6 ms·

Some people fail to recognise the actual problem here. I, among many, live within <5 minutes from my work. Distance is never, and was never the deciding factor

Some people fail to recognise the actual problem here. I, among many, live within <5 minutes from my work. Distance is never, and was never the deciding factor in my decision to work from home full time. I'm incredibly lucky my employer sees the benefits of it. The deciding factors were - that I didn't have to leave the room for a personal call so that I didn't disturb anyone. - that I didn't need to have six seperate conversations in the morning before being able to sit down and begin my work. - that I didn't need to sacrifice portions of my lunchtime to grab a coffee with others and look like a team player. - that from home I could now show affection to my partner that I would otherwise likely be ostracised for in an office environment. Do I seem antisocial to you? Probably. But that's how I'm wired and want to live. I have (easily) another 1 1/2 productive hours in my work day now, and that's without children or a long commute. I'm the happiest I've ever been. When I'm feeling exceedingly social and want to connect with others, I will work that specific day from the office.

ne0flex 5y ago
Fully agree. I have about a 15min walk away from my work place. Recently, my company has annoucned its re-entry plan and have decided on a hybrid work environment in order to "foster collaboration and increase productivity." My department was classified as a 'mostly-essential' department which means that we'd be required to be in the office 3 -4 days a week. I immediately emailed management requesting a near 100% transition to WFH, at least for me, and made the argument that my KPIs have more than doubled in 2020 vs. 2019. Working from home has allowed me the flexibility to not get burned out between meetings and as a result I booked more than 2x client meetings. In terms of collaboration, the main person on my team I collaborate with was relocated to San Franscisco, so I need to collaborate with him digitally anyway. Also, despite closing more deals this year, I only received a 3.5% pay increase, and a $1K bonus increase over 2019. My 2019 numbers were abysmal compared to my 2020 numbers, and in 2019 I received a 4.4% salary increase. So more productivity doesn't get me bigger pay raises I guess. Currently waiting to see what stupid bullshit they try to spin in order not to accommodate my request. My boss already told me that he'd support me WFH if it means I'll be able to keep up my current numbers. I'm thinking of telling management that I'm willing to overlook the slap-in-the-face pay increase if they'd accommodate permanent WFH for me / only need to go into the office as necessary.
- Aeolun 5y ago
  It is clear that these are your real numbers, so last year you obviously weren’t even trying. We’ll retroactively reduce last years raise to 1%. The difference will be held from next month’s salary. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Also, your request is rejected. Someone clearly has to keep an eye on you to make sure you don’t slack off again.
  - mgh2 5y ago
    I hardly see these sarcastic comments in HN, greatly appreciated! xD
dheera 5y ago
A often less-mentioned problem of remote work for many in my circle is that working out of your cramped San Francisco bedroom isn't always productive. Many need a dedicated, well-lit, and preferably sunlit office space at home to be truly productive and companies have not normalized giving out rent subsidies to people, even though the amount of rent subsidy necessary to have a dedicated office space at home would be much less than the equivalent square footage of commercial office space.
ryandrake 5y ago
Different stokes for different folks. To me, WFH purely means I avoid my crushing 2.5hr-each-way commute. If my employer built an office next to my house, I'd happily go to the office every day. Or even better, if my employer built an office in a cheaper cost-of-living area like the Nevada desert, I could move to a trailer there and happily go to the office every day. I'm not enamored with my home office. I don't really care as much about working from some room in my home as I care about not having to white-knuckle it down 3 interstate highways just to get to an office where I spend all my time having video conference meetings with remote teams anyway.
- jakecopp 5y ago
  May I ask how you came to live 2.5 hours away? Are you not able to move closer? Is rent too expensive closer?
  - ryandrake 5y ago
    Living in any decent size single family home closer to work in the Bay Area is punishingly expensive. I'm not willing to downgrade the family's living conditions by moving to a vertical shoebox (townhome) or concrete honeycomb (apartment complex) in order to do it. The crushing commute is a trade-off, and I would jump at the opportunity to not have to make that trade-off.
- conductr 5y ago
  This sounds self inflicted and you should reevaluate your physical presence requirements but that was the case pre-WFH too
tailspin2019 5y ago
> Do I seem antisocial to you? No, you seem like a well balanced human being who knows what’s important in life. Your comment certainly resonated with me.
hyko 5y ago
Exactly, we should all have the freedom to choose how we work. Never really understood people managers who don’t get this. You hired the best, right? Listen to them! They are experts about what makes them happy and productive. I think the fear stems from the idea that people will try to be happy and not productive. To any managers out there: you have nothing to fear, just fire those people.
GordonS 5y ago
I'm only a 20 minute drive from my local office, so it wasn't a big deal for me either. And my boss isn't even in the same country, so I didn't have that kind of boss that makes sure you're sat at your desk and questions every moment away - I could come and go as I pleased, and as long as I got my work done and didn't take the piss, nobody would have a problem with me arriving late, leaving early, taking a few hours off for appointments etc. But when I started working almost full-time from home some years back (5-10, I forget exactly), it was a great move for me. My biggest issue with working in the office was they way we were made to work in the office - everything open plan, everyone fully exposed to the noise and bussle of everyone else. And there's always that one guy (OK, usually at least 3) who talk REALLY loudly all.the.time. And there's always that one guy who spends his whole day taking calls on a bluetooth headset, wandering around the office all.day.long, constantly in and out of your peripheral vision, or standing right behind you while he continues talking. So having a nice, quiet home office makes working so much better. Plus, I get to have breakfast with my family, and lunch with my wife/kid/kids depending on the day. I have to add though, that I have a decent sized house, with a dedicated home office, with a big desk, 2 monitors etc - I realise that not everyone has the space for that. I also realise that the social aspect was/is a huge deal for some people. I actually think the ultimate solution would be for companies to be fully remote, but with the option of working from co-working spaces whenever you want - I'm really curious to see if we have a co-working space boom coming up; they are non-existent around me.

ne0flex 5y ago

Fully agree. I have about a 15min walk away from my work place. Recently, my company has annoucned its re-entry plan and have decided on a hybrid work environment in order to "foster collaboration and increase productivity." My department was classified as a 'mostly-essential' department which means that we'd be required to be in the office 3 -4 days a week. I immediately emailed management requesting a near 100% transition to WFH, at least for me, and made the argument that my KPIs have more than doubled in 2020 vs. 2019. Working from home has allowed me the flexibility to not get burned out between meetings and as a result I booked more than 2x client meetings. In terms of collaboration, the main person on my team I collaborate with was relocated to San Franscisco, so I need to collaborate with him digitally anyway. Also, despite closing more deals this year, I only received a 3.5% pay increase, and a $1K bonus increase over 2019. My 2019 numbers were abysmal compared to my 2020 numbers, and in 2019 I received a 4.4% salary increase. So more productivity doesn't get me bigger pay raises I guess. Currently waiting to see what stupid bullshit they try to spin in order not to accommodate my request. My boss already told me that he'd support me WFH if it means I'll be able to keep up my current numbers. I'm thinking of telling management that I'm willing to overlook the slap-in-the-face pay increase if they'd accommodate permanent WFH for me / only need to go into the office as necessary.

Aeolun 5y ago
It is clear that these are your real numbers, so last year you obviously weren’t even trying. We’ll retroactively reduce last years raise to 1%. The difference will be held from next month’s salary. Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Also, your request is rejected. Someone clearly has to keep an eye on you to make sure you don’t slack off again.
- mgh2 5y ago
  I hardly see these sarcastic comments in HN, greatly appreciated! xD

dheera 5y ago

A often less-mentioned problem of remote work for many in my circle is that working out of your cramped San Francisco bedroom isn't always productive. Many need a dedicated, well-lit, and preferably sunlit office space at home to be truly productive and companies have not normalized giving out rent subsidies to people, even though the amount of rent subsidy necessary to have a dedicated office space at home would be much less than the equivalent square footage of commercial office space.

ryandrake 5y ago

Different stokes for different folks. To me, WFH purely means I avoid my crushing 2.5hr-each-way commute. If my employer built an office next to my house, I'd happily go to the office every day. Or even better, if my employer built an office in a cheaper cost-of-living area like the Nevada desert, I could move to a trailer there and happily go to the office every day. I'm not enamored with my home office. I don't really care as much about working from some room in my home as I care about not having to white-knuckle it down 3 interstate highways just to get to an office where I spend all my time having video conference meetings with remote teams anyway.

jakecopp 5y ago
May I ask how you came to live 2.5 hours away? Are you not able to move closer? Is rent too expensive closer?
- ryandrake 5y ago
  Living in any decent size single family home closer to work in the Bay Area is punishingly expensive. I'm not willing to downgrade the family's living conditions by moving to a vertical shoebox (townhome) or concrete honeycomb (apartment complex) in order to do it. The crushing commute is a trade-off, and I would jump at the opportunity to not have to make that trade-off.
conductr 5y ago
This sounds self inflicted and you should reevaluate your physical presence requirements but that was the case pre-WFH too

tailspin2019 5y ago

> Do I seem antisocial to you? No, you seem like a well balanced human being who knows what’s important in life. Your comment certainly resonated with me.

hyko 5y ago

Exactly, we should all have the freedom to choose how we work. Never really understood people managers who don’t get this. You hired the best, right? Listen to them! They are experts about what makes them happy and productive. I think the fear stems from the idea that people will try to be happy and not productive. To any managers out there: you have nothing to fear, just fire those people.

GordonS 5y ago

I'm only a 20 minute drive from my local office, so it wasn't a big deal for me either. And my boss isn't even in the same country, so I didn't have that kind of boss that makes sure you're sat at your desk and questions every moment away - I could come and go as I pleased, and as long as I got my work done and didn't take the piss, nobody would have a problem with me arriving late, leaving early, taking a few hours off for appointments etc. But when I started working almost full-time from home some years back (5-10, I forget exactly), it was a great move for me. My biggest issue with working in the office was they way we were made to work in the office - everything open plan, everyone fully exposed to the noise and bussle of everyone else. And there's always that one guy (OK, usually at least 3) who talk REALLY loudly all.the.time. And there's always that one guy who spends his whole day taking calls on a bluetooth headset, wandering around the office all.day.long, constantly in and out of your peripheral vision, or standing right behind you while he continues talking. So having a nice, quiet home office makes working so much better. Plus, I get to have breakfast with my family, and lunch with my wife/kid/kids depending on the day. I have to add though, that I have a decent sized house, with a dedicated home office, with a big desk, 2 monitors etc - I realise that not everyone has the space for that. I also realise that the social aspect was/is a huge deal for some people. I actually think the ultimate solution would be for companies to be fully remote, but with the option of working from co-working spaces whenever you want - I'm really curious to see if we have a co-working space boom coming up; they are non-existent around me.