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Remote work has a number of advantages: 1. Climate- the amount of energy we need and emission of SOx and NOx reduces drastically. 2. Brain Drain- The brain dr

by rg111 3y ago

Remote work has a number of advantages: 1. Climate- the amount of energy we need and emission of SOx and NOx reduces drastically. 2. Brain Drain- The brain drain of talented, cultural people from small towns to cities leaves those towns in a poorer quality and skews cities with higher talent. People in those small towns suffer with the lack of talent and the absence of high spenders which harm the economy of these places. 3. Rent- Companies don't need to rent in cities and save huge amount of money that they can spend elsewhere. This also stops feeding the leech that is rich, (literally) rent-seeking land-owners. 4. Time- Collectively, if remote work is the trend, you save millions of man-hours per day due to lack of commute. From individual level, one can spend the time with family, read a book, learn a new skill or whatever. 5. Family- If you have a family, remote work is much greater for you. Especially if you have kids, a baby or someone ill or old to take care to. Remote work is such a no brainer.

JambalayaJim 3y ago
The climate argument really doesn’t track for me. If remote work does lead to people abandoning cities en masse, the climate is a huge loser. All of a sudden you have people who are moving to more remote places, who will likely be driving instead of using public transit, buying bigger homes with extra work rooms, and so on. Instead of reversing the 1960s trend of suburban developments, wfh will only accelerate it. No climate concerned person would cheer that on. The one good thing about remote work is that it does reduce business travel. Maybe that’s enough to make remote work climate neutral, I don’t know.
- Clent 3y ago
  Where do you think work from home workers would be driving to? Most public transit is for work commutes. I work from home. My car sits for so long, yard debris collects around the tires. I have been able to push off a new car purchase because I rarely drive anymore. That alone is a huge saving for the environment.
  - JambalayaJim 3y ago
    Home workers would be driving to their friends places, their relatives places, grocery stores, restaurants, etc. Are you saying the majority of a person’s trips are work commutes, if they are not working from home? Because that seems heavily lifestyle based - that’s certainly not the case for me - and I would hope not the case for most as that sounds unhealthy.
- tonyedgecombe 3y ago
  People in cities consume to a much larger extent simply because they are richer. 50% of the world's population live in cities but they consume 70% of the world's resources.
- viraptor 3y ago
  > All of a sudden you have people who are moving to more remote places, who will likely be driving instead of using public transit, There's a whole spectrum between a huge city and a place so remote you drive everywhere. There's lots of smaller towns where everything is walkable or very close. For example, I'm using the car ~once a week to pick up big shopping from 3km away and for daycare runs on rainy days / when I can't cycle. Apart from weekend trips, it's basically unused. So no, not being in a big city doesn't necessarily mean you're replacing public transit with driving.
- ilaksh 3y ago
  I expect that eventually there will be more residential in cities. Anyway the solution to sprawl is not forcing everyone to commute to work. I think it's zoning and housing availability. And not allowing investors to hoarde.
NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
For companies, rent is just the beginning of their cost savings. Consider all overhead in aggregate: utilities, enterprise-tier Internet connectivity, computing devices and network infrastructure for all of them, break rooms and their kitchens, bathrooms, physical security for facilities, fire and liability insurance for everything, maintenance costs and staffs for all of the above, including your janitorial, security, and IT/desktop support team. More of which I haven't mentioned. Companies worldwide should absolutely leap at the chance to slough off these costs. Remote workers, amazingly are also leaping at this chance to take on all associated costs of that overhead for ourselves, and of course these costs come with no subsidies or measurable wage/salary increases, so we get to absorb it simply as the cost of living. The employer, meanwhile, is rewarded with all the drawbacks of consumer-tier, rather than enterprise-tier infrastructure, such as poor/slow Internet connectivity, devices and LANs that are difficult or impossible to support, LPL-friendly front doors, employees taking a few minutes on the clock to clean the kitchen or bathroom, and all the rest. It's definitely a paradise for us!
- sidpatil 3y ago
  > LPL-friendly front doors What does LPL stand for?
  - kadoban 3y ago
    I think he means LockPickingLawyer (a very popular youtuber that picks and bypasses locks of all sorts), with the meaning that the locks aren't secure.
    - NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
      Please do not misgender me. I have provided my pronouns in my profile for your convenience.
      - kadoban 3y ago
        Apologies, edited.
drt5b7j 3y ago
> 5. Family- If you have a family, remote work is much greater for you. Especially if you have kids, a baby or someone ill or old to take care to. Isn't this supporting the belief of many employers than when WFH, employees work less in part because they use some time to run errands? If WFH benefits you because you have to take care of the baby that means eg if the baby cries and your partner is busy, you can check up on him during work time. And if you do this and omit it from the employer it's not a stretch that you won't work extra long to make up for it either....

by rg111 3y ago

JambalayaJim 3y ago

The climate argument really doesn’t track for me. If remote work does lead to people abandoning cities en masse, the climate is a huge loser. All of a sudden you have people who are moving to more remote places, who will likely be driving instead of using public transit, buying bigger homes with extra work rooms, and so on. Instead of reversing the 1960s trend of suburban developments, wfh will only accelerate it. No climate concerned person would cheer that on. The one good thing about remote work is that it does reduce business travel. Maybe that’s enough to make remote work climate neutral, I don’t know.

Clent 3y ago
Where do you think work from home workers would be driving to? Most public transit is for work commutes. I work from home. My car sits for so long, yard debris collects around the tires. I have been able to push off a new car purchase because I rarely drive anymore. That alone is a huge saving for the environment.
- JambalayaJim 3y ago
  Home workers would be driving to their friends places, their relatives places, grocery stores, restaurants, etc. Are you saying the majority of a person’s trips are work commutes, if they are not working from home? Because that seems heavily lifestyle based - that’s certainly not the case for me - and I would hope not the case for most as that sounds unhealthy.
tonyedgecombe 3y ago
People in cities consume to a much larger extent simply because they are richer. 50% of the world's population live in cities but they consume 70% of the world's resources.
viraptor 3y ago
> All of a sudden you have people who are moving to more remote places, who will likely be driving instead of using public transit, There's a whole spectrum between a huge city and a place so remote you drive everywhere. There's lots of smaller towns where everything is walkable or very close. For example, I'm using the car ~once a week to pick up big shopping from 3km away and for daycare runs on rainy days / when I can't cycle. Apart from weekend trips, it's basically unused. So no, not being in a big city doesn't necessarily mean you're replacing public transit with driving.
ilaksh 3y ago
I expect that eventually there will be more residential in cities. Anyway the solution to sprawl is not forcing everyone to commute to work. I think it's zoning and housing availability. And not allowing investors to hoarde.

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago

For companies, rent is just the beginning of their cost savings. Consider all overhead in aggregate: utilities, enterprise-tier Internet connectivity, computing devices and network infrastructure for all of them, break rooms and their kitchens, bathrooms, physical security for facilities, fire and liability insurance for everything, maintenance costs and staffs for all of the above, including your janitorial, security, and IT/desktop support team. More of which I haven't mentioned. Companies worldwide should absolutely leap at the chance to slough off these costs. Remote workers, amazingly are also leaping at this chance to take on all associated costs of that overhead for ourselves, and of course these costs come with no subsidies or measurable wage/salary increases, so we get to absorb it simply as the cost of living. The employer, meanwhile, is rewarded with all the drawbacks of consumer-tier, rather than enterprise-tier infrastructure, such as poor/slow Internet connectivity, devices and LANs that are difficult or impossible to support, LPL-friendly front doors, employees taking a few minutes on the clock to clean the kitchen or bathroom, and all the rest. It's definitely a paradise for us!

sidpatil 3y ago
> LPL-friendly front doors What does LPL stand for?
- kadoban 3y ago
  I think he means LockPickingLawyer (a very popular youtuber that picks and bypasses locks of all sorts), with the meaning that the locks aren't secure.
  - NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
    Please do not misgender me. I have provided my pronouns in my profile for your convenience.
    - kadoban 3y ago
      Apologies, edited.

drt5b7j 3y ago

> 5. Family- If you have a family, remote work is much greater for you. Especially if you have kids, a baby or someone ill or old to take care to. Isn't this supporting the belief of many employers than when WFH, employees work less in part because they use some time to run errands? If WFH benefits you because you have to take care of the baby that means eg if the baby cries and your partner is busy, you can check up on him during work time. And if you do this and omit it from the employer it's not a stretch that you won't work extra long to make up for it either....