Post by Velar Fricative on Oct 9, 2019 11:55:38 GMT -5
I can WFH, though not 100%. But almost all of my staff are remote even while I'm at my office, and I really love the flexibility my position affords. But, I had to work my way up to this in my career, and customer-facing staff aren't able to WFH.
Which is one of the "problems" I'd like to see resolved with improved solutions - people who make less money are overall less likely to be able to WFH at all. I know there are lots of exceptions, but overall it's true. Yet many of those lower-wage workers are stuck living in HCOL cities because of job opportunities. So this doesn't resolve the issue of affordable housing at all. Those making big-city salaries can pretty much afford to be anywhere because their jobs are more likely jobs that can be done remotely at least part-time.
Also, if this trend does continue, and I believe it will, I'm so curious about how it will affect populations in these HCOL metro cities like NYC, SF, DC, etc. Why pack yourself like a sardine in a crumbling NYC subway system to commute to work when you can WFH a few hours away or more? Obviously, a lot of people live in these cities for many other reasons beyond employment, but we're already seeing Sun Belt growth and that will probably continue.
Having said that, I also wonder what this means for mass transit improvements. There's already a lack of an appetite in most places to improve existing infrastructure or add transit, but now if fewer people will need and use mass transit, that can't be a positive development for spending boatloads of money on improvements or additions.
I was a home based employee for almost 15 years. While I loved it, I think I forgot what I was missing having office co-workers. Now I feel like I have a good situation. I can work from home 1-2 days a week and I'm in the office the other days. You miss a lot of office gossip/info when you aren't interacting face to face.
Post by fortnightlily on Oct 9, 2019 12:02:21 GMT -5
I wouldn't want to do it all the time, but I do it once a week and it's great to have the flexibility and to get a break from a long commute. I'm glad it's becoming more normalized. My boss is great, but I've definitely encountered other managers who assume that employees who aren't under their watchful eye will slack off.
I would also want the best of both worlds. There are parts of my job that must be done at work. And I like being around my colleagues and students.
But I would love the flexibility to be able to make the call if WFH would be better during certain days.
When I have WFH I have been a million times more productive because i am not getting interrupted. I have a ton of foot traffic in my office, and a lot of of it is unnecessary. On the days I WFH people have to, gasp, figure shit out on their own. And they do it because they already have access to all the resources. I am just the easiest resource.
Post by wanderingback on Oct 9, 2019 12:18:45 GMT -5
What a coincidence, as today I'm working from home! During residency I was resistant to put my hospital's electronic medical record system on my laptop as I didn't want to feel like I was doing charts at home all the time, but it has really become such a wonderful thing to not have to be in the office/hospital to finish up work.
As a doctor I never thought about working from home, but now I'm so glad that I have that option. Since I work in academics we have "admin" time built in to our schedule to help us get caught up on paperwork, work on projects, do research, etc. I love that I have the best of both worlds of needing to go see patients and the option to work from home to get certain projects done. I just got off a conference call and I'm so glad I didn't have to trek in to the office.
I did just last night though take my email tab on my phone's main screen and hide it in a folder so it wouldn't always be staring at me tempted to check it. I've implemented a new rule of no checking email after 8pm and not checking it before I get in to my office/start purposely working at home. I definitely don't consider myself a work-a-holic, but it's so easy to let work creep slowly in to your life by checking your email here and there and thinking sending a quick reply is no big deal...next thing you know you're up doing work late and thinking about work late for no reason at all.
Post by StrawberryBlondie on Oct 9, 2019 12:23:50 GMT -5
I can work from home but not full time. I have a standard "schedule" but it's flexible, and I can add other days if needed for weather, @ stuff, having to be home for the plumber to come, when you don't feel great, etc.
I think it's a good mix. I like being in my office, but being able to be home regularly really helps with getting some small home things done too. I had to be in the office for an entire month a year ago and my laundry didn't get done, my weekends we're filled with errands, and life generally sucked.
ETA: This past winter when we had about 2 weeks straight of blizzards and -30 weather, I don't think I went into the office once.
I work from home once a week, but I work at a hospital and my 4 employees work directly with patients, so me working remotely more often doesn't make a lot of sense. In fact, I just moved from Brooklyn to Manhattan so I could walk to work vs taking the subway.
I have access to the systems I need from home, but in all honestly my tiny laptop screen is quite the downgrade from my two large screens in my office. Plus I have a lot of MDs and PhDs who like to call me on a whim vs. scheduling a phone call, so it's a good resource for them if I'm at the office. (I help them get patient samples we have banked or set up clinical trial sample collections... I'm like the guy from office space who deals with the customers because I don't actually process the samples or go into the freezers to get them, I just tell our lab what to do. And my employees are the ones asking patients if they consent to getting extra samples taken for research.)
So my specific role is better served in the office, which I don't mind. I prefer face to face meetings whenever possible. This is probably because I live alone and don't have a significant other to talk to after work. 😂
What a coincidence, as today I'm working from home! During residency I was resistant to put my hospital's electronic medical record system on my laptop as I didn't want to feel like I was doing charts at home all the time, but it has really become such a wonderful thing to not have to be in the office/hospital to finish up work.
As a doctor I never thought about working from home, but now I'm so glad that I have that option. Since I work in academics we have "admin" time built in to our schedule to help us get caught up on paperwork, work on projects, do research, etc. I love that I have the best of both worlds of needing to go see patients and the option to work from home to get certain projects done. I just got off a conference call and I'm so glad I didn't have to trek in to the office.
I did just last night though take my email tab on my phone's main screen and hide it in a folder so it wouldn't always be staring at me tempted to check it. I've implemented a new rule of no checking email after 8pm and not checking it before I get in to my office/start purposely working at home. I definitely don't consider myself a work-a-holic, but it's so easy to let work creep slowly in to your life by checking your email here and there and thinking sending a quick reply is no big deal...next thing you know you're up doing work late and thinking about work late for no reason at all.
I've been scolded by doctors for emailing them late at night, but I usually do it to make up for traveling during the work day or something. I think one of them in particular thinks I'm just a crazy workaholic. She told me to go watch tv.
I am another person who would like a mixture of WFH and traditional office based work. I would appreciate the flexibilty of WFH and I knwo I do concentrate better when no one is around. But I also enjoy bouncing ideas of my colleagues over a cup of coffee and know that is a valuable part of my work.
I have a lot of thoughts, but I am 100% remote and currently working from a different state than usual this week, to help deal with my dad's medical emergency. My coworkers know what's going on and that I need some additional flexibility for a few days (ie., responses may be delayed), but generally I have been able to keep up. I have literally been working off the hospital Wi-Fi in the ER at times, because there is so much waiting and he is sleeping a lot.
So yeah. Very grateful to be working from "home"/wherever right now.
I'm leaving my current job next Friday to start one where I set my own schedule and work from home once a week and I cannot wait! My current job has required work hours of 8am-5pm but I work till 7:30 most nights and some weekend hours with no comp time. That alone was enough to make me look for a new job.
I can work from home when needed, but I am a resource for people here so they like it better when they can walk up and distract me whenever they want, ha.
Plus, no one else really works from home so I don't want people to think I am taking advantage. I have quite a long commute and a bad back, so working from home is my favorite.
I WFH full time and I love it. I worked in our main office in Boston for 3 years before moving and going remote. I am only about 90 min (without traffic) from the office so I have the flexibility to pop up as needed for meetings or just to spend time with my team. Having also spent a few years working in the office I also had the chance to build my relationships in person before moving. It's been 4 years and I can't see ever going back. It provides so much flexibility with not having a commute, I am able to do things like laundry and grocery shopping during lunch which frees up my weekend time, I am home for deliveries etc. My DH also works from home and it works great for us and our family. I think if I was younger or right out of school I would want an office setting to start my career however.
I also in general find my days SO much more productive. I video in to all my meetings but otherwise if people need me they use slack and I can finish what I am working on before responding which you can't do when someone is standing at your desk. I also am very strict about my time - I log in at 9 and log off at 4:45, I have 5-6 blocked on my calendar daily. I don't answer my phone off hours. If I do find myself ever working in the evening I also set my emails to send early the next day and not in the evening. I was concerned at first about moving up while being remote but I have been promoted 2x and am expecting another promotion in the next 6 months so that proved to not be an issue in my role.
My perfect job would be 4 days remote, 1 day in the office. Right now, I’m 100% in the office with WFH as needed. I am hoping to get a set WFH day in the future. I commute a total of 2.5 to 3 hours a day and it’s killer.
The article mentions that a “con” of remote work is the blur of the 9-5 job into all hours. I would argue that with technology (e-mail/text/cell phones), that those boundaries have been gone for a long time for most workers.
H has WFH for the past 4 or so years (100% with travel). It has been great for us. I don’t work now, but he really kept the house going for us when I was working. He would take calls and fold laundry, empty the dishwasher, etc.
He isn’t looking now, but if he were to look for another job, he’d want the same type of gig. He used to get frustrated by the “seat time” expectations. We also live about an hour (more with traffic) from the closest tech hub (he’s in tech sales). So the rise in WFH normalcy has been really good for his career. We live in NH but he’s worked for companies based out of AZ, CA, and MI. Some have local-ish offices, but some (including his current job) don’t. The ability to work for companies where he values the product/service, even though we don’t live close by, is something he really enjoys and is grateful for. Plus, we don’t have to move from a place we enjoy.
Post by goldengirlz on Oct 9, 2019 13:00:37 GMT -5
I don’t mind checking email late at night or early in the morning because I can justify the little breaks I take throughout the workday. My company gets its hours from me and I feel like I have good balance.
As far as what this will mean for cities ... it could mean more wealth inequality where you only have the people who can afford to live in VHCOL and those who don’t have the luxury of choice. That’s already happening here in the Bay Area, especially on my side of the bay; the middle class is being hollowed out.
But I also love cities for how wonderfully dynamic they are. No city comes close to NY in terms of vibrancy and I think there will always be people who move there with dreams in their heads for the lifestyle that’s so much more than the daily grind of commuting and working. I feel similarly about CA’s cities and whenever I think about moving somewhere more coastal/rural, I get sad to think about being so isolated. Not to mention that it’s much worse for the environment and (at least here) fire management.
I was a classroom teacher so not a WFH job 🤣 but my H works from home about twice a week. He could do another day every so often if he needed to.
It has been a real game changer for us in terms of managing things, having an adult be home when needed, etc. He also appreciates the flexibility of it and not having to commute every day.
I’ve worked remotely off and on over the years (same company) and it took me a while to realize it really triggers my depression. I’m a social introvert so being around people helps me feel connected. Now I work one day a week from home. Ideally I’d like to have two days a week at home but I’m not complaining. It makes things like doctors appointments so much easier. Unfortunately our current client is really not a fan of teleworking so we aren’t allowed to do it more than once a week or from a location other than our local residence.
ETA: My H is three months into a 100% WFH job and he loves it. His previous job allowed for quite a bit of location flexibility as well. That’s pretty common in his industry. He has local friends (married couple) that both have remote support jobs and are considering moving because of the choice that affords them. I find that to be so overwhelming that I’d probably stay put if we were in the same situation. After the huge recession of 2008 I’m constantly worried about things like networking and local career viability too. That matters way more for me than for him.
This makes me think of the beginning of a podcast I was listening to this morning that talked about how socializing is really important to our happiness. Without coming to an office every day, there are a lot of acquaintances I wouldn't interact with. I would definitely need to fill that void somehow. I used to think I would really love WFH but when I think about it, I have a decent commute and casual office so it's not that bad to be here.
I do get annoyed at my particular job situation and the expectation to be in the office in case something comes up, or to show face, when in fact I have very little to actually get done. I'd definitely prefer more flexibility in that sense and think maybe at some point we can veer more as a society into non-traditional hours, but that's also scary because I can see it blurring the line between work and personal time too much.
Post by mrsukyankee on Oct 9, 2019 13:13:37 GMT -5
My H works at home once a week and he has a ton of staff that work from home usually 1-2x a week (some because they live in another part of the country or even another country during the long weekend). He doesn't like doing it more than once a week as he finds he prefers having some connections with his staff and others he works with.
I work remotely 100% of the time and I love it. I will never go back to the office if I can help it. I do have a lot of casual conversations on IM and on the phone with my coworkers so I think we still socialize a lot, it's just virtually.
I think one reason I love it is that I start at 5:00am, so I'm done by 1:30. I have my entire afternoon free to get out, do stuff, see people. It's honestly made me so happy and relaxed.
Post by Velar Fricative on Oct 9, 2019 13:21:47 GMT -5
Re: the socialization aspect. This is why I would likely never move to a LCOL even if DH and I suddenly got 100% WFH jobs (he's a teacher, so that'll never happen for him). Like, we'd be working with people who don't know and probably have never met and we'd be away from our families and friends. So then we'd be truly lonely even though I think we both make friends fairly easily. But just the thought of starting all over again would be exhausting. If we just moved and still worked at offices/schools, then at least we'd have people at work to socialize with even if they don't become BFFs.
This is also why I'd jump at a 100% WFH opportunity if I stuck with the same employer because I already know a lot of people here, so I know they're easygoing people I can gchat with or call when I need socialization.
But then when you think about it from a business perspective, why invest in property if many or all of your staff are going to WFH at least part of the time? Though obviously, a solution for that is to buy/rent smaller spaces and make them flexible, or if people will report in just for meetings, rent meeting spaces from elsewhere (some can even be free, like spaces in libraries, etc.).
As far as what this will mean for cities ... it could mean more wealth inequality where you only have the people who can afford to live in VHCOL and those who don’t have the luxury of choice. That’s already happening here in the Bay Area, especially on my side of the bay; the middle class is being hollowed out.
And those traditional middle-class jobs are in industries like education, law enforcement, medicine, etc. Not exactly all jobs that can be done remotely.
I'm a professor. I teach about 50/50 face-to-face and online, so I WFH with my online classes a fair amount. I found that it was taking over my life--my students began to expect me to respond immediately when they emailed me at night and my husband was resentful that I was doing work at home at night. We had an internet failure last year due to severe weather that resulted in no internet in most of my area for about a month and a half and no internet at my house for four months (with the exception of cellular data that was restored after two weeks). I was still teaching my online classes because it was the middle of the semester but I couldn't from home. I had to set parameters for my interactions and be purposeful in when I could interact with students and complete tasks. Since then, I have been careful to not let my online courses take over--I let the students know that I won't respond after a certain time (and I make sure to stick to it so that they don't expect it--which was what was happening before). I truly could do that 50% of my job in area (and have when I go on travel).
Post by penguingrrl on Oct 9, 2019 13:37:21 GMT -5
H loves when he gets to WFH. His team lead is inexplicably anti letting people WFH as a regular thing (weird since he’s a millennial) and it’s driving H nuts (almost to the point of looking to move teams within his company over it). His office is over an hour from home and open concept, so his days are long and the open concept office makes working very stressful and inefficient.
This fall he’s been WFH once a week and gets more done that day than the other 4 because he isn’t dealing with nonstop distractions from having hundreds of people in one room and not even so much as cubicle walls. And knowing he’s commuting one less day a week has done wonders for his mental health.
Obviously not all positions lend themselves to it. I can’t WFH at all as a museum educator since my job is 100% customer/student facing. My sister is training to be a surgeon and her WFH capability will be very limited in general. But for those for whom it’s an option it baffles me when employers don’t allow it at least part time.
This makes me think of the beginning of a podcast I was listening to this morning that talked about how socializing is really important to our happiness. Without coming to an office every day, there are a lot of acquaintances I wouldn't interact with. I would definitely need to fill that void somehow. I used to think I would really love WFH but when I think about it, I have a decent commute and casual office so it's not that bad to be here.
To piggyback off the socialization aspect you (and others) mentioned, one thing I wonder about as people move to more WFH (and online education as well) is the decline of basic social skills. I hate to sound like an old, but I think we're well on our way to a population who has a serious lack of some of the soft skills previously taken for granted. Inability to interact face-to-face, to get along with others, heck, to make simple phone calls...the isolation that WFH provides concerns me.
I guess I did it the wrong way--I WFT in a HCOL city. But it's still awesome. I don't have to commute, so I avoid traffic, and I still get all the benefits of a big city. I have no interest in moving out of the city, even though housing prices here are crazy.
I was just talking to a co-worker who has a friend at Google who negotiated WFH AND setting his own hours for certain times of the week. I would love that.
I can certainly be on-site at specified times, but other times...working 9-5 just doesn't isn't ideal. It's not even the distractions in the office that would make wfh more ideal. It's getting things done during the day that can't be done at night, dealing with a long commute that wouldn't be as long at other times of the day, etc etc.
I think for companies to keep up and keep recruiting the best talent, they need to be a lot more flexible in this regard.
I keep hearing that our agency may actually b rolling back some work at home opportunities. Some offices do as many as four days/week from home.
I work two days/week at home, and I absolutely love it. I would like to get to three days a week, and come in for two. I think that would be the perfect mix for me.