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This past year wasn't WFH. This was WFH during a pandemic. Thinking they are the same is a mistake.

_bohm 6y ago
Curious what you think the main differences are. Never did WFH until the pandemic, and will probably continue working from home for some time after things open back up. I have a hard time seeing how my day-to-day will differ significantly post-pandemic.
- bart_spoon 6y ago
  Many people don't actually have a setup optimized for working at home, or at least didn't for much of the pandemic. Seemed like half of my team had to buy a desk because they didn't have one before the pandemic started. People are working at their kitchen table on a hard chair with their 3 roommates or family members milling about. And a lot of the country has had schools closed or remote for much of the last year, meaning parents are trying to work while trying to watch their kids and make sure they are getting into the right Zoom meetings, doing their schoolwork, etc. No wonder some people are desperate to get back into the office. But a true work from home setup likely involves having a dedicated home office space, with the right setup. Even now, a lot of people don't have that.
  - _bohm 6y ago
    Good points all around. Thanks!
- caskstrength 6y ago
  > Never did WFH until the pandemic, and will probably continue working from home for some time after things open back up. I have a hard time seeing how my day-to-day will differ significantly post-pandemic. I would assume for people with children being able to offload them to public education institutions during work hours will be significant difference.
- gray_-_wolf 6y ago
  > Curious what you think the main differences are. From my experience (2 days/week WFH before pandemic): 1. People with kids have to babysit (I do not have children, but people who have are noticeably impacted by this) 2. Everything is closed, so casual outing to coffee shop or just grabbing a lunch with colleagues not possible. Some goes for just going to gym for a bit. 3. Before the pandemic, sometimes we did morning in the office filled with debate/design work, then lunch and then go home to bunker down and code. Again, not possible now. 4. Two adults in one room makes meetings annoying (well, basically openspace but without the free food). 5. Team beer is remote now, which I mean, kinda works. I get drunk anyway. But still, suck a bit.
jjkaczor 6y ago
Exactly. People with school-aged kids had to deal with them being home - and then many kids were doing distance learning and one or more parents had to become teaching-assistants - or at the very least, "tech support" for the myriad of cobbled-together distance learning solutions/issues/gear (many kids may have even had to share limited computer resources/bandwidth). Their spouses who may have worked outside the home, were home. If they had not worked from home previously, chances are - they didn't have a dedicated office space - or even equipment. Add to that the constant low-level stress of being in a pandemic with constant media impressions, massive social change events/activities (at least for those in North America with BLM and the moronic exit of the Orange-moron), and it isn't a stretch to think that productivity has been down somewhat.

Curious what you think the main differences are. Never did WFH until the pandemic, and will probably continue working from home for some time after things open back up. I have a hard time seeing how my day-to-day will differ significantly post-pandemic.

bart_spoon 6y ago
Many people don't actually have a setup optimized for working at home, or at least didn't for much of the pandemic. Seemed like half of my team had to buy a desk because they didn't have one before the pandemic started. People are working at their kitchen table on a hard chair with their 3 roommates or family members milling about. And a lot of the country has had schools closed or remote for much of the last year, meaning parents are trying to work while trying to watch their kids and make sure they are getting into the right Zoom meetings, doing their schoolwork, etc. No wonder some people are desperate to get back into the office. But a true work from home setup likely involves having a dedicated home office space, with the right setup. Even now, a lot of people don't have that.
- _bohm 6y ago
  Good points all around. Thanks!
caskstrength 6y ago
> Never did WFH until the pandemic, and will probably continue working from home for some time after things open back up. I have a hard time seeing how my day-to-day will differ significantly post-pandemic. I would assume for people with children being able to offload them to public education institutions during work hours will be significant difference.
gray_-_wolf 6y ago
> Curious what you think the main differences are. From my experience (2 days/week WFH before pandemic): 1. People with kids have to babysit (I do not have children, but people who have are noticeably impacted by this) 2. Everything is closed, so casual outing to coffee shop or just grabbing a lunch with colleagues not possible. Some goes for just going to gym for a bit. 3. Before the pandemic, sometimes we did morning in the office filled with debate/design work, then lunch and then go home to bunker down and code. Again, not possible now. 4. Two adults in one room makes meetings annoying (well, basically openspace but without the free food). 5. Team beer is remote now, which I mean, kinda works. I get drunk anyway. But still, suck a bit.

jjkaczor 6y ago

Exactly. People with school-aged kids had to deal with them being home - and then many kids were doing distance learning and one or more parents had to become teaching-assistants - or at the very least, "tech support" for the myriad of cobbled-together distance learning solutions/issues/gear (many kids may have even had to share limited computer resources/bandwidth). Their spouses who may have worked outside the home, were home. If they had not worked from home previously, chances are - they didn't have a dedicated office space - or even equipment. Add to that the constant low-level stress of being in a pandemic with constant media impressions, massive social change events/activities (at least for those in North America with BLM and the moronic exit of the Orange-moron), and it isn't a stretch to think that productivity has been down somewhat.