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It takes discipline. You have to love your work. And that, my friends, is why many people will not be able to remote work. All the stories you read in the com

It takes discipline. You have to love your work. And that, my friends, is why many people will not be able to remote work. All the stories you read in the comments here so far are for people who really love their jobs. You can feel it in every word that's lovingly typed. Families. Spouses. Nature. Inspiration. etc. But for many people who absolutely don't like their jobs (most people), remote work is not a panacea. Without the structure and discipline of the office, they cannot and will not cope. And that's the dirty little secret of remote work. For every person who sings the praises of remote work. There are 10 people who slack off with Netflix, YouTube, friends, etc. during work from home. Lets keep it 100 guys.

lamontcg 5y ago
> For every person who sings the praises of remote work. There are 10 people who slack off with Netflix, YouTube, friends, etc. during work from home. Like they weren't sneaking in reddit and HN the whole time they were in the office as well. Just with the constant mental stress of getting "caught" doing exactly what everyone else was doing.
- tluyben2 5y ago
  We hired a guy when we were still in the office years ago (we went remote long before the pandemic): his trial month was great; he was engaging, smart, etc. We felt lucky we got him. Straight after that month, he seemed to have fully lost interest. A few months later he still showed 0 interest, had to be dragged along to do any work. He seemed to make late evenings in the office though: we did not get it. We collected enough proof he was violating his contract and fired him; upon inspection of his computer, we found terabytes of downloaded porn. Incredibly weird but I guess if you don't like reddit or Netflix...
notesinthefield 5y ago
I dont know how much longer I can pretend to care about my job when it is so painfully obvious many of my colleagues dont. The fiercely passionate actually dont seem to notice that some arent like them when everyone is remote. Thankfully its not demanding.
- tluyben2 5y ago
  > The fiercely passionate actually dont seem to notice They probably notice but do not care: a lot of (most I know anyway) passionate people tend to not compare/waste time with people that do not help them improve. Indeed remote work makes that easier for 'their side' as well. But find another job: life is too short.
rmk 5y ago
This is a very insightful comment. It's incredibly difficult to knuckle down and "work" when (a) your work is not going to be noticed (b) you are not getting a promotion no matter what; someone else has been identified for the promotion (c) you dislike most of your colleagues because of their personality traits or work habits. In a way, there is no need to. You have been retained for your time (that is the essence of full-time employment), and after a certain point, the onus is squarely on your employer to get their money's worth by putting proper structures to incentivize good work. Caveat emptor.
CodeGlitch 5y ago
> It takes discipline. I'll just leave this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co_DNpTMKXk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co_DNpTMKXk
codingdave 5y ago
Anyone who dislikes their job enough to slack off at home will likewise find ways to slack off in an office. You think the stereotype of people wandering the hallways, bugging people over cube walls is anything other than the office equivalent of Netflix? Sit in a conference room with some team members, and you guys can just chat all day. Take long lunches. Go really slow back and forth to the bathroom. Get snacks from the kitchen. If you are in a big office, just walk laps around every floor. And definitely take the longest path to any destination. Or there are even ways to waste massive time while being "productive" - every time a question arises, be the guy to handle it - by walking to the desk of everyone involved, making yourself the middle-man of all communications. You can kill 3 hours getting to the bottom of a problem that would have taken 10 minutes with some emails. And get office kudos for "taking ownership of problems". This idea that offices enforce discipline is woefully uncreative.

lamontcg 5y ago

> For every person who sings the praises of remote work. There are 10 people who slack off with Netflix, YouTube, friends, etc. during work from home. Like they weren't sneaking in reddit and HN the whole time they were in the office as well. Just with the constant mental stress of getting "caught" doing exactly what everyone else was doing.

tluyben2 5y ago
We hired a guy when we were still in the office years ago (we went remote long before the pandemic): his trial month was great; he was engaging, smart, etc. We felt lucky we got him. Straight after that month, he seemed to have fully lost interest. A few months later he still showed 0 interest, had to be dragged along to do any work. He seemed to make late evenings in the office though: we did not get it. We collected enough proof he was violating his contract and fired him; upon inspection of his computer, we found terabytes of downloaded porn. Incredibly weird but I guess if you don't like reddit or Netflix...

notesinthefield 5y ago

I dont know how much longer I can pretend to care about my job when it is so painfully obvious many of my colleagues dont. The fiercely passionate actually dont seem to notice that some arent like them when everyone is remote. Thankfully its not demanding.

tluyben2 5y ago
> The fiercely passionate actually dont seem to notice They probably notice but do not care: a lot of (most I know anyway) passionate people tend to not compare/waste time with people that do not help them improve. Indeed remote work makes that easier for 'their side' as well. But find another job: life is too short.

rmk 5y ago

This is a very insightful comment. It's incredibly difficult to knuckle down and "work" when (a) your work is not going to be noticed (b) you are not getting a promotion no matter what; someone else has been identified for the promotion (c) you dislike most of your colleagues because of their personality traits or work habits. In a way, there is no need to. You have been retained for your time (that is the essence of full-time employment), and after a certain point, the onus is squarely on your employer to get their money's worth by putting proper structures to incentivize good work. Caveat emptor.

CodeGlitch 5y ago

> It takes discipline. I'll just leave this here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co_DNpTMKXk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co_DNpTMKXk

codingdave 5y ago

Anyone who dislikes their job enough to slack off at home will likewise find ways to slack off in an office. You think the stereotype of people wandering the hallways, bugging people over cube walls is anything other than the office equivalent of Netflix? Sit in a conference room with some team members, and you guys can just chat all day. Take long lunches. Go really slow back and forth to the bathroom. Get snacks from the kitchen. If you are in a big office, just walk laps around every floor. And definitely take the longest path to any destination. Or there are even ways to waste massive time while being "productive" - every time a question arises, be the guy to handle it - by walking to the desk of everyone involved, making yourself the middle-man of all communications. You can kill 3 hours getting to the bottom of a problem that would have taken 10 minutes with some emails. And get office kudos for "taking ownership of problems". This idea that offices enforce discipline is woefully uncreative.