4 ms·

I've always wanted to switch to fully remote. I worked from home for a couple weeks after my son was born and my current company didn't like it. My productivity

I've always wanted to switch to fully remote. I worked from home for a couple weeks after my son was born and my current company didn't like it. My productivity was down and they noticed so they informed me I wasn't allowed to work remotely anymore because of it. Obviously it had nothing to do with the fact that they gave me 3 days of parental leave after the birth, so I was trying to help a recovering wife take care of a needy child.

toomuchtodo 8y ago
Have you looked for a new role yet? If not, why not? Start interviewing! Find a company that provides better benefits, better pay, and supports flexible work arrangements. Can't fix your current org having garbage parental leave unfortunately (I mean, you could, but it's a more effective use of your time to just bounce). https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19797594 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19797594 (May 2019 HN Who's Hiring Thread)
astura 8y ago
I don't think that has anything to do with "remote work" vs "working and caring for a newborn at the same time," which, obviously, would heavily distract you from work in any setting.
throwaway55554 8y ago
There are pros and cons. I've been partial remote for 6 years and full remote for nearly 5. I can do whatever I need to do to get into the flow of work; music, no music, lights, no lights, etc. I don't have to conform to what happens at an office. I can start early or work late (my "office" is several time zones away). I can take a personal call w/out feeling guilty. What I cannot do is walk over to a colleague's desk and chat. I miss hallway conversations about the project. Phone meetings are always a pain as someone is usually too far from the mic and I can't hear. I don't work in a city that has a "tech" community. I can't take my setup with me and go sit at a coffee shop (part of my project is writing hw controls). I love remote work. But, I miss people.
- return1 8y ago
  I think this is something that will improve in the future. Cities everywhere are optimized for the very specific 9-5 living lifestyle and commute, and people heavily rely on work for social functions. But as more and more people are working remotely / without an office, i think we 'll see a shift. This will probably involve a lot of online communiction/coordination.
- ellius 8y ago
  There are certain jobs that I think could really benefit from pairing, akin to pair programming. I used to do compliance work for a bank, and I think as a whole our reporting defect rate would have plummeted had we worked in pairs. Obviously for some jobs this is cost prohibitive and otherwise impractical, but an ideal working environment for me would be remote and part-time pairing. You get consistent human interaction, information flow across the team, and the benefits of remote work.
  - benji-york 8y ago
    We've done a few "mobbing" sessions with three remote people and it worked out very well. We got a lot done and we all felt a high level of energy for days afterward.
mherdeg 8y ago
I'm so sorry. This sounds like a very stressful experience.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
Androider 8y ago
3 days of parental leave is a travesty. Fuck them, seriously. Find a company that values you more, and that allows remote (or remote-first). Plenty of companies in the latest Who's Hiring that have fully-remote work-from-anywhere $100K+ positions. Just Do It.
- astura 8y ago
  The problem was not "company didn't like remote work," the problem was "spending work time caring for a newborn instead of working." Moving to a company that's entirely remote doesn't fix that issue, you still need to be actually working during work time. Of course, the problem was caused by lack of paid parental leave with a desire to care for the newborn/wife and not lose salary. So, really, a family oriented company would be best in that situation. Unfortunately, from what I've seen, paid paternity leave is an uncommon benefit in the US.
b_t_s 8y ago
dude my productivity went down for like 2 years after having a kid. Griping about productivity during what "should" be parental leave is just wrong. Seriously, consider changing jobs, they'r not all like that.
megy 8y ago
If you are going to request to go to remote, then I would suggest making sure your productivity is better or at least not worse.

toomuchtodo 8y ago

Have you looked for a new role yet? If not, why not? Start interviewing! Find a company that provides better benefits, better pay, and supports flexible work arrangements. Can't fix your current org having garbage parental leave unfortunately (I mean, you could, but it's a more effective use of your time to just bounce). https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19797594 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19797594 (May 2019 HN Who's Hiring Thread)

astura 8y ago

I don't think that has anything to do with "remote work" vs "working and caring for a newborn at the same time," which, obviously, would heavily distract you from work in any setting.

throwaway55554 8y ago

There are pros and cons. I've been partial remote for 6 years and full remote for nearly 5. I can do whatever I need to do to get into the flow of work; music, no music, lights, no lights, etc. I don't have to conform to what happens at an office. I can start early or work late (my "office" is several time zones away). I can take a personal call w/out feeling guilty. What I cannot do is walk over to a colleague's desk and chat. I miss hallway conversations about the project. Phone meetings are always a pain as someone is usually too far from the mic and I can't hear. I don't work in a city that has a "tech" community. I can't take my setup with me and go sit at a coffee shop (part of my project is writing hw controls). I love remote work. But, I miss people.

return1 8y ago
I think this is something that will improve in the future. Cities everywhere are optimized for the very specific 9-5 living lifestyle and commute, and people heavily rely on work for social functions. But as more and more people are working remotely / without an office, i think we 'll see a shift. This will probably involve a lot of online communiction/coordination.
ellius 8y ago
There are certain jobs that I think could really benefit from pairing, akin to pair programming. I used to do compliance work for a bank, and I think as a whole our reporting defect rate would have plummeted had we worked in pairs. Obviously for some jobs this is cost prohibitive and otherwise impractical, but an ideal working environment for me would be remote and part-time pairing. You get consistent human interaction, information flow across the team, and the benefits of remote work.
- benji-york 8y ago
  We've done a few "mobbing" sessions with three remote people and it worked out very well. We got a lot done and we all felt a high level of energy for days afterward.

mherdeg 8y ago

I'm so sorry. This sounds like a very stressful experience.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

Androider 8y ago

3 days of parental leave is a travesty. Fuck them, seriously. Find a company that values you more, and that allows remote (or remote-first). Plenty of companies in the latest Who's Hiring that have fully-remote work-from-anywhere $100K+ positions. Just Do It.

astura 8y ago
The problem was not "company didn't like remote work," the problem was "spending work time caring for a newborn instead of working." Moving to a company that's entirely remote doesn't fix that issue, you still need to be actually working during work time. Of course, the problem was caused by lack of paid parental leave with a desire to care for the newborn/wife and not lose salary. So, really, a family oriented company would be best in that situation. Unfortunately, from what I've seen, paid paternity leave is an uncommon benefit in the US.

b_t_s 8y ago

dude my productivity went down for like 2 years after having a kid. Griping about productivity during what "should" be parental leave is just wrong. Seriously, consider changing jobs, they'r not all like that.

megy 8y ago

If you are going to request to go to remote, then I would suggest making sure your productivity is better or at least not worse.