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I'm an EM who went from full onsite, to hybrid, to full remote. This is my favorite topic. Throughout the pandemic we surveyed employees and they largely prefe

I'm an EM who went from full onsite, to hybrid, to full remote. This is my favorite topic. Throughout the pandemic we surveyed employees and they largely preferred to WFH. A lesser but significant cohort preferred a hybrid setup. Almost nobody at all was in favor of full-onsite. I was in the hybrid camp. I thought I could have the comraderie of the workplace and the dynamism of a bustling city, plus enjoy the comforts and efficiencies of WFH. On paper it sounds great. In practice it doesn't work at all. As an employee: I found that the office felt empty and dead which made me question commuting in. Nobody was really around to go to happy hours or have events. A significant portion of the people I wanted to be around were opting to stay home more. As an employer/manager: We found capacity planning to be hard. You can't save by scaling office space down if everyone is hybrid and still coming in on the same days (tues, weds, thurs, obviously). You also can't have a lively environment with A/B days and half-staff, and it creates headaches around who needs to be in together and when people want to be there. Communicating is easier if everyone just joins the meeting from their own laptop _wherever_ and doesn't need to arrive to a conference room and fight with some silly speakerphone-camera-tv thing. So I'm ALL IN on remote work. Does it have downsides? Of course. I miss bonding with coworkers, going out to coffee/lunch, and impromptou hack-sessions. What I have gained is different and so much more valuable: Hours of extra time per day to devote to family, friends, health and hobbies. Work is work, and life is life. It's a revelation to realize that you don't _need_ to be IRL buddies with coworkers, just do great work together, and then go do your own thing. Commuting is literally wasted money and life-- Full-stop. Corporate workspaces are redundant if the work can be done from home rather than letting that space go unused. This is just trimming wasted time and money and putting it somewhere more useful. I also find office attire to be insane. Countless individuals stressing about what shirt/pants/shoes combo to wear... ironing and paying for dry cleaning. Just go on your zoom call wearing something and use your brain to get shit done. Thats the whole point of work.

Sebb767 5y ago
> As an employee: I found that the office felt empty and dead which made me question commuting in. Nobody was really around to go to happy hours or have events. A significant portion of the people I wanted to be around were opting to stay home more. Having a fixed office day really helps. Also, what I really liked about the hybrid approach is that the commute can actually be better; i.e. I don't mind driving 1h to work if I do so once per week. > It's a revelation to realize that you don't _need_ to be IRL buddies with coworkers, just do great work together, and then go do your own thing. You also don't need to love your job, you just need to pay your bills. I don't think this is a revelation; at least for me, being friends with my coworkers is a significant part of what makes working fun. And even with WFH you still spend a lot of time working. This is of course just preference; if you're not much into socializing, cutting out that part of your life and instead spend the time somewhere else can make sense.
nell 5y ago
> Commuting is literally wasted life Commuting is not the same as setting time on fire. The distraction endemic negates the advantage and makes it worse. The forced time in the car with limited options lets me use it somewhat productively, notably makes me do one thing. I spend that time thinking about work, taking phone calls, sometimes listening to podcasts and audiobooks. I have read zero books, but finished 2 audiobooks in the car this year. I find myself setting time on fire during weekends on social media. If instead of commuting the hours are spent on Netflix/Social media etc has gone up then the point is moot.
- Hippocrates 5y ago
  I take your point but this is more of a self discipline issue. I don’t think that the way to get things done is to be stuck in traffic so that you can’t goof off.
- alecbz 5y ago
  I quite like my (short) commute. Though it's either bus, subway, or bike. It's nice to get some exposure to the city, get some bookends for the work day, and (if biking) get some exercise in. Generally we're talking 20-30 mins though. A much longer ~hour commute or something would definitely start to wear on me I think.

Sebb767 5y ago

> As an employee: I found that the office felt empty and dead which made me question commuting in. Nobody was really around to go to happy hours or have events. A significant portion of the people I wanted to be around were opting to stay home more. Having a fixed office day really helps. Also, what I really liked about the hybrid approach is that the commute can actually be better; i.e. I don't mind driving 1h to work if I do so once per week. > It's a revelation to realize that you don't _need_ to be IRL buddies with coworkers, just do great work together, and then go do your own thing. You also don't need to love your job, you just need to pay your bills. I don't think this is a revelation; at least for me, being friends with my coworkers is a significant part of what makes working fun. And even with WFH you still spend a lot of time working. This is of course just preference; if you're not much into socializing, cutting out that part of your life and instead spend the time somewhere else can make sense.

nell 5y ago

> Commuting is literally wasted life Commuting is not the same as setting time on fire. The distraction endemic negates the advantage and makes it worse. The forced time in the car with limited options lets me use it somewhat productively, notably makes me do one thing. I spend that time thinking about work, taking phone calls, sometimes listening to podcasts and audiobooks. I have read zero books, but finished 2 audiobooks in the car this year. I find myself setting time on fire during weekends on social media. If instead of commuting the hours are spent on Netflix/Social media etc has gone up then the point is moot.

Hippocrates 5y ago
I take your point but this is more of a self discipline issue. I don’t think that the way to get things done is to be stuck in traffic so that you can’t goof off.
alecbz 5y ago
I quite like my (short) commute. Though it's either bus, subway, or bike. It's nice to get some exposure to the city, get some bookends for the work day, and (if biking) get some exercise in. Generally we're talking 20-30 mins though. A much longer ~hour commute or something would definitely start to wear on me I think.