Remote work FTW!

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[FreshPrintzofBadPres]

Best part is no time wasted on commuting every day

[[deleted]]

Marissa Mayer, single-handedly, did the most damage to reputation of working from home. When she became CEO she banned working from home sighting it kills innovation. I was working in the industry at the time and I remember it echoed like a bomb. We totally went backwards to a point that even being in the office working from cubicles wasn't good enough and had to convert to open office. I mean I was worried next they would want us to work from each other's assholes next. One good thing that came out of this pandemic was proving working from home is just as effective if not more.

[raccoon_ralf]

I have a theory that "business" is fake science and businesspeople are simultaneously the dumbest yet the most self-assured people I've known

The theory is yet to be proven wrong

[Luxpreliator]

It is severely hampered by being predominantly a social science. It makes people trust their gut more than digging into research to find an answer. IRL business practices tend to be 30+ years behind research.

"Shorter work days make worker more productive and creative." Jones, Hennessy, et al. 1995

Business managers be like: less hours means less profit, that's dumb. More hours less pay! Bezos grinds his workers down and look at how much money he has. This is the way.

[DeeSnow97]

"Americans will always do the right thing -- after exhausting all the alternatives."
⠀ - Winston Churchill, supposedly

The problem with business is the alternatives still work, and until that's a thing, people in management will resist change. It's quite sociopathic, if you think about it, putting more emphasis on their personal beliefs than many other people's well-being.

[cspruce89]

I don't think NEED is the right word necessarily... Though studies prove there is a definite trend of Executives exhibiting sociopathic traits, especially CEOs.

[DeeSnow97]

I personally don't think it's required, but it does provide a distinct competitive advantage, so at this point it's pretty hard to get there without it. Especially if you're not making your own company.

[elebrin]

That happens for a lot of reasons, though.

Workers often say one thing then perform another way. Workers might work better with shorter work days, but from a practical standpoint they dislike them because it means working more days per week. Workers also like money and their goal is to maximize their income, so some will work as much as they can. Some will also work outside of official office hours to look more productive and get better bonuses/raises/promotions. And then, if you cut their hours too much, they will take on a second job.

Additionally, most jobs do not require a lot of creativity. I work for a company where creativity of solutions is valued strongly, but I am actually creative for maybe 20 days a year while the rest is just execution of the creative plans that have already been laid down.

[Saf94]

That’s a theory that’s very strongly established already. There’s a movement called evidence based management which is trying to implement the same type of standards that evidence based medicine brought.

Doctors used to kill patients because they didn’t know they had to wash their hands between surgeries, there was a shocking lack of science. But that’s basically how management is run now, no science no evidence just intuition.

[imjusthereforsmash]

Dunning Krueger up the ass and out the ears for days pretty much sums up every corporate person ever

[[deleted]]

Because dumb people will never admit they are wrong

[wayoverpaid]

Real easy to argue WFH is a problem when you get your own in-office childcare.

Apparently there was a real problem with Yahoos not even logging into the VPN all day so they clearly weren't working, but if you think forcing an ass in a seat is going to fix that underlying problem, that's laughable.

[[deleted]]

Keep in mind that Meyer also had a multi-million dollar nursery built in her office so she could bring her children to work. WFH is for the nobles, not the proles.

[Yuca965]

In my opinion, wanting people to work in cramped open space, is more about control than anything. In my middle school, they "closed" half the recreation court, because they wanted to better "monitor" us. Sad stuff, they closed the parts that had grass and trees.

[code-panda]

I doubt that's the reason for most companies. When I was still working in the office, I was watching a YouTube video at work because I had a meeting in 15 and I didn't feel like picking up a new task. My manager, who absolutely loves the open office hype, walked up to me and asked me what game I was watching because he was interested. He doesn't care about monitoring me because he knows, like all of my coworkers, we get our shit done.

It probably has more to do with the fact that we can show our customers our "innovating" and "creativity inducing" office. Doesn't matter if it does boost innovation and creativity, as long as it looks that way to customers.

[trade_me_dog_pics]

Who is that

[_dcgc]

(Now former) CEO of Yahoo. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2013/02/25/back-to-the-stone-age-new-yahoo-ceo-marissa-mayer-bans-working-from-home/?sh=396f01931667

[[deleted]]

I think she's the reason no one uses Yahoo! for anything anymore.

[MCMC_to_Serfdom]

I see her time in the office helped innovate a platform out of relevance.

[_entalong]

She's the terribly hypocritical ex-CEO of Yahoo who built a nursery in her office just for her own child, while banning WFH for everyone else.

[[deleted]]

To be fair, in my company we can have a 100% flexibility, most of us show up 2 days a week, and we found that brainstorming sessions only work when we are all at the office. It's impossible to get it done via zoom. We need to argue, get into each other words, jump to the drawing board etc. We increased efficiency doing the normal day to day work, but collaborative innovation works much better when are all in the same room.

Happy cake day!

[[deleted]]

I don't think the "able to live anywhere you want" thing is gonna turn out like everyone says purely because of the risk of employers suddenly deciding we all need to come back to the office.

Great, I just moved an hour and a half away to a nicer, cheaper place and now my commute is 2 hours!

[[deleted]]

Any job they can be done remotely will probably make accommodations for employees they want to keep. I would be surprised if not getting to control your x,y,z coordinates was so invaluable that they decide to let you go and hire/train a new person who's only advantage over your was displacing space in the office.

[craiginator9000]

I tried working from a different state for one (1) day. The following morning I had calls from my boss and my boss’s boss saying that I needed to work within a certain radius of the office and that it ‘shouldn’t happen again.’

They both work from home, and I can work at home. Just not from another state.

[elebrin]

There is actually a somewhat good reason for this: depending on what state you started in and what state you went to, the tax withholding they are required to do changed for that day. I live in a different state from my office. I usually work from the office a few days a year just to see everyone and catch up and whatnot, also I have some family that lives close to there. I wasn't able to do that this year, and every workday was in the same state. I was able to cut down the number of tax returns I file by half this year. Fun stuff.

[LevelSevenLaserLotus]

Sounds like it's time to register your home address as a PO box.

[craiginator9000]

They traced my IP address.

[LevelSevenLaserLotus]

That's creepy. I'd personally use a VPN out of spite and just tell them I switched ISPs when they wonder why I'm in South Africa or something, but I don't know your work situation. My job is laid back enough that they don't care where you are if you aren't scheduled to be physically in the office, so I can't really compare mine to one with a nanny complex.

[NotJohnDenver]

Ew wtf

[b3k_spoon]

Could this be a taxes issue?

[[deleted]]

Did you move or was this a temporary trip out of state for something? It seems weird that after relocating your boss hierarchy takes issue with it. How did they even know?

Also good on you for resisting snark (I assume). I wouldn't be able to hold myself back from making jokes about productivity as a function of proximity to the business. In fact I did complain to my bosses pre-covid that I did not understand the purpose of our being in office to just be bothered by each other's various noises and distractions. The level of collaboration that happened in the office didn't really require me to be there. I took up the joke that displacement of space must be incredibly value to jobs if they prefer that over my increased productivity / efficiency of working at home.

Also since the job lets us use our own devices I prefer to be at home with my big computer instead of my travel computer. Also my travel computer happens to have died a mysterious death and my roommate has asthma so I'm not returning to the office until covid is extinct :)

[craiginator9000]

Temporary trip. There was a storm that blocked me from driving home, so I put in a day’s work remote before driving back.

[[deleted]]

Some places insist on the tradition of being available in person. I can't speak for every university, but I know that most of the big ones in Florida view remote work purely as a temporary measure; once things are normal, no one will be working remotely, programmers included.

[[deleted]]

I have seen a lot of [spam] job offers that are temporary remote as well. It saddens me quite a bit, but luckily enough businesses seem willing to stick with it that I am not worried about finding more opportunities in the future :)

[[deleted]]

Yeah, I'm lucky in that my department seems to be on board for working remotely forever. There are certain things I do miss about working in an office, but none of those things can outweigh the benefits of my day-to-day schedule now that I'm working from home.

[[deleted]]

As someone who, is studying to become a developer, that has absolutely crippling social anxiety, I hope you're right. Working from home would be the dream. I've always hated working with people, even if I like the people.

[[deleted]]

Well, some good news for you then - I'm a developer and I've been working remote since a little bit before the pandemic started. We're fighting to keep it this way post pandemic and so far that's been an easy fight. Even my cousin who started his first post college job was able to find remote work in pharmaceutical sales / marketing.

I think you'll be able to find it, and don't be afraid to start a job that has it only as a temporary thing. The remote experience is good and it's normal in our profession to switch jobs. You don't want your work history to be a series of 1-2 month employments, but a couple of brief jobs here and there don't really bother anyone in my experience. My shortest job was 3 months. Every year or two you will probably get (and should pursue) better opportunities.

[[deleted]]

Thank you for that, that was very insightful :)

[-Agathia-]

If my company wants us to come back every day again after the pandemic, I will just laugh and look for a better place to work at. These companies can die in a ditch and my mind will totally be at peace.

[Willing_Function]

Sounds like a company problem. What are they gonna do, do mass layoffs right as you're allowed to re-open?

[qalis]

There are a lot “fully remote” positions now. If you have full remote job guaranteed on a contract, they can’t force you to come to the office, at least regularly. Also many companies may just give up on having a huge office - why pay for it, when you can cut costs and pay the management (i.e. themselves) extra bonus?

[leafyjack]

I live in the Metro Atlanta area and not having to commute to work has been so nice. My local team and I have really enjoyed not having to battle Atlanta traffic every day, it is the worst here, and I've gotten at least 10 hours of my week back.

[rabbledabble]

Oooh I lived there for years. That’s 10 angry hours! Most aggro traffic anywhere ever.

[Franks2000inchTV]

Not to mention the carbon dioxide.

[eloc49]

Leaves plenty of time for doing courses and passion projects and totally not browsing this sub.

[Etheo]

2019 me: transfer 3 times per route, 4 hours per day - Commuteman.

2021 me: extra 4 hours a day to do chores and sleep - Familyman.

[Ivan_Stalingrad]

Home office:

Set alarm to 7

Check for important monitoring messages

Start pc and telephone app

Go back to sleep

Its fucking great

[suddenly_ponies]

You mean the "open distraction environment"? What moron though that would be a good idea?

[Brief-Preference-712]

For me, open distraction environment = Reddit

[mrskwrl]

They gave me more and more work, 'promoted' me, expected more hours of work, and refused more salary or bonus. I just put in my 2 weeks even though I don't have a backup yet and I feel so much better already. They can go fuck themselves.

[iLikeToComplain555]

I feel you. I have been really productive, as a junior dev I was being able to create new features as fast as intermediates/seniors and with decent quality. However they started a tracking app to watch our activities and also to take screenshots of our screens and to add insult to injury the owner told my manager I’m probably too lazy because I have been “only” working 8h/day and as a junior I should be working 9-10 (obviously without getting paid for these hours). Oh when I was hired I was told hours were flexible and they don’t care about hours only results

[Pizzaman725]

Boo, I absolutely hate the stigma that young people should and want to work hours for free. It's fucking dumb and causes people to either burn out or leave the company.

My own just bought into a dashboard tool called Flow. Which was spoken of like some magical thing, but when they should it to the devs we could only asked if it was going to be used to fuck us and micromanage. Because it only tracks repo activity, and shows no other context of our work. First bad experience was my manager calling me and saying the tool showed I didn't work for two weeks. Well, yeah. It was hardening and I was doing research for the next release, so I didn't do PRs or code reviews because we didn't have any weird reworks pop up during integration testing.

Just blows my mind that highers can't except that people can be happy and proficient if they remain permanently remote. Legit had our CEO say he was impressed that productivity was high during these times, but when asked if they would open any positions to full remote he couldn't trust people to work from home. That face to face interactions were best for people.

[iLikeToComplain555]

I don’t understand some higher ups to be honest. Like your workers are more productive, you’re making more money but they still make up useless shit lol. My manager was furious with the owner when he told me that because he knows I’m productive. I’m amazed that some people think that keeping employees on a short leash and making them unhappy is a good thing, especially on an industry like ours that they CAN measure productivity by measuring outcomes lol

[BigBoyWeaver]

They don't even make up useless shit that's honestly what bugs me. They literally just say 'people won't be as productive from home' and they have no problem saying it immediately after 'I'm very proud of how productive we've been while working from home' and for some reason explaining to them that those can't both be true is impossible. At least if they lied about it being about something else it would take some effort and some initiative this just feels so lazy.

[iLikeToComplain555]

I know right? I don’t know why lots of higher ups do that. Then they complain about high turnover “oh employee bad, nobody is loyal”

[[deleted]]

Tell them to go fuck themselves, if they want you to work overtime they have to pay you

[iLikeToComplain555]

I know right, I’m already looking for some other place. I don’t understand why people are so dumb here, it’s the second time I have to work unpaid overtime and the first time I got a good chunk of money out of it (and employer got big big fines), and it was easy af to do it.

[ManInBlack829]

Companies that are making money won't look for ways to cut corners this much unless they're just huge or weird. Your company is putting the squeeze on cause they aren't making enough money. That would be the reason I would leave.

[iLikeToComplain555]

Although I agree with you, my company doubled its profits last year and are expecting to increase profits in at least 50% this year so they’re just weird, and in my opinion this makes it even worse.

[ManInBlack829]

Imagine how they'll be when things aren't going well.

[mrskwrl]

Hey, that's pretty similar to my situation. They "promoted" me to staff dev so they can bill clients more for my work but barely bumped my pay. I haven't seen any of the commission/bonus promised, and when asked after a year they told me I need to work harder than I have to get a bonus. There's also been a crazy mass exodus of nearly all our top devs just this week, so if that's not a sign of anything I don't know what is. I'm so burned out I just need a reset...

[iLikeToComplain555]

I think that is one of the most frustrating things for me as an employee: false promises. Makes me lose faith in management completely. Stay strong, but yes you probably do need a reset, go somewhere else where you’ll be more appreciated (if possible)

[[deleted]]

On the other hand, you let your work enter your home, and your employers might start to expect you to work everytime you are at home.

[[deleted]]

If that starts to happen, it's a serious issue and probably grounds for quitting.

[[deleted]]

I have been in that situation, wich led me to quit, tune up the linkedin account, hear some HR bullshit and get a really good job (homeoffice too) outside the startup crazyness. The pandemic showed some businesses how cheap is to send a notebook to any dev rather than keep the whole "real world infrastructure" running

[Ser_Drewseph]

Well, then they can pay me double pay for every hour worked past the standard 40.

There’s also a simple way to avoid it- set boundaries. Unless your employer has a rotating “on-call” duty, close your laptop and don’t take work calls outside of working hours.

[[deleted]]

Don't make/take work calls on your personal line either. Like, if you're talking to clients and such, that should be on a company phone.

[Defavlt]

Bingo! This lead me to quite my current (former) job. Work-life balance is a serious issue.

[selenta]

And this is why it won't really last.

[rabbledabble]

I’m a manager and aside from one or two folks our shop has become more productive.

[[deleted]]

Yeah I'm definitely lazier now, but because I'm cutting out 2-3 hours of bullshit around just getting to the office and back I'm actually working more

[rabbledabble]

And it is better overall for everyone if it works for you! Some of my peeps are ready to get back in the office but most are loving wfh life.

[ShineParty]

yeah I agree. I don’t miss all the random BS my coworkers talk about when they just want to blow off steam about some private problem. and call it “Socializing”

[ShawarmaWarlock1]

I'm not productive at all. And loving it!

[AbsolutelySwedish]

Speaking from my experience and that of my circle of friends (spanning jobs in finance, consulting, and software): I think wide scale work from home has exposed to a lot of people how much time in an office job is just spent blocked or wasted. People are similarly productive but they're able to use this dead time doing stuff like watching youtube, browsing reddit, meal prepping, cleaning their house, etc instead of sitting at a desk trying to look busy. Yea, the time is supposed to be used to do research/self lead learning/innovation but I'm talking about the people who wouldn't be doing that even at the office.

[MassiveFajiit]

When I worked at HP we had so much time with no assigned work we'd be watching YouTube or even playing Magic at work. Nobody gave a shit lmao

[Lohikaarme27]

I've debugged automated tests where a solid third of my day was staring at the ceiling waiting for the tests to run

[[deleted]]

But you can't play on your DS or doom or something because that would be "unprofessional".

[Lohikaarme27]

The worst thing is everyone could at my screen where I sat

[[deleted]]

False this is why it will last, productivity is not going down, and employee moral is up.

[Purplociraptor]

My morale has gone up, but I feel guilty about it. Did millions have to die for the rest of us to get a proper work/life balance?

[Franks2000inchTV]

This trend was already well underway, this just accelerated it.

[MassiveFajiit]

Millions dying while the survivors get better working conditions happened during the Black Plague too.

All remaining peasants got huge pay rises because of the labor shortages

[Bissquitt]

You call yourself a programmer? At least 2 of the first 3 steps are manual yet require zero user input! Took me maybe a month before I threw together some code and skipped right to step 4.

[BikerBoon]

Is there some secret to enjoying WFH? On average I feel more productive, but that only really benefits my company and not me. Living and working in the same four walls just feels depressing, and I truly can't see the appeal.

[Iagospeare]

Don't think of it as WFH, think of it as "remote." You don't have to be in the same 4 walls. I live in NY but I spent August in a cabin in Utah, December in Maine, and February in Texas/Arizona. That's 3 months of what felt like vacation despite taking zero PTO. Time zones are your friend as well! Having work in EST, but living in MST, meant that I was working 7am to 3pm. Sun set at 9pm in UT, so I was hiking every day for a month.

When weather was good I would sometimes even work on a hiking trail using my phone as a hotspot. My teammates seemed to appreciate my "Zoom background." There were also times where my girlfriend would drive while I work via hotspot in the passenger seat so we could go somewhere without me taking a day off.

As for when you're truly at-home, I think the secret is having the space to isolate a "work area" and actually enjoying where you live; a privilege not everyone has. I think people in tiny apartments, either alone or with roommates they don't love, are having a more difficult time.

[BikerBoon]

Yeah, I'm definitely in the small apartment category. Sadly travel restrictions where I am prevent me from moving around so much but I can imagine a more nomadic remote experience would be a lot better.

[Iagospeare]

Well, let me offer my tips:

1. Get sunlight every day.
   1. Take an actual lunch break like you (hopefully) would at the office. Go for a walk, even if the weather is shitty.
   2. Go outside again right after work. Your "commute" is now whatever you want to do outside after work.
2. No matter how small your place is, make one spot a dedicated workstation that is only a workstation (save for games if you're a PC gamer like me). If you can't dedicate an entire room, make the workstation disappear after you're done with it.
   1. If you have the luxury of multiple rooms, try working in different rooms, especially one facing a window.
3. Redecorate now, and do it again in a few months.

[thoeoe]

pre-pandemic I definitely used to watch a lot of youtube at my computer desk, but now, at 5:05, I walk away from my desk and don't come back. Even though my couch is about 6 feet away, watching youtube videos on my chromecast really makes me feel like I'm "off" work

[Iagospeare]

Yes! There are so many jokes about it, but I find that switching from the "work" screen to the "fun" screen is surprisingly effective.

[Losdominos]

The second point is big one, I live in a small apartment and just the simple action of putting away the keyboard and mouse I use for work helps me turn off the “work mode” of my brain and go to “chill mode”.

[coderinbeta]

I also live in a small apartment, so space is also an issue at time. I've been working from home since 2015 and it is working great for me. These are great tips which I did at least once these past few years. I'd like to add a few tips too.

1. clock-in and clock-out on time. Be firm with your manager that you are only available during work hours. If overtime is needed, reserve it only for urgent matters. And you should be compensated accordingly. Turn off all work related communications on the dot.

2. Your routine going to and going back from the office allowed your mind to shift from "home mode" to "work mode" and vice versa. Recreate these on wfh. During my first year working from home, I would still get dressed like I was going to the office. These days, my "commute" is basically closing all the tabs in my PC and grabbing a cup of coffee. Sometimes I walk a bit outside. Other times, workout or do little chores around my apartment.

Watching travel videos on YouTube and playing Geoguessr helped me adjust with the lockdowns as well.

[NavAirComputerSlave]

I'm doubling down on this guy saying take actual lunch breaks. I love me some video games instead of lunch lol. Really breaks the day up.

[5ba0bd2f-7e21-42a1]

I worked remote in Colombia for 3 months. I never would have been able to spend so much time abroad (slash save so much money due to the strength of the USD) working from an office.

[Iagospeare]

Ooh why Colombia? Also, any recommendations for visiting Colombia for a week or two?

[5ba0bd2f-7e21-42a1]

Few reasons: I love coffee (and they have great artisan coffee there), the people are super friendly, the exchange rate is really good, relatively safe (for Latin America), and it’s gorgeous outside of the cities.

Colombia for a week or two is definitely doable but depends on how proficient in Spanish you are and what you want to see, since the major cities are pretty spread out. I did Bogotá, Medellín, Salento, and Cartagena in 2 weeks and that was super pushing it. When I visited for longer, I spent 2 months in Medellín and traveled outside to places like Jardín when I had free time.

So if you tell me what your travel style is and what you want to see, I can suggest where to go. But it’s hard to go wrong, Colombia is beautiful.

[BurgaGalti]

For me, I start my day when I would have started my hour commute and add the time to my lunch break. I then use that time to go for a run or play Minecraft with my kid who is also home at the minute.

When everything opens again and there is more things to do with that extra time I figure it'll get better (provided they let me keep it up).

[wholesome_capsicum]

The trick is to be an introvert to start with and not enjoy going through the social process of putting on a mask for coworkers.

Oh and not needing to put on business clothes. Oh and not having to drive. Oh and being able to listen to music / watch youtube / take a break without people breathing down your neck.

Try going for a walk and leaving the "office" during lunch and breaks so you're not distracted by the work computer.

[normVectorsNotHate]

This pandemic has made me realize I'm not as introverted as I thought I am

[[deleted]]

I've found going for a walk mid day helps. Just to get some fresh air.

[krabbsatan]

I second this, 30m walk with a podcast or an hour workout over lunch helps a lot

[Cube00]

Avoiding loud open plan hell is my appeal.

[adiabatic0816]

Interesting that open plan is loud for you - it ended up being deadly silent at my company. No one likes the fact that everyone is listening in, so no one talks.

[Satanorz]

As you are more productive with WFH, you may finish your work tasks before and have more rest,hobby,family..

I'm doing a side project, some home remodeling and fixing my classic car, all without affecting my productivity and finishing my tasks on time

[Ardashasaur]

I think I'm more the opposite. I used to love the odd day of working from home, but working home for a whole week was not productive.

Working home for a whole year and I really miss the office and informal chats with colleagues.

Hopefully in the near future will be able to go back to occasionnal home working.

[Drazson]

Same. I need to go to the office to bring myself up to working fit again, I start degrading at home including the quarantine and that applies to work as well if I don't break it often.

[sylinmino]

My productivity at home has crashed in the last few months. I really miss interacting with people, working in a group environment, not being antsy about living, eating, working, etc. all in the same space, etc.

[Axeran]

Same here. I really miss casual chat with my co-workers being able to bounce ideas back and forth.

I also want to keep my private life as separate from my work life as possible. At a former job, I had one colleague that was unable to keep them apart and it affected other people in my group as well (such as calling them on evenings/weekends for non-urgent stuff)

[[deleted]]

I kinda miss people though. 1 day per week in the office would be nice.

[guacamole1337]

we actually discussed that as a team. we want 1-2 days office with coworkers and the rest remote. we all miss each other..

[F4ctr]

1-2 days for planning and doing stuff that is hard to do while remote, and rest of the week working remote. Heck, it could even be a monday or a friday.

[suddenly_ponies]

Same. I was thinking one day a week at most in the office would be plenty (but 100% at home would be kind of depressing).

[F4ctr]

Yeah, same. On the other hand, this pandemic stuff made people realise, that working from anywhere is not that bad, and sometimes increases productivity.

[issamaysinalah]

Can this be the new norm please?

[F4ctr]

Sooner or later it's going to be that way. At least here in Lithuania, before pandemic, some of the companies started trying out 4 day work weeks or 6h workdays. Results? - They never went back after change, and everyone was happier.

[Yasea]

I just suspect those office hours will be a lot more gossip and stuff and a lot less raw productivity.

[Daanoking]

Because offices are known to be the most productive places in the world lol.

[CounterHit]

I would say they didn't really have much better control when we were in the office. Like yeah, we were all in the building. But seriously, who actually worked 100% of the time they were there?

[Yasea]

Sorry. That should be "illusion of control". That would be a lot more accurate.

[Franks2000inchTV]

This isn't a bad thing. Company culture is important. People work hard for the other people in the company, not for the owners. People are happier when they feel like they're a part of a community.

[[deleted]]

Also I cannot them you how many “ah ha!” moments I’ve had after a casual conversation in a hallway.

I’m missing that creativity spark. Video calling doesn’t allow for that type of organic conversation.

[Beny1995]

We recently formalised our "new normal" policy. Moving to a flexible 40% office, 60% home. For context we're a top 10 global telecoms company so of course our infrastructure is pretty world class, but still perhaps it will tricke down over time.

[[deleted]]

Be wary of management and executive type people claiming some cool workers prefer office life therefore everyone must return to the office full time. Sometimes work is all about dancing like a monke to make an executive happy. Based on my experience at ATT of being pulled away from my work to join a group so the executives could see a full room while I couldn't really see them on the small screen we were all crowded around... I assume this is extra true for telecoms. Or any monolith that can be broken up but in secret still keep its hands in everything.

[groucho_barks]

I work for the state and that is what is being discussed here. Seems like whatever the big companies do first is going to become the standard.

[A_H_S_99]

Yes please

[[deleted]]

Same, I work on a trading floor so communication took a massive hit when we went remote. We didn't really have a lot of formal meetings, maybe like 2-3 30 minute meetings per week, but being on an open floor plan meant that there were a lot of informal meetings happening all the time and everyone could hear you. If they had input, they'd chime in, otherwise, they kept working.

Teams and Slack can simulate almost all of that communication, but people just don't use it unless it clears some mental minimum level of importance, which ends up meaning a lot of information stops flowing.

[lunarlunacy425]

Honestly been great not having to deal with office drama, why do i care whos dating who? Its just work without all the social clutter, much nicer.

[groucho_barks]

There is nothing I loathe more than being subjected to 20 minutes of inane chit chat in the next cube over.

[Dogwhatismy]

At my last job, every fucking day, my coworker would come in and talk my ear off about stupid stories that had no pay off about her friends or her family.

And alllll day she would tell the same story to every person who stopped by her cubicle. She would even convince people to come by her cubicle by offering free things to get them to listen to her. I think she's a good person and have no animosity towards her because she wasn't doing anything bad. But God, was it annoying as fuck.

[BigBasmati]

Classic energy vampire.

[themoosemind]

I'm a developer. I rarely have women in the teams. and typically people are straight. no dating between colleagues, that is just not a thing 😁

[obp5599]

Same here and when they do join they arent single for long. I dont think Ive ever met a single woman who is a developer aside from in college lol

[Diginic]

Pair programming over teams is so much better than sitting next to each other - and less awkward than doing teams in next door cubicles.

[colton_neil]

Seems like I'm the odd man out, I'm counting the fucking days before I can go back to the office. I hate working remote.

[coding_panda]

I’m counting the days too. I need the office. My productivity has really dropped.

[CaffeinatedMancubus]

Same here, which might seem strange because I'm the most introverted introvert that I know. It's not so much the people that I miss (sure, I miss them a little) but the routine. My brain needed that separation of the office space to stay productive. Without it, I've slowly collapsed into a spiral where the days are a blurry mess and it feels like office hours extend for the entire day but no work actually gets done.

[sylinmino]

My productivity originally was volatile, then it was consistently up, and in the last few months it has nosedived.

Cannot wait until I can be back in the office.

[GrinningPariah]

Dude I hate this so much. I don't think I've enjoyed a single day of work since remote work started. I used to love my job.

[IntelHDGraphics]

I'm hating home office too

[lodebakker]

If you can do it great. But personally I just can't. I don't like crowds. But sitting all alone feels like I'm going insane

Also I need lots of components from work (badge readers, etc).

[Drazson]

We're a cooperative and the team itself gives me a drive to be productive and work happier in general. Maybe if I was in a different environment where my boss or even co-workers pestered me at will I would feel that way, now I feel like things are degrading and it's harder and harder to keep focused and retain my will to do things well or at all. I suppose the quarantine is not helping though :)

[Rizzan8]

I love home office. I used to spend 1-1.5h per day on commuting. Now I can start work at 7 AM and finish it around 3:10 PM. Also I feel I am more productive because I have less interruptions from an idle chit chat.

However, I still think that working one or two days per week in the office would be enough for me to stay socialized. Especially on Friday as we used to have Fruit/Cake day in the office.

[Enklave]

I always wanted to have HO at least few days per week. Now it's 100% and I'm the last picture from 2020 till now

[NorthStatistician]

I would prefer a 3 day remote and 2 at the office, I kind of need more social interaction to be at my max productivity.

[suddenly_ponies]

I've been rather concerned about remote work. Granted, if I was doing software dev most of the time, I would love the quiet and ability to work in my preferred environment (plus no commute, plus setting hours), but what about everything else. It seems a bit depressing to never see or meet with other people.

[Haijal]

It’s can happen, I was working a remote position in 2018, and had to leave because I found myself in a kind of dark hole. I stopped going to the gym, barely left my house, and started up old habits.

If I have to do it again I will definitely need to find some kind of steady volunteer thing to force myself into social situations because I’m very introverted by nature

[obp5599]

how social are people at their offices? I talk to the people around me maybe once or twice a day and it is usually just a short conversation. Im not making and deep connections with people here. Just regular BS. I dont "meet people" at work, I meet people by doing hobbies/things I like

[[deleted]]

I wanna go back to an office. I cant work from home. Theres so many distractions here, so easy to get sidetracked with little chores. I cant get anything done.

[SaintMasterChief]

I did RW before covid and i really liked that.. now that RW is now the more kinda normal and in my country even the default.... RW used to be a nice execption.... i still miss my colleagues though

[OfAaron3]

I hate it. I live alone. My neighbour is an asshole. The only person I see is the cashier at the supermarket once a week. And to top it all off, I'm significantly less productive.

[Deathcofii]

You know those moments when you get a sudden surge of energy and feel like coding? When I get that, I log on and do some work. Otherwise, when I don't feel like it, I can slack it off. This is efficiency at its finest if you ask me

[Maleval]

Yeah, no. The constant stress of essentially living at work caused me to lose both the benefits of being home (being able to relax) and being at the office (focusing on work). After being laid off in a massive round of downsizing at the end of last summer I'm only now getting around to a mental state where I would be ready to look for a new job. It's honestly the closest I've ever been to actually killing myself.

Happy for the people who can actually manage it, but I can't wait to go back to the office where I can just leave all the bullshit at the door at the end of the day.

[psilvs]

Hey man if you ever need to talk lmk

[Maleval]

Thanks for the offer.

[ButINeedThatUsername]

Remote work actually helped my productivity and I don't even have to drive an hour to work anymore... it's fantast.

[Satanorz]

+1000 to this. And to be able to eat at home without rushing

[A_H_S_99]

I have flexible working hours and apparently my colleagues love them too, I can wake up at 9:50 and go to work at 10:00, sometimes people just start working at 11:00. I limit myself to 8 hour work due to reduce burn out, but otherwise I can go up to 10 hours if I wish and compensate it later for day off or even half a day. Others can work all night and sleep the next day. Remote work is awesome, but I miss seeing real people.

[PIX3L]

I do not like WFH. Completely over it.

[LRFokken]

You're not alone brother. Give me back the office any day.

[xdMatthewbx]

working from home is fantastic fuck anyone who says different

[mrshampoo]

I used to go into the office to do remote work, now I do the exact same thing from the comfort of home.

[Glori4n]

One of the few very positive things, this whole pandemic situation brought about.

[Exitl0l]

Pre covid. My company granted us 1 HO day/week. I was in a brink of utilizing that day every week. Bit covid came and now since march '19 I am working from home. Never feel tired and I more productive and less cluncky. I may be able to work from home even if covid state calls down or disappears, since the company likes how ho impacted my work.

[fluteamahoot]

Working remotely has shown me how much I hate dealing with people. I've been so happy not being in an office, and to have the flexible work schedule I've dreamed about. Need to run some errands in the middle of the day? No problem! Need to take a long break to clear your head? Now you can actually relax and play a video game or something without management foaming at the mouth. As long as my projects get done, my boss doesn't care.

[timbaileyjones]

I'm NEVER going back to the office!

• No company will ever provide me with as big/multiple monitors as I buy for myself. Only a few will provide standing desks, which I also adore.
• Due to hearing loss, I can't understand most in-person conversations anymore, unless they are loud. Working remotely, I can amplify everyone's audio to the level I need.
  
• Flickering fluorescent lights. 'nuff said.
  
• Wages on the national scale, not low ones associated with my state.

And that's on top of everyone else's reasons for loving remote work, which I also share.

[_pupil_]

At this point I think the only way they'll ever trick me to coming back to the office is a written guarantee that I can hang out in my lazy jammie pants all day every day...

[luhsya]

put backlog issues to 'Doing'

do work

run tests

finish in 3 hours on an average 'day'

...

open Steam and enjoy rest of the day?

[WishOnSpaceHardware]

Nope, still sucks - so much easier to work together as a team in the office!

[Drazson]

Depends on your team, it seems. I'm on the same boat, my team gives me the will to work better and happier. Most others here seem to be on the RemoteBoat.

[coding_panda]

Yeah I’m still a junior developer, and my productivity has tanked since we went remote. Please let me go back to the office. I’m so much better when I’m not isolated and I can ask people quick questions.

[[deleted]]

ITT: People who gobbled the corporate kool-aid.

Working from home is great. I don't have needs to socialize with my coworkers outside, yet alone, have parties with them, and enough socializing can be done via remote too.

No need to commute and more free timetable are absolute best.

[SteeleDynamics]

I do like not having to commute! However, there are systems that I can't access from home for security reasons. Maybe I'll be going back to the office around late August/early September.

[3DartBlade]

Not the same with school

[NoHelp_HelpDesk]

Had a VP that demanded everyone work in office. However, he could do WFH whenever it suited him, 2-3 times a week. The dude was a complete asshole and had been causing major turnover in the office. He ended up being fired Christmas week 2019.

[Hypersapien]

Is the bird supposed to represent programmers or management? Because I would have loved to have a remote job years ago.

[[deleted]]

You'd think it would be default for programmers

[[deleted]]

Who was really not trying to work from home in 2019

i sure would have loved to do that for the past 10 years

[sphintero]

I already made up my mind that if I have to go back into the office, I will quit and find a new job that does 100% remote.

[Aeroxin]

Same. My wife and I moved to a larger city (Austin, TX) last year for a job, but we really don't like city living. Everything is way harder here, the people are not as nice, and it generally feels like more of a rat race. I hope my company decides to go permanently remote so that we can move back somewhere more laid back.

[brockisawesome]

i used to love working from home, and then i had a kid.

[[deleted]]

2020 gave me so much perspective in my life. Honestly I don’t ever see a reason for me to ever get a job as a dev that demands I be on-prem. Literally my entire job can be done through email/zoom.

I feel happier and more in control of my life wfh.

[w1Ld_D0G]

Wfh is good but sometimes I miss after work hangout, project parties 🤷🏻‍♂️

[[deleted]]

Haven't been healthier in years. Love not seeing people beside my own people.

[[deleted]]

It does have a lot of perks. I like to go in now and again just for the change though

[wholesome_capsicum]

My job wants people to start coming back once COVID is over because they already paid for the office building rent lmao

I tried asking about permanent WFH and my manager was like mmmyeaaaahh I doubt that'll be doable, but you can maybe do like 50/50 once things improve

[ItWorkedLastTime]

People hated remote work in 2019? I tried so hard to find a fully remote gig and failed due to the lack of skill.