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It’s a shame the WFH experiment is blended with the pandemic. It’s hard to decouple the “effectiveness of WFH” from the “pervasive impact of a global pandemic

It’s a shame the WFH experiment is blended with the pandemic. It’s hard to decouple the “effectiveness of WFH” from the “pervasive impact of a global pandemic on all aspects of daily life”. I think a lot of people got a negative taste for WFH for reasons that are less WFH and more pandemic.

throwaway3699 5y ago
Lockdowns specifically, not just the pandemic.
rustybelt 5y ago
Having three kids at home doing remote schooling is such a huge confounding factor. Anecdotally, my WFH productivity (or at least my uninterrupted work time tracked via RescueTime) seems to have improved since my older two went back to in-person school this quarter.
- jethro_tell 5y ago
  Yeah, that's tough, and the younger ones can't do very much of it by themselves without help. Read the instructions here to learn how to read >
  - pdfernhout 5y ago
    Your comment reminded me of "The Maker" short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDXOioU_OKM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDXOioU_OKM "A strange creature races against time to make the most important and beautiful creation of his life."
- moshmosh 5y ago
  Not only that, but even if one had someone else to watch the kids during that time, one couldn't go work from a coffee shop or whatever like one normally might, for a change of scenery or to avoid at-home distractions.
ptmcc 5y ago
For sure. I feel like I'd be a lot more enthusiastic about work (in general, but especially remote work) if I, and my coworkers, had a normal social and family life along the way. It'd be a lot less exhausting and monotonous.
saurik 5y ago
Yeah: I have always worked from home and nothing about my job has changed, but omg has life gotten harder even for me recently; it is also worth noting that the pandemic affects not only work life but also social life, which means that suddenly work almost automatically takes up a lot more time as there has often literally been nowhere else for me to go or people to see than "maybe my work colleagues would be willing to talk about our product... in the middle of the evening... oh, yep, they are, as they are just as bored and lonely as I am right now".

throwaway3699 5y ago

Lockdowns specifically, not just the pandemic.

rustybelt 5y ago

Having three kids at home doing remote schooling is such a huge confounding factor. Anecdotally, my WFH productivity (or at least my uninterrupted work time tracked via RescueTime) seems to have improved since my older two went back to in-person school this quarter.

jethro_tell 5y ago
Yeah, that's tough, and the younger ones can't do very much of it by themselves without help. Read the instructions here to learn how to read >
- pdfernhout 5y ago
  Your comment reminded me of "The Maker" short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDXOioU_OKM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDXOioU_OKM "A strange creature races against time to make the most important and beautiful creation of his life."
moshmosh 5y ago
Not only that, but even if one had someone else to watch the kids during that time, one couldn't go work from a coffee shop or whatever like one normally might, for a change of scenery or to avoid at-home distractions.

ptmcc 5y ago

For sure. I feel like I'd be a lot more enthusiastic about work (in general, but especially remote work) if I, and my coworkers, had a normal social and family life along the way. It'd be a lot less exhausting and monotonous.

saurik 5y ago

Yeah: I have always worked from home and nothing about my job has changed, but omg has life gotten harder even for me recently; it is also worth noting that the pandemic affects not only work life but also social life, which means that suddenly work almost automatically takes up a lot more time as there has often literally been nowhere else for me to go or people to see than "maybe my work colleagues would be willing to talk about our product... in the middle of the evening... oh, yep, they are, as they are just as bored and lonely as I am right now".