7 ms·

What I find strange is all of the people who don't like working from home trying to talk everyone out of it, including the people who do want to work from home.

• codetrotter 7y ago
  People are like this with everything, I think. For example, a lot of people will be like this or that operating system is trash and you shouldn’t use it. And I am ashamed to admit that years ago I used to be this way too. While I understand where people are coming from when they act that way, it is still frustrating and I wish it wasn’t like that.
  • ido 7y ago
    Try telling people you're vegan (doesn't matter if you are or aren't) & leaving it at that. A significant portion will think you're judging them & try to talk you out of it or say why it's a bad thing.
    • duggan 7y ago
      I mean, isn’t a large part of veganism an ethical stance against killing sentient creatures? It’s hard to see how that wouldn’t involve judging others to some degree.
      • Symbiote 7y ago
        There are also people trying to reduce their environmental impact (so also an ethical stance). But there are some who have allergies, and it can be easier for them to choose a vegan restaurant to be certain there's no lactose / egg contamination.
      • feanaro 7y ago
        It is possible to have a stance on something, choose to act on it and still not judge others for not behaving in the same way. You do this by acknowledging that you still may be the one with the "wrong" stance (whatever that means) and by having compassion for others that may not have had the same insights you did.
        • ido 7y ago
          Right, I have a lot of stances that a lot of people don't hold & I manage to "live and let live". Ultimately I think we're all responsible for our own morals & I generally don't get worked up about people having different ideas (notwithstanding such that deny my right to exist, such as antisemites).
      • ido 7y ago
        Do you feel the same about people who believe in a religion other than yours (or any religion if you're not a believer)?
        • duggan 7y ago
          I think that would depend on the religion, but generally I don't think the comparison is equivalent. I'd always thought the primary difference between vegetarians and vegans was ethical, rather than dietary. That part of the ethics of veganism is opposition to the mechanised slaughter of individuals that should have the same, or similar, rights to people. Maybe this is more of a fringe belief as vegan options become mainstream?
• AmericanChopper 7y ago
  Well one thing to consider is that in addition to whether or not working at home works for you, there is also the question of whether your working at home works for everybody else. How does one or more people working from home affect the other people on the team? How does one or more people working from home affect the productivity, culture, communication, and collaboration of the team? The answers to those questions could be in a negative, positive or neutral way for any particular person/team. Some of my colleagues are quite frustrating when they work from home due to their own personal communication style, whereas they may personally find it very rewarding.
• kovac 7y ago
  I think it's the social aspect of it. There are people who feel lonely at home and really need some people around them most of the time. I enjoy wfh usually. It just takes overall less energy since no commute, can take a nap if I'm tired and catch up to it later if I'm really tired or take a quick cold shower in the middle of the day, step outside to a nice coffeeshop for an afternoon tea. I'm an engineer, so I usually enjoy the actual quiet in my room when I'm working. For some, having people around them is more important than the freedom, flexibility and relaxation they can get at home. Too bad :)
  • asjw 7y ago
    There is also a human factor: most people don't like living in the same cage where they work 24 hours a day Family life is mostly about sharing the events of the day Working home is pretty uneventful and that aspect can be stressful I worked home for 13 of my 23 years career, loved them and still do it, but my best years have been the 3 years I left all my jobs to go touring around Europe as roadie Being part of a team that shares a common goal but also solves everyday mundane tasks together like finding a place to eat that's ok for everybody or fixing a flat tire gives a lot more meaning to what one does
• dingo_bat 7y ago
  I don't like wfh because I don't like being all alone at home all day. But my preference for office hinges upon the presence of other people in office too! That's why I encourage everyone to come to office and work.
  • mnm1 7y ago
    That's so incredibly selfish. Why not get friends outside of work?
    • TomMarius 7y ago
      He said encourage, not force. That's not selfish at all.
      • ghaff 7y ago
        At least if the person has any authority/influence, "encourage" in a work context means something different than my encouraging you to try out a new TV show.
        • TomMarius 7y ago
          It doesn't. Encouraging is positively motivating someone, nothing wrong about that.
          • ghaff 7y ago
            If someone in authority "encourages" you to work from the office, that isn't a positive motivation. It's a "polite" order.
            • TomMarius 7y ago
              No, it's not. That's an order. You're redefining the word to mean what you want. When my boss encouraged me to work from office, they said there will be pizza - where is the order in that?
• throwaway98797 7y ago
  Some people are better communicators in person while others are better using written communication. Working from home changes the relative value of certain skills. It make sense why people would be resistant to their own devaluing. The work place is competitive and no one likes to see the rules of game change in way that disadvantages themselves.
  • thomas232233 7y ago
    People who are not good at writing can always use skype, I dont understand why its so difficult to think of. It's a solved problem a long time ago.
    • throwaway98797 7y ago
      Video not the same as in person. If it is for you then maybe you don’t appreciate some aspects of in person communication.
• spurdoman77 7y ago
  I think it is most common for an employee to try to talk their employer to accept remote work. Other way around is more rare and there is not that much talk if the employer decides to decide against it.
• tjoff 7y ago
  Colleagues working from home affects those in the office... There are certain types of communication that are vastly superior to do in person that can get quite tedious over text or phone. A 2 minute quick talk can save tons of time. Now if my colleague is working from home I get the that same disadvantage from working from home - even when I'm still in the office. Many of the downsides people list here with working from home will be shared by those who are still in the office.
  • JDiculous 7y ago
    You could have a 2 minute chat remotely
    • tjoff 7y ago
      I certainly would hope so. The point is that it wouldn't be nearly enough or as efficient.
      • feanaro 7y ago
        Then we work on the technology to make it efficient. Remote work will have to become much more common in the future. It makes absolutely no sense to waste so much time and energy on commutes.
        • tjoff 7y ago
          Always a good idea. But the entire company culture needs to adapt for it to work. The conundrum as to why anyone in office would care isn't that hard to figure out. Personally I would look for another job. I love being able to work from home, when I'm recovering from being ill or if it somehow makes life easier on a particular day. Will probably come in handy during this crisis as well - so I'm very thankful of it. But 363 times out of 365 I much prefer to work in office. And that is with the assumption that I won't be alone...
          • feanaro 7y ago
• Tade0 7y ago
  They're afraid that this will become the norm and their office chit-chat times will be over for good. Or worse: they don't like being at their own home, so the thought of staying there is terrifying. That's at least what I've gathered from those I talked with. I mean, if someone is saying that a 40min commute in high traffic still doesn't tip the balance in favour of remote work, then they apparently either really like being in the office, or really dislike staying home. Parents come to mind for the latter, but most of the people I've known who have 4+ children work remotely, so this doesn't add up.
  • ghaff 7y ago
    The other thing that goes on is that some number of people want to live (and get well-compensated for living) in certain expensive coastal cities. And they hate the idea that companies might decide that they're not going to crowd into those places so dogmatically any longer if people can productively mostly work remotely.
    • Tade0 7y ago
      I'm currently temporarily in a place where people also crowd and salaries are on par with those expensive coastal cities. I see where they're coming from because it's still somewhat surreal to me, but I want to go home. Which brings me to another point: there's something off about this. Most of the cost of living compensation appears to address the cost of real estate, which is artificially inflated in the first place. Why do companies still do that if all they achieve is pumping the local housing prices even more?
  • bitforger 7y ago
    > Parents come to mind for the latter, but most of the people I've known who have 4+ children work remotely, so this doesn't add up. It's multifaceted. It might be fine if you own a large enough home that you can have a dedicated working space, with a door. Even without kids, I find it extremely difficult to work from home without a dedicated space. If I try to work from the living room, I end up doing living room things (like playing video games). For some people, though, the idea of engineering your environment to change your behavior is either impractical or unheard of, which is what I think gives these people the general impression that "working effectively from home is impossible."
• fatnoah 7y ago
  >What I find strange is all of the people who don't like working from home trying to talk everyone out of it Yeah, that makes no sense. I don't like working from home, but I want as many people as possible to work from home. That makes my commute so much better!