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I for as long as I could remember never thought I would like working from home. Before March 2020 I would do it every now and then if the weather was horrible or if I had contractors working, but like others have expressed I liked the separation of work and home. Then March 2020 hit and I have been remote since. During that time I took a new job where my home office is 2000 miles away so unless I physically move, I am remote except for the once per year call to the mothership. I would actually like to be in the office once or twice a week to get mail, catch up with colleagues in person, etc., but I found in my time working remote I don't mind in nearly as much as I thought I would. I also like being home for the dog - we got him three years before the pandemic, so we were managing before that, but it sure is easier being home. It also varies a lot depending on what your commute to the office would be. In March 2020 my commute was about 45-60 min each way depending on traffic, so working from home is a huge benefit recouping that time each day. But my job before that I lived only 6 miles away and the commute was negligible. To me, that's a HUGE difference in the benefit of work from home.
I worked full time remotely for almost 11 years and I loved it (department was eliminated).
Now I work full time in-house, and even a hybrid situation is not an option (I have a long commute so I checked). There are advantages to being where I am now so I deal with the down side, since as with all things it's a trade-off.
I am currently one of those who works full time from home.
About 12-13 years ago, I had a full time job, but ALSO worked from home after hours for another company doing consulting work. I did this for about 5 years. So I never had a problem with that, but at the same time, I still had my day job going into the office.
Last November, I left an organization I'd been with for 10 years, and came to work for a company working entirely from home. It's been a tough transition. I find they are getting more work out of me than I otherwise would, simply because my home is also my office, and I'm hyper-sensitive about being really honest on the hours I spend and account for.
I love the fact that I'm not paying those insane fuel prices. The company (supposedly) saves money by not having me at the office, and they pass that along back to me in the form of a higher pay. j
I love the company I work for, but I would definitely prefer to have a hybrid situation in which I can go back to an office. That said... I can essentially work anywhere in the world, but I'm staying where I am to provide stability for my daughter until she's out of high school.
Then... I'm moving to a small town and renovating an 1850s Craftsman-style mansion ... you know, with a two story library that has a fireplace and one of those cool sliding ladders and a balcony. Plus the dual sweeping staircases in the large foyer, with a complete wrap-around front porch.
Our unit of 40 or so people -- in a company of about 5,000 -- went permanently remote, officially, a couple of months ago after being at home the previous two years. There are a lot of pluses, but I do miss some aspects of the office environment and likely will retire earlier than I had anticipated. Our company is struggling with the form and function of what a hybrid set-up looks like.
Then... I'm moving to a small town and renovating an 1850s Craftsman-style mansion ... you know, with a two story library that has a fireplace and one of those cool sliding ladders and a balcony. Plus the dual sweeping staircases in the large foyer, with a complete wrap-around front porch.
Some cars have a bumper sticker that reads that the other car is a _____ (fill in the blank with something faster and sportier). I'd like to get a sticker for my home/office chair that reads that my other chair is a dark brown, high back leather reading chair with a cashmere throw.
I can SO relate to the library, the ladder, the fireplace visual. Pure Heaven.
My daughter just got a new job, and one of the interview questions was if she would be willing to relocate to the city where her company is headquartered. She still can work from home two days a week, but they want people in the office to interact with one another, since they work in teams, and they have regular in-person meetings.
There are people who were hired during COVID and have been working full-time remotely, and now they are being called to move to the headquarter city, which was the understanding when they were hired.
Some cars have a bumper sticker that reads that the other car is a _____ (fill in the blank with something faster and sportier). I'd like to get a sticker for my home/office chair that reads that my other chair is a dark brown, high back leather reading chair with a cashmere throw.
I can SO relate to the library, the ladder, the fireplace visual. Pure Heaven.
I totally agree! When my daughter is off at MIT, I'm going to pick up one of those old houses up north and fix it up. I'm absolutely going to have one of those libraries.
In my line of work (education), WFH has resulted in an implosion of standards and accountabiliy. Students across the board just gave up. There are some that like online, but for your below-median students, they put in minimal effort and just get a grade. A lot, and I mean A LOT, of teachers just used covid as an excuse to give up. They were so demoralized across the board, so many phoned it in. A lot of these people have resigned in the last 3 years. It's part of the reason we have a shortage.
So how will these people perform in a remote office environment? They have been acculturated for minimal accountability. WFH worked okay for people who were already well-established and competent at their jobs. But for new people I can see it being a disaster. No supervision, no accountability? What's going to happen when this problem trickles up to the workforce? I can't imagine this will work well.
2) Socialization.
Again, WFH works well for people already established. My best successes at work have come from relationship-building. That took years of in-person interaction to build.
What if you're new, not established yet? How will you ever prove yourself and ever make an impression? Also, how will you ever socialize? The world is already balkanized enough socially. Humans are not evolutionary optimized to work in perpetually isolated pods. At the end of the day, we are similar to primates which are social animals.
I think that we are re-thinking the 5 day a week, 8 hour workday. That was based on the industrial era. However, can we operate indefinitely in isolated pods? I don't think so.
There's been continual debate and discussion over working from home versus at the office since the pandemic began. What is your preference if your job would allow an option? Would you rather have a hybrid situation where you do a little of both? Do you think the world will ever go back to working in offices full time the way it used to be?
Hybrid sounds ideal, but if it were to be 100% either way, I'd rather go into the office all the time. Remote work jobs are easily replaceable and can be outsourced easily to any part of the world. Going into the office, the job is a bit safer from that. Companies want to put their building occupancy to use, not to sit empty 24/7.
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