5 ms·

Nearly a third of workers don’t want to ever return to the office

17 points by apress 6y ago

jelliclesfarm 6y ago
It makes no sense to commute the work 5 days/week for 8 hours a day by spending 1/2-2 hours extra commute time. It’s time to move away from this system and going remote. Perhaps it won’t be possible to entirely cancel workplaces but the notion of full time ‘office’ is done. It’s toast.
- bleah1000 6y ago
  The problem is there are people for which a commute actually isn't this hellscape that drives them to the brink of madness. For example, I've noticed that the commute to and from work provided a nice break to get into work mode or to decompress out of work mode. On my drive in, I can think about the things I need to get done during the day, maybe think about how to solve a tough problem. I can organize my tasks, think about what to do first, etc. And many times on my commute home, listening to music allows me to put the work out of my mind, so when I get home I can fully detach. Obviously, it doesn't work this way all of the time, but without this barrier while wfh it feels like I'm in work mode even if I'm not doing work any more. There is really no one size fits all for everyone, and it sounds like the vast majority of people don't want wfh. And for those that do, I think it's a good idea to try and see if more wfh options can be made available for people.
  - jelliclesfarm 6y ago
    Flexibility is always good.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - qwertycrackers 6y ago
    If you really felt like that, you could take a two hour walk or even a two hour drive every day for the same effect.
legerdemain 6y ago
Sure, let the ones who want to stay home stay home. Meanwhile, I will have more productive interaction with coworkers, faster responses to my questions, less ping-pong during code reviews, better insight into what my team is working on, and none of that attempted Slack multitasking where each side takes 5-10 minutes to send a response. It's been three quarters of a year. In my experience and the experience of my friends, an effective etiquette for distributed teams has not materialized. People who work effectively in an office will go back to being effective in an office. The people who work remotely from a horse farm in Hartford and pop into Zoom twice a week for some drive-by decision-making will continue to contribute that way. The ones who could have been effective working from home will get increasingly handicapped by teams who don't work well with them, and will need to decide accordingly.
- jasonv 6y ago
  I’m one of those who will be happy to WFH forever, and the nature of my contribution aligns with it pretty well. I hope everyone gets what works best for them. In my previous life as a consultant, even in SF... company cultures were so radically different it’d be hard to speak broadly about their work norms and WFH opportunities across organizations. Just a consideration for those who’ve been in one place for a while.
- jamil7 6y ago
  Friends of mine work for a company that has downsized offices but allows teams to book days in a smaller office. So teams get some productive in person time a few times during a sprint. I thought that sounded like a healthy way to facilitate both.
- krageon 6y ago
  The trouble you describe is definitely your own fault. For companies with a healthy structure and culture, good distributed team communication materialised within the first two months. If I had to guess at a root cause, I'd say it is evidenced by your first paragraph: Headstrong and willfully exclusive of a working paradigm that has greatly benefited some of your colleagues. You callously dismiss them and appear to celebrate they will be worse off when you go back to your office because you won't take the time to cement a process that helps everyone.
thursday0987 6y ago
more than two thirds of workers want to to return to the office. that's a super majority.
aaccount 6y ago
Nearly a third of workers are doing bull shit jobs

17 points by apress 6y ago

It makes no sense to commute the work 5 days/week for 8 hours a day by spending 1/2-2 hours extra commute time. It’s time to move away from this system and going remote. Perhaps it won’t be possible to entirely cancel workplaces but the notion of full time ‘office’ is done. It’s toast.

bleah1000 6y ago
The problem is there are people for which a commute actually isn't this hellscape that drives them to the brink of madness. For example, I've noticed that the commute to and from work provided a nice break to get into work mode or to decompress out of work mode. On my drive in, I can think about the things I need to get done during the day, maybe think about how to solve a tough problem. I can organize my tasks, think about what to do first, etc. And many times on my commute home, listening to music allows me to put the work out of my mind, so when I get home I can fully detach. Obviously, it doesn't work this way all of the time, but without this barrier while wfh it feels like I'm in work mode even if I'm not doing work any more. There is really no one size fits all for everyone, and it sounds like the vast majority of people don't want wfh. And for those that do, I think it's a good idea to try and see if more wfh options can be made available for people.
- jelliclesfarm 6y ago
  Flexibility is always good.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- qwertycrackers 6y ago
  If you really felt like that, you could take a two hour walk or even a two hour drive every day for the same effect.

legerdemain 6y ago

Sure, let the ones who want to stay home stay home. Meanwhile, I will have more productive interaction with coworkers, faster responses to my questions, less ping-pong during code reviews, better insight into what my team is working on, and none of that attempted Slack multitasking where each side takes 5-10 minutes to send a response. It's been three quarters of a year. In my experience and the experience of my friends, an effective etiquette for distributed teams has not materialized. People who work effectively in an office will go back to being effective in an office. The people who work remotely from a horse farm in Hartford and pop into Zoom twice a week for some drive-by decision-making will continue to contribute that way. The ones who could have been effective working from home will get increasingly handicapped by teams who don't work well with them, and will need to decide accordingly.

jasonv 6y ago
I’m one of those who will be happy to WFH forever, and the nature of my contribution aligns with it pretty well. I hope everyone gets what works best for them. In my previous life as a consultant, even in SF... company cultures were so radically different it’d be hard to speak broadly about their work norms and WFH opportunities across organizations. Just a consideration for those who’ve been in one place for a while.
jamil7 6y ago
Friends of mine work for a company that has downsized offices but allows teams to book days in a smaller office. So teams get some productive in person time a few times during a sprint. I thought that sounded like a healthy way to facilitate both.
krageon 6y ago
The trouble you describe is definitely your own fault. For companies with a healthy structure and culture, good distributed team communication materialised within the first two months. If I had to guess at a root cause, I'd say it is evidenced by your first paragraph: Headstrong and willfully exclusive of a working paradigm that has greatly benefited some of your colleagues. You callously dismiss them and appear to celebrate they will be worse off when you go back to your office because you won't take the time to cement a process that helps everyone.

thursday0987 6y ago

more than two thirds of workers want to to return to the office. that's a super majority.

aaccount 6y ago

Nearly a third of workers are doing bull shit jobs