4 ms·

Some people also like to be in offices. What is correlation between performance and office preference in different fields?

pgeorgi 3y ago
It's not about the correlation, it's that higher performing employees have an easier time finding alternatives. And even if they mostly prefer the office, they might not like the heavy-handedness with which management is pushing through RTO right now - who knows what else they might force next that directly affects them? As such, everybody is kept on somewhat shaky grounds with these ever-changing decrees, and the people the companies should be most motivated to keep are best suited to leave.
- RandomLensman 3y ago
  That the best typically find it easier to leave is generally true but doesn't really imply a company shouldn't have policies. Could companies finesse these things better, sure. But a sufficiently large company will work even if some top people leave - everyone is replaceable.
Faaak 3y ago
If you like being at the office, then you can still go without being forced, no ?
- jacobyoder 3y ago
  Perhaps they like being in an office with their team mates. It's the colocation with coworkers, not specifically a particular office space.
  - malermeister 3y ago
    I can't imagine it'd be much fun if their team mates are there against their will though.
  - coldtea 3y ago
    >Perhaps they like being in an office with their team mates Maybe find some of those people that like it so much, and go to a coworking space together then? I'm pretty sure the company would be OK to reimburse. No need to burden the company with renting an entire office for everybody, or force it onto others, when just some of you need a shared office. Bonus: each subset of colleagues can find co-working spaces in areas that conveniences them, instead of a single forced upon everybody company-wide office location.
  - ajsnigrutin 3y ago
    With people I personally know (so I know it's anecdotal), it's mostly going away from the family (or just changing the physical environment) for work, and stuff like lunches with other people. Having your direct teammates with you doesn't matter as much, as not having screaming kids around you, someone to talk to during lunch and the easier mental switch, to move to "work mode" when you come into office, and back to "non-work mode" when you leave.
- TRiG_Ireland 3y ago
  Not really, in my case. They closed the town centre office during covid, and opened a new one in an out-of-town business park I cannot easily walk or cycle to. My commute used to be a three-minute walk, but no longer. So I'm stuck at home, which wouldn't be so bad if I had a proper home office, but I don't.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
cornercasechase 3y ago
People who like work from home = people who have a well functioning home life = people who have a well functioning professional life. The people who want to go to the office to escape the spouse they don’t get along with are consistently the worst employees in my experience.
- rajamaka 3y ago
  Not sure why you're downvoted because I have worked with a bunch of these people and their enthusiasm for doing anything other than going home at the end of the day always astounds me
  - coldtea 3y ago
    Yeah, there's often a sense of hopelessness in such types. "Dude, you have small kids. Why are they not seeing their dad, who is working 9am-7pm or worse?"
- gered 3y ago
  This is a very narrow view of the situation. There are any number of reasons why some people may prefer working from an office. Take myself as an example. I live alone, in a small apartment. My home "office" is a corner of my living room. I'm not "rich" and unfortunately cannot currently get a place big enough to have a dedicated room for an office. As a result, over a long period of time of working from home I end up getting the feeling that I'm living at work. In general, I prefer a strict home-vs-work separation, so going to a physical office elsewhere to work over the longer term helps me. Other reasons include that some other people who prefer working from an office outside their home may just in general like the in-person social aspect that comes along with it. It's shocking to me to now see a narrative like what you're trying to push that labels people who want to go to the office as terrible people. Jeez, wow!
  - walls 3y ago
    > Other reasons include that some other people who prefer working from an office outside their home may just in general like the in-person social aspect that comes along with it. This is exactly why a lot of us DONT want to go back to the office - people holding their coworkers hostage because they don’t have a social life outside of work.
arketyp 3y ago
In my experience, 10x employees don't collaborate much with others because they're playing in a different league. You can turn that into an a priori argument, that by definition being exceptional implies riding solo. So WFH will look more tempting.
- troupe 3y ago
  Maybe, but a large number of the 10x employees I've worked with are 10x *because* they are good at collaborating in ways that increase their contribution. Someone who writes 10x as much code in a silo may not be more productive than someone who writes a lot of code but gets 10x delivered because they are incredibly good at working with everyone else.
  - plagiarist 3y ago
    Yeah but unfortunately at most companies only the 10x code slinger will get recognition as a top talent.
- klodolph 3y ago
  In my experience, the “real” 10x employees collaborate with others more than anyone else.
0xbadcafebee 3y ago
Some people also like ice cream, and ice cream sales are correlated with forest fires, so we should probably force people to stop consuming ice cream if we want to keep our forests
coldtea 3y ago
Considering how some of the best devs are introverts, it could be an inverse correlation in the CS field.

pgeorgi 3y ago

It's not about the correlation, it's that higher performing employees have an easier time finding alternatives. And even if they mostly prefer the office, they might not like the heavy-handedness with which management is pushing through RTO right now - who knows what else they might force next that directly affects them? As such, everybody is kept on somewhat shaky grounds with these ever-changing decrees, and the people the companies should be most motivated to keep are best suited to leave.

RandomLensman 3y ago
That the best typically find it easier to leave is generally true but doesn't really imply a company shouldn't have policies. Could companies finesse these things better, sure. But a sufficiently large company will work even if some top people leave - everyone is replaceable.

Faaak 3y ago

If you like being at the office, then you can still go without being forced, no ?

jacobyoder 3y ago
Perhaps they like being in an office with their team mates. It's the colocation with coworkers, not specifically a particular office space.
- malermeister 3y ago
  I can't imagine it'd be much fun if their team mates are there against their will though.
- coldtea 3y ago
  >Perhaps they like being in an office with their team mates Maybe find some of those people that like it so much, and go to a coworking space together then? I'm pretty sure the company would be OK to reimburse. No need to burden the company with renting an entire office for everybody, or force it onto others, when just some of you need a shared office. Bonus: each subset of colleagues can find co-working spaces in areas that conveniences them, instead of a single forced upon everybody company-wide office location.
- ajsnigrutin 3y ago
  With people I personally know (so I know it's anecdotal), it's mostly going away from the family (or just changing the physical environment) for work, and stuff like lunches with other people. Having your direct teammates with you doesn't matter as much, as not having screaming kids around you, someone to talk to during lunch and the easier mental switch, to move to "work mode" when you come into office, and back to "non-work mode" when you leave.
TRiG_Ireland 3y ago
Not really, in my case. They closed the town centre office during covid, and opened a new one in an out-of-town business park I cannot easily walk or cycle to. My commute used to be a three-minute walk, but no longer. So I'm stuck at home, which wouldn't be so bad if I had a proper home office, but I don't.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

cornercasechase 3y ago

People who like work from home = people who have a well functioning home life = people who have a well functioning professional life. The people who want to go to the office to escape the spouse they don’t get along with are consistently the worst employees in my experience.

rajamaka 3y ago
Not sure why you're downvoted because I have worked with a bunch of these people and their enthusiasm for doing anything other than going home at the end of the day always astounds me
- coldtea 3y ago
  Yeah, there's often a sense of hopelessness in such types. "Dude, you have small kids. Why are they not seeing their dad, who is working 9am-7pm or worse?"
gered 3y ago
This is a very narrow view of the situation. There are any number of reasons why some people may prefer working from an office. Take myself as an example. I live alone, in a small apartment. My home "office" is a corner of my living room. I'm not "rich" and unfortunately cannot currently get a place big enough to have a dedicated room for an office. As a result, over a long period of time of working from home I end up getting the feeling that I'm living at work. In general, I prefer a strict home-vs-work separation, so going to a physical office elsewhere to work over the longer term helps me. Other reasons include that some other people who prefer working from an office outside their home may just in general like the in-person social aspect that comes along with it. It's shocking to me to now see a narrative like what you're trying to push that labels people who want to go to the office as terrible people. Jeez, wow!
- walls 3y ago
  > Other reasons include that some other people who prefer working from an office outside their home may just in general like the in-person social aspect that comes along with it. This is exactly why a lot of us DONT want to go back to the office - people holding their coworkers hostage because they don’t have a social life outside of work.

arketyp 3y ago

In my experience, 10x employees don't collaborate much with others because they're playing in a different league. You can turn that into an a priori argument, that by definition being exceptional implies riding solo. So WFH will look more tempting.

troupe 3y ago
Maybe, but a large number of the 10x employees I've worked with are 10x *because* they are good at collaborating in ways that increase their contribution. Someone who writes 10x as much code in a silo may not be more productive than someone who writes a lot of code but gets 10x delivered because they are incredibly good at working with everyone else.
- plagiarist 3y ago
  Yeah but unfortunately at most companies only the 10x code slinger will get recognition as a top talent.
klodolph 3y ago
In my experience, the “real” 10x employees collaborate with others more than anyone else.

0xbadcafebee 3y ago

Some people also like ice cream, and ice cream sales are correlated with forest fires, so we should probably force people to stop consuming ice cream if we want to keep our forests

coldtea 3y ago

Considering how some of the best devs are introverts, it could be an inverse correlation in the CS field.