8y ago
  I agree that these are not universal truths. But I also think that remote workers tend to be self selecting. Those who are successful remote workers do have "the motivation to own the things they're working on" and that fact builds a very strong team. > terms of distractions, some people don't like "distractions" but plenty of companies rely on what might be seen as noise to cause chance encouters, overhearing of conversations and the banter and energy that is much easier to generate in an office. I greatly prefer using a corporate message service (Google Hangouts Chat, Slack, etc.) for corporate conversations and banter because the conversations are not ephemeral, and you can catch up on things that are happening. Now, obviously, people can have private conversations too, but I think everyone being able to see the public conversations promotes cohesion and alignment.

bryanrasmussen 8y ago

my problem is: my home is filled with distractions. thus if I work remotely I need to go get an office to be as productive as I might be at my best in an non-remote office.

lbriner 8y ago

I don't agree that your points can be taken universally. I have employed several people who have performed very poorly with autonomy because they didn't have the motivation to own the things they were working on. Other people working remotely suffer terribly with emotional problems if they don't have enough contact time with real people. Again, some thrive and enjoy the freedom and lack of commute but plenty of people have ditched remote working. In terms of distractions, some people don't like "distractions" but plenty of companies rely on what might be seen as noise to cause chance encouters, overhearing of conversations and the banter and energy that is much easier to generate in an office. In terms of work/life balance, remote working sounds great but plenty of people work in offices and still have work life balance. Some of those people's "life" is their co-workers and the time in the pub after work is their social life (not mine but don't judge).

closeparen 8y ago
If you are having “chance encounters” continuously for 8 hours every day (in most open office, there is always a conversation somewhere in earshot), you aren’t doing any work. Most engineers recognize this, and drown them out with headphones.
peterlk 8y ago
I agree that these are not universal truths. But I also think that remote workers tend to be self selecting. Those who are successful remote workers do have "the motivation to own the things they're working on" and that fact builds a very strong team. > terms of distractions, some people don't like "distractions" but plenty of companies rely on what might be seen as noise to cause chance encouters, overhearing of conversations and the banter and energy that is much easier to generate in an office. I greatly prefer using a corporate message service (Google Hangouts Chat, Slack, etc.) for corporate conversations and banter because the conversations are not ephemeral, and you can catch up on things that are happening. Now, obviously, people can have private conversations too, but I think everyone being able to see the public conversations promotes cohesion and alignment.