[yco]

after most the people started to work from home i guess most of the sectors realized it is possible to work from home actually.. yes there re some sector cant do this obviously..

when you think all the time we spent before going out from home, commute etc. everyone realized how much time they have when you get rid of that part.. and its awesome.. im a creative in advertising sector and i was always complaining how much time we waste on meetings etc.. follow up meeting after a meeting, meetings meeting... now they re almost all gone and things are still quite ok actually..

quite a lot of trading going on based on working days like restaurants etc. i know those people are having really hard times.. im not sure they can survive only by delivering food home.. with their current setup..

i like human interaction, its a big part of human psychology.. but i guess after hopefully these days will be over, our "working life" can alter since we all saw it can work like this as well.. maybe pretty soon furnishing a part of home like an office ll be a normal thing in our lives.. what do you guys think?

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/12/n...from-home.html ..

[zx10guy]

It's more complicated than just seeing that operations could still continue with work at home. A couple of months doesn't mean the company has made a successful transition. As time goes on and when businesses get up and running at hopefully full operation, only then will companies that choose to adopt the work at home model will see if they've made the transition successfully.

In addition to the social aspect of being in the office for workers, there's also the collaboration aspect. While unified communications tools such as WebEx, Teams, etc does provide a vehicle for workers to collaborate in the virtual space, I feel it still doesn't replace being able to just get up and walk over to a colleague's desk to brain storm or discuss a project.

Then there's the security aspect. While many of the tools being used to conduct business in the virtual space have security mechanisms, it's not a substitute for a well thought out security plan that is executed properly. If anything going remote increases security challenges. Companies which have not put much effort into security are going to have a reckoning.

And then the employee has to be able to make the transition. Working remotely for a few weeks to a couple of months isn't enough time to say you've made the transition. For the vast majority of my working career, I did the report into the office/work place routine. I made the transition to working from home as my primary base of operations back in 2011. I'm the type of person that took to the shift well. But I soon fell into the trap. I thought I would save so much time now that I didn't have to waste 2+ hours everyday commuting. I could get work done quickly and be able to do other things around the house or to run errands. I was sorely mistaken. The trap I fell into was I actually worked more than when I commuted into the office. Set office hours disappeared as I slowly allowed people to contact me well past office hours for projects and such. I found myself working till 8 or 9 in the evening. Some times I was skipping lunches because I was busy working through things. I finally put my foot down when I had a major health crisis that refocused me to see what was important in life. I no longer worked well past normal business hours. The changes caused a rift between my manager and myself. He got used to me being available whenever and I wasn't going to do that anymore. He would have had reason to be upset had my productivity measured in how I was retiring my sales quota dropped. It didn't in fact I was still exceeding my quota numbers. Yet he wasn't satisfied as he wanted more out of me. That's going to be the trap for those transitioning to work at home. And the aforementioned doesn't take into account homes where there are young kids around or other distractions which make it a challenge to focus on work.

[ASAP]

It should and quickly become the norm for anyone that can... it would change society for the better. I can give 1000 reasons why including traffic reduction, more free time, pollution reduction, lower corporate overhead costs, decongestion of cities, a further move away fron cities into Suburbia, a decrease in commercial office space which makes more space available for residential housing etc etc.

Outside of the social aspect, we need to make this transition sooner than later... my company has been WFH for 2+ months now and I feel that nothing that I did before cannot be done now... which is what I've said for months already.... the office is really just a facade, the people that I work with have always been remote sales people.

[M_Six]

I could easily and happily WFH the majority of the time. The social brainstorming is missing for sure. I'd often walk into the office of our networking chief and throw a problem at him. Even though it wasn't always a network problem per se, he was very good at talking through the problem with me and we'd figure it out.

Wifey could also work from home, but she's sick of the same surroundings every day and misses her office and the social aspect.

I wouldn't mind a partial WFH setup where I'm in the office a couple days a week and home the rest.

[spazzyfry123]

For us personally, it hasn't really been a change. My wife has always worked from home, and I have always been home-based. What has changed, however, is the majority that didn't work from home before now have found that we all need twenty times more meetings. Some type of human interaction withdrawal...?

Short of production-type activities, I'm convinced our company is going to push for this globally and indefinitely. Our Atlanta office has multiple floors in a large building that were already mostly empty because people were slowly transitioning to a partial home / partial office schedule well before all this hit. With the added expense of these ten year leases, I really think there's plenty to benefit.

Echoing M_Six , I think it's currently difficult to do some things without a quick water cooler session. In the past when you needed a second set of eyes on something, you just walk over to Bob's office and have a quick two minute conversation. Now? Look at their online schedule. Schedule an online meeting. Make sure the software version is good. Crap, I forgot to enable Flash. Let me present my screen, let me know when you can see it. Bob saw what he was looking for, but the couple second delay now has you miles away from it and we need to spend another forty-five seconds finding it again.

I know currently the Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Skype, etc. are limited and creating new challenges. With a global demand for these vehicles that may be perpetual as far as we can see, I feel confident we'll see some significant improvements. Keep in mind we've really only been doing this for what? Two months maybe?

[tim99ws6]

I gave up my office spot about 7 years ago.

I do travel a few times a month to meet f2f with clients so I get that human interaction. That said, I wouldn't pick an office based job over the home-office job if both were presented to me now.

While I appreciate the interaction, and definitely agree you can let the hours get away from you when home, it's worth it for the home-life you get back you never knew you were missing. My ability to take my son to school, to be home when they get home from school, to generally be 'involved' because im in my home office is worth every second of it.

Just calculating the hours you spend in a car going to/from work on a yearly basis is mind-boggling, not to mention the $ saved in car maintenance, gas, work attire, lunches, etc. It's nuts.

I love my home office. It's what you make of it. For the person above about the wife annoyed with the same environment, I actually go find different places to work maybe once a week if I'm feeling the walls closing in. Be that a local coffee shop, a park, hell, I've been known to go to my detached shop and work from there on certain friday afternoons.....

[cmyx6go]

It has to do with productivity. I imagine companies that have been successful with the WFH will reassess their need for office space. I don't think they will do away with offices entirely but they can safely cut back on how much space they need. Why pay crazy rents if not necessary.

[Drop the hammer]

I’m hoping the work from home thing continues on. If permanent, I would buy a beach house somewhere with a good internet connection. I can’t believe how much money I’m saving not commuting. 600.00/month parking and 300-400 in fuel. Never mind the miles on the car/truck I’m saving and the occasional lunch/starbucks downtown. Although I seem to be diverting my Spare cash into mods for car, not having to drive it.

[cotmfk]

My company found that there was not much decline in productivity. Currently considering extending until January. Option for full-time telework being considered.

[JeffB-M3]

In certain ways I feel there is more productivity as a result of WFH: focus is a wonderful thing. But it does require intrinsic motivation as there is no "I hope my co-workers don't notice me watching cat videos" or whatever to shame you away from goofing off and motivate you to get work done. I'm in somewhat of an internal consulting role which I do find harder to achieve remotely. Previously, 40% of my work came from chance interactions by bumping into the right person at the right time or seeing a meeting happening that I probably should have been part of. Now, I have to be very intentional to create those chance interactions and it feels awkward. I find myself leading more activities and doing little consulting as everyone is happy to work within their own silo. Ultimately, I'm on the fence with it all. My role expectations will probably need to change a bit.

I will say...if I'm going to be remote working full time then I'm moving somewhere better...both location and house!

[1MOREMOD]

How is stripping gonna work now? Can I set up a casino at home?

[sethwas]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

What has changed, however, is the majority that didn't work from home before now have found that we all need twenty times more meetings.

this right here.

That or they now send an email, a workspace messaging message, a text, or social media alert, all about the same thing. (they say they do this to 'cut down' on emails, except it's still an electronic message, just stick to emails so it's all in once place. Over time they will learn that more meetings and messages is actually counter productive.)

Seth

[M_Six]

We've actually gone from 3 meetings a week to 1 in our group. I still have one-on-one video chats with profs or colleagues from time to time, but it's not constant. I do wish certain faculty members would learn to drop me a note asking if we can have a video chat rather than just call me out of the blue on Teams. But that's a minor annoyance.

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by M_Six

We've actually gone from 3 meetings a week to 1 in our group. I still have one-on-one video chats with profs or colleagues from time to time, but it's not constant. I do wish certain faculty members would learn to drop me a note asking if we can have a video chat rather than just call me out of the blue on Teams. But that's a minor annoyance.

I'm sure if you answer while taking a shit that would resolve the issue pretty quick.

[Rmtt]

My boss pushed "Cliq" on all of us months ago. I hate it. He knows I'm in and out of my office all day...and the environment I work in doesn't allow phones.

So if he needs me, just call or text me. I can't stand that app.

[infinitekidM2C]

Lots of issues with working at home depending on your state including: reimbursement of expenses (yep that internet you're using), workers' compensation (is your home office "safe"), security of your internet infrastructure, and productivity. I think certain states might actually need some new legislation to make it safe for the employer to do this en masse.

[BMW F22]

Well it definitely opens the door for wfh more now. Our company is not typically a wfh type although people do that on Fridays. Everyone usually says they value the in person interaction and didn’t think it was possible to still be productive wfh or remotely (I argued against it and lost). After this, nobody can say it’s not possible anymore. There are pros and cons as I am a social person so not being to converse with others in person or go out to restaurants and bars does affect my mental health a bit. Oh and travel!

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by infinitekidM2C

Lots of issues with working at home depending on your state including: reimbursement of expenses (yep that internet you're using), workers' compensation (is your home office "safe"), security of your internet infrastructure, and productivity. I think certain states might actually need some new legislation to make it safe for the employer to do this en masse.

Some good points. Security is definitely going to be an issue for some companies.

[TXSTYLE]

It's Fantastic overall! Been fortunate to do it for years.
Less stress and time commuting to and from work.
Less money spent on eating out.
More personal time.
Better way of Life all around.

[Mingwan]

people are going to love WFH as it becomes standardized for more businesses...until micromanagement wants them to download monitoring software to watch every click and keyboard stroke making the work environment at home more intrusive than the work environment from the office

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by tim99ws6

Just calculating the hours you spend in a car going to/from work on a yearly basis is mind-boggling, not to mention the $ saved in car maintenance, gas, work attire, lunches, etc. It's nuts.

My 20 minute commutes each way were the only time that I could shut my brain down, and provided a natural break between "work" and "home" mode.....

[infinitekidM2C]

Originally Posted by TXSTYLE

It's Fantastic overall! Been fortunate to do it for years.
Less stress and time commuting to and from work.
Less money spent on eating out.
More personal time.
Better way of Life all around.

Although i pointed out some issues, they are mainly just obstacles to be tackled. In the long run i dont see why a lot of workers cannot work from home. It's fairly wasteful/pointless to have people driving/commuting to work just to get there and work on a computer. Wastes time, energy, creates pollution, and creates stress, especially in a densely populated area.