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Are you saying you don’t know what the negatives are or have they not become self-evident yet? I think there are immediate negatives, like collaboration, synch

Are you saying you don’t know what the negatives are or have they not become self-evident yet? I think there are immediate negatives, like collaboration, synchronous decision-making. I wonder what the long-term ones are.

dmitriid 6y ago
> I think there are immediate negatives, like collaboration, synchronous decision-making. This hits companies with teams who sit in the same office. Companies that are more spread out didn't suffer as much. My team of four people is spread of four cities, so we were always remote to each other. The negatives come from equipment and socialisation: - most homes are not equipped to be offices (anything from lack of proper chairs to lack of proper quiet places at home, especially if kids are on vacation) - you do miss interactions with other people at the office even if they are not on your team: lunches together, coffee breaks etc. This can be mitigated (just ask freelancers how they cope), but it will eventually affect most people - You often end up working more at the detriment of your work-life balance due to some routines just not being there. No one asks you to join them for lunch? You end up skipping lunch because you're working. People are not leaving for home en masse, you end up staying way beyond work hours hacking at "just one more bug and PR, and I'm done".
biztos 6y ago
> what the long-term ones are Work-life balance is really hard to maintain long term when you're WFH; and you don't have the "sniff the air" kind of awareness of politics/power-struggles/etc taking place in the office, which can easily cap your mobility, which anyway is pretty limited; you can end up stuck in one job if your lifestyle depends on WFH; and finally, it's difficult to power through when your motivation is low. Of course that's from the employee's point of view. From the company's point of view, I think the only long-term negative that's not already evident in the short term is that you miss chances to develop and promote your top remote talent to maximize their contribution. WFH folks tend to get stuck in a role or at least a very narrow silo. (Remote-first companies try to solve that of course, but I've never seen one up close so I have no comment.) Source: I'm WFH for about 11 years on the current gig, which I guess counts as "long-term."
aeternum 6y ago
Culture and team camaraderie are likely long-term negatives. The existing team relationships can hold things for awhile but it's tough as people join+leave.

dmitriid 6y ago

> I think there are immediate negatives, like collaboration, synchronous decision-making. This hits companies with teams who sit in the same office. Companies that are more spread out didn't suffer as much. My team of four people is spread of four cities, so we were always remote to each other. The negatives come from equipment and socialisation: - most homes are not equipped to be offices (anything from lack of proper chairs to lack of proper quiet places at home, especially if kids are on vacation) - you do miss interactions with other people at the office even if they are not on your team: lunches together, coffee breaks etc. This can be mitigated (just ask freelancers how they cope), but it will eventually affect most people - You often end up working more at the detriment of your work-life balance due to some routines just not being there. No one asks you to join them for lunch? You end up skipping lunch because you're working. People are not leaving for home en masse, you end up staying way beyond work hours hacking at "just one more bug and PR, and I'm done".

biztos 6y ago

> what the long-term ones are Work-life balance is really hard to maintain long term when you're WFH; and you don't have the "sniff the air" kind of awareness of politics/power-struggles/etc taking place in the office, which can easily cap your mobility, which anyway is pretty limited; you can end up stuck in one job if your lifestyle depends on WFH; and finally, it's difficult to power through when your motivation is low. Of course that's from the employee's point of view. From the company's point of view, I think the only long-term negative that's not already evident in the short term is that you miss chances to develop and promote your top remote talent to maximize their contribution. WFH folks tend to get stuck in a role or at least a very narrow silo. (Remote-first companies try to solve that of course, but I've never seen one up close so I have no comment.) Source: I'm WFH for about 11 years on the current gig, which I guess counts as "long-term."

aeternum 6y ago

Culture and team camaraderie are likely long-term negatives. The existing team relationships can hold things for awhile but it's tough as people join+leave.