23 ms·

38% of remote workers work from bed

383 points by rufus_foreman 5y ago

chovybizzass 5y ago
i take my meetings from bed. i usually wake up 20 minutes after the call is over.
- MattGaiser 5y ago
  In a prior job I routinely took a nap during our sprint demo/retro/planning. Kind of absurd really that one can sleep through a meeting with nobody noticing.
  - monkeybutton 5y ago
    Serious question, how do your coworkers perceive their own Jobs, do they share your perspective?
    - MattGaiser 5y ago
      They agree (and agreed, as the napping was in a past job) that a lot of meetings we are taken do don’t help us do our jobs. Not sure if they nap during them.
      - chovybizzass 5y ago
        I've repeated told my current employer there is no way I'm waking up for 6, 7 and 8am meetings. After two months the compromise is I stay up all night Sunday night and make the one 8:30am meeting on Mondays.
- lloydatkinson 5y ago
  based
throwaway98797 5y ago
The bed is great. I do worry about long term health consequences though.
- redisman 5y ago
  I like it for after lunch for an hour or two while sipping a coffee and trying to rally for another productive session. Much better than trying to rest my belly on a chair or standing like I did at the office.
SerLava 5y ago
62% of remote workers are uncool.
micromacrofoot 5y ago
hell yeah friends, it's healthy to vary your posture throughout the day... try a backrest pillow home offices aren't a luxury, traditional offices are harmful
MattGaiser 5y ago
> but a whopping 50% still say the pain and discomfort of working from home is enough to send them back to the office. I want a breakdown of remote work preference by dollar amount spent on office chair. I think this would be revealing.
- ekster 5y ago
  Is there a consensus best pick for home office chair at this point?
  - zamadatix 5y ago
    The Herman Miller Aeron has been so solidly "the recommended" chair for so long at this point it's meme worthy.
    - 1MachineElf 5y ago
      The Aeron is comfortable, but the way it reclines feels improper to me. I think their Mirra chair, with it's adjustable arm rests, gets reclining right. I like both because the mesh bottom is soft enough for my tailbone, which gets sore easily due to having broken it a long time ago. The missing feature both these Herman Miller chairs desperately need is a headrest. A 3rd-party one exists for the Aeron, but not for the Mirra. If you want something like an Aeron, then ask your friend with a Costco membership to get you a $120 Metrex IV Mesh chair by Bayside Furnishings. It's 90% as good and it doesn't have the insane recline that the Aeron does. Only downside is, Herman Miller uses much sturdier plastic for their chairs, but that's more suited to shared office spaces with employees who don't take care of their chairs anyway.
      - robohoe 5y ago
        Quantum Workpro 3000 on Amazon or at OfficeMax is a cheaper alternative. It’s roughly $300-350 and offers mesh seat and backrest.
        5y ago
samatman 5y ago
That... seems low.
floatingatoll 5y ago
My entire back twinged when I read this headline. It sounds awful. I have a work chair at my desk for work posture. Sit up or get up.
- ximm 5y ago
  I feel the exact opposite: My back twinges when I think about sitting in the same position for hours. Working with a single laptop (without external screens, mouse, or keyboard) I can switch from bed to couch to desk multiple times per day.
  - floatingatoll 5y ago
    I can't do more than 5 minutes of laptop in bed, so I do somewhat envy your setup that apparently isn't awful for computing. But I'm also in the "don't laptop in bed" category so I may not have been motivated to solve it.
aussieguy1234 5y ago
The way it's written it looks like the bed (and the couch etc) are used for work because alot of remote workers don't have a real office to work in. I have a dedicated office in my home to work from with a real office chair and standing desk and that's where I do my work. A colleague of mine even has an under desk treadmill. This does bring up a valid point that not everyone can afford these things, but employers should provide them IMO.
- vmception 5y ago
  mmm yeah thats a good point, I was considering downsizing during the pandemic because I wasn’t using some rooms and am nomadic and hanging out at cafes and coworking spaces but now that I’m back I can see how having the dedicated office is a luxury
- Armisael16 5y ago
  It seems impractical for employers to pay for an addition to your house if you don’t have a room (let alone moving you to an entirely new building if you don’t own).
  - pat2man 5y ago
    In which case employers should just increase wages to take into account how much is saved on office space. Then workers might be able to afford larger houses or apartments.
    - legerdemain 5y ago
      Wouldn't landlords just raise the rent to compensate?
      - oblio 5y ago
        Let's never get raises because landlords will also raise rent.
        5y ago
evanweaver 5y ago
I regularly worked from bed when I had an actual office to go to...variety is good.
cgs 5y ago
Ugh, never. Bed is only for two things.
- DrammBA 5y ago
  Going to sleep and waking up?
  - Invictus0 5y ago
    HN moment
- mindcrime 5y ago
  Sleeping and reading?
- B-Con 5y ago
  The three "S"es. Sleep, sex, sickness.
- pjot 5y ago
  This guy works.
ekster 5y ago
This must include things like checking/replying to emails after waking up or before falling asleep.
JoeQuery 5y ago
I move around quite a bit during the day. Living room table, couch, play room with the kids, etc. I have a portable desk I'll pop open outside to spend time with the dog. I experimented working within VR on the oculus quest but the neck strain was too much and the resolution too low. But occasionally I would lay down with the headset on and a keyboard in my lap. Changing my scenery helps me stay engaged. But I feel for others who do not operate that way and cannot afford a setup that accommodates how their brain works. That would be very frustrating.
- Jtsummers 5y ago
  Any chance you could link your portable desk? I've been contemplating getting one so my work at home could be a bit nicer (move to different parts of the home, in particular, the loft gets very hot during the summer) without having to actually set up a proper desk, or sit with a computer in my lap (I need two, both laptops, so that's not actually an option presently).
  - JoeQuery 5y ago
    Sure! I got it as a gift but this is the closest thing to it I could find. It's very simple but that makes it very easy to pack up and go. https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8814906 https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8814906
    - Jtsummers 5y ago
      Thanks. That could work for me, or something like it.
drenvuk 5y ago
Anyone complaining about the pain doesn't know how to work in bed. lie face down and prop your chest up with a pillow. you can work for hours that way. When that gets tiring, roll over, and brace yourself against the backboard or wall with the same pillow to support your lumbar. repeat for zero back stress computer programming.
- iamgopal 5y ago
  What about neck, my neck hurts this way.
  - drenvuk 5y ago
    if it's because of muscles, you should really be training your neck but adjusting your pillow to support your head works as well. it's a bit more finicky though. If it's flexibility you've gotta do more stretches just for your health.
- scsilver 5y ago
  After 5 years I got a pinched nerve that has kept me a bit sidelined this year. Watch your spine people, be careful.
- LAC-Tech 5y ago
  I'm a fan of raising my legs and propping the laptop up against my knee. Comfortable typing angle and my head can rest on a very small pillow so I am no craning my neck forward.
treebot 5y ago
Maybe this is because a lot of tech workers are living in cities? Where space is expensive? There's no reason to live in a city if you work remote.
- pfooti 5y ago
  There are plenty of reasons to live in a city that have nothing to do with work. I can walk to the library, cafe, grocery store, park. I can ride a bike to the beach, go to the opera, shows, etc. I mean, I can't go to the opera _right now_, but soon enough I can.
- meepmorp 5y ago
  > There's no reason to live in a city if you work remote. Some of us actually enjoy it, though.
- visarga 5y ago
  You might be OK but what about your kids? They need to attend good schools and have good healthcare support where they grow up.
  - iso1631 5y ago
    A good reason not to live in a city
    - warglebargle 5y ago
      there are upsides and downsides of both, don’t do this
  - jdavis703 5y ago
    The best hospitals tend to be location in cities. And non-wealthy suburban areas also tend to have mediocre schools.
- bjohnson225 5y ago
  The article isn't about tech workers and people can decide to work from bed for reasons other than a lack of space. I've seen my partner do it for comfort reasons because her job involves reading huge amounts (on an iPad), but as an engineer I would never consider it.
daenz 5y ago
For the past 2 weeks, I've been working from a treadmill. It has been incredible. I got a small under-the-desk treadmill for my standing desk and I walk at about 2.5km/hour and get around 20,000 steps in per day. It has improved my mood, my clarity, and also has improved my sleep (because I'm tired of walking). I also find it easier to focus on tasks for some reason. If you can make a setup like this work for you, I highly recommend it. Your body will thank you in the long run. EDIT>> A few of you are asking about the model. I actually bought 2, one for myself and one for my partner, who also loves it. This one is mine https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07V7F8QYK https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07V7F8QYK. I got it when it had a $100-off coupon, so the price wasn't as steep. No real complaints so far, except you can't store it upright. I just roll it out of the way when I want to sit. The one for my partner is https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0895DRWVY https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0895DRWVY. She likes it. It's a little smaller and can be stored upright and out of the way, which is nice. There have been complaints about the remote (and it only comes with 1), but the manufacturer claims to ship new remotes free of charge if yours breaks. They're both a little quirky with a very simple LCD screen. Supposedly mine has an app integration for step counting, but I just use my phone in my pocket. They both get the job done.
- iamgopal 5y ago
  share some photo or model of treadmill.
- littleweep 5y ago
  Can you please link the model?
- gota 5y ago
  Can you walk during calls, e.g. remote pair programming? Heavy breathing, noise from the treadmill and footsteps etc. affect you? If not, what kind of mic are you using? I think a headset will suffer from the heavy breathing Also - post your standing desk or its dimensions please
  - daenz 5y ago
    Yep! I walk regularly on calls and during pairing sessions. Google meet is pretty good at noise cancelling. My coworkers say they can't even hear the treadmill. Heavy breathing isn't really an issue for me at 2.5km/hour. I'll have to dig up our standing desk dimensions, but there is no problem there for me or my partner. I'm 6', she's 5'8", and we both have different standing desks and different treadmills. There would be no issue with the desk height or width, but you should measure your own setup if you're thinking of doing the same.
xwdv 5y ago
People that don’t like working from a bed generally have uncomfortable beds. You should always buy the best bed you can. You spend a third of your life on one.
- pengaru 5y ago
  I've found the most comfortable and healthy bed is no bed at all, been true for me for over 20 years now.
  - quenix 5y ago
    Don’t keep us waiting. How and where do you sleep?
    - abdullahkhalids 5y ago
      Lots of people, in fact entire cultures, prefer to sleep on a thin mat on the floor.
      - xwdv 5y ago
        Yea, some people sleep in hammocks.
    - pengaru 5y ago
      Not sure what you mean by asking "how", but on the floor usually atop an area rug or mat and head pillow. Often when I sleep on something soft and significantly deformable like a mattress my neck and/or back are messed up the next day. Never happens on the floor.
- dartiss 5y ago
  That is quite the sweeping statement and I'd love to know what evidence you have for this? I have a comfortable bed but never work from it for that exact reason - I'd be too relaxed and just want to sleep again.
hellbannedguy 5y ago
I have used my bed as an office since college. I feel a subtle, but strong, push back to the office by most employers, and get I get it some situations. Jamie Diamond is right about certain jobs in finance, but most of us are not offered those apprentiship type white collar jobs. You proved you can work from home, why make things more complicated? Oh yea, to the people whom have zero social life other than work friends, there are still bars. Yes that last sentence is a bit rough. I'm waiting for the "Save the planet" by working from home argument. The amount of Carbon whatever saved by people not commuting must be great? I feel like employers are passively aggressive over this whole return to a 2 hour commute, office bull crap, and and all the other bs we do out of convention. Oh yea, so lets finally bury the tie for good. (A bit of a rant--yes. I just feel like they are really worried about work from home common sense movement. On another note, but strongly related to Covid, and zero pre government planning, I've also noticed how seemingly liberal cities, like Sausalito CA, are doing everything in the "Move along you homeless person, we don't want you here, but we will Act sympathize during meetings time handbook".)
scarecrowbob 5y ago
I've been working remote for about 10 years. I've had "real" offices. I've worked in open-plan offices. I've had a home office. I've worked from bed. There are tons of good ways to do it. Lately I swap between a kitchen table and a chair on my porch. I no longer use multiple screens, I've just gotten really fast at swapping windows on my 15" laptop; I've gotten good at figuring out how wide my terminal window breaks should be and where my browser dev tools should sit. Surely there are more optimal ways of doing stuff. Odds are that there is a Taylorist approach that would pull more productivity out of me. But much like my typing speed (~50WPM) isn't really the limiting factor in my programming skill, screen real estate isn't a big factor in getting stuff done for me. But the big thing for me is that, in the end, it's fine for me to switch stuff up on a monthly or quarterly or yearly basis. I could never have done that when I was in an office. I couldn't take 20 min and play banjo or accordion and come back to my problem with a fresh eye. I couldn't put on my laundry and hang it up while I listen to other folks on the daily stand up. I couldn't start my lunch cooking in the instapot while waiting for a script to finish running. It would take a hard, hard sell to get me back in an office, not matter how much real and legitimate enjoyment and utility other folks get in an office.
- neither_color 5y ago
  Getting asynchronous chores done like laundry, dishwashing, and cooking/baking are the best part of working from home.
  - hippari 5y ago
    Totally agree, I cook more food, learned more recipe, wash my clothes more frequently, my house is more clean and organized. Contrasting to a 9-5 job, I would rather just order takeaways after getting back home from the office.
    - chronogram 5y ago
      It’s great how everyone works so differently. When I am alone, working from home, I can’t find a proper mental break anywhere and everything becomes a mess and I eat worse. Having a physical work/life split makes me cook more food, learn more recipes, and gives me a constant fresh look at my home and items to make sure it’s clean and tidy. In the WFH situation it’s suddenly 20:00 and I’m starving and just look to snack or even go so far as to order food, but when I work away from home I have the train ride back to browse which supermarket I’ll shop at and message with a friend on how and what we’ll each be making.
andrei_says_ 5y ago
And now 38% + 1 :) This is inspiring. Why not take a phone call from the couch or the yoga mat or from a walk? Why not check my email lying down? I got a 27” monitor in front of my couch so I don’t have to look down at my laptop and love the setup. I am more comfortable, more rested, more positive and enjoy work more.
jurassic 5y ago
After 6 months working in my dining chairs last year I was starting to have back pain, so I paid full price for a Herman Miller Mirra 2. A year later I feel it's already been worth every penny. After my mattress, this is a piece of furniture I spend the most time in direct physical contact with. Not a place to skimp IMO.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
jaredcwhite 5y ago
The tone of these articles gives me an ulcer. Let me relay to you all the places I've gotten remote work done over the years: * Private office space * Co-working space * Dedicated home office * Bedroom corner office * Bed * Sofa * Kitchen * Bathroom * Garage * Solarium * Hotel * Coffee Shop * Car * Lakeside * Beach * Park bench / picnic table * Jury Duty waiting room * Airplane * Subway * Streetcar * Train * Ferry * Top of a mountain in the wilderness And I'm probably forgetting a handful of other locales! _This is the whole point of remote work._ The tasks you perform and the location in which you accomplish those tasks are wholly unbundled, and I'll be damned if I let anyone talk down to me to tell me which ways are better or worse for me at any given time. That's my decision and mine alone.
KingMachiavelli 5y ago
Survey seems pretty flawed and potentially biased. The survey was done by a contractor/home improvement company so maybe they used customer's as their population? While SWEs might need/want a good desk setup, many office jobs just don't need it. I'm not sure people are really improvising but rather find sitting with a laptop is how they normally work anyway. And working in the bedroom can be misleading... it's often a private place you can put a proper desk. I WFH and went from living alone to having 3 roommates who all WFH. I have my bed, desk, and theater setup all in the (master bedroom). It's actually better than a 1bdr apartment, it's quieter (no leafblowers!) and I don't have dirty dishes right behind me. I have a small desk but a 4K 32" monitor and a vertical 1080p one. A microphone on an arm and NO webcam; I use screen sharing 90% of the time but I don't need to see peoples faces. (I really wish video calling didn't compress >1080p screens so much). If I need a webcam, I use my laptop. Maybe the pandemic changed things but you could get decent chairs for $20 at goodwill. I guess I'm just skeptical that a majority of people have difficulty working from their home... You know the place you live and pick your own furniture.
- ygouzerh 5y ago
  It depends of the country. In my country-side town in Europe, I would have no issue. Now I am in Hong-Kong, and it's really hard to find a place that have enough place for a desk in a bedroom / place in the living room, without breaking your bank account. I heard that it's the same for Singapore.
  - shapefrog 5y ago
    My home office in hong kong was litterally the wardrobe, great view out the window but not a lot of room to pace around in.
- 908B64B197 5y ago
  > Maybe the pandemic changed things but you could get decent chairs for $20 at goodwill. Just get an Aeron and expense it.
travisgriggs 5y ago
Bed. Meh. I love the water. Last time I worked from home (a couple of years ago), I built a custom desk/rack that suspended over our big bath to hold my laptop and mouse. I coded for hours in the bath. I had to be careful on the Skype calls though.
- oblio 5y ago
  Isn't being in water for so many hours kind of bad for you? Also, similar question if the water is warm/hot and there's a lot of steam.
  - travisgriggs 5y ago
    Yes. It is. I developed a form of eczema after too much and had to manage that. Cereve/Cetaphil and better duration management became my friend.
tluyben2 5y ago
Been working remote for most of 30 years: I have tried an office, a home office and many more things but best seems to be a standing desk with treadmill and 2 couches: 1 inside and 1 outside. I spend most time on the one outside throughout the year. Chairs never worked for me, no matter how expensive/ergonomic they were.
atoav 5y ago
This number doesn't surprise me. I know many people who don't even have a proper desk to work at.
andi999 5y ago
104% of all stats are slightly off.
fooker 5y ago
Also, 62% of remote workers are dishonest.
- jdavis703 5y ago
  I've never worked from bed. Not out of duty to my employer. But because I want my bed to be associated with relaxation. I can't be the only one.
mike503 5y ago
Personally, before COVID, my company reshuffled me into a group without anyone physically around for the most part. I had no in-person interaction most days when I went to the office. I simply stopped going in and just WFH’ed. I had only one complaint in years about it. COVID made it official, and then the company decided to make a round of layoffs. I didn’t make that cut (unrelated to WFH) but was able to find a fully remote job that pays better and I have zero change in my work socialization. Instead, I’ve tried focusing more on non-work options, as those will be more portable anyway.
runawaybottle 5y ago
Guilty.
sethc2 5y ago
The article brings up that for most a home office is a luxury. And i thought how is that possible, just use some extra room in your house. Then I remembered having a house and an extra room might be an easy thing to attain as a software developer, but that is only true because I don’t live in the Bay Area or Seattle. Yet in those areas you might have more fun on weekends. Just to see, I looked at prices for a round trip ticket from the pacific northwest to the bay, and how much a 3 night stay in a hotel would cost. I was able to find a non stop flight and a cheap hotel for $200 (which seems crazy to me). So if I could find those deals every other week I could spend bout $1000 (food and Uber included) a month and get to spend six days a month in the Bay Area. My mortgage is like $1900 a month for 4 bed 2 bath 2300 sq ft on an acre and a 15 minute ride to the airport. I feel like if I did that and spent $2900 a month combined for my trips and mortgage id have both a good home office and would still get to work once every two weeks on a Friday in the office and enjoy awesome SF food plenty frequently enough while probably paying less then what most people in SF pay just for rent. Anyone consider this? (I have a wife and kids so biweekly trips would be a “not gonna happen” for me)
- 74d-fe6-2c6 5y ago
  > The article brings up that for most a home office is a luxury. > And i thought how is that possible, just use some extra room in your house. You made my day ... LOL ... yes, we all have a house with an extra room. That itself is not a luxury at all </irony> Having said that - I just work in the sleeping room and that works just fine as well.
  - sethc2 5y ago
    Wait you don’t have an extra room to use as an office? What about in one of your other houses? One of them has got to have at least one empty room you could use right?
- roel_v 5y ago
  I knew some people who did something like that 20 years ago, "living" (having a family) in the south of France and working in Frankfurt. They only did it to give their families the chance to live near their extended families or for the jobs of their partners, nobody did it because it improved their quality of life. It's probably different when you're 25 and single vs when you're 40 with a family, but I don't know anyone who works away from home several days a week and enjoys it, and it's not an uncommon pattern for consulting people around these parts of Europe (apart from the status symbol that this sort of lifestyle is, despite it objectively sucking - weird how people are that way).
KronisLV 5y ago
I'm still amazed at how we lack both ergonomic and comfortable ways to use computers, it's usually just either one or the other, never both. Imagine a large pillow that's shaped vaguely like human back should be when resting, which you could put on your bed to support your entire back, neck and head, at a slight incline. Then, add a keyboard support that can be moved around, alongside with one for mouse (or just a trackpad), as well as a VESA wall mount for a few monitors above the bed, angled so that you can look up at the screens directly, without putting too much strain on your eyes. Essentially, it'd be the bed version of this: https://altwork.com/ https://altwork.com/ And, because it'd be just a few pillows and some aluminum pieces for the mounts, it shouldn't break the bank like the linked item either. Otherwise, even with reminders to get up and walk around every hour, it always feels like my back is in the wrong position, regardless whether i'm sitting at a table with a chair, laying in bed with some pillows underneath or anything else. Even though i do stretches and daily exercise, the lack of truly ergonomic ways to work without having to constantly monitor my own posture (which will realistically never happen) feels like a detriment, or at least will become one in 20 years, when back issues start manifesting. So here's my question: why are people so obsessed with office chairs and why don't we have such pillows be more popular, or just don't put more thought into working from bed?
- hyper_dynamics 5y ago
  https://dekomilch.de/burodesign-2/bester-monitorstaender-hoehenverstellbar-neigbar-und-ergonomisch/ https://dekomilch.de/burodesign-2/bester-monitorstaender-hoe...
  - KronisLV 5y ago
    Thanks for the link! 400 euros seems way better in regards to affordability! Here's a Google Translate link for anyone who isn't familiar with the German language: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://dekomilch.de/burodesign-2/bester-monitorstaender-hoehenverstellbar-neigbar-und-ergonomisch/ https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https...
- hsbauauvhabzb 5y ago
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
yesenadam 5y ago
Mitchell and Webb on working from home (2min sketch) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW3lhfVpLL4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW3lhfVpLL4
jobigoud 5y ago
Not all aspects of the work we do has to be in front of a computer screen. Sometimes when I need to think really hard about a problem, I lay down, close my eyes and visualise. It doesn't even have to be on the bed, sometimes I'll lay on the floor in the middle of the living room. Can't do that in the office.
DoingIsLearning 5y ago
I will throw in my 5 cents anecdata (I have a history of trauma/back injuries and pain). I spent about 100 euros on a kneeling chair, that had enough adjustment settings for my liking. I have been increasing my time on it steadily for the past few months, to the point that I now confortably work the whole day from it. It is a complete mind shift, I actively have to sustain my posture (and actively shift it), I don't slouch and I don't snooze off. It propels you into 'active mode'. Whenever I am eventually physically tired it prompts me to take a break by taking a walk or eating a snack. I have been absolutely back pain free for the last 8 months and overall I feel that my posture is improved.
- tester34 5y ago
  Wow, nice. I bought kneeling chair and sitting ball, but prefered ball, but I don't know whether it helps me at all
  - tpxl 5y ago
    The ball exercises your lower back muscles for sure, but you can still have bad posture on it. I used to sit on one cross legged with bad upper back posture.
- Ancalagon 5y ago
  Is this not horrible for your knees long term?!?
  - DoingIsLearning 5y ago
    My experience is that it is a night and day difference to adjust all the angles of the chair to fit your body frame. If you have pressure on your knees with these modern kneeling chairs it is possibly not correctly fitted. When I sit on mine my body weight is distributed between my butt, thighs and shins equally, I am not pressing down on my knees in any measurable way. What I do feel is that my spine assumes a completely neutral position, like the feeling of balancing a weight on top of a long pole. For full disclaimer I have no idea what (if any) will be the long term consequences of this on my knees. But to be brutally honest I would much rather have a full knee replacement in my old age than a spinal surgery/disk replacement.
dartiss 5y ago
The headline appears to just be to pull people in, as I'm guessing the original survey didn't differentiate between those that have spent a whole day working from bed, those who regular work from bed or those that have once, for an hour, done so. However, the meat of the article is more interesting and it asks questions which, sadly, it doesn't even attempt to answer. At the remote company that I work for, as well as allowing for expensing of an office setup, they will also contribute a reasonable sum (enough for most, unless you live in San Francisco, for example) to work from a shared office space, resolving the "what if you don't have room" in one go. Of course, this isn't 100% perfect as there will be those who don't want a shared office space but equally don't have the room in their own home - I'm not sure what the answer is here.
- sokoloff 5y ago
  At some point, the answer is probably “find an employer who has chosen to return to a ‘normal’ office”.
oytis 5y ago
(half of them without waking up)
xchip 5y ago
Before posting a random poll, please check the sources and the authors. FWIW that 'study' was carried out by craftjack https://craftjack.com/toolbox/remote-work-from-home-statistics-2021/ https://craftjack.com/toolbox/remote-work-from-home-statisti... And who knows how biased/correct it is.
nazrulmum10 5y ago
It's not enough for companies to provide stipends for teleworkers to buy ergonomic chairs or desks, Axios' Kia Kokalitcheva notes. Many people simply do not have the space allocated inside their homes for an office setup, and it can be too expensive to move to a bigger place.
AegirLeet 5y ago
Huh - I can't imagine working without a proper setup: keyboard, mouse, at least 2 monitors. Lying in bed is nice, but having to deal with cramped, wobbly laptop keyboards, annoying trackpads and tiny laptop screens really isn't. How do you guys do it?
okokwhatever 5y ago
... and there's nothing wrong about it.
dojourner 5y ago
I work from bed on my Macbook Air M1. I just can't do the same on my other laptops it's just to hot on my tummy. For me this is the first true 'tummytop-laptop'.
truthwhisperer 5y ago
in about one year: 38% of the home workers have serious back pains.
marderfarker2 5y ago
Absolutely believable. I get woken up and reply a message on Teams and then go straight back to sleep.
lumost 5y ago
Personally, I’m going a bit batty with work from home. I get my stuff done - but it feels like pulling teeth against my procrastination and desire to relax in the spaces I’ve used for relaxation. After a year and a half I’ve run out of rooms that aren’t already spoiled for productivity. This used to happen in the office but I’d simply migrate desks or work from the kitchen for a few weeks. If I was single wfh would be a godsend to simply travel where I wanted to travel and work where I wanted to work. But my house has a 10 month old a nanny and a working spouse inside of 1500 sq ft.
- Gurdt 5y ago
  I feel you man. I mean, I like working from home, I like the extra time in the morning for sports, and in the evening to cook. But I also experience disadvantages from it... I really like being amongst others, which isn't the same via Slack. Also, I dislike having my house as both my chill place and my work place. I feel it doesn't really work. I already have a different room to work in, but I still feel 'locked up' at my house somehow.
ourcat 5y ago
I've been WFH for over a decade. I like to call this mode: "Duvet-Desking".
ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
I have a standing desk, in the corner of my living room. I've tried other locations, and that hasn't worked. Being here, I don't get the feeling of being "disconnected" from the household. Most importantly, of course, is that it increases my availability to my cats. They are quite efficient at expressing their needs, and I have to be ready to drop everything, in order to attend to said needs. I have a nice chair (a Herman-Miller Embody -overrated). I never sit in it. I stand at my desk whenever I work. I have a desk that can go up or down, and have it set up, so that I can lower it, quite easily. I never do. It stays at one level (42.5"). I have a monster LG[0] that stretches across the entire desk. It is exactly as wide as the desk. I have another 4K monitor, above it (wall-mounted), for the AppleTV, or if I am giving a Zoom class (screen share). I have a laptop (a 2019 15-inch MBP), but it stays plugged in. I insist on a laptop, so I can take it on the road, if necessary, but the LG has spoiled me rotten. Using the laptop screen is painful. My next laptop will be the smaller pro version M2 that comes out, later this year. When I work, I generally "dress for work" (button-down shirt and jeans), but a lot more casually than I did, for over 30 years in the office. I feel as if it is important to have that silly little bit of self-discipline. On weekends, I allow myself shorts, and, occasionally, a T-shirt. My hours are whatever I want, whenever I want. I tend to get started early (I wake up at 5AM), and often code, right up to bed time. I sometimes stay up, in bed, testing my work on my iPad and/or iPhone. I take breaks whenever I want, and they can be long breaks, but I don't let myself have more than about 3-4 during a day. I tend to work 7 days a week; sometimes, I allow myself a "half day" (maybe 6 hours). My GH Activity Graph is solid green. I personally feel as if my productivity knocks anything I ever did in the office, into a cocked hat. I also don't make a dime at it. I've never been happier. [0] https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-49WL95C-W-ultrawide-monitor https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-49WL95C-W-ultrawide-monito...
- abledon 5y ago
  those last 5 sentences made me question If you were making a satirical post... ;)
  - ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
    Nope. I think that our industry (maybe true for all industries) has a very skewed idea of what constitutes "happy." It was not a voluntary retirement. I love working, and have skills that could earn companies millions of dollars. It's just that the industry made it quite clear, very quickly, that I am not welcome (you see, I'm -how shall I put this- "chronologically-challenged." I'm older than 35). So I found a few folks that can't afford nice things, and I'm working with them. Feel free to check out my work. I manage to stay busy.
rootusrootus 5y ago
I have a coworker who works from his bed. He says it's better for his back than any specialized back-friendly chair he has tried yet. I, on the other hand, would be in traction after a couple days trying to work from bed. I really prefer upright posture and a good office chair. In my case a Leap v2, though everyone will have their own preference.
jmmarco 5y ago
Bed is for sleep and sexy time, not work.
- commandlinefan 5y ago
  I was having a lot of trouble falling asleep at one time when I was in college - to the point where it was impacting my health. I brought it up with the nurse and she asked me if I was reading in bed and I said I was. She said try staying out of bed until bed time and see if you have an easier time falling to sleep. And bam - within a few days, I was sleeping normally again.
ilaksh 5y ago
Just my personal take. The real challenge for me has been keeping the primary stakeholder for small remote projects engaged and communicating routinely. I have been getting jobs where I am the only programmer for years, and one person is funding the project out of their pocket. Which means my income is limited, but also is low-stress and affords me a lot of freedom in terms of things like technical decisions. One issue is that the sponsor usually realizes within a few weeks that I don't really need new feature ideas every few days to keep busy. So they tend to be busy with their own jobs or life and migrate towards checking in once or twice a week. Which is usually fine, but I do find myself wishing sometimes that they would just glance at the Discord every two days. When they get busy, that can sometimes coincide with times that I have done a deployment for them to check out or have a lot to discuss. Then I am sending them an email asking them to look at the Discord.
anm89 5y ago
This agitates my back problems just thinking about this.
racl101 5y ago
Ugh, I could never. I love my spine way too much to do this. This is just asking for back problems.
- pier25 5y ago
  I've been WFH for over a decade now. For a couple of years I worked from a recliner because I had back problems. Something similar to this: https://i.imgur.com/oCN6WmW.jpg https://i.imgur.com/oCN6WmW.jpg
4e530344963049 5y ago
https://trimread.org/articles/12 https://trimread.org/articles/12
timwaagh 5y ago
Yeah I did that, when I was really tired and needed to lie down every so often. But it's not really conducive to programming. Mostly I work from a desk. I don't think it's too expensive. I'm not paid that much but I had no trouble affording a 400eur second hand sitting standing desk
timpez 5y ago
I don't think it doesn't matter if you work from bed as long as you produce quality output. There are a lot of factors that affects your productivity but if you're used to work remotely, you can put on your laptop and put your game face on.
fideloper 5y ago
These people must not have kids! I’ve worked from home for 8 years, 4 of which have been with kids at home. An office in that situation ends up being important!
hartjer 5y ago
this hurts my wrist, neck, and back to think about
conductr 5y ago
> Many people simply do not have the space allocated inside their homes for an office setup, and it can be too expensive to move to a bigger place. Because they're stuck in the expensive city where their employer offices. If WFH means location independence and mobility, these employees will eventually find the space they need and can afford. At the moment, they're stuck in limbo.
- gsk22 5y ago
  Many people choose to live in a city. Not everyone wants to live in the middle of nowhere.
  - conductr 5y ago
    There's a lot of optionality between city with roommates and no space to setup a desk and middle of nowhere. Point is, it's not mutually exclusive like it is when you work in the office and thus have to reside near the office. Choosing to live in a city for reasons other than officing there is a choice. Given the choice and the preference for city life, would they choose a lower cost city where they could afford more space?
    - gsk22 5y ago
      > ...when you work in the office and thus have to reside near the office. I don't think most people pick their residence based on their work location. My company's office is in the downtown of a major metro, and yet the majority of my coworkers are located far from the city core, often 30+ minutes commute by car -- and two colleagues who commute 90 minutes each way on the extreme end. There are much stronger factors influencing people's choice of residency, such as familiarity, proximity to friends and family, recreational opportunities, nightlife, etc. Which, to my mind, answers your question: > Given the choice and the preference for city life, would they choose a lower cost city where they could afford more space? I would venture to guess that for the vast majority of people, the answer is no. Few people are willing to uproot their life for a bit more space.
      - 5y ago
redleggedfrog 5y ago
I almost hate to say this, but reading the headline just put a picture of the humans from Wall-e in my head.
ravenstine 5y ago
I'm really pro-remote, and I've been working from home for the last 3 years, but I've never identified with how a lot of people do it. Whether it's remote workers themselves or people like my parents, people seem impressed with the idea that they can work in their PJs/underwear. I can't work that way, for some reason. I need to be wearing the same clothes I'd be wearing at the office. Although I don't do this most of the time, even wearing my shoes in my office helps me feel and act more professional. Working from bed would be even worse. I've done it on occasion, but I always end up hating it. To each their own, though.
bississippi 5y ago
For knowledge workers, You can either a) get up, shower, breakfast, press clothes, put fuel in the tank, drive to commuter station, wait for the cattle car, suffocate for an hour, grab a coffee on the walk to the office, sit settle down and start working Or b) Alarm rings, wake up grab a bit of breakfast coffee, plop backdown on the bedroom and start off to the races, when you catch a break shower, pay bills and make a sandwich while listening on a conference call
sabujp 5y ago
i do system design in my head while in the shower, so that means some percentage of my remote work is also done in the shower.
pelemele 5y ago
One size doesn't fit all - and that's exactly the issue with office work. After years in IT business I know exactly what are my "peak" hours/time and when it's better not to do anything work-wise and just focus on something else. Forcing me to work specific schedule in a specific office setup is no go for me. Plus other things like being able to exercise instead of my commute, eat healthy, use my equipment and tools I prefer, being able to refocus when I need and take advantage of my biological peak/down hours/time made me super efficient and productive.
Qem 5y ago
If they made office chairs, when will we have some office beds in the market?
bananabiscuit 5y ago
How I like to imagine that 38% to be https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GHJ234zS4UE/maxresdefault.jpg https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GHJ234zS4UE/maxresdefault.jpg
sudcha 5y ago
Living in shared apartments, most rooms in major cities have just the space for a bed, not even a table or desk. I wonder if most of the people are working from bed not just being lazy, tired or exhausted, but also because they have no other option.
winrid 5y ago
Please remember to have proper posture. Six figures for a few years isn't worth irreversible damage to your neck/back.
lucss 5y ago
The article says: 45% of American teleworkers regularly work from a couch, 38% regularly work from bed and 20% often work outside. 45%+38%+20% = 103%.
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  Yes, so what? I often work from the desk with docking station set up in my bedroom. I also often work from my den. “Often” isn't unique per person.

383 points by rufus_foreman 5y ago

chovybizzass 5y ago

i take my meetings from bed. i usually wake up 20 minutes after the call is over.

MattGaiser 5y ago
In a prior job I routinely took a nap during our sprint demo/retro/planning. Kind of absurd really that one can sleep through a meeting with nobody noticing.
- monkeybutton 5y ago
  Serious question, how do your coworkers perceive their own Jobs, do they share your perspective?
  - MattGaiser 5y ago
    They agree (and agreed, as the napping was in a past job) that a lot of meetings we are taken do don’t help us do our jobs. Not sure if they nap during them.
    - chovybizzass 5y ago
      I've repeated told my current employer there is no way I'm waking up for 6, 7 and 8am meetings. After two months the compromise is I stay up all night Sunday night and make the one 8:30am meeting on Mondays.
lloydatkinson 5y ago
based

throwaway98797 5y ago

The bed is great. I do worry about long term health consequences though.

redisman 5y ago
I like it for after lunch for an hour or two while sipping a coffee and trying to rally for another productive session. Much better than trying to rest my belly on a chair or standing like I did at the office.

SerLava 5y ago

62% of remote workers are uncool.

micromacrofoot 5y ago

hell yeah friends, it's healthy to vary your posture throughout the day... try a backrest pillow home offices aren't a luxury, traditional offices are harmful

MattGaiser 5y ago

> but a whopping 50% still say the pain and discomfort of working from home is enough to send them back to the office. I want a breakdown of remote work preference by dollar amount spent on office chair. I think this would be revealing.

ekster 5y ago
Is there a consensus best pick for home office chair at this point?
- zamadatix 5y ago
  The Herman Miller Aeron has been so solidly "the recommended" chair for so long at this point it's meme worthy.
  - 1MachineElf 5y ago
    The Aeron is comfortable, but the way it reclines feels improper to me. I think their Mirra chair, with it's adjustable arm rests, gets reclining right. I like both because the mesh bottom is soft enough for my tailbone, which gets sore easily due to having broken it a long time ago. The missing feature both these Herman Miller chairs desperately need is a headrest. A 3rd-party one exists for the Aeron, but not for the Mirra. If you want something like an Aeron, then ask your friend with a Costco membership to get you a $120 Metrex IV Mesh chair by Bayside Furnishings. It's 90% as good and it doesn't have the insane recline that the Aeron does. Only downside is, Herman Miller uses much sturdier plastic for their chairs, but that's more suited to shared office spaces with employees who don't take care of their chairs anyway.
    - robohoe 5y ago
      Quantum Workpro 3000 on Amazon or at OfficeMax is a cheaper alternative. It’s roughly $300-350 and offers mesh seat and backrest.
      - 5y ago

samatman 5y ago

That... seems low.

floatingatoll 5y ago

My entire back twinged when I read this headline. It sounds awful. I have a work chair at my desk for work posture. Sit up or get up.

ximm 5y ago
I feel the exact opposite: My back twinges when I think about sitting in the same position for hours. Working with a single laptop (without external screens, mouse, or keyboard) I can switch from bed to couch to desk multiple times per day.
- floatingatoll 5y ago
  I can't do more than 5 minutes of laptop in bed, so I do somewhat envy your setup that apparently isn't awful for computing. But I'm also in the "don't laptop in bed" category so I may not have been motivated to solve it.

aussieguy1234 5y ago

The way it's written it looks like the bed (and the couch etc) are used for work because alot of remote workers don't have a real office to work in. I have a dedicated office in my home to work from with a real office chair and standing desk and that's where I do my work. A colleague of mine even has an under desk treadmill. This does bring up a valid point that not everyone can afford these things, but employers should provide them IMO.

vmception 5y ago
mmm yeah thats a good point, I was considering downsizing during the pandemic because I wasn’t using some rooms and am nomadic and hanging out at cafes and coworking spaces but now that I’m back I can see how having the dedicated office is a luxury
Armisael16 5y ago
It seems impractical for employers to pay for an addition to your house if you don’t have a room (let alone moving you to an entirely new building if you don’t own).
- pat2man 5y ago
  In which case employers should just increase wages to take into account how much is saved on office space. Then workers might be able to afford larger houses or apartments.
  - legerdemain 5y ago
    Wouldn't landlords just raise the rent to compensate?
    - oblio 5y ago
      Let's never get raises because landlords will also raise rent.
      - 5y ago

evanweaver 5y ago

I regularly worked from bed when I had an actual office to go to...variety is good.

cgs 5y ago

Ugh, never. Bed is only for two things.

DrammBA 5y ago
Going to sleep and waking up?
- Invictus0 5y ago
  HN moment
mindcrime 5y ago
Sleeping and reading?
B-Con 5y ago
The three "S"es. Sleep, sex, sickness.
pjot 5y ago
This guy works.

ekster 5y ago

This must include things like checking/replying to emails after waking up or before falling asleep.

JoeQuery 5y ago

I move around quite a bit during the day. Living room table, couch, play room with the kids, etc. I have a portable desk I'll pop open outside to spend time with the dog. I experimented working within VR on the oculus quest but the neck strain was too much and the resolution too low. But occasionally I would lay down with the headset on and a keyboard in my lap. Changing my scenery helps me stay engaged. But I feel for others who do not operate that way and cannot afford a setup that accommodates how their brain works. That would be very frustrating.

Jtsummers 5y ago
Any chance you could link your portable desk? I've been contemplating getting one so my work at home could be a bit nicer (move to different parts of the home, in particular, the loft gets very hot during the summer) without having to actually set up a proper desk, or sit with a computer in my lap (I need two, both laptops, so that's not actually an option presently).
- JoeQuery 5y ago
  Sure! I got it as a gift but this is the closest thing to it I could find. It's very simple but that makes it very easy to pack up and go. https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8814906 https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8814906
  - Jtsummers 5y ago
    Thanks. That could work for me, or something like it.

drenvuk 5y ago

Anyone complaining about the pain doesn't know how to work in bed. lie face down and prop your chest up with a pillow. you can work for hours that way. When that gets tiring, roll over, and brace yourself against the backboard or wall with the same pillow to support your lumbar. repeat for zero back stress computer programming.

iamgopal 5y ago
What about neck, my neck hurts this way.
- drenvuk 5y ago
  if it's because of muscles, you should really be training your neck but adjusting your pillow to support your head works as well. it's a bit more finicky though. If it's flexibility you've gotta do more stretches just for your health.
scsilver 5y ago
After 5 years I got a pinched nerve that has kept me a bit sidelined this year. Watch your spine people, be careful.
LAC-Tech 5y ago
I'm a fan of raising my legs and propping the laptop up against my knee. Comfortable typing angle and my head can rest on a very small pillow so I am no craning my neck forward.

treebot 5y ago

Maybe this is because a lot of tech workers are living in cities? Where space is expensive? There's no reason to live in a city if you work remote.

pfooti 5y ago
There are plenty of reasons to live in a city that have nothing to do with work. I can walk to the library, cafe, grocery store, park. I can ride a bike to the beach, go to the opera, shows, etc. I mean, I can't go to the opera _right now_, but soon enough I can.
meepmorp 5y ago
> There's no reason to live in a city if you work remote. Some of us actually enjoy it, though.
visarga 5y ago
You might be OK but what about your kids? They need to attend good schools and have good healthcare support where they grow up.
- iso1631 5y ago
  A good reason not to live in a city
  - warglebargle 5y ago
    there are upsides and downsides of both, don’t do this
- jdavis703 5y ago
  The best hospitals tend to be location in cities. And non-wealthy suburban areas also tend to have mediocre schools.
bjohnson225 5y ago
The article isn't about tech workers and people can decide to work from bed for reasons other than a lack of space. I've seen my partner do it for comfort reasons because her job involves reading huge amounts (on an iPad), but as an engineer I would never consider it.

daenz 5y ago

For the past 2 weeks, I've been working from a treadmill. It has been incredible. I got a small under-the-desk treadmill for my standing desk and I walk at about 2.5km/hour and get around 20,000 steps in per day. It has improved my mood, my clarity, and also has improved my sleep (because I'm tired of walking). I also find it easier to focus on tasks for some reason. If you can make a setup like this work for you, I highly recommend it. Your body will thank you in the long run. EDIT>> A few of you are asking about the model. I actually bought 2, one for myself and one for my partner, who also loves it. This one is mine https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07V7F8QYK https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07V7F8QYK. I got it when it had a $100-off coupon, so the price wasn't as steep. No real complaints so far, except you can't store it upright. I just roll it out of the way when I want to sit. The one for my partner is https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0895DRWVY https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0895DRWVY. She likes it. It's a little smaller and can be stored upright and out of the way, which is nice. There have been complaints about the remote (and it only comes with 1), but the manufacturer claims to ship new remotes free of charge if yours breaks. They're both a little quirky with a very simple LCD screen. Supposedly mine has an app integration for step counting, but I just use my phone in my pocket. They both get the job done.

iamgopal 5y ago
share some photo or model of treadmill.
littleweep 5y ago
Can you please link the model?
gota 5y ago
Can you walk during calls, e.g. remote pair programming? Heavy breathing, noise from the treadmill and footsteps etc. affect you? If not, what kind of mic are you using? I think a headset will suffer from the heavy breathing Also - post your standing desk or its dimensions please
- daenz 5y ago
  Yep! I walk regularly on calls and during pairing sessions. Google meet is pretty good at noise cancelling. My coworkers say they can't even hear the treadmill. Heavy breathing isn't really an issue for me at 2.5km/hour. I'll have to dig up our standing desk dimensions, but there is no problem there for me or my partner. I'm 6', she's 5'8", and we both have different standing desks and different treadmills. There would be no issue with the desk height or width, but you should measure your own setup if you're thinking of doing the same.

xwdv 5y ago

People that don’t like working from a bed generally have uncomfortable beds. You should always buy the best bed you can. You spend a third of your life on one.

pengaru 5y ago
I've found the most comfortable and healthy bed is no bed at all, been true for me for over 20 years now.
- quenix 5y ago
  Don’t keep us waiting. How and where do you sleep?
  - abdullahkhalids 5y ago
    Lots of people, in fact entire cultures, prefer to sleep on a thin mat on the floor.
    - xwdv 5y ago
      Yea, some people sleep in hammocks.
  - pengaru 5y ago
    Not sure what you mean by asking "how", but on the floor usually atop an area rug or mat and head pillow. Often when I sleep on something soft and significantly deformable like a mattress my neck and/or back are messed up the next day. Never happens on the floor.
dartiss 5y ago
That is quite the sweeping statement and I'd love to know what evidence you have for this? I have a comfortable bed but never work from it for that exact reason - I'd be too relaxed and just want to sleep again.

hellbannedguy 5y ago

I have used my bed as an office since college. I feel a subtle, but strong, push back to the office by most employers, and get I get it some situations. Jamie Diamond is right about certain jobs in finance, but most of us are not offered those apprentiship type white collar jobs. You proved you can work from home, why make things more complicated? Oh yea, to the people whom have zero social life other than work friends, there are still bars. Yes that last sentence is a bit rough. I'm waiting for the "Save the planet" by working from home argument. The amount of Carbon whatever saved by people not commuting must be great? I feel like employers are passively aggressive over this whole return to a 2 hour commute, office bull crap, and and all the other bs we do out of convention. Oh yea, so lets finally bury the tie for good. (A bit of a rant--yes. I just feel like they are really worried about work from home common sense movement. On another note, but strongly related to Covid, and zero pre government planning, I've also noticed how seemingly liberal cities, like Sausalito CA, are doing everything in the "Move along you homeless person, we don't want you here, but we will Act sympathize during meetings time handbook".)

scarecrowbob 5y ago

I've been working remote for about 10 years. I've had "real" offices. I've worked in open-plan offices. I've had a home office. I've worked from bed. There are tons of good ways to do it. Lately I swap between a kitchen table and a chair on my porch. I no longer use multiple screens, I've just gotten really fast at swapping windows on my 15" laptop; I've gotten good at figuring out how wide my terminal window breaks should be and where my browser dev tools should sit. Surely there are more optimal ways of doing stuff. Odds are that there is a Taylorist approach that would pull more productivity out of me. But much like my typing speed (~50WPM) isn't really the limiting factor in my programming skill, screen real estate isn't a big factor in getting stuff done for me. But the big thing for me is that, in the end, it's fine for me to switch stuff up on a monthly or quarterly or yearly basis. I could never have done that when I was in an office. I couldn't take 20 min and play banjo or accordion and come back to my problem with a fresh eye. I couldn't put on my laundry and hang it up while I listen to other folks on the daily stand up. I couldn't start my lunch cooking in the instapot while waiting for a script to finish running. It would take a hard, hard sell to get me back in an office, not matter how much real and legitimate enjoyment and utility other folks get in an office.

neither_color 5y ago
Getting asynchronous chores done like laundry, dishwashing, and cooking/baking are the best part of working from home.
- hippari 5y ago
  Totally agree, I cook more food, learned more recipe, wash my clothes more frequently, my house is more clean and organized. Contrasting to a 9-5 job, I would rather just order takeaways after getting back home from the office.
  - chronogram 5y ago
    It’s great how everyone works so differently. When I am alone, working from home, I can’t find a proper mental break anywhere and everything becomes a mess and I eat worse. Having a physical work/life split makes me cook more food, learn more recipes, and gives me a constant fresh look at my home and items to make sure it’s clean and tidy. In the WFH situation it’s suddenly 20:00 and I’m starving and just look to snack or even go so far as to order food, but when I work away from home I have the train ride back to browse which supermarket I’ll shop at and message with a friend on how and what we’ll each be making.

andrei_says_ 5y ago

And now 38% + 1 :) This is inspiring. Why not take a phone call from the couch or the yoga mat or from a walk? Why not check my email lying down? I got a 27” monitor in front of my couch so I don’t have to look down at my laptop and love the setup. I am more comfortable, more rested, more positive and enjoy work more.

jurassic 5y ago

After 6 months working in my dining chairs last year I was starting to have back pain, so I paid full price for a Herman Miller Mirra 2. A year later I feel it's already been worth every penny. After my mattress, this is a piece of furniture I spend the most time in direct physical contact with. Not a place to skimp IMO.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

jaredcwhite 5y ago

The tone of these articles gives me an ulcer. Let me relay to you all the places I've gotten remote work done over the years: * Private office space * Co-working space * Dedicated home office * Bedroom corner office * Bed * Sofa * Kitchen * Bathroom * Garage * Solarium * Hotel * Coffee Shop * Car * Lakeside * Beach * Park bench / picnic table * Jury Duty waiting room * Airplane * Subway * Streetcar * Train * Ferry * Top of a mountain in the wilderness And I'm probably forgetting a handful of other locales! _This is the whole point of remote work._ The tasks you perform and the location in which you accomplish those tasks are wholly unbundled, and I'll be damned if I let anyone talk down to me to tell me which ways are better or worse for me at any given time. That's my decision and mine alone.

KingMachiavelli 5y ago

Survey seems pretty flawed and potentially biased. The survey was done by a contractor/home improvement company so maybe they used customer's as their population? While SWEs might need/want a good desk setup, many office jobs just don't need it. I'm not sure people are really improvising but rather find sitting with a laptop is how they normally work anyway. And working in the bedroom can be misleading... it's often a private place you can put a proper desk. I WFH and went from living alone to having 3 roommates who all WFH. I have my bed, desk, and theater setup all in the (master bedroom). It's actually better than a 1bdr apartment, it's quieter (no leafblowers!) and I don't have dirty dishes right behind me. I have a small desk but a 4K 32" monitor and a vertical 1080p one. A microphone on an arm and NO webcam; I use screen sharing 90% of the time but I don't need to see peoples faces. (I really wish video calling didn't compress >1080p screens so much). If I need a webcam, I use my laptop. Maybe the pandemic changed things but you could get decent chairs for $20 at goodwill. I guess I'm just skeptical that a majority of people have difficulty working from their home... You know the place you live and pick your own furniture.

ygouzerh 5y ago
It depends of the country. In my country-side town in Europe, I would have no issue. Now I am in Hong-Kong, and it's really hard to find a place that have enough place for a desk in a bedroom / place in the living room, without breaking your bank account. I heard that it's the same for Singapore.
- shapefrog 5y ago
  My home office in hong kong was litterally the wardrobe, great view out the window but not a lot of room to pace around in.
908B64B197 5y ago
> Maybe the pandemic changed things but you could get decent chairs for $20 at goodwill. Just get an Aeron and expense it.

travisgriggs 5y ago

Bed. Meh. I love the water. Last time I worked from home (a couple of years ago), I built a custom desk/rack that suspended over our big bath to hold my laptop and mouse. I coded for hours in the bath. I had to be careful on the Skype calls though.

oblio 5y ago
Isn't being in water for so many hours kind of bad for you? Also, similar question if the water is warm/hot and there's a lot of steam.
- travisgriggs 5y ago
  Yes. It is. I developed a form of eczema after too much and had to manage that. Cereve/Cetaphil and better duration management became my friend.

tluyben2 5y ago

Been working remote for most of 30 years: I have tried an office, a home office and many more things but best seems to be a standing desk with treadmill and 2 couches: 1 inside and 1 outside. I spend most time on the one outside throughout the year. Chairs never worked for me, no matter how expensive/ergonomic they were.

atoav 5y ago

This number doesn't surprise me. I know many people who don't even have a proper desk to work at.

andi999 5y ago

104% of all stats are slightly off.

fooker 5y ago

Also, 62% of remote workers are dishonest.

jdavis703 5y ago
I've never worked from bed. Not out of duty to my employer. But because I want my bed to be associated with relaxation. I can't be the only one.

mike503 5y ago

Personally, before COVID, my company reshuffled me into a group without anyone physically around for the most part. I had no in-person interaction most days when I went to the office. I simply stopped going in and just WFH’ed. I had only one complaint in years about it. COVID made it official, and then the company decided to make a round of layoffs. I didn’t make that cut (unrelated to WFH) but was able to find a fully remote job that pays better and I have zero change in my work socialization. Instead, I’ve tried focusing more on non-work options, as those will be more portable anyway.

runawaybottle 5y ago

Guilty.

sethc2 5y ago

The article brings up that for most a home office is a luxury. And i thought how is that possible, just use some extra room in your house. Then I remembered having a house and an extra room might be an easy thing to attain as a software developer, but that is only true because I don’t live in the Bay Area or Seattle. Yet in those areas you might have more fun on weekends. Just to see, I looked at prices for a round trip ticket from the pacific northwest to the bay, and how much a 3 night stay in a hotel would cost. I was able to find a non stop flight and a cheap hotel for $200 (which seems crazy to me). So if I could find those deals every other week I could spend bout $1000 (food and Uber included) a month and get to spend six days a month in the Bay Area. My mortgage is like $1900 a month for 4 bed 2 bath 2300 sq ft on an acre and a 15 minute ride to the airport. I feel like if I did that and spent $2900 a month combined for my trips and mortgage id have both a good home office and would still get to work once every two weeks on a Friday in the office and enjoy awesome SF food plenty frequently enough while probably paying less then what most people in SF pay just for rent. Anyone consider this? (I have a wife and kids so biweekly trips would be a “not gonna happen” for me)

74d-fe6-2c6 5y ago
> The article brings up that for most a home office is a luxury. > And i thought how is that possible, just use some extra room in your house. You made my day ... LOL ... yes, we all have a house with an extra room. That itself is not a luxury at all </irony> Having said that - I just work in the sleeping room and that works just fine as well.
- sethc2 5y ago
  Wait you don’t have an extra room to use as an office? What about in one of your other houses? One of them has got to have at least one empty room you could use right?
roel_v 5y ago
I knew some people who did something like that 20 years ago, "living" (having a family) in the south of France and working in Frankfurt. They only did it to give their families the chance to live near their extended families or for the jobs of their partners, nobody did it because it improved their quality of life. It's probably different when you're 25 and single vs when you're 40 with a family, but I don't know anyone who works away from home several days a week and enjoys it, and it's not an uncommon pattern for consulting people around these parts of Europe (apart from the status symbol that this sort of lifestyle is, despite it objectively sucking - weird how people are that way).

KronisLV 5y ago

I'm still amazed at how we lack both ergonomic and comfortable ways to use computers, it's usually just either one or the other, never both. Imagine a large pillow that's shaped vaguely like human back should be when resting, which you could put on your bed to support your entire back, neck and head, at a slight incline. Then, add a keyboard support that can be moved around, alongside with one for mouse (or just a trackpad), as well as a VESA wall mount for a few monitors above the bed, angled so that you can look up at the screens directly, without putting too much strain on your eyes. Essentially, it'd be the bed version of this: https://altwork.com/ https://altwork.com/ And, because it'd be just a few pillows and some aluminum pieces for the mounts, it shouldn't break the bank like the linked item either. Otherwise, even with reminders to get up and walk around every hour, it always feels like my back is in the wrong position, regardless whether i'm sitting at a table with a chair, laying in bed with some pillows underneath or anything else. Even though i do stretches and daily exercise, the lack of truly ergonomic ways to work without having to constantly monitor my own posture (which will realistically never happen) feels like a detriment, or at least will become one in 20 years, when back issues start manifesting. So here's my question: why are people so obsessed with office chairs and why don't we have such pillows be more popular, or just don't put more thought into working from bed?

hyper_dynamics 5y ago
https://dekomilch.de/burodesign-2/bester-monitorstaender-hoehenverstellbar-neigbar-und-ergonomisch/ https://dekomilch.de/burodesign-2/bester-monitorstaender-hoe...
- KronisLV 5y ago
  Thanks for the link! 400 euros seems way better in regards to affordability! Here's a Google Translate link for anyone who isn't familiar with the German language: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://dekomilch.de/burodesign-2/bester-monitorstaender-hoehenverstellbar-neigbar-und-ergonomisch/ https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https...
hsbauauvhabzb 5y ago

deleted 5y ago

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yesenadam 5y ago

Mitchell and Webb on working from home (2min sketch) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW3lhfVpLL4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW3lhfVpLL4

jobigoud 5y ago

Not all aspects of the work we do has to be in front of a computer screen. Sometimes when I need to think really hard about a problem, I lay down, close my eyes and visualise. It doesn't even have to be on the bed, sometimes I'll lay on the floor in the middle of the living room. Can't do that in the office.

DoingIsLearning 5y ago

I will throw in my 5 cents anecdata (I have a history of trauma/back injuries and pain). I spent about 100 euros on a kneeling chair, that had enough adjustment settings for my liking. I have been increasing my time on it steadily for the past few months, to the point that I now confortably work the whole day from it. It is a complete mind shift, I actively have to sustain my posture (and actively shift it), I don't slouch and I don't snooze off. It propels you into 'active mode'. Whenever I am eventually physically tired it prompts me to take a break by taking a walk or eating a snack. I have been absolutely back pain free for the last 8 months and overall I feel that my posture is improved.

tester34 5y ago
Wow, nice. I bought kneeling chair and sitting ball, but prefered ball, but I don't know whether it helps me at all
- tpxl 5y ago
  The ball exercises your lower back muscles for sure, but you can still have bad posture on it. I used to sit on one cross legged with bad upper back posture.
Ancalagon 5y ago
Is this not horrible for your knees long term?!?
- DoingIsLearning 5y ago
  My experience is that it is a night and day difference to adjust all the angles of the chair to fit your body frame. If you have pressure on your knees with these modern kneeling chairs it is possibly not correctly fitted. When I sit on mine my body weight is distributed between my butt, thighs and shins equally, I am not pressing down on my knees in any measurable way. What I do feel is that my spine assumes a completely neutral position, like the feeling of balancing a weight on top of a long pole. For full disclaimer I have no idea what (if any) will be the long term consequences of this on my knees. But to be brutally honest I would much rather have a full knee replacement in my old age than a spinal surgery/disk replacement.

dartiss 5y ago

The headline appears to just be to pull people in, as I'm guessing the original survey didn't differentiate between those that have spent a whole day working from bed, those who regular work from bed or those that have once, for an hour, done so. However, the meat of the article is more interesting and it asks questions which, sadly, it doesn't even attempt to answer. At the remote company that I work for, as well as allowing for expensing of an office setup, they will also contribute a reasonable sum (enough for most, unless you live in San Francisco, for example) to work from a shared office space, resolving the "what if you don't have room" in one go. Of course, this isn't 100% perfect as there will be those who don't want a shared office space but equally don't have the room in their own home - I'm not sure what the answer is here.

sokoloff 5y ago
At some point, the answer is probably “find an employer who has chosen to return to a ‘normal’ office”.

oytis 5y ago

(half of them without waking up)

xchip 5y ago

Before posting a random poll, please check the sources and the authors. FWIW that 'study' was carried out by craftjack https://craftjack.com/toolbox/remote-work-from-home-statistics-2021/ https://craftjack.com/toolbox/remote-work-from-home-statisti... And who knows how biased/correct it is.

nazrulmum10 5y ago

It's not enough for companies to provide stipends for teleworkers to buy ergonomic chairs or desks, Axios' Kia Kokalitcheva notes. Many people simply do not have the space allocated inside their homes for an office setup, and it can be too expensive to move to a bigger place.

AegirLeet 5y ago

Huh - I can't imagine working without a proper setup: keyboard, mouse, at least 2 monitors. Lying in bed is nice, but having to deal with cramped, wobbly laptop keyboards, annoying trackpads and tiny laptop screens really isn't. How do you guys do it?

okokwhatever 5y ago

... and there's nothing wrong about it.

dojourner 5y ago

I work from bed on my Macbook Air M1. I just can't do the same on my other laptops it's just to hot on my tummy. For me this is the first true 'tummytop-laptop'.

truthwhisperer 5y ago

in about one year: 38% of the home workers have serious back pains.

marderfarker2 5y ago

Absolutely believable. I get woken up and reply a message on Teams and then go straight back to sleep.

lumost 5y ago

Personally, I’m going a bit batty with work from home. I get my stuff done - but it feels like pulling teeth against my procrastination and desire to relax in the spaces I’ve used for relaxation. After a year and a half I’ve run out of rooms that aren’t already spoiled for productivity. This used to happen in the office but I’d simply migrate desks or work from the kitchen for a few weeks. If I was single wfh would be a godsend to simply travel where I wanted to travel and work where I wanted to work. But my house has a 10 month old a nanny and a working spouse inside of 1500 sq ft.

Gurdt 5y ago
I feel you man. I mean, I like working from home, I like the extra time in the morning for sports, and in the evening to cook. But I also experience disadvantages from it... I really like being amongst others, which isn't the same via Slack. Also, I dislike having my house as both my chill place and my work place. I feel it doesn't really work. I already have a different room to work in, but I still feel 'locked up' at my house somehow.

ourcat 5y ago

I've been WFH for over a decade. I like to call this mode: "Duvet-Desking".

ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago

I have a standing desk, in the corner of my living room. I've tried other locations, and that hasn't worked. Being here, I don't get the feeling of being "disconnected" from the household. Most importantly, of course, is that it increases my availability to my cats. They are quite efficient at expressing their needs, and I have to be ready to drop everything, in order to attend to said needs. I have a nice chair (a Herman-Miller Embody -overrated). I never sit in it. I stand at my desk whenever I work. I have a desk that can go up or down, and have it set up, so that I can lower it, quite easily. I never do. It stays at one level (42.5"). I have a monster LG[0] that stretches across the entire desk. It is exactly as wide as the desk. I have another 4K monitor, above it (wall-mounted), for the AppleTV, or if I am giving a Zoom class (screen share). I have a laptop (a 2019 15-inch MBP), but it stays plugged in. I insist on a laptop, so I can take it on the road, if necessary, but the LG has spoiled me rotten. Using the laptop screen is painful. My next laptop will be the smaller pro version M2 that comes out, later this year. When I work, I generally "dress for work" (button-down shirt and jeans), but a lot more casually than I did, for over 30 years in the office. I feel as if it is important to have that silly little bit of self-discipline. On weekends, I allow myself shorts, and, occasionally, a T-shirt. My hours are whatever I want, whenever I want. I tend to get started early (I wake up at 5AM), and often code, right up to bed time. I sometimes stay up, in bed, testing my work on my iPad and/or iPhone. I take breaks whenever I want, and they can be long breaks, but I don't let myself have more than about 3-4 during a day. I tend to work 7 days a week; sometimes, I allow myself a "half day" (maybe 6 hours). My GH Activity Graph is solid green. I personally feel as if my productivity knocks anything I ever did in the office, into a cocked hat. I also don't make a dime at it. I've never been happier. [0] https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-49WL95C-W-ultrawide-monitor https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-49WL95C-W-ultrawide-monito...

abledon 5y ago
those last 5 sentences made me question If you were making a satirical post... ;)
- ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
  Nope. I think that our industry (maybe true for all industries) has a very skewed idea of what constitutes "happy." It was not a voluntary retirement. I love working, and have skills that could earn companies millions of dollars. It's just that the industry made it quite clear, very quickly, that I am not welcome (you see, I'm -how shall I put this- "chronologically-challenged." I'm older than 35). So I found a few folks that can't afford nice things, and I'm working with them. Feel free to check out my work. I manage to stay busy.

rootusrootus 5y ago

I have a coworker who works from his bed. He says it's better for his back than any specialized back-friendly chair he has tried yet. I, on the other hand, would be in traction after a couple days trying to work from bed. I really prefer upright posture and a good office chair. In my case a Leap v2, though everyone will have their own preference.

jmmarco 5y ago

Bed is for sleep and sexy time, not work.

commandlinefan 5y ago
I was having a lot of trouble falling asleep at one time when I was in college - to the point where it was impacting my health. I brought it up with the nurse and she asked me if I was reading in bed and I said I was. She said try staying out of bed until bed time and see if you have an easier time falling to sleep. And bam - within a few days, I was sleeping normally again.

ilaksh 5y ago

Just my personal take. The real challenge for me has been keeping the primary stakeholder for small remote projects engaged and communicating routinely. I have been getting jobs where I am the only programmer for years, and one person is funding the project out of their pocket. Which means my income is limited, but also is low-stress and affords me a lot of freedom in terms of things like technical decisions. One issue is that the sponsor usually realizes within a few weeks that I don't really need new feature ideas every few days to keep busy. So they tend to be busy with their own jobs or life and migrate towards checking in once or twice a week. Which is usually fine, but I do find myself wishing sometimes that they would just glance at the Discord every two days. When they get busy, that can sometimes coincide with times that I have done a deployment for them to check out or have a lot to discuss. Then I am sending them an email asking them to look at the Discord.

anm89 5y ago

This agitates my back problems just thinking about this.

racl101 5y ago

Ugh, I could never. I love my spine way too much to do this. This is just asking for back problems.

pier25 5y ago
I've been WFH for over a decade now. For a couple of years I worked from a recliner because I had back problems. Something similar to this: https://i.imgur.com/oCN6WmW.jpg https://i.imgur.com/oCN6WmW.jpg

4e530344963049 5y ago

https://trimread.org/articles/12 https://trimread.org/articles/12

timwaagh 5y ago

Yeah I did that, when I was really tired and needed to lie down every so often. But it's not really conducive to programming. Mostly I work from a desk. I don't think it's too expensive. I'm not paid that much but I had no trouble affording a 400eur second hand sitting standing desk

timpez 5y ago

I don't think it doesn't matter if you work from bed as long as you produce quality output. There are a lot of factors that affects your productivity but if you're used to work remotely, you can put on your laptop and put your game face on.

fideloper 5y ago

These people must not have kids! I’ve worked from home for 8 years, 4 of which have been with kids at home. An office in that situation ends up being important!

hartjer 5y ago

this hurts my wrist, neck, and back to think about

conductr 5y ago

> Many people simply do not have the space allocated inside their homes for an office setup, and it can be too expensive to move to a bigger place. Because they're stuck in the expensive city where their employer offices. If WFH means location independence and mobility, these employees will eventually find the space they need and can afford. At the moment, they're stuck in limbo.

gsk22 5y ago
Many people choose to live in a city. Not everyone wants to live in the middle of nowhere.
- conductr 5y ago
  There's a lot of optionality between city with roommates and no space to setup a desk and middle of nowhere. Point is, it's not mutually exclusive like it is when you work in the office and thus have to reside near the office. Choosing to live in a city for reasons other than officing there is a choice. Given the choice and the preference for city life, would they choose a lower cost city where they could afford more space?
  - gsk22 5y ago
    > ...when you work in the office and thus have to reside near the office. I don't think most people pick their residence based on their work location. My company's office is in the downtown of a major metro, and yet the majority of my coworkers are located far from the city core, often 30+ minutes commute by car -- and two colleagues who commute 90 minutes each way on the extreme end. There are much stronger factors influencing people's choice of residency, such as familiarity, proximity to friends and family, recreational opportunities, nightlife, etc. Which, to my mind, answers your question: > Given the choice and the preference for city life, would they choose a lower cost city where they could afford more space? I would venture to guess that for the vast majority of people, the answer is no. Few people are willing to uproot their life for a bit more space.
    - 5y ago

redleggedfrog 5y ago

I almost hate to say this, but reading the headline just put a picture of the humans from Wall-e in my head.

ravenstine 5y ago

I'm really pro-remote, and I've been working from home for the last 3 years, but I've never identified with how a lot of people do it. Whether it's remote workers themselves or people like my parents, people seem impressed with the idea that they can work in their PJs/underwear. I can't work that way, for some reason. I need to be wearing the same clothes I'd be wearing at the office. Although I don't do this most of the time, even wearing my shoes in my office helps me feel and act more professional. Working from bed would be even worse. I've done it on occasion, but I always end up hating it. To each their own, though.

bississippi 5y ago

For knowledge workers, You can either a) get up, shower, breakfast, press clothes, put fuel in the tank, drive to commuter station, wait for the cattle car, suffocate for an hour, grab a coffee on the walk to the office, sit settle down and start working Or b) Alarm rings, wake up grab a bit of breakfast coffee, plop backdown on the bedroom and start off to the races, when you catch a break shower, pay bills and make a sandwich while listening on a conference call

sabujp 5y ago

i do system design in my head while in the shower, so that means some percentage of my remote work is also done in the shower.

pelemele 5y ago

One size doesn't fit all - and that's exactly the issue with office work. After years in IT business I know exactly what are my "peak" hours/time and when it's better not to do anything work-wise and just focus on something else. Forcing me to work specific schedule in a specific office setup is no go for me. Plus other things like being able to exercise instead of my commute, eat healthy, use my equipment and tools I prefer, being able to refocus when I need and take advantage of my biological peak/down hours/time made me super efficient and productive.

Qem 5y ago

If they made office chairs, when will we have some office beds in the market?

bananabiscuit 5y ago

How I like to imagine that 38% to be https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GHJ234zS4UE/maxresdefault.jpg https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GHJ234zS4UE/maxresdefault.jpg

sudcha 5y ago

Living in shared apartments, most rooms in major cities have just the space for a bed, not even a table or desk. I wonder if most of the people are working from bed not just being lazy, tired or exhausted, but also because they have no other option.

winrid 5y ago

Please remember to have proper posture. Six figures for a few years isn't worth irreversible damage to your neck/back.

lucss 5y ago

The article says: 45% of American teleworkers regularly work from a couch, 38% regularly work from bed and 20% often work outside. 45%+38%+20% = 103%.

dragonwriter 5y ago
Yes, so what? I often work from the desk with docking station set up in my bedroom. I also often work from my den. “Often” isn't unique per person.