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More than anything else I'd want better equipment than I have at home - i.e. an ultra-wide monitor, simple USB-C docking, good noise-cancelling headphones and a

More than anything else I'd want better equipment than I have at home - i.e. an ultra-wide monitor, simple USB-C docking, good noise-cancelling headphones and a good microphone or headset and webcam, a US-layout ISO keyboard, a comfortable chair, an adjustable standing desk, etc. And then food, coffee, etc. to provide the same amenities as at home. Right now I'd have to pay about $8 a day and 45 minutes each way to commute to the office and then ~$18 a day on food if I don't prepare it before. To then use inferior equipment than I have at home - why would anyone want that?

offbynull 4y ago
The commute is what does it for me. That and I hate open plan offices.
- throw0101c 4y ago
  > The commute is what does it for me. I would love to see data comparing reluctance to go (back) to the office versus things like commuting mode of transportation (walking, cycling, transit, commuter rail, driving) and/or commute time.
  - Symbiote 4y ago
    I liked going back to the office, since it required me to cycle to work again. In theory I should do some sort of exercise (like cycling around) when working from home, but realistically that hardly ever happens.
  - adamhp 4y ago
    Just personal anecdotal data. The main factors for me are just general flexibility and commute. I used to commute 30m-1hr one way. So that's anywhere from 1-2h a day I'm getting back right at the start. Then flexibility: being able to get chores done, run an errand, take a walk, etc. This actually ends up giving me even more time back. I can work when I'm productive. Output is the same, but I'm not forced to pretend to work for 8 hours. It just makes so much more sense. If my office was 5 minutes away and I could still do all of these things without the social pressures, I might consider it.
  - zidel 4y ago
    > Car commuters miss commuting the least: 55% of this group do not miss it at all. Commuters by (e-)bicycle are the group who miss commuting the most, with 91% missing at least some aspects of commuting. As might be expected, the feeling of missing commuting also decreases with increasing commute duration (Fig. 5). > The connection between work and commuting is evident in the relationship between missing commuting and the intention to work from home in the future (Fig. 7). Among those who do not miss the commute at all, 72% express desire to work more from home in the future. Among those who miss commuting a lot, 69% would like to go back to their previous work routine. https://urbanstudies.uva.nl/content/blog-series/covid-19-pandemic-working-from-home-and-commuting.html https://urbanstudies.uva.nl/content/blog-series/covid-19-pan... This matches the numbers that have been reported in Norway as well, where the percentage that miss their commute are roughly 80% for pedestrians/cyclists, 50% for public transport and 30% for driving (https://www.nrk.no/norge/blir-palagt-hjemmekontor-_-mange-savner-jobbreisen-1.15219898 https://www.nrk.no/norge/blir-palagt-hjemmekontor-_-mange-sa... in Norwegian)
    - wink 4y ago
      Never thought about it this way, but my bicycle commute has always been 30-45 minutes and that's why I'm leaning 60-70% towards "I don't miss it". If it was only 20mins door to door I guess that would be different.
    - nivenkos 4y ago
      I'm surprised cars have it worse than public transport tbh. I guess it really depends on parking, etc.
- jk3000 4y ago
  That. In my case 45min commute + an "office" as loud as an airport terminal. No access to better food or coffee could ever offset this.
Gravityloss 4y ago
You get hotel death at home. At the office you meet a lot of nice people. You get mental peer support: "oh it sucks for them too? I'm not the only one. Maybe it's not so bad." I find those days are best for going to the office when I have the least meetings, and I can just have ad hoc encounters. Even our CEO so fondly speaks of those. "Oh, you thought that we should do X too? I thought I was the only one!" Ultimately you can experience consilience. I don't try to write that much or have meetings at the office as those are much easier to do at home.
- whoomp12342 4y ago
  > At the office you meet a lot of nice people is this satire? many office people are "nice to your face"
  - Gravityloss 4y ago
    Not satire. My company at least really has a lot of nice people. Also my other jobs have been like that. The same has happened to me at university or school. Not all people are nice but you don't then need to always spend so much time with those.
  - krageon 4y ago
    Most people are neither nice nor interesting. Generally the response to this is "get to know them better", which is tedious as it implies everything is nice as long as you know enough about it. This is also not true. There is a lot more value in having good, supportive friends. Those you can choose.
- vidarh 4y ago
  I don't work to meet people. If I want to meet people I do so elsewhere.
  - einherjae 4y ago
    Consider that the world has introverts and extroverts. Consider also that your job is something you spend the majority of your waking hours doing. Consider then that the extroverts might prefer that to have some level of socialization. The extroverts have been made quite aware of how the introverts prefer things to be in the past few years, and may now be aware that the extroverts had the upper hand before. It must be feasible to strike a decent middleground.
pjc50 4y ago
Yeah, I think this is a pandemic-triggered "unbundling" of lots of things that were previously forced together. People may or may not like their office or their co-workers; they may not be comfortable with the level of micromanagement there; but almost nobody likes commuting. I wonder if this is how the reaction to absurd real estate prices is playing out.
- TEP_Kim_Il_Sung 4y ago
  Reality catching up. Louis Rossmann has talked about this for years. Several layers in finance keep this propped up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0Mkx7qtlwM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0Mkx7qtlwM
adamhp 4y ago
The company also needs to pay someone to clean my house, do my laundry, take my dog out, and run any other errands that I can fit in during the day.
- einherjae 4y ago
  How about 6h days in office?
  - adamhp 4y ago
    Maybe 5. I'm already doing 6 at home, and don't have to commute, so. 6h days in the office is equivalent to 7-8ish (depending on commute times) hours of me not being able to do anything but work. If they covered the other things like I mentioned, then maybe that'd be okay. But otherwise, I need the extra hours to get my shit done and have the free time I want. At the end of the day, I don't want to give up more than 6 total hours of my life per day to my job.
SideburnsOfDoom 4y ago
I'd add that I want the office to have 1) excellent ventilation: clean air. This has become an important topic lately and the importance will not diminish. If you're going to share space with dozens of people, who almost all interact with others at home as well, then find ways to minimise the spread of germs (of which COVID-19 is just one). Coming in saying "it's just a cold" is no longer OK. I don't care how mild your case is, that might not apply to people that you transmit it to, so just don't. 2) a locker to keep some stuff (a nice keyboard, a warm top, etc)
unity1001 4y ago
> 45 minutes each way to commute That's the biggest inefficiency about in-office work. Its irreplaceable time lost for the employees, the company and the society. We are needlessly hauling people from place to place to have them work at the cost of losing time and resources.

offbynull 4y ago

The commute is what does it for me. That and I hate open plan offices.

throw0101c 4y ago
> The commute is what does it for me. I would love to see data comparing reluctance to go (back) to the office versus things like commuting mode of transportation (walking, cycling, transit, commuter rail, driving) and/or commute time.
- Symbiote 4y ago
  I liked going back to the office, since it required me to cycle to work again. In theory I should do some sort of exercise (like cycling around) when working from home, but realistically that hardly ever happens.
- adamhp 4y ago
  Just personal anecdotal data. The main factors for me are just general flexibility and commute. I used to commute 30m-1hr one way. So that's anywhere from 1-2h a day I'm getting back right at the start. Then flexibility: being able to get chores done, run an errand, take a walk, etc. This actually ends up giving me even more time back. I can work when I'm productive. Output is the same, but I'm not forced to pretend to work for 8 hours. It just makes so much more sense. If my office was 5 minutes away and I could still do all of these things without the social pressures, I might consider it.
- zidel 4y ago
  > Car commuters miss commuting the least: 55% of this group do not miss it at all. Commuters by (e-)bicycle are the group who miss commuting the most, with 91% missing at least some aspects of commuting. As might be expected, the feeling of missing commuting also decreases with increasing commute duration (Fig. 5). > The connection between work and commuting is evident in the relationship between missing commuting and the intention to work from home in the future (Fig. 7). Among those who do not miss the commute at all, 72% express desire to work more from home in the future. Among those who miss commuting a lot, 69% would like to go back to their previous work routine. https://urbanstudies.uva.nl/content/blog-series/covid-19-pandemic-working-from-home-and-commuting.html https://urbanstudies.uva.nl/content/blog-series/covid-19-pan... This matches the numbers that have been reported in Norway as well, where the percentage that miss their commute are roughly 80% for pedestrians/cyclists, 50% for public transport and 30% for driving (https://www.nrk.no/norge/blir-palagt-hjemmekontor-_-mange-savner-jobbreisen-1.15219898 https://www.nrk.no/norge/blir-palagt-hjemmekontor-_-mange-sa... in Norwegian)
  - wink 4y ago
    Never thought about it this way, but my bicycle commute has always been 30-45 minutes and that's why I'm leaning 60-70% towards "I don't miss it". If it was only 20mins door to door I guess that would be different.
  - nivenkos 4y ago
    I'm surprised cars have it worse than public transport tbh. I guess it really depends on parking, etc.
jk3000 4y ago
That. In my case 45min commute + an "office" as loud as an airport terminal. No access to better food or coffee could ever offset this.

Gravityloss 4y ago

You get hotel death at home. At the office you meet a lot of nice people. You get mental peer support: "oh it sucks for them too? I'm not the only one. Maybe it's not so bad." I find those days are best for going to the office when I have the least meetings, and I can just have ad hoc encounters. Even our CEO so fondly speaks of those. "Oh, you thought that we should do X too? I thought I was the only one!" Ultimately you can experience consilience. I don't try to write that much or have meetings at the office as those are much easier to do at home.

whoomp12342 4y ago
> At the office you meet a lot of nice people is this satire? many office people are "nice to your face"
- Gravityloss 4y ago
  Not satire. My company at least really has a lot of nice people. Also my other jobs have been like that. The same has happened to me at university or school. Not all people are nice but you don't then need to always spend so much time with those.
- krageon 4y ago
  Most people are neither nice nor interesting. Generally the response to this is "get to know them better", which is tedious as it implies everything is nice as long as you know enough about it. This is also not true. There is a lot more value in having good, supportive friends. Those you can choose.
vidarh 4y ago
I don't work to meet people. If I want to meet people I do so elsewhere.
- einherjae 4y ago
  Consider that the world has introverts and extroverts. Consider also that your job is something you spend the majority of your waking hours doing. Consider then that the extroverts might prefer that to have some level of socialization. The extroverts have been made quite aware of how the introverts prefer things to be in the past few years, and may now be aware that the extroverts had the upper hand before. It must be feasible to strike a decent middleground.

pjc50 4y ago

Yeah, I think this is a pandemic-triggered "unbundling" of lots of things that were previously forced together. People may or may not like their office or their co-workers; they may not be comfortable with the level of micromanagement there; but almost nobody likes commuting. I wonder if this is how the reaction to absurd real estate prices is playing out.

TEP_Kim_Il_Sung 4y ago
Reality catching up. Louis Rossmann has talked about this for years. Several layers in finance keep this propped up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0Mkx7qtlwM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0Mkx7qtlwM

adamhp 4y ago

The company also needs to pay someone to clean my house, do my laundry, take my dog out, and run any other errands that I can fit in during the day.

einherjae 4y ago
How about 6h days in office?
- adamhp 4y ago
  Maybe 5. I'm already doing 6 at home, and don't have to commute, so. 6h days in the office is equivalent to 7-8ish (depending on commute times) hours of me not being able to do anything but work. If they covered the other things like I mentioned, then maybe that'd be okay. But otherwise, I need the extra hours to get my shit done and have the free time I want. At the end of the day, I don't want to give up more than 6 total hours of my life per day to my job.

SideburnsOfDoom 4y ago

I'd add that I want the office to have 1) excellent ventilation: clean air. This has become an important topic lately and the importance will not diminish. If you're going to share space with dozens of people, who almost all interact with others at home as well, then find ways to minimise the spread of germs (of which COVID-19 is just one). Coming in saying "it's just a cold" is no longer OK. I don't care how mild your case is, that might not apply to people that you transmit it to, so just don't. 2) a locker to keep some stuff (a nice keyboard, a warm top, etc)

unity1001 4y ago

> 45 minutes each way to commute That's the biggest inefficiency about in-office work. Its irreplaceable time lost for the employees, the company and the society. We are needlessly hauling people from place to place to have them work at the cost of losing time and resources.