5 ms·

Anecdotally, I’m probably around 150% as productive at home compared to at the office. How's that for a reverse card? Seriously, I can't stand hearing other pe

Anecdotally, I’m probably around 150% as productive at home compared to at the office. How's that for a reverse card? Seriously, I can't stand hearing other people talk. I can't stand hearing their keyboards, or their mice clicking, I can't stand to hear people walking around, I don't want them to be able to talk to me abruptly. Work gets done faster when I'm allowed to focus in my own controlled environment.

rcme 3y ago
I did mention my experience was anecdotal. This is a debate that can easily be settled with hard data. https://fortune.com/2023/07/06/remote-workers-less-productive-wfh-research/ https://fortune.com/2023/07/06/remote-workers-less-productiv... For what it’s worth, I agree with all of your office complaints. Yet, personally, I’m still more productive at the office. I liken this to working out at the gym alone vs. with a personal trainer. Working out alone is like working from home. No one is watching you to keep you accountable. Feeling sleepy? Take a nap! Whereas at work you have to appear productive all the time, similar to how it’s hard to slack off when working out with a trainer. And the easiest way to appear productive is just to be productive.
- thefurdrake 3y ago
  I think a lot of it is going to be both the person and their environment. I have a separate office workspace, and have built up a fair bit of compartmentalization at home. I'm also very frenetic about focusing (or not), so the ability to work for 10min and then be distracted for another 10min is great for me. That might sound like I'm less productive, but ... my work output is higher than my coworkers and is generally completed earlier. I can realistically see it being a net loss, because I think a lot of workers aren't in tune with how their minds work relative to focusing on a tast, and a structured environment is perfect for dealing with that.
- somsak2 3y ago
  Looking at the paper, their "10 to 20%" figure is based off of three studies, one for call center employees, one for Indian data-entry workers, and one for Indian IT professionals. The one closest to most of HN's audience is the IT professionals case, and even in that one they note "measured performance among these workers remained constant while remote." In addition, they only mention how "productivity" is being assessed for the call center case (call volumes), not the other two. Personally, I wouldn't really call this "hard data." It's also interesting that the same authors previously found the opposite effect -- https://wfhresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Barrero-AEA-NABE-Jan22.pdf https://wfhresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Barrero-A...
- LeBit 3y ago
  If you need someone to physically check on you to keep you accountable, you have a problem and should definitely work at the office. Don't poison the lives of the ethical workers that are productive from home.

rcme 3y ago

I did mention my experience was anecdotal. This is a debate that can easily be settled with hard data. https://fortune.com/2023/07/06/remote-workers-less-productive-wfh-research/ https://fortune.com/2023/07/06/remote-workers-less-productiv... For what it’s worth, I agree with all of your office complaints. Yet, personally, I’m still more productive at the office. I liken this to working out at the gym alone vs. with a personal trainer. Working out alone is like working from home. No one is watching you to keep you accountable. Feeling sleepy? Take a nap! Whereas at work you have to appear productive all the time, similar to how it’s hard to slack off when working out with a trainer. And the easiest way to appear productive is just to be productive.

thefurdrake 3y ago
I think a lot of it is going to be both the person and their environment. I have a separate office workspace, and have built up a fair bit of compartmentalization at home. I'm also very frenetic about focusing (or not), so the ability to work for 10min and then be distracted for another 10min is great for me. That might sound like I'm less productive, but ... my work output is higher than my coworkers and is generally completed earlier. I can realistically see it being a net loss, because I think a lot of workers aren't in tune with how their minds work relative to focusing on a tast, and a structured environment is perfect for dealing with that.
somsak2 3y ago
Looking at the paper, their "10 to 20%" figure is based off of three studies, one for call center employees, one for Indian data-entry workers, and one for Indian IT professionals. The one closest to most of HN's audience is the IT professionals case, and even in that one they note "measured performance among these workers remained constant while remote." In addition, they only mention how "productivity" is being assessed for the call center case (call volumes), not the other two. Personally, I wouldn't really call this "hard data." It's also interesting that the same authors previously found the opposite effect -- https://wfhresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Barrero-AEA-NABE-Jan22.pdf https://wfhresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Barrero-A...
LeBit 3y ago
If you need someone to physically check on you to keep you accountable, you have a problem and should definitely work at the office. Don't poison the lives of the ethical workers that are productive from home.