6 ms·

What if, at the tail end of all this, a bunch of people find that they've tried remote work and decided: "Hey - this fucking rules!" In part because they've rea

What if, at the tail end of all this, a bunch of people find that they've tried remote work and decided: "Hey - this fucking rules!" In part because they've realized that they can complete their core work duties in less time, with less distractions, and zero commuting. Maybe - just maybe - this could be the unplug that helps people prioritize the things that they enjoy over their work. I recognize that's a viewpoint that represents immense privilege. I'm in a job where I'm capable of working remotely. But it'd be a neat thing for people like me to be able to leverage.

arthurcolle 7y ago
Seriously hope you're right. But given that we're clearly in a distressed timeline, I doubt this will happen.
chungy 7y ago
> In part because they've realized that they can complete their core work duties in less time, with less distractions, and zero commuting. The first two depend _very_ heavily on both your home and office environments. It is certainly not true for myself.
- anyfoo 7y ago
  Yes, but at the same time, it is absolutely, immensely true for me, and I doubt I'm in a minority small enough for OP's point to not have some merit.
- Traster 7y ago
  Absolutely, I'm getting very tired of the constant hacker news posts telling me that working from home is the future, that I'm getting twice as much done in half the time. I'll tell you what I have, I have chronic back pain from my uncomfortable dining room chairs and chronic anger at the fact I can't get timely answers to my quesitons. Some people like working from home, fine, but for many of us it's just not right.
  - fossuser 7y ago
    Maybe just buy a decent chair? I picked up a liquidation sale Aeron on Craigslist - totally worth it. Also I’ve found it easier and faster to zoom since everyone is remote (don’t have to try and find an open meeting room).
    - randlet 7y ago
      Better yet, switch to standing!
      - fossuser 7y ago
        I tried that - really didn't like it. I've been happy with the Aeron chair and getting up pretty often to wander around a bit.
    - SauciestGNU 7y ago
      For real, I also have chronic hip pain and bad ergonomics make it worse. I also bought an aeron for home and it's a life-changing chair. My company provides me with a high end steelcase leap in the office, which is another great choice if you can find a cheap one.
  - BurningFrog 7y ago
    You need to put some real money into good home office furniture, if you work there permanently.
  - rlayton2 7y ago
    Getting a good home-office setup is critical here. In my previous house I had a separate office and enjoyed working from home. In my current house we do not have a separate room (adding it now) and I can't get anything done there (doesn't help that the kids are home from school). On the response times, if your office is one of constant interruption for that, then you can simply just have video conferencing on all day rather than just for meetings. This helps with "Hey Bob, what's the answer to this?". It has the same level of distraction as being in the office and just interrupting each other all the time. (which is awful for some, and useful for others)
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
timeimp 7y ago
Interestingly enough, there is also now, with the explosion of co-working spaces, services for that part of the market that wants to work "in town" but without a commute to the "big smoke" (so to speak) I wonder how WeWork will fare when an entire 2 generations of people realise they can work close to home and be more productive...
- ghaff 7y ago
  That's assuming people live "in town." Many don't and work out of a suburban/ex-urban/rural apartment/house where they admittedly tend to have more room.
holler 7y ago
It's funny, I've been working remotely for the past 4 years and now more than ever, I miss going to an office and being around more people. Working remote has some amazing benefits, and I've certainly taken advantage of them, but eventually I've realized that decreased social interaction is something to consider. That said, I'll probably keep working remote.
- Ididntdothis 7y ago
  I dream of a small office with a few people near to my home within cycling distance. If I have to choose between a big office and home I will choose home.
  - holler 7y ago
    Yeah I think I'm in agreement with you... That's why I'm working on my own project, hoping to get it off the ground so I can set my own rules and do something like you describe :)
  - lotsofpulp 7y ago
    Same, would love to live in a community with businesses interspersed with homes and be able to bicycle/walk everywhere and let kids roam around without risk of being hit by a car.
  - theturtletalks 7y ago
    I used to have a membership to this small co-working space. I could walk there in 5 min from my apartment, had 24/7 access, free snacks and drinks, etc. Sadly, they ended up renting the whole space to one company. I wonder how hard it would be to start a small, community co-working space.
  - ie21 7y ago
    Then I'm living your dream - my office is right-next-to-my-house. I use the door in my garden to cross over. More often I take the main front yard door just so I get to walk a bit (<100m door to door). Right now, nobody is coming in, everyone's remote. I prefer to go to the office now. Tho it's only six of us developers (company is 17 people) sharing a pretty nice office in a modern building owned by the company, I prefer to work over the wire. Unusual, huh? I realized for me it's about flexibility, not distance. I wish you get to live the way you want. Good luck, sir.
JshWright 7y ago
I think it's likely the exact opposite will happen. People are being thrown into seriously sub-optimal remote working experiences, and their productivity is likely to suffer for it. This will result in companies being less likely to consider remote working a viable path.
- JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago
  Forced working from home while during a pandemic. It's nothing like working from home under more normal circumstances.
  - freeqaz 7y ago
    If productivity turns out to be similar (or better) despite this handicap, I'd be genuinely curious to see how companies respond! I'm personally very pro-remote (have worked remote at corporate gigs before) and it'd be great to see more companies adopting it. There are some seriously big benefits and, if the tooling keeps improving, I think it could be a real competitive advantage for companies.
    - TeMPOraL 7y ago
      > If productivity turns out to be similar (or better) despite this handicap, I'd be genuinely curious to see how companies respond! It won't. That's the problem. Being forced to do WFH unprepaerd + kids suddenly home + being in an actual pandemic, worried about the future, your family and yourself = productivity disaster. And it unfortunately will end up emotionally associated with WFH.
      - TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
        Also, I suspect many companies are going to see reduced turnover, and as a result are likely to shy away from anything that may have contributed, including WFH.
  - chickenpotpie 7y ago
    I live in one of the COVID-19 infection centers and I have to say I'm a little distracted by all of it. It's hard to focus when I'm worried about where I'm going to be able to get food and not being able to relax on the weekends because I can't go outside.
alain_gilbert 7y ago
This is doomed by the fact that children also stay at home :P
- megous 7y ago
  Not during normal times. ;)
  - alain_gilbert 7y ago
    Yeah, but I mean people (with children) don't get to experience what a normal time working from home looks like.
christoph 7y ago
I’ve said to numerous people over the last three weeks that the world is just not going back to the way it was after this is over. Nobody has really listened to or believed me. I’m glad I’m starting to hear more people saying the same thing.
ThrowawayR2 7y ago
> "In part because they've realized that they can complete their core work duties in less time, with less distractions, and zero commuting." Not me. I actually want to go back to the office, despite the hassle of commuting. Working from a jury-rigged home office is incredibly inconvenient.
munk-a 7y ago
Alternatively - what if we come out of this with a positive view of Medicare for All and labour unions to empower workers to reclaim their lives. I hope this time at home "spoils" workers as to what they're missing out on in life due to working themselves to the bone so that they can reject calls to return to our prior broken society.
- cushychicken 7y ago
  I agree. This is an opportunity to reshape society for the better.
ck2 7y ago
Once jobs can be sourced to anyone who can work from anywhere and businesses get it down to a "science", guess what: your job can now be replaced by anyone working from anywhere. In any country, with much lower wages. No-one's skillset is that unique.
- wolco 7y ago
  Including CEO's, boards and companies themselves. Once we get it down to a science we will just do it ourselves and not need a company to provide that service in the first place. Refrigeration put many companies that gathered ice from the Artic or Antarctic out of business. Interesting the Queen still gets her water this way.
enahs-sf 7y ago
My company threw in the towel as soon as this whole thing started and has since adopted a "remote first" ideology. This means a block for meetings from 12 to 1pm PDT with no meetings to accommodate folks with kids needing to feed them and allowing children in zoom meetings. It hasn't been exactly smooth sailing, but it's starting to work. I'm sure the guys with the spreadsheets in the back would love to knock off that expensive SF office space as a line item.
cmarschner 7y ago
It seems that remote and office work both have their pros and cons, and they are complementary. So how about a world where you can go back and forth? I've worked from home about once a week before the crisis, and I might make that twice in the future. At the same time I'm missing the ability to do sessions at a whiteboard and just learn what others are doing by just walking around, or simply having lunch with colleagues.
stOneskull 7y ago
virtual reality helmets could also have cameras to see outside and breathing filters.

arthurcolle 7y ago

Seriously hope you're right. But given that we're clearly in a distressed timeline, I doubt this will happen.

chungy 7y ago

> In part because they've realized that they can complete their core work duties in less time, with less distractions, and zero commuting. The first two depend _very_ heavily on both your home and office environments. It is certainly not true for myself.

anyfoo 7y ago
Yes, but at the same time, it is absolutely, immensely true for me, and I doubt I'm in a minority small enough for OP's point to not have some merit.
Traster 7y ago
Absolutely, I'm getting very tired of the constant hacker news posts telling me that working from home is the future, that I'm getting twice as much done in half the time. I'll tell you what I have, I have chronic back pain from my uncomfortable dining room chairs and chronic anger at the fact I can't get timely answers to my quesitons. Some people like working from home, fine, but for many of us it's just not right.
- fossuser 7y ago
  Maybe just buy a decent chair? I picked up a liquidation sale Aeron on Craigslist - totally worth it. Also I’ve found it easier and faster to zoom since everyone is remote (don’t have to try and find an open meeting room).
  - randlet 7y ago
    Better yet, switch to standing!
    - fossuser 7y ago
      I tried that - really didn't like it. I've been happy with the Aeron chair and getting up pretty often to wander around a bit.
  - SauciestGNU 7y ago
    For real, I also have chronic hip pain and bad ergonomics make it worse. I also bought an aeron for home and it's a life-changing chair. My company provides me with a high end steelcase leap in the office, which is another great choice if you can find a cheap one.
- BurningFrog 7y ago
  You need to put some real money into good home office furniture, if you work there permanently.
- rlayton2 7y ago
  Getting a good home-office setup is critical here. In my previous house I had a separate office and enjoyed working from home. In my current house we do not have a separate room (adding it now) and I can't get anything done there (doesn't help that the kids are home from school). On the response times, if your office is one of constant interruption for that, then you can simply just have video conferencing on all day rather than just for meetings. This helps with "Hey Bob, what's the answer to this?". It has the same level of distraction as being in the office and just interrupting each other all the time. (which is awful for some, and useful for others)
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

timeimp 7y ago

Interestingly enough, there is also now, with the explosion of co-working spaces, services for that part of the market that wants to work "in town" but without a commute to the "big smoke" (so to speak) I wonder how WeWork will fare when an entire 2 generations of people realise they can work close to home and be more productive...

ghaff 7y ago
That's assuming people live "in town." Many don't and work out of a suburban/ex-urban/rural apartment/house where they admittedly tend to have more room.

holler 7y ago

It's funny, I've been working remotely for the past 4 years and now more than ever, I miss going to an office and being around more people. Working remote has some amazing benefits, and I've certainly taken advantage of them, but eventually I've realized that decreased social interaction is something to consider. That said, I'll probably keep working remote.

Ididntdothis 7y ago
I dream of a small office with a few people near to my home within cycling distance. If I have to choose between a big office and home I will choose home.
- holler 7y ago
  Yeah I think I'm in agreement with you... That's why I'm working on my own project, hoping to get it off the ground so I can set my own rules and do something like you describe :)
- lotsofpulp 7y ago
  Same, would love to live in a community with businesses interspersed with homes and be able to bicycle/walk everywhere and let kids roam around without risk of being hit by a car.
- theturtletalks 7y ago
  I used to have a membership to this small co-working space. I could walk there in 5 min from my apartment, had 24/7 access, free snacks and drinks, etc. Sadly, they ended up renting the whole space to one company. I wonder how hard it would be to start a small, community co-working space.
- ie21 7y ago
  Then I'm living your dream - my office is right-next-to-my-house. I use the door in my garden to cross over. More often I take the main front yard door just so I get to walk a bit (<100m door to door). Right now, nobody is coming in, everyone's remote. I prefer to go to the office now. Tho it's only six of us developers (company is 17 people) sharing a pretty nice office in a modern building owned by the company, I prefer to work over the wire. Unusual, huh? I realized for me it's about flexibility, not distance. I wish you get to live the way you want. Good luck, sir.

JshWright 7y ago

I think it's likely the exact opposite will happen. People are being thrown into seriously sub-optimal remote working experiences, and their productivity is likely to suffer for it. This will result in companies being less likely to consider remote working a viable path.

JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago
Forced working from home while during a pandemic. It's nothing like working from home under more normal circumstances.
- freeqaz 7y ago
  If productivity turns out to be similar (or better) despite this handicap, I'd be genuinely curious to see how companies respond! I'm personally very pro-remote (have worked remote at corporate gigs before) and it'd be great to see more companies adopting it. There are some seriously big benefits and, if the tooling keeps improving, I think it could be a real competitive advantage for companies.
  - TeMPOraL 7y ago
    > If productivity turns out to be similar (or better) despite this handicap, I'd be genuinely curious to see how companies respond! It won't. That's the problem. Being forced to do WFH unprepaerd + kids suddenly home + being in an actual pandemic, worried about the future, your family and yourself = productivity disaster. And it unfortunately will end up emotionally associated with WFH.
    - TheSpiceIsLife 7y ago
      Also, I suspect many companies are going to see reduced turnover, and as a result are likely to shy away from anything that may have contributed, including WFH.
- chickenpotpie 7y ago
  I live in one of the COVID-19 infection centers and I have to say I'm a little distracted by all of it. It's hard to focus when I'm worried about where I'm going to be able to get food and not being able to relax on the weekends because I can't go outside.

alain_gilbert 7y ago

This is doomed by the fact that children also stay at home :P

megous 7y ago
Not during normal times. ;)
- alain_gilbert 7y ago
  Yeah, but I mean people (with children) don't get to experience what a normal time working from home looks like.

christoph 7y ago

I’ve said to numerous people over the last three weeks that the world is just not going back to the way it was after this is over. Nobody has really listened to or believed me. I’m glad I’m starting to hear more people saying the same thing.

ThrowawayR2 7y ago

> "In part because they've realized that they can complete their core work duties in less time, with less distractions, and zero commuting." Not me. I actually want to go back to the office, despite the hassle of commuting. Working from a jury-rigged home office is incredibly inconvenient.

munk-a 7y ago

Alternatively - what if we come out of this with a positive view of Medicare for All and labour unions to empower workers to reclaim their lives. I hope this time at home "spoils" workers as to what they're missing out on in life due to working themselves to the bone so that they can reject calls to return to our prior broken society.

cushychicken 7y ago
I agree. This is an opportunity to reshape society for the better.

ck2 7y ago

Once jobs can be sourced to anyone who can work from anywhere and businesses get it down to a "science", guess what: your job can now be replaced by anyone working from anywhere. In any country, with much lower wages. No-one's skillset is that unique.

wolco 7y ago
Including CEO's, boards and companies themselves. Once we get it down to a science we will just do it ourselves and not need a company to provide that service in the first place. Refrigeration put many companies that gathered ice from the Artic or Antarctic out of business. Interesting the Queen still gets her water this way.

enahs-sf 7y ago

My company threw in the towel as soon as this whole thing started and has since adopted a "remote first" ideology. This means a block for meetings from 12 to 1pm PDT with no meetings to accommodate folks with kids needing to feed them and allowing children in zoom meetings. It hasn't been exactly smooth sailing, but it's starting to work. I'm sure the guys with the spreadsheets in the back would love to knock off that expensive SF office space as a line item.

cmarschner 7y ago

It seems that remote and office work both have their pros and cons, and they are complementary. So how about a world where you can go back and forth? I've worked from home about once a week before the crisis, and I might make that twice in the future. At the same time I'm missing the ability to do sessions at a whiteboard and just learn what others are doing by just walking around, or simply having lunch with colleagues.

stOneskull 7y ago

virtual reality helmets could also have cameras to see outside and breathing filters.