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How productive one can be working from home also depends on the type of job and level of experience. As a new grad (hoping that my job offer survives covid), I

How productive one can be working from home also depends on the type of job and level of experience. As a new grad (hoping that my job offer survives covid), I'm terrified of a transition where WFH is the default. I recognize that I still have a lot to learn, and that I can't do it all on my own. Casual interactions with coworkers and the ability to passively absorb new information in the workplace are essential for entry-level employees like me. Plus, personally, I find the social aspect of work to be crucial to my well-being.

eqvinox 6y ago
Indeed, there's a whole bunch of other axis that this could be put on, and they might very well change too. If you start a family / have a child, that could very well change it in either direction. Or if the company restructures, or changes its workflows. Etc. pp. The one thing that probably _doesn't_ affect this is a past pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic may push some companies to improve their workflows for working from home, but, the workflows are only one thing out of a whole bunch. I would expect maybe a few more percent of people working from home after the pandemic is over. Hopefully those would be people that are good at working from home but couldn't do so previously for some reason. It'll also happen to some people who are bad at it, but either need time to realize it, or are forced into it since the company thinks it's better or saves money. But overall... we're still the same people after COVID-19. I don't see the office dying any time soon.
panzagl 6y ago
And as someone who is 20 years in, my value comes from facilitating that information flow and bringing people up to speed with the quirks of our domain and process. My slack being up all day doesn't have the same effect as my door being open.
lame-robot-hoax 6y ago
I see this too in the way that older team members often have offices or dedicated spaces within their larger homes that they work from, making it easier to get into work mode. I work from my small kitchen table that is about four feet from my couch which is about 7-8 feet from my bed. This makes it a lot harder to get into the work zone, as well, it makes it harder to leave it at the end of the day. Secondly, a lot of my older team members are married or live with a significant other. I on the other hand live by myself in a new city where the only people I know are the ones that are on my team. Or, were on my team, I should say, before my company internally shuffled roles to avoid layoffs and moved me from my analyst role that I was in for about six months (my first job out of college) down to support. So now the only people I talk to are people calling for help. Or my parents by video call. Other than that it’s just me and my thoughts, which makes it a lot more difficult mentally. I don’t have a spouse or significant other to talk to throughout the day, and the only people I do talk to, for 8 hours, are generally in a neutral to unhappy mood, which also does nothing good for my mental health. Which is just adding on top of the effect being moved from the role I went to college for, and I applied for, and that I thought would help get me on the right path for my career goals (data engineer), down to a support role less technical than the one I had as an internship during college, had on me. I’m applying for data analyst/BI/Junior DBA/Junior Data Engineer roles across the western US, but I have a feeling it will be quite hard now with lots of experienced workers being laid off competing for lower level jobs, considering I only have six months real world experience. As well, I want to start a project for my portfolio to help learn some key technologies I don’t know, but I’m generally so mentally drained after work I just don’t want to do anything. I just want to nap or zone out. I took Friday and today off but it doesn’t feel even close to enough time to fully recharge. I’m rambling off subject, but yeah, as you can tell, this entire thing has definitely not been easy on some of us. I think I’d like WFH if it was an option, as in, Monday and Friday WFH, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I’m in the office. That would be a good balance for me.
- scarface74 6y ago
  Older married worker chiming in. I can’t imagine how bad this would have been if my wife and I had still been living in our apartment. Even then I had a separate small office and we had a treadmill in the living room. This is in a relatively low cost of living area. So I’m definitely not bragging. But now, it’s not too bad. I have a large separate office, we have one bedroom converted into a decently equipped gym with exercise equipment, my son has his own room, my wife converted another room that was originally her study to an ad-hoc studio so she could continue to teach her fitness classes.
jedberg 6y ago
You're absolutely right about random interactions being essential for your career growth. And the worst part is, even if all the juniors go back to an office, a lot of the seniors will want to WFH, so you'll lose out on a lot of that benefit even at the office. That being said, perhaps with all the seniors working at home there might be more chance for interaction with them while also at home?

eqvinox 6y ago

Indeed, there's a whole bunch of other axis that this could be put on, and they might very well change too. If you start a family / have a child, that could very well change it in either direction. Or if the company restructures, or changes its workflows. Etc. pp. The one thing that probably _doesn't_ affect this is a past pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic may push some companies to improve their workflows for working from home, but, the workflows are only one thing out of a whole bunch. I would expect maybe a few more percent of people working from home after the pandemic is over. Hopefully those would be people that are good at working from home but couldn't do so previously for some reason. It'll also happen to some people who are bad at it, but either need time to realize it, or are forced into it since the company thinks it's better or saves money. But overall... we're still the same people after COVID-19. I don't see the office dying any time soon.

panzagl 6y ago

And as someone who is 20 years in, my value comes from facilitating that information flow and bringing people up to speed with the quirks of our domain and process. My slack being up all day doesn't have the same effect as my door being open.

lame-robot-hoax 6y ago

I see this too in the way that older team members often have offices or dedicated spaces within their larger homes that they work from, making it easier to get into work mode. I work from my small kitchen table that is about four feet from my couch which is about 7-8 feet from my bed. This makes it a lot harder to get into the work zone, as well, it makes it harder to leave it at the end of the day. Secondly, a lot of my older team members are married or live with a significant other. I on the other hand live by myself in a new city where the only people I know are the ones that are on my team. Or, were on my team, I should say, before my company internally shuffled roles to avoid layoffs and moved me from my analyst role that I was in for about six months (my first job out of college) down to support. So now the only people I talk to are people calling for help. Or my parents by video call. Other than that it’s just me and my thoughts, which makes it a lot more difficult mentally. I don’t have a spouse or significant other to talk to throughout the day, and the only people I do talk to, for 8 hours, are generally in a neutral to unhappy mood, which also does nothing good for my mental health. Which is just adding on top of the effect being moved from the role I went to college for, and I applied for, and that I thought would help get me on the right path for my career goals (data engineer), down to a support role less technical than the one I had as an internship during college, had on me. I’m applying for data analyst/BI/Junior DBA/Junior Data Engineer roles across the western US, but I have a feeling it will be quite hard now with lots of experienced workers being laid off competing for lower level jobs, considering I only have six months real world experience. As well, I want to start a project for my portfolio to help learn some key technologies I don’t know, but I’m generally so mentally drained after work I just don’t want to do anything. I just want to nap or zone out. I took Friday and today off but it doesn’t feel even close to enough time to fully recharge. I’m rambling off subject, but yeah, as you can tell, this entire thing has definitely not been easy on some of us. I think I’d like WFH if it was an option, as in, Monday and Friday WFH, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, I’m in the office. That would be a good balance for me.

scarface74 6y ago
Older married worker chiming in. I can’t imagine how bad this would have been if my wife and I had still been living in our apartment. Even then I had a separate small office and we had a treadmill in the living room. This is in a relatively low cost of living area. So I’m definitely not bragging. But now, it’s not too bad. I have a large separate office, we have one bedroom converted into a decently equipped gym with exercise equipment, my son has his own room, my wife converted another room that was originally her study to an ad-hoc studio so she could continue to teach her fitness classes.

jedberg 6y ago

You're absolutely right about random interactions being essential for your career growth. And the worst part is, even if all the juniors go back to an office, a lot of the seniors will want to WFH, so you'll lose out on a lot of that benefit even at the office. That being said, perhaps with all the seniors working at home there might be more chance for interaction with them while also at home?