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That may be the case, but if you're prone to dicking around and generally not working, there are plenty of ways to not work while your butt is sitting on the co

That may be the case, but if you're prone to dicking around and generally not working, there are plenty of ways to not work while your butt is sitting on the company's chair. If I had a dollar for every person I've seen randomly browsing Facebook or similar at the office, I wouldn't need to work anymore. Now I understand that not all people are the same towards work and motivation, and I particularly sympathize with the spouse thing. So I think the broader issue here is management attempting to impose a single One True Way for everybody, which doesn't seem to exist. I also think that the spouse thing may be somewhat a question of habit. As in, after a while, the spouse may end up appreciating that your being at home doesn't mean you're free to do whatever. But you're still able to go start laundry when taking a five-minute break, which is still extremely valuable and couldn't be done from the office.

throwaway5371 5y ago
of course you can waste time in the office as well, from people joining every meeting and asking "but does it scale" to people playing table tennis, but in general its harder to do than remote
- asdff 5y ago
  It's pretty easy for people to come into work and get nothing done. Roll in at 9:30 and complain about traffic. Spend until 10 easy getting settled in for the day: making coffee, slowly sifting email, recollecting the weekend with others, bathroom break, etc. Now its the first meeting, totally irrelevant to anything you do so you zone out. Suddenly its lunch time. Another hour goes by. It's 1pm now. Check email. Another meeting. Check instagram. 3:30pm. Let me fire off that one email. Wow look, 4:35pm, better leave now to beat traffic. I've seen people make respectable careers out of this.
  - djangelic 5y ago
    While I completely agree with the point you are making, Recollecting the weekend with others counts as a type of bond building work so I would not count that time as unproductive. It’s much easier to schmooze in the office than at home but it’s possible at home if you have good relationships with your colleagues, so when you’re not in meetings, slacking or doing slack huddles to talk about your weekend are good for morale and so good for productivity. Granted this can completely be abused but I think it’s an important distinction.

throwaway5371 5y ago

of course you can waste time in the office as well, from people joining every meeting and asking "but does it scale" to people playing table tennis, but in general its harder to do than remote

asdff 5y ago
It's pretty easy for people to come into work and get nothing done. Roll in at 9:30 and complain about traffic. Spend until 10 easy getting settled in for the day: making coffee, slowly sifting email, recollecting the weekend with others, bathroom break, etc. Now its the first meeting, totally irrelevant to anything you do so you zone out. Suddenly its lunch time. Another hour goes by. It's 1pm now. Check email. Another meeting. Check instagram. 3:30pm. Let me fire off that one email. Wow look, 4:35pm, better leave now to beat traffic. I've seen people make respectable careers out of this.
- djangelic 5y ago
  While I completely agree with the point you are making, Recollecting the weekend with others counts as a type of bond building work so I would not count that time as unproductive. It’s much easier to schmooze in the office than at home but it’s possible at home if you have good relationships with your colleagues, so when you’re not in meetings, slacking or doing slack huddles to talk about your weekend are good for morale and so good for productivity. Granted this can completely be abused but I think it’s an important distinction.