Coronavirus in Massachusetts (Boston, Florida: working out, homes, dangerous)

[Bridge781]

4 months of remote work:‬

‪- $800 saved on transport ‬
‪- $360 saved gym subscription ‬
‪- 160 hours not wasted commuting‬
‪- $3,200 saved lunches, coffee, drinks‬
‪- 100% work projects completed on time‬
‪- 1000% more time friends, hobbies, family‬

‪Why would anyone want to go back to the office?‬

[porterhouse]

Originally Posted by Bridge781

‪Why would anyone want to go back to the office?‬

People may not want to go back but many will be compelled to. Perhaps their bosses will eventually demand it because they’re not nearly as productive as they think; with with spending 1000% more time with friends, families and hobbies, tallying up the benefits for WFH for them personally and spinning like a top on message boards?

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by Bridge781

‬

‪Why would anyone want to go back to the office?‬

Social interaction?

Most of my coworkers are back in office even if not required to be. When I ask why, they state they like seeing people.

[Bridge781]

Good for them. It seems like folks are here pro going back to the office and pro schools closing. Can’t say I really understand that one. Seems to be a lot of men here with wives that can stay home to deal with the kids ?

Like I said I’m riding the wfh home thing for as long as I can. My whole dept has been told they’ll be working remote through December and our financials were excellent. I put I my time 9 to 5 but have time in the morning, lunchtime and evening to do a lot more than I did before.

[Bridge781]

Originally Posted by porterhouse

People may not want to go back but many will be compelled to. Perhaps their bosses will eventually demand it because they’re not nearly as productive as they think; with with spending 1000% more time with friends, families and hobbies, tallying up the benefits for WFH for them personally and spinning like a top on message boards?

Perhaps that’s how life should be. People get tired of the work horse mentality making money for the CEOs.

[BostonMike7]

Originally Posted by Bridge781

Good for them. It seems like folks are here pro going back to the office and pro schools closing. Can’t say I really understand that one. Seems to be a lot of men here with wives that can stay home to deal with the kids ?

What’s hard to understand? A group of professional adults adhering to strict social distancing measures and good hygiene vs a class full of kids that cannot be expected to follow the same measures.


And don’t play the men leaving the kids home with wives card. If my kids are full remote, my work schedule will adjust to be home with them as well. My wife will need to work too. Full remote would be a total PITA for us.

[id77]

Originally Posted by porterhouse

People may not want to go back but many will be compelled to. Perhaps their bosses will eventually demand it because they’re not nearly as productive as they think; with with spending 1000% more time with friends, families and hobbies, tallying up the benefits for WFH for them personally and spinning like a top on message boards?

This too. Dunning-Kruger is also thriving in the new WFH force, who suddenly think they’re all 110% as productive. I also second Geoff’s comment that those of us who have done WFH for years now face challenges most office employees haven’t fully come to experience yet. Colleagues become IM handles and phone calls, and it’s 100x easier for the office guys to forget to include a remote worker in spontaneous idea conversations.

Anyone who had to teach/daycare their own children during all this AND thinks they’ve been anywhere approaching 100% as productive as they were pre-quarantine is either supremely delusional or didn’t have much production when they were in the office.

[robr2]

Originally Posted by BostonMike7

Social interaction?

Most of my coworkers are back in office even if not required to be. When I ask why, they state they like seeing people.

Add in learning/teaching new skills, hearing what is happening with other groups, ease of communications, mentoring, etc.

My wife and I were talking about is this morning. She misses being able to pop down to somebody's desk to show them how to do something or hearing from the folks in the next row of cubes in a different operational group talking about their next project. Now if someone needs training, it's done over a video call with limited ability to coach the person about the steps needed. If she has a question, she has to make a call, get their voice mail, wait for a callback, all the while hoping they can answer the question. Before she could simply look up and ask X if they knew and then move to Y if they didn't.

[charolastra00]

Originally Posted by Bridge781

4 months of remote work:‬

‪- $800 saved on transport ‬
‪- $360 saved gym subscription ‬
‪- 160 hours not wasted commuting‬
‪- $3,200 saved lunches, coffee, drinks‬
‪- 100% work projects completed on time‬
‪- 1000% more time friends, hobbies, family‬

‪Why would anyone want to go back to the office?‬

• 4 months of remote work.
• 8x the amount of time in meetings.
• Averaging >200 emails a day versus <50 in the "before" times
• Rather than a forced mental break on a commute, I have use those 2 hours a day + lunch + a few extra hours to get work done
• Working in a setup that hurts in my back cooped up in a bedroom
• No ability for spur of the moment collaboration - I work in creative and this is painful for all of us
• No outdoor time compared to when I work out of the home
• Significantly more work, significantly less time for hobbies
• No natural shut-down when the day ends so work emails continue late at night and on weekends and most of us are forced to do our actual work early in the morning/late at night due to the slog of previous frictionless collaboration and brainstorming in the office is now a *process*
• Dramatically reduced opportunities for socialization - I am alone almost all of the time
• I haven't had a real day completely "off" since February, including weekends.

Financially, it has largely been cheaper (except for my electricity bill more than doubling) but working from home is hell on my mental health and work-life balance.


Get me back in the office, at least part of the time. That won't happen until 2021.


If you're saving $3200 on lunch and coffee for 4 months of work, I literally cannot imagine. That's probably what my lunches and coffee cost me for the year.

[Taffee72]

Working from home has been a blessing for me.

Due to lack of stress from office politics, bullying supervisors/coworkers and noise pollution, my productivity and efficiency greatly increased in the past several months. So much so, that I recently received a raise and a bonus when my boss had stated earlier in a zoom meeting that no raises would be given out this year.

I asked the other day how long I could expect to wfh and my boss said indefinitely. I'm grateful for the flexibility.