Work from home was a boon to productive workers and an absolute catastrophe for the group of middle managers and executives who make their living putting their names on other people's work and that latter group started to undermine it as soon as they realized this.
Reposted from
Matt Zoller Seitz
I do not understand why, after remote work has been repeatedly proven to be just as productive (if not more so) than in-office work, people should be required to return to in-office work in order to justify the money the bosses spent on real estate.
Comments
When you're settled into a job, doing the same thing everyday it's fantastic but otherwise WFH can be a problem.
we had one who was trying to work two remote jobs at once but i caught them pretty quick
I quit my last job that was forcing RTO. Getting much more done now with even fewer meetings.
The in-person advocates want it to cover for their lack of ideas and to get their personal needs for socialization met.
The "let people choose" folks are the ones getting work done.
But I'll be clear - what works for one team may not for another. I've found that the teams that work best do get together regularly, even if they work remotely 3 days a week or more.
Your employees are *definitely* faking it.
These are 99% UNCHOSEN relationships that dissolve the moment someone leaves for another job.
please reflect on how much of this is your same voice in talking down your own team members.
Focus on remediating those who are using in-person as a crutch.
Everybody else can get their work done at home and their social needs met outside of work.
What’s good communication for some isn’t good for all.
Almost like social interaction doesn’t strictly require being physically present.
Physical presence is important for intimacy, but intimacy is not appropriate in the workplace.
I mean he phrased it in a way that flattered himself more, and to say he actually realised anything much is giving him too much credit, but lunches were the truth of it.
However, one of the teams I worked with a lot was mostly remote.
There were so many days I would drive an hour into the office to sit at a desk and call people on teams.
At home, I shut myself in a room & give my workload 100% of my attention.
But that’s not every situation (mine, for instance). We hire recent grads and do something technical. 1/x
Sounds like quite a distraction, no?
If you want to, you can make it appealing.
Obviously not everyone does that.
It turns out I need that separation between work and home.
Far more productive than I ever was in-office, since day one.
People who harp about the benefits of water cooler networking are the exact people the rest of us were delighted to get away from.
downtown biz + parking ramp + gasoline + clothing + "drive-time" radio trash
The list of cash flows parasitic on mass daily commute never ends, and they all want us fish back in barrel
WFH kept 6 workers from being colocated out of 15-20.
WFH worked just fine.
8 years of this and we're still kicking ass.
And we're all very happy with this job and each other. Can't say as I've ever worked with such a positive and motivated (and diverse) team.
They tended to form insular cliques and silos that didn't communicate. In some cases doing redundant work.
In at least one situation, remote offices got the shittiest projects, got cut out of main-office situational awareness, and bore the brunt of RIF's.
I said I let them work from home, do their jobs, and I did my stand ups/sprint sessions in the one hour daily I got when my kid was napping.
That was it.
They want that rent.
Instead I get an open plan office with constant interruptions.