Mostly agree. Only point i disagree on is regarding the work/life balance. But then again, I also try to keep a close eye on the time and clock out precisely at 8 hours of work unless there's an...
Mostly agree. Only point i disagree on is regarding the work/life balance. But then again, I also try to keep a close eye on the time and clock out precisely at 8 hours of work unless there's an emergency. As a salaried employee with no overtime pay...I work the bare minimum hours required.
Thus, every day I work from home, I net 3 hours or more of quality time (long lunch + no commute). It lets my short breaks through the day be family time and not just 'avoid coworkers as much as possible' time.
Perhaps it's because I don't work from home full time, so I still have days that I do the commute and follow office hours, which helps remind me how good working from home is. But I could often replace 2 days of office time with a single work from home day and still get more accomplished.
I've worked from home for about 7 years now, and I can honestly say that I disagree with almost all of this guy's points, lol. Line by line: I'm maybe SLIGHTLY more productive than when I used to...
I've worked from home for about 7 years now, and I can honestly say that I disagree with almost all of this guy's points, lol.
Line by line:
I'm maybe SLIGHTLY more productive than when I used to work in the office 5 days a week. Any gains I've made by not getting pulled into meetings or bothered by people walking up is mostly dashed by my ability to alt tab into a youtube video or reddit thread whenever I want. I'm pretty good at my job, so I can get what most of my team mates get done during a whole work day in around half, but still, I'd feel better if I could get more done.
I definitely have better work life balance now than when I was going into an office. If I need to do something really quick like throw laundry in the wash, or run out to run a quick < 30 minute errand, I can without having to make up a weird excuse or tell anyone. I also pull far fewer super long hours, but I think that's more of a company/position thing than a work location thing.
I always work in my office. I would not be able to get anything done. My office is a pig stye though. There are manuals, pieces of computer parts, papers, cables and all kinds of crap all over the place. It doesn't help that my wife and I just kinda use it as a dumping ground for anything related to technology. I think I can count on my hand the number of days I've worked anywhere but my office, not including travel.
I don't suffer from social anxiety, so I can't really comment on this one specifically, I will say, that even as an introvert, the lack of social interaction can really drive on me. I've gone for multiple week long periods where the only other flesh and blood human I interacted with is my wife. Mostly it's ok, but I really do miss talking to people face to face throughout the day.
This one I actually do agree with. I love being home, more than anywhere else. I really don't like to travel, I usually start thinking about how much I'd rather be at home a few days in, and I'm usually totally content staying home for weeks on end as long as friends come over and visit, so that part specifically isn't too much of a downside to me.
All in all, I definitely prefer working 100% remote vs 100% at an office, but my ideal situation would be to have an office near me where I can come in one or two days a week, interact with people, have face to face meetings, and spend the rest of my time at home. I think I'd be much more productive that way; I've notice that for a few weeks after I take a business trip to meet with the rest of my team, I feel much more engaged and focused, and my productivity goes through the roof. I don't think conference calls and webexes can really replace that face to face, subconscious feeling. On the pro side, not having to drive to work is great, not being constantly badgered (in person, instant messaging and calls can be just as annoying) is nice, hanging out with my dog and being able to blast music as long as I don't have a conference call is awesome, but sometimes I feel like a hermit whose social skills have atrophied.
This appears to be to be 'The truth about how working from home turned out for me' rather than 'Here's what working from home is like for everyone' (which I'm pretty sure is the empty set). I've...
This appears to be to be 'The truth about how working from home turned out for me' rather than 'Here's what working from home is like for everyone' (which I'm pretty sure is the empty set).
I've been working from home since 1992, so it's safe to say it's worked out well for me. I've never had any complaints from employers about not being productive, and I've never had trouble finding time to do the non-work things I want to do (well, occasional crunch times leave me working long hours, but I think that's largely a software industry issue rather than a remote work one).
I had the same thought... myth busting is universally disproving a common belief. This is "here's my personal anecdotal experience". Always interesting to see the telecommute conversation...
I had the same thought... myth busting is universally disproving a common belief. This is "here's my personal anecdotal experience".
Always interesting to see the telecommute conversation happening though, if I'd guessed 10 years ago what things would look like now, I'd have predicted a lot more people would be working remotely than how's it's turned out so far
This depends a lot on the person. I worked from home for two years and: I wasn't more or less productive. I'd lean into "less productive" if I'd have to analize the situation better. I was more...
This depends a lot on the person.
I worked from home for two years and:
I wasn't more or less productive. I'd lean into "less productive" if I'd have to analize the situation better.
I was more antisocial - not that I'm busting with socialization, but I felt more introverted when I worked from home. Even just being surrounded by people - and not necessarily interact with them - boosts my productivity.
Working from the office means commuting, which for me means I have time (30-40 minutes) to read. And I read a lot during commuting, which is a big plus. Related to this: when I worked from home I always ended up starting the TV and watching all sorts of shit.
On the plus side, when I worked from home I just got my first dog - a black Labrador. It was great to see him grow and adapt one to each other. My wife (who wasn't in the scene at the time) always says that she can see the dog was well raised because of that.
So, yes, I guess it all depends on the personality of each of us.
Like me! I'm typing this comment while I'm officially working. I could do my whole job in about 4 hours per day, but I end up spending about 6 hours in front of the computer because I keep...
Of course, this wouldn’t apply for those who lack self-motivation and are easily distracted
Like me! I'm typing this comment while I'm officially working. I could do my whole job in about 4 hours per day, but I end up spending about 6 hours in front of the computer because I keep distracting myself. Another reason to stay at the computer longer is so that I can attend to emails in a timely way, and not look like I finished work at 2:00 in the afternoon!
I would argue that there are more distractions in play when working in your typical office setting, given the constant interruptions of meetings, and people dropping by your desk for a “quick chat”.
My manager works from home 1 day per week, and she agrees with this: she's much more productive on that day than when she's in the office.
And when you work where you live, every moment feels like a moment you could/should be working.
Absolutely not. I make a sharp divide between when I should be working and when I will not work. Luckily, I don't have a job or a workplace that requires me to be available outside of working hours.
But that doesn’t mean you won’t be tempted to work from your bed or from your sofa instead.
I dislike using a laptop. I work on my desktop computer - which means I sit at my desk in my study to work. It also means that when I walk away from working, I'm not tempted to check in.
Here’s another confession: I tend to suffer from social anxiety.
Not me. In fact, I miss the connections that come from working among other people. Working from home can be quite isolating. That's a whole different problem.
You begin to miss the strangest of things, like that elated feeling of leaving your office building on a Friday evening, or taking off your shoes at the end of the day
The biggest thing I do not miss is the commute: it's nearly 2 hours each way to the office. That's why my boss allows me to work from home. No matter how much I might miss other aspects of working in an office, missing out on that commute outweighs everything else.
Mostly agree. Only point i disagree on is regarding the work/life balance. But then again, I also try to keep a close eye on the time and clock out precisely at 8 hours of work unless there's an emergency. As a salaried employee with no overtime pay...I work the bare minimum hours required.
Thus, every day I work from home, I net 3 hours or more of quality time (long lunch + no commute). It lets my short breaks through the day be family time and not just 'avoid coworkers as much as possible' time.
Perhaps it's because I don't work from home full time, so I still have days that I do the commute and follow office hours, which helps remind me how good working from home is. But I could often replace 2 days of office time with a single work from home day and still get more accomplished.
I've worked from home for about 7 years now, and I can honestly say that I disagree with almost all of this guy's points, lol.
Line by line:
I'm maybe SLIGHTLY more productive than when I used to work in the office 5 days a week. Any gains I've made by not getting pulled into meetings or bothered by people walking up is mostly dashed by my ability to alt tab into a youtube video or reddit thread whenever I want. I'm pretty good at my job, so I can get what most of my team mates get done during a whole work day in around half, but still, I'd feel better if I could get more done.
I definitely have better work life balance now than when I was going into an office. If I need to do something really quick like throw laundry in the wash, or run out to run a quick < 30 minute errand, I can without having to make up a weird excuse or tell anyone. I also pull far fewer super long hours, but I think that's more of a company/position thing than a work location thing.
I always work in my office. I would not be able to get anything done. My office is a pig stye though. There are manuals, pieces of computer parts, papers, cables and all kinds of crap all over the place. It doesn't help that my wife and I just kinda use it as a dumping ground for anything related to technology. I think I can count on my hand the number of days I've worked anywhere but my office, not including travel.
I don't suffer from social anxiety, so I can't really comment on this one specifically, I will say, that even as an introvert, the lack of social interaction can really drive on me. I've gone for multiple week long periods where the only other flesh and blood human I interacted with is my wife. Mostly it's ok, but I really do miss talking to people face to face throughout the day.
This one I actually do agree with. I love being home, more than anywhere else. I really don't like to travel, I usually start thinking about how much I'd rather be at home a few days in, and I'm usually totally content staying home for weeks on end as long as friends come over and visit, so that part specifically isn't too much of a downside to me.
All in all, I definitely prefer working 100% remote vs 100% at an office, but my ideal situation would be to have an office near me where I can come in one or two days a week, interact with people, have face to face meetings, and spend the rest of my time at home. I think I'd be much more productive that way; I've notice that for a few weeks after I take a business trip to meet with the rest of my team, I feel much more engaged and focused, and my productivity goes through the roof. I don't think conference calls and webexes can really replace that face to face, subconscious feeling. On the pro side, not having to drive to work is great, not being constantly badgered (in person, instant messaging and calls can be just as annoying) is nice, hanging out with my dog and being able to blast music as long as I don't have a conference call is awesome, but sometimes I feel like a hermit whose social skills have atrophied.
This appears to be to be 'The truth about how working from home turned out for me' rather than 'Here's what working from home is like for everyone' (which I'm pretty sure is the empty set).
I've been working from home since 1992, so it's safe to say it's worked out well for me. I've never had any complaints from employers about not being productive, and I've never had trouble finding time to do the non-work things I want to do (well, occasional crunch times leave me working long hours, but I think that's largely a software industry issue rather than a remote work one).
There is a lot of information out there on how to make remote work successful. I've got a batch of stuff bookmarked specifically for those in software development: https://wiki.beterra.com/doku.php?id=the_manager_track#remote_teams if anyone is interested.
I had the same thought... myth busting is universally disproving a common belief. This is "here's my personal anecdotal experience".
Always interesting to see the telecommute conversation happening though, if I'd guessed 10 years ago what things would look like now, I'd have predicted a lot more people would be working remotely than how's it's turned out so far
This depends a lot on the person.
I worked from home for two years and:
So, yes, I guess it all depends on the personality of each of us.
Like me! I'm typing this comment while I'm officially working. I could do my whole job in about 4 hours per day, but I end up spending about 6 hours in front of the computer because I keep distracting myself. Another reason to stay at the computer longer is so that I can attend to emails in a timely way, and not look like I finished work at 2:00 in the afternoon!
My manager works from home 1 day per week, and she agrees with this: she's much more productive on that day than when she's in the office.
Absolutely not. I make a sharp divide between when I should be working and when I will not work. Luckily, I don't have a job or a workplace that requires me to be available outside of working hours.
I dislike using a laptop. I work on my desktop computer - which means I sit at my desk in my study to work. It also means that when I walk away from working, I'm not tempted to check in.
Not me. In fact, I miss the connections that come from working among other people. Working from home can be quite isolating. That's a whole different problem.
The biggest thing I do not miss is the commute: it's nearly 2 hours each way to the office. That's why my boss allows me to work from home. No matter how much I might miss other aspects of working in an office, missing out on that commute outweighs everything else.