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I would take an office over wfh. I’m not a robot, I do more than just processing assigned tasks all day. Most of the value I create comes from being in meetings or impromptu chats and brainstorming ideas, most of which happens with a whiteboard or across a table.
I’m always behind on my inbox and I’m hard to reach via chat, but anyone can walk into my office at any time of the day and as long as I’m not on a call (which isn’t too often), my entire attention is theirs. And if I need something, I walk down the hall and ask for it in person. It’s one of the reasons behind my success in my career.
Work from home occasionally? Sure. But frequently- not in my field, at least if you ever want to get promoted or to be successful.
Offices are anachronistic and pointless for most "knowledge workers", thanks to technology.
They are also thus wasteful, demoralizing, and generally unnecessary. Ask yourself this question "What are people doing here that they cannot do from a remote or home office?"
If you can't think of something that requires physical presence or proximity then you've made a perfect case against offices.
I do prefer the office environment because I'm more focused and it's easier to get to the files I need fast. However, I like when a company is flexible for the rare occasion I need to wfh.
But you're stuck with the same people and forced to interact with them everyday.
At least if I work at home, I have the freedom to choose who I want to interact with.
Most people aren't misanthropes or agoraphobes... why act like one?
One of the best ways to get a good job is to noticed by someone who makes the decisions.
If you aren't out in the world they'll never see you.
Coworkers are people who can potentially try to get me fired. Much of my day is spent smiling and trying to maintain cordial relations with the people I work with solely to minimize the chances of getting fired. With a job, at the end of the day, all I'm concerned with is staying employed.
When you work from home, what matters is the work product. The only thing you have to worry about is getting the job done right and efficiently, not whether the guy sitting next to you will take a disliking to you and try to get you fired.
As far as the social aspect of working in an office goes, I enjoy socializing with people who I genuinely care about and enjoy being around and who feel the same way about me (family members and friends), not making awkward, forced small talk with people I barely know who wear a fake smile (coworkers). The pressure to schmooze with people at work is distracting and takes away from focus on the job itself.
I figure that as more baby boomer executives retire and are replaced by people who have grown up with the Internet, working from home will become much more popular. Think of all of the money companies could save on rent, utilities, maintenance, etc. by having their workers 100% remote.
I've worked in typical on site workplaces from retail to standard office type locations. By far the only time I ever enjoyed going into work was in retail. And that was probably because the majority of my interactions were with customers and I got to stay on my feet (I have ADHD so I do much better with combining my mental/physical activities together vs trying to dedicate attention to one over the other).
I work at home now and probably won't ever go back. I get to interact enough with people through my work communications and I work with my husband at home so it makes it easier to feel the social aspect most people desire from work. But besides that, you couldn't pay me to commute every day no matter how short the commute. Plus it's saving us (our clients and us) money in the long run as we can live in more affordable areas, don't have to have to spend money on commutes, and we don't have to pay for child care once we have our children. Plus the reduced stress from constantly having to worry about appearances, keeping up with office politics, and just dealing with office drama is nice since we can concentrate on our work and just keep it at that. No waste on office parties and pointless social events to "keep morale" or fights on why allowing office pets is dangerous for the employees severely allergic to pet dandruff.
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