3 ms·

I'm curious what your take is on: * Whether people should go into work * Where the pressure to go into work comes from in an org

PragmaticPulp 5y ago
> * Whether people should go into work I work remote. I manage remote teams. I love it and I think it's great. But it's definitely not for everyone. A lot of people can't handle remote work. A lot of people don't have the self discipline to get work done without being in a social context (some of my remote team members work in coworking spaces as a workaround). A lot of people see remote as an opportunity to isolate from the team and dodge important communications. I think we need to get past this idea that one type of work is best for everyone and every team. When people try to say that remote is superior, they don't know what they're talking about. It's one the most "it depends" topics out there right now. > * Where the pressure to go into work comes from in an org Let me answer this indirectly: If companies saw a net increase in productivity and employee well-being from going remote, they'd be falling all over themselves to go all-in on remote work. Getting rid of office space and being able to hire anywhere is a huge advantage and every executive team I know was enthralled with the idea. So why would they want to retain expensive office space and limit themselves to hiring only nearby candidates? It's because for every 1 person who's great at remote work, there may be 1-3 others who aren't doing well at all. Juniors and new hires suffer the most because ramp-up times become extremely slow when the rest of the team is isolated away working on their tasks and uninterested in talking to anyone they don't have to. Interpersonal conflicts are way up because people misinterpret things as insulting or offensive because they can't see the other person's face. Fights and arguments break out everywhere because there's little difference between the company Slack and the other Discords where the person alt+tabs to argue with people. In short: Remote is hard, creates more work for management, is detrimental to juniors and new hires, and doesn't work for everyone. If a company is willing to invest a lot of money and time into hiring more managers to deal with it and churning through hires who can't handle remote, it can work. But it's often easier and happier for everyone to just go into the office a day or two per week to resolve these issues in person. Even as a remote team, flying everyone into the same location is hands down the easiest way to get people communicating efficiently and treating each other as human team members instead of Slack screen name enemies. Remote is hard.
- ipaddr 5y ago
  "why would they want to retain expensive office space" The increasing value of property and the need to collectively keep office space prices high is a big reason. Do you know how much Apple or Google's campus is worth?
- greedo 5y ago
  We own three campuses. There's no financial benefit to keep them since most of our staff can work remotely just fine. We've had two straight record years in revenue and profit, but the pride of owning these white elephants makes people come to bad conclusions.
- lytefm 5y ago
  > Remote is hard, creates more work for management, is detrimental to juniors and new hires, and doesn't work for everyone. I agree. I really enjoy working hybrid myself - going to the office every now and then to have some human contact, otherwise working from home or wherever I am. It also depends a lot in the living situation: A 20-something single who lives in the center anyways might enjoy going to the office, a married 40-something in the suburb would rather work from home all the time.

PragmaticPulp 5y ago

> * Whether people should go into work I work remote. I manage remote teams. I love it and I think it's great. But it's definitely not for everyone. A lot of people can't handle remote work. A lot of people don't have the self discipline to get work done without being in a social context (some of my remote team members work in coworking spaces as a workaround). A lot of people see remote as an opportunity to isolate from the team and dodge important communications. I think we need to get past this idea that one type of work is best for everyone and every team. When people try to say that remote is superior, they don't know what they're talking about. It's one the most "it depends" topics out there right now. > * Where the pressure to go into work comes from in an org Let me answer this indirectly: If companies saw a net increase in productivity and employee well-being from going remote, they'd be falling all over themselves to go all-in on remote work. Getting rid of office space and being able to hire anywhere is a huge advantage and every executive team I know was enthralled with the idea. So why would they want to retain expensive office space and limit themselves to hiring only nearby candidates? It's because for every 1 person who's great at remote work, there may be 1-3 others who aren't doing well at all. Juniors and new hires suffer the most because ramp-up times become extremely slow when the rest of the team is isolated away working on their tasks and uninterested in talking to anyone they don't have to. Interpersonal conflicts are way up because people misinterpret things as insulting or offensive because they can't see the other person's face. Fights and arguments break out everywhere because there's little difference between the company Slack and the other Discords where the person alt+tabs to argue with people. In short: Remote is hard, creates more work for management, is detrimental to juniors and new hires, and doesn't work for everyone. If a company is willing to invest a lot of money and time into hiring more managers to deal with it and churning through hires who can't handle remote, it can work. But it's often easier and happier for everyone to just go into the office a day or two per week to resolve these issues in person. Even as a remote team, flying everyone into the same location is hands down the easiest way to get people communicating efficiently and treating each other as human team members instead of Slack screen name enemies. Remote is hard.

ipaddr 5y ago
"why would they want to retain expensive office space" The increasing value of property and the need to collectively keep office space prices high is a big reason. Do you know how much Apple or Google's campus is worth?
greedo 5y ago
We own three campuses. There's no financial benefit to keep them since most of our staff can work remotely just fine. We've had two straight record years in revenue and profit, but the pride of owning these white elephants makes people come to bad conclusions.
lytefm 5y ago
> Remote is hard, creates more work for management, is detrimental to juniors and new hires, and doesn't work for everyone. I agree. I really enjoy working hybrid myself - going to the office every now and then to have some human contact, otherwise working from home or wherever I am. It also depends a lot in the living situation: A 20-something single who lives in the center anyways might enjoy going to the office, a married 40-something in the suburb would rather work from home all the time.