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Working from home does not mean being isolated, the two aren't the same. Being isolated from the office and spending less time on travel means that you have mor

Working from home does not mean being isolated, the two aren't the same. Being isolated from the office and spending less time on travel means that you have more time to spend on friends and hobbies.

RamblingCTO 3y ago
They aren't in theory. In practice they are. Look at trends across the board when it comes to close relationships. The workplace was always a connection point for many. It will be no more. You're reduced to a cog in the system giving your expected output and that's it. Congratulations, very nice! You know, if we redesigned work and society for something more meaningful, the debate about office/WFH wouldn't even be one.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  > You're reduced to a cog in the system giving your expected output and that's it. This is no more or less true whether you're working in an office or at home.
  - RamblingCTO 3y ago
    Yes, you're right. But as a CTO I can tell you that it makes a difference if I see someone in the office on a regular basis and another employee that I see maybe once a year. We're human after all, built on relationships and social webbing. So I fear that WFH results in faceless work being done by "somebody" "somewhere". I do care about the social aspect of my work/colleagues quite a lot! We'll see how it plays out I guess.
    - JohnFen 3y ago
      It's certainly different, and everything comes with its benefits and drawbacks. Including working in an office and working at home. Personally, I work better -- both in terms of work output and in terms of socializing with my teammates -- when working at home, because cube farms are almost designed to prevent effective work and interaction (although they are far more conducive to both of those things than open office layouts!) At home, I'm more effective and in a better mood so I more easily socialize with my coworkers. Other people can be very different, of course, including the exact opposite of me. I think a lot of this also depends on what level you're looking at it from and what size of a company you're talking about. For instance, whether working from home or working in an office, you interact heavily with your teammates and are certainly not a faceless "somebody somewhere". If you're at home, though, you probably are to higher levels of management. Whether or not that's a problem for you (the lower-level employee) depends in large part on what sort of career path you are trying to chart. For my own path, it makes no difference because I'm not aiming for promotions or the like -- I took the job I have because that's the job I wanted. Small companies tend to be more social/cozy in general. WFH may adversely impact that. It might not, though. I've worked at several small companies over the decades where nobody was ever in the same room, but the socialization with each other was still very high. Large companies are a different beast entirely. In the office or not, you are a faceless cog in the machine to everyone except those you directly work with and directly report to. It's hard to see how it could be any other way, given the scales involved.
      - RamblingCTO 3y ago
        I think you hit the nail on the head. I'm with a startup of < 20 FTEs. It's really hard to create identity and a sense of belonging with an internationally distributed team. We actually also allow WFH for local employees and kind of a "we need to see individually what works best". I think that works for employees, but for me sometimes it doesn't. I'd attribute that to a rather young and inexperienced environment. WFH often times means less communication and productivity. But not for all! I agree very hard on large companies! Nothing I ever want to work with/at.

Working from home does not mean being isolated, the two aren't the same. Being isolated from the office and spending less time on travel means that you have more time to spend on friends and hobbies.

RamblingCTO 3y ago

They aren't in theory. In practice they are. Look at trends across the board when it comes to close relationships. The workplace was always a connection point for many. It will be no more. You're reduced to a cog in the system giving your expected output and that's it. Congratulations, very nice! You know, if we redesigned work and society for something more meaningful, the debate about office/WFH wouldn't even be one.

JohnFen 3y ago
> You're reduced to a cog in the system giving your expected output and that's it. This is no more or less true whether you're working in an office or at home.
- RamblingCTO 3y ago
  Yes, you're right. But as a CTO I can tell you that it makes a difference if I see someone in the office on a regular basis and another employee that I see maybe once a year. We're human after all, built on relationships and social webbing. So I fear that WFH results in faceless work being done by "somebody" "somewhere". I do care about the social aspect of my work/colleagues quite a lot! We'll see how it plays out I guess.
  - JohnFen 3y ago
    It's certainly different, and everything comes with its benefits and drawbacks. Including working in an office and working at home. Personally, I work better -- both in terms of work output and in terms of socializing with my teammates -- when working at home, because cube farms are almost designed to prevent effective work and interaction (although they are far more conducive to both of those things than open office layouts!) At home, I'm more effective and in a better mood so I more easily socialize with my coworkers. Other people can be very different, of course, including the exact opposite of me. I think a lot of this also depends on what level you're looking at it from and what size of a company you're talking about. For instance, whether working from home or working in an office, you interact heavily with your teammates and are certainly not a faceless "somebody somewhere". If you're at home, though, you probably are to higher levels of management. Whether or not that's a problem for you (the lower-level employee) depends in large part on what sort of career path you are trying to chart. For my own path, it makes no difference because I'm not aiming for promotions or the like -- I took the job I have because that's the job I wanted. Small companies tend to be more social/cozy in general. WFH may adversely impact that. It might not, though. I've worked at several small companies over the decades where nobody was ever in the same room, but the socialization with each other was still very high. Large companies are a different beast entirely. In the office or not, you are a faceless cog in the machine to everyone except those you directly work with and directly report to. It's hard to see how it could be any other way, given the scales involved.
    - RamblingCTO 3y ago
      I think you hit the nail on the head. I'm with a startup of < 20 FTEs. It's really hard to create identity and a sense of belonging with an internationally distributed team. We actually also allow WFH for local employees and kind of a "we need to see individually what works best". I think that works for employees, but for me sometimes it doesn't. I'd attribute that to a rather young and inexperienced environment. WFH often times means less communication and productivity. But not for all! I agree very hard on large companies! Nothing I ever want to work with/at.