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> Businesses gave mixed results on remote work productivity, with 30% saying it boosted output, and 40% saying it reduced it. Given that spread, my guess here

> Businesses gave mixed results on remote work productivity, with 30% saying it boosted output, and 40% saying it reduced it. Given that spread, my guess here is either that their data collection and analysis is bad, or that there are other factors involved in productivity other than just where the worker is located. It is probably a very very very complicated question that is collapsed down into this "work from home: good or bad" way that is the fashion of most (all) business related pseudoscience. Anecdotally, on the subject of work culture and community, I have a lot of friends I met at old jobs whom I still hang out with. What we bonded over was how much we disliked our customers, managers, and coworkers, and how much goofing off we could get away with in the office. We pushed a lot of chairs down hallways, and took a lot of very long lunches. That's about all I miss from working in the office: the not working part. It is true that I haven't developed similar communities in remote work, but I don't know where that fits in the "community building" argument for RTO.

0xcde4c3db 3y ago
> Given that spread, my guess here is either that their data collection and analysis is bad, or that there are other factors involved in productivity other than just where the worker is located. The article doesn't get into the methodology of the survey, but another possibility is that respondents were just answering based on their feelings rather than any hard data at all. This sort of thing happens all the time; a well-known example is that if you survey Americans about crime, a large percentage will say crime has increased regardless of what's happening with actual levels of crime [1]. [1] https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2016/11/16/voters-perceptions-of-crime-continue-to-conflict-with-reality/ https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2016/11/16/voters-pe...
- karaterobot 3y ago
  Yep, I forgot to mention bad design as a distinct possibility. Heck, could be all three!
johnnyanmac 3y ago
>That's about all I miss from working in the office: the not working part. I To be fair, I don't think anyone except the most mission-centric individuals will ever "miss work". Many people wouldn't work if they could avoid doing so. >It is true that I haven't developed similar communities in remote work, but I don't know where that fits in the "community building" argument for RTO. Isn't it just that? They want people to feel like they are working with a team, not as some remote drone from home that tags in. As you'll see from many comments on HN, some simply don't care about that, so it falls on deaf ears. But this sort of PR isn't really for employees, let alone ones who will quit rather than RTO. They are a lost cause in the company's eyes.

0xcde4c3db 3y ago

> Given that spread, my guess here is either that their data collection and analysis is bad, or that there are other factors involved in productivity other than just where the worker is located. The article doesn't get into the methodology of the survey, but another possibility is that respondents were just answering based on their feelings rather than any hard data at all. This sort of thing happens all the time; a well-known example is that if you survey Americans about crime, a large percentage will say crime has increased regardless of what's happening with actual levels of crime [1]. [1] https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2016/11/16/voters-perceptions-of-crime-continue-to-conflict-with-reality/ https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2016/11/16/voters-pe...

karaterobot 3y ago
Yep, I forgot to mention bad design as a distinct possibility. Heck, could be all three!

johnnyanmac 3y ago

>That's about all I miss from working in the office: the not working part. I To be fair, I don't think anyone except the most mission-centric individuals will ever "miss work". Many people wouldn't work if they could avoid doing so. >It is true that I haven't developed similar communities in remote work, but I don't know where that fits in the "community building" argument for RTO. Isn't it just that? They want people to feel like they are working with a team, not as some remote drone from home that tags in. As you'll see from many comments on HN, some simply don't care about that, so it falls on deaf ears. But this sort of PR isn't really for employees, let alone ones who will quit rather than RTO. They are a lost cause in the company's eyes.