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> I think a small percentage of people are self-motivated, and more productively at home, but watching this all play out for the last 2 years makes me realize t

> I think a small percentage of people are self-motivated, and more productively at home, but watching this all play out for the last 2 years makes me realize that an awful lot of people are going to try to get away with absolutely anything they can - including working as little as possible - when allowed to be on their own. I have had coworkers literally disappear for days at a time, miss meetings for weeks at a time, constantly miss deadlines etc - and as a manager, that is very hard to manage underperformers with a remote work force. Please also keep in mind that we didn't just shift from in-person to remote work. Among other things, many parents completely lost child care in March 2020. It was slow to return. Where I live, it wasn't until August 2021 that the public schools were back to (almost) normal from a child care perspective: students there for the full school day every day, and at-school after care programs available. Speaking from personal experience, 2020 was horrible for my productivity, and I noped out of the workforce in early 2021 and am finally looking for a job now. I don't feel it was due to the shift to remote work. I think it's true that some people will "try to get away with absolutely everything they can", but I'm not sure about "an awful lot of people". There are other reasons that productivity and availability tanked. edit: and let's imagine that I didn't have the finances to quit despite other demands preventing me from putting in a full workday (and me not feeling up to one anyway). I probably would have kept plugging along, sort of working, as best as I could. We could debate the morality of that, and maybe remote work makes it more possible to get away with that, but I wouldn't say remote work is the underlying reason people aren't putting in a full day's work. Maybe for many, "get away absolutely everything they can" should read "get away with absolutely everything they have to" or "do only what they can".

ahoka 5y ago
Oh, these people never did useful work on-site either. When staring at a screen means work maybe their bosses thought they did. Real contributors do well remote too.
morgante 5y ago
You're right that there are many reasons people might seem to be underperforming in remote work, but unfortunately it doesn't really improve the situation for managers or coworkers. If many employees are spending their time in childcare instead of their job, it increases the burden on other employees who have to work extra hard to pick up the slack. It's a miserable situation, and because the reason for slacking is a protected one there's virtually nothing others can do about it.
- Teknoman117 5y ago
  > and because the reason for slacking is a protected one there's virtually nothing others can do about it. There's a reason it's protected. You can't just expect business as usual when the entire support chain of society falls over. Everyone and everything has to adapt - people, businesses, etc.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- scottlamb 5y ago
  > It's a miserable situation Agreed. > and because the reason for slacking is a protected one there's virtually nothing others can do about it. Depends on who you mean by "others". When I was working and struggling, I was grateful to Google, my coworkers, and my managers for their patience with me at work. I was also angry with our society: voters and politicians who prioritized reopening @#!$@#ing bars over schools, even though my understanding was science was saying (still is saying, AFAIK) spread through the schools is relatively little and the difference to kids' learning is huge. And on parents, which is important but not as important as the impact on kids. Our society as a whole doesn't care about young families, and it's never been so clear. There is someone to blame. btw, I'm not sure the extent to which it is "protected". Being a parent is protected, but I'm not sure that extends to the ability to only put in half the work, even after society has failed. (And in my mind, it did fail.)
  - mupuff1234 5y ago
    Which group do you think did receive a favorable treatment? Almost every societal group suffered in one way or another, from school kids, single adults, the elder, small business owners and the list goes on. There wasn't anything specifically targeted at young families. These last years sucked hard for a lot of people.
    - morgante 5y ago
      I think lots of knowledge workers—particularly ones without kids—have gotten a very good deal the last few years. Teachers have also had dramatically lowered expectations and still refuse to go back to the classroom.

ahoka 5y ago

Oh, these people never did useful work on-site either. When staring at a screen means work maybe their bosses thought they did. Real contributors do well remote too.

morgante 5y ago

You're right that there are many reasons people might seem to be underperforming in remote work, but unfortunately it doesn't really improve the situation for managers or coworkers. If many employees are spending their time in childcare instead of their job, it increases the burden on other employees who have to work extra hard to pick up the slack. It's a miserable situation, and because the reason for slacking is a protected one there's virtually nothing others can do about it.

Teknoman117 5y ago
> and because the reason for slacking is a protected one there's virtually nothing others can do about it. There's a reason it's protected. You can't just expect business as usual when the entire support chain of society falls over. Everyone and everything has to adapt - people, businesses, etc.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
scottlamb 5y ago
> It's a miserable situation Agreed. > and because the reason for slacking is a protected one there's virtually nothing others can do about it. Depends on who you mean by "others". When I was working and struggling, I was grateful to Google, my coworkers, and my managers for their patience with me at work. I was also angry with our society: voters and politicians who prioritized reopening @#!$@#ing bars over schools, even though my understanding was science was saying (still is saying, AFAIK) spread through the schools is relatively little and the difference to kids' learning is huge. And on parents, which is important but not as important as the impact on kids. Our society as a whole doesn't care about young families, and it's never been so clear. There is someone to blame. btw, I'm not sure the extent to which it is "protected". Being a parent is protected, but I'm not sure that extends to the ability to only put in half the work, even after society has failed. (And in my mind, it did fail.)
- mupuff1234 5y ago
  Which group do you think did receive a favorable treatment? Almost every societal group suffered in one way or another, from school kids, single adults, the elder, small business owners and the list goes on. There wasn't anything specifically targeted at young families. These last years sucked hard for a lot of people.
  - morgante 5y ago
    I think lots of knowledge workers—particularly ones without kids—have gotten a very good deal the last few years. Teachers have also had dramatically lowered expectations and still refuse to go back to the classroom.