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I've made this point before but the future of remote work has and will continue to have no dependence on what workers like nor will it on how "productive" worke

I've made this point before but the future of remote work has and will continue to have no dependence on what workers like nor will it on how "productive" workers are. Office's have perpetually been getting worse for workers(offices -> cubicles -> open office). So it's very clear companies have never chosen one office solution to another because it is the preference of the worker. As for the argument of changes to "productivity". For starters very few of us work in roles where productivity is a directly measurable thing. Sure you can argue about commits, lines of code, ship times, but those are all nowhere near as measurable as "widgets-per-hour". On top of this we all know that a huge portion of roles out there are arguably not productive at all (and if they are it's very hard to measure). And again, when in the history of work has declining worker productivity been solved by improving conditions for the worker? If you company goes remote and you don't work as well that way, do you think your boss is going to go "oh! I'd better talk to leadership about getting those offices again!"? The entire reason offices still exist is because of culture. For years every SV startup I knew said they needed an office in SF because the "VCs like to see that". There has been a lot of inertia towards offices. Now that Covid19 has broken that assumption for a bit, I think we'll see a rapid shift to remote teams because it quickly becomes clear that offices are a liability. Anecdotally I already know one start up that can no longer afford their office and so are breaking their lease with no sense of what they'll do next (so remote is the default), and a well established, very traditional office culture firm that is already stating that everyone being in the office full time will not be the norm coming out of this.

dna113 7y ago
Also I think COVID has forced companies into trying it when there might have been fear or apprehension before. It takes time/resources/commitment to even try out a work from home policy - but now everyone has been forced into it.
- draw_down 7y ago
  Well, that's exactly it- everyone has been forced into it, and being forced into something is not always a great way to appreciate it. My employer has been surveying employees since this all started, and the last survey showed 70% of them looking forward to returning to the office. Personally I've worked remote for almost 10 years; I might not ever take an in-person job again. But it seems most people don't feel that way.
- DoofusOfDeath 7y ago
  Unfortunately, this means that their first experience with "all remote" will come from a rushed implementation instead of a well-planned one. I fear some managers will draw the wrong conclusion about remote work in general.
  - netjiro 7y ago
    > will draw the wrong conclusion A risk. But it doesn't take much to get people on the right path. 1) trust your staff, give them autonomy and agency. 2) asynchronous transparent communication for discussions and decisions. 3) remove friction: few small tools for communication and collaboration, good audio, forum, wiki, git, etc. Services: shopping, childcare, etc. And a bunch of smaller tricks. But trust, transparency, asynchronous coordination are the major points. I've helped "rush" groups to full remote with less than 10h "training" during the last few months now that it suddenly became important to a lot of people. More time would have been great, but even a small bit can help a lot. If you have experience of remote / distributed work, help out and teach others now that they really need it.
    - cvlasdkv 7y ago
      #1 is a non-starter for many managers in companies of all sizes. Unfortunately the personality-type that lends itself to accumulating power is not one that thrives off trust.

dna113 7y ago

Also I think COVID has forced companies into trying it when there might have been fear or apprehension before. It takes time/resources/commitment to even try out a work from home policy - but now everyone has been forced into it.

draw_down 7y ago
Well, that's exactly it- everyone has been forced into it, and being forced into something is not always a great way to appreciate it. My employer has been surveying employees since this all started, and the last survey showed 70% of them looking forward to returning to the office. Personally I've worked remote for almost 10 years; I might not ever take an in-person job again. But it seems most people don't feel that way.
DoofusOfDeath 7y ago
Unfortunately, this means that their first experience with "all remote" will come from a rushed implementation instead of a well-planned one. I fear some managers will draw the wrong conclusion about remote work in general.
- netjiro 7y ago
  > will draw the wrong conclusion A risk. But it doesn't take much to get people on the right path. 1) trust your staff, give them autonomy and agency. 2) asynchronous transparent communication for discussions and decisions. 3) remove friction: few small tools for communication and collaboration, good audio, forum, wiki, git, etc. Services: shopping, childcare, etc. And a bunch of smaller tricks. But trust, transparency, asynchronous coordination are the major points. I've helped "rush" groups to full remote with less than 10h "training" during the last few months now that it suddenly became important to a lot of people. More time would have been great, but even a small bit can help a lot. If you have experience of remote / distributed work, help out and teach others now that they really need it.
  - cvlasdkv 7y ago
    #1 is a non-starter for many managers in companies of all sizes. Unfortunately the personality-type that lends itself to accumulating power is not one that thrives off trust.