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WSJ: Companies Start to Think Remote Work Isn’t So Great After All
- Thread starter spam musubi
- Start date
Let's just say my company uses the height of conferencing tech with Webex and without video cams and locks down only approved software
My life hasn't changed much working from home. I'm a controller (accounting). Workload is still stupid but all of my work is done on a PC anyways.
From personal experience of myself and colleagues in my team:
+you can do exactly what you were doing at the office
+you work in the comfort of your home which means you can work naked/in pajamas and have your family around you if any
+no commute times (if you worked at a client that could be hours)
+you can usually get away with more flexible hours (breaks in particular, if you're a quick eater you can take just 15min break instead of the allotted time, if you want to take a bit more you can finish working later)
-If connectivity to your office/clients is needed and not setup properly it can cause huge delays (poorly setup VPNs, additional layers of security) which in turn drops motivation and productivity
-Specifically during lockdown, but it still happens, colleagues will call you beyond office time because you're home anyways (less free time)
-No clear distinction between an office and home environment (like the aforementioned having family around and working naked) means you can end up working more hours than scheduled (boost in productivty but less free time)
-No direct contact with clients and colleagues means it takes a lot more time to get information and help through (even with share screen/remote access), this is especially true for people with crappy internet skills or when remote access is not allowed
-No direct contact also means that if someone wants to be unhelpful or lazy/dragging their feet there are a lot more ways to do that and mask it or justify it
-Some companies employ silly surveillance techniques that are counter-productive
I'm all for working from home, but there are clear downsides
+you can do exactly what you were doing at the office
+you work in the comfort of your home which means you can work naked/in pajamas and have your family around you if any
+no commute times (if you worked at a client that could be hours)
+you can usually get away with more flexible hours (breaks in particular, if you're a quick eater you can take just 15min break instead of the allotted time, if you want to take a bit more you can finish working later)
-If connectivity to your office/clients is needed and not setup properly it can cause huge delays (poorly setup VPNs, additional layers of security) which in turn drops motivation and productivity
-Specifically during lockdown, but it still happens, colleagues will call you beyond office time because you're home anyways (less free time)
-No clear distinction between an office and home environment (like the aforementioned having family around and working naked) means you can end up working more hours than scheduled (boost in productivty but less free time)
-No direct contact with clients and colleagues means it takes a lot more time to get information and help through (even with share screen/remote access), this is especially true for people with crappy internet skills or when remote access is not allowed
-No direct contact also means that if someone wants to be unhelpful or lazy/dragging their feet there are a lot more ways to do that and mask it or justify it
-Some companies employ silly surveillance techniques that are counter-productive
I'm all for working from home, but there are clear downsides
If productivity isn't reduced, and onboarding isn't compromised, then a company wouldn't have a financial incentive to force working in an office right?
I'm not sure why people think that companies would even want offices if WFH was just as productive. Wouldn't companies save ungodly amounts of money by not having big campuses?
I'm not sure why people think that companies would even want offices if WFH was just as productive. Wouldn't companies save ungodly amounts of money by not having big campuses?
According to the replies, it seems a number of companies that aren't having productivity issues are finding that offices aren't a necessity at all. The push back against WFH has always been a combination of the Accountability bogeyman and "this is how it's always been done" habits.
Plenty of businesses would be completely happy ditching the costs associated with office space (in the cases where it's not essential to the work) if they could. But I'm not convinced that productivity and onboarding issues are inherently caused by WFH as opposed to the isolation from Covid and subpar training programs that companies have been fine with using because they use their more experienced workers as unofficial on-the-job trainers.
I'm obviously excluding those who don't have the means, in that case the company should help provide the means or let people have the option to sit in an office space that provides them. But it doesn't have to be some people are unproductive therefore we have to cater to those people. Also obviously like others have said it greatly differs by industry but I think the flexibility is something everyone should strive for as best in class. Just the realities that meetings/companies are becoming more global in the people they work with and even the teams in the business.
Onus is on the company to provide the means to do it successfully where possible, but onus is also on the people to be able to function normally in any environment.
I'm working on actual product delivery projects now where (a minority) some are saying this is so much harder and they can't do it this way and stuff like this would make more sense in person. But here I and others are doing it just fine and it's working great. Those are kind of the personalities I think that need to figure it out. Again, obviously excluding industries/projects/etc. where literal hands-on collaboration is required.
It should be a balance of both, for sure. I'm currently 3 days at work, 2 days at home per week and I find the days from home are a bit slower due to server speeds but I can see my family a bit more and don't have to commute. That being said I really do think businesses should be able to easily make long term or permanent WFH an option to their staff in this day and age. Just do a better job of adapting.
I'm working in analytics for a luxury fashion retailer and a lot of the comments in the article resonate; there was definitely an initial upswing in productivity as there were many massive challenges which appeared in quick succession and the people working outside of the retail team definitely worked many crazy hours to accomplish quite a lot as circumstances changed, but things are definitely moving a little bit more slowly now and productivity has taken a bit of a hit (through a combination of being burnt out through that initial phase, and the remoteness of every team - the volume of meetings with them in particular has become crazy and it really slows things down). For people who've been hired during the period, I can only imagine it's very trying.
For the team I'm part of (analytics) there's only currently three people on the team, one of whom is leaving shortly, and we work across the business rather than mainly working with the people who shared the office with us so working remotely in many ways has not changed a huge amount for us outside of the slight dip in productivity outside of the initial upswing (and our team was pretty isolated from the other teams on the floor). I'm hoping the option to WFH permanently is rolled out as the option to travel to different cities and work from a variety of rented locations is one which some of my colleagues have started to take up and it seems like a real perk, but definitely as WFH goes on a lot more people have reported the feeling of being burnt out and wanting to go back to the office on a two days per week basis.
For the team I'm part of (analytics) there's only currently three people on the team, one of whom is leaving shortly, and we work across the business rather than mainly working with the people who shared the office with us so working remotely in many ways has not changed a huge amount for us outside of the slight dip in productivity outside of the initial upswing (and our team was pretty isolated from the other teams on the floor). I'm hoping the option to WFH permanently is rolled out as the option to travel to different cities and work from a variety of rented locations is one which some of my colleagues have started to take up and it seems like a real perk, but definitely as WFH goes on a lot more people have reported the feeling of being burnt out and wanting to go back to the office on a two days per week basis.
When I was in the office I would be handed paper folder to create loan docs and send them out. The folder would come back and I would close the loan. Now we are doing these closings 100% online working from home. Paper was much quicker but no way in hell they go back to paper folders even when we go back in the office.
I am at the point where I never want to set foot in my office again because there is no benefit at to going in when I can do the same exact thing from home.
I am at the point where I never want to set foot in my office again because there is no benefit at to going in when I can do the same exact thing from home.
hi from Ars Technica's 22nd year of operation as a predominately remote workplace. not everyone is in the same boat, of course, and building a foundation with remote work as a default has a significant impact. but... just sayin'.
My entire office is just as productive onsite as we are offsite.
We can do 100% of our jobs remotely and haven't had a problem training new employees or anyone else.
We can do 100% of our jobs remotely and haven't had a problem training new employees or anyone else.
I love it, but I don't think I would be as successful in my career if I had to WFH right after college.
But don't send me back now! I just need to have a great home office set up.
But don't send me back now! I just need to have a great home office set up.
Not to specifically pick on you, but I've seen these two sentiments a few times on this thread and I'm confused why these would be considered issues.
If someone calls me beyond office time, they are shit out of luck until tomorrow. Just because I'm home doesn't mean I'm available to someone.
I'm also perplexed how one can work more hours than scheduled unless you are either determined to or lose track of time. I am not a charity, so I don't work for free. If I work over hours, I expect to be compensated for that time in the form of extra money or leaving early, etc. My free time is important to me. If losing track of time is an issue, set an alarm on your phone to let you know when to clock off. Then clock off. :p
One thing that I feel hasn't been discussed enough is the mental health aspect of working from home.
I enjoyed working with for the first few weeks but then the days all seemed to blend together and it was hard to stay motivated. It was hard to keep a routine.
Eventually was fed up and wanted to go back to the office.If anything just for the social interaction with other people. ( I'm naturally an introvert and enjoy my own company so this surprised me).
I came back to the office in June, some colleagues couldn't due to distance / children and continued to Wfh (my work was cool with that). But with almost all of them, there was a change. Some seemed unmotivated/ more disorganised, while others just seemed .. depressed.
I don't know what that phenomenon is but that's been my experience.
I enjoyed working with for the first few weeks but then the days all seemed to blend together and it was hard to stay motivated. It was hard to keep a routine.
Eventually was fed up and wanted to go back to the office.If anything just for the social interaction with other people. ( I'm naturally an introvert and enjoy my own company so this surprised me).
I came back to the office in June, some colleagues couldn't due to distance / children and continued to Wfh (my work was cool with that). But with almost all of them, there was a change. Some seemed unmotivated/ more disorganised, while others just seemed .. depressed.
I don't know what that phenomenon is but that's been my experience.
A lot of places are accounting for people having to care for children while working. And then there are surely some employees who are fully ghosting.
At my company, we are about to unleash a slate of WFH jobs - the twist is that we reduced the salary to Gartner averages for the area and in turn we're giving those employees a $1500 starting bonus and a company-owned 4G laptop. Theres other changes coming down the pipeline when it comes to merit raises and yearly adjusted increases but my guess is that they will get the regular adjusted salary increase and they'll tamper down the merit-based increase if they get it at all. They also allowed regular employees to reapply for those positions or keep their position - and all that I know of thought it was an insult as it would be cutting many of their pay upwards of 30K
I can't tell if that's a shitty strategy and borderline an asshole exec move or if it's savvy in the current environment.
I can't tell if that's a shitty strategy and borderline an asshole exec move or if it's savvy in the current environment.
I agree, and I do the same as you, but most of my colleagues keep asking for questions in the team group or discuss changes/developments and so on, sometimes even up to 2 hours after we're supposed to be done working, so they clearly suffer from the second point and end up enabling the first point. I only answer phone calls from my CEO beyond working hours (and I probably could avoid doing so if I wanted to be picky), and 10mins after my working day is done I'm already playing videogames, but the vast majority of my colleagues seem to suffer from both. Not sure if you're IT-development-savvy, but a guy on my team even pushed some code to GIT at 2AM and we didn't even have any pressing deadlines (and that day he worked like 6 hours of overtime). This is Italy in a very worker-friendly company, I can't even imagine what's going on in Accenture or in more rough environments/contract situations
I started a new job in May and moved from Kansas City to Boston to ironically be remote for the foreseeable future. Even though the price of living is higher here, I don't regret it and wouldn't necessarily mind if I never have to physically be in an office 5 days a week. I feel like my team is still incredibly productive working remotely. That being said, I hope some of the regular means of doing business like in-person conferences return soon, as those as-hoc encounters and networking opportunities aren't easily replaced online.
As someone in tech there are certain things that are definitely easier to do in the office, and certain things that are much easier to do at home. For me an ideal office environment post-Covid would be 2-3days in the office and 2-3 days at home. I think there are huge upsides to WFH that help me execute certain tasks faster and others more slowly.
My quick list off the top of my head:
+ Way easier to focus at home, fewer distractions from coworkers
+ Meetings for some reason feel less aggressive. This might just be my team, but I feel there are a lot of tools for people to signal for attention that don't come across well in in-person meetings.
+ No commute means I can dedicate more time to work overall even with decreased total work footprint on my personal life
+ More flexible hours due to not having to be in the office for regular office hours.
+ I eat healthier since I'm not going out for lunch w/ my coworkers everyday
+ I wear pajamas all day erryday and nobody is gonna stop me. Maximum comfy mode all the time.
+ Easier to get errands done as I can go during a work day without having to commute back home first.
- Fewer emergent conversations, much harder to randomly brainstorm and come up with solutions on the fly. Easier to get left out of discussions relevant to your work.
- Planning is MUCH harder for my team we spend a lot more time on spreadsheets and cataloging work.
- Cross-team visibility is much lower. Work is much more silo'ed and it's hard for me to influence the direction project B while working on project A.
- Similar to the above, but it's way easier to feel isolated from the rest of the team, and not communicate.
- Quarantine beards, quarantine beards everywhere.
- Much easier to lose separation of personal time and work time. I have my dev box set up right next to my personal PC, and it's really easy for me to hop on to fix one small thing in the middle of the night, whereas I used to NEVER work outside of regular working hours.
My quick list off the top of my head:
+ Way easier to focus at home, fewer distractions from coworkers
+ Meetings for some reason feel less aggressive. This might just be my team, but I feel there are a lot of tools for people to signal for attention that don't come across well in in-person meetings.
+ No commute means I can dedicate more time to work overall even with decreased total work footprint on my personal life
+ More flexible hours due to not having to be in the office for regular office hours.
+ I eat healthier since I'm not going out for lunch w/ my coworkers everyday
+ I wear pajamas all day erryday and nobody is gonna stop me. Maximum comfy mode all the time.
+ Easier to get errands done as I can go during a work day without having to commute back home first.
- Fewer emergent conversations, much harder to randomly brainstorm and come up with solutions on the fly. Easier to get left out of discussions relevant to your work.
- Planning is MUCH harder for my team we spend a lot more time on spreadsheets and cataloging work.
- Cross-team visibility is much lower. Work is much more silo'ed and it's hard for me to influence the direction project B while working on project A.
- Similar to the above, but it's way easier to feel isolated from the rest of the team, and not communicate.
- Quarantine beards, quarantine beards everywhere.
- Much easier to lose separation of personal time and work time. I have my dev box set up right next to my personal PC, and it's really easy for me to hop on to fix one small thing in the middle of the night, whereas I used to NEVER work outside of regular working hours.
I can't imagine only WFH 2 days a week than again I don't see any reason to go back into the office full time ever. I'd rather WFH most days.
I think it particularly makes sense when it comes to newer employees. Best solution when possible, imo, would be a hybrid setup. Get enough meeting time, training time in, but don't be there so much that it turns into an office grind.
Companies Start to Think Remote Work Isn’t So Great After All
Projects take longer. Collaboration is harder. And training new workers is a struggle. “This is not going to be sustainable.”www.wsj.com
This reflects my experience as well. People have adapted to work, but productivity is down quite a bit. More junior employees, people who are shier/neurodivergent/introverted/who require more direction and feedback never get a chance to speak up and/or learn. It really benefits people who are already more outgoing and willing to speak over others or people who already hold positions of seniority. No one really asks casual questions and learns stuff through osmosis. Brainstorming and getting feedback on ideas is much harder. Perhaps for lone wolf workers this is a no-difference or even an improvement, but a lot of people who depend on others have been struggling. Teams are becoming more distanced and people aren't as aware of what each other are doing. People are getting much more fatigued in meetings and it's much harder to communicate. I know some view this work from home situation as a boon overall, and it should definitely be available as an option going forward, for many it has been quite challenging. Let alone the people with kids at home that they have to take care of.
Of course, people should absolutely be given the option to work in the environment they prefer once this is all over.
Just to be super crystal clear, no one should be asked to go back to the office before it is 100% safe. This thread isn't about that. That's not even up for debate. It's about how it's been challenging to adapt to these new conditions.
I feel that some are going to paint this as "managers want to lord over their employees" but it's much more than that, individual contributors are struggling as well
Depending on what exactly your job is, of course.
