Working From Home

[Habbaku]

This morning I opened the door to the postman still in my PJs. The time was 7:45, about the same time I used to roll into the office parking lot following a 40 minutes drive, now it was 15 minutes before my wake-up alarm would go off.

  I rolled out of bed at 8:51, a full hour after I'd have to normally wake up, then drive 25-40 minutes to get to the office at 9, then turn around and drive 25-50 back, day after day.

Never again. 

[crazy canuck]

Presumably you walk around your office and talk to people in person rather than staring at a screen all day?

Not if I have work to do.

Most of what my work entails is walking around the office, talking to people about what they need to do, how they need to do it, and answering their questions.

For the people who view work as working in solitude and just staring at a screen,  I can understand why work from home works for them.


As I've said repeatedly, I think the cross-section of people we have here at languish are the latter and not the former and that is why there are so many people here who support work from home. The reality though is that for the vast majority of the workforce that is not how it's done.

[Grey Fox]

I rolled out of bed at 5h45, did 40 minutes of weight lifting & stretching & was ready to go by 6h45.

You're all lazy bums.

[Iormlund]

As I've said repeatedly, I think the cross-section of people we have here at languish are the latter and not the former and that is why there are so many people here who support work from home. The reality though is that for the vast majority of the workforce that is not how it's done.

There's also a reactionary element at play here. Even our colleagues who could work from home are in the office again. They don't need to (and we have data from the pandemic to prove it), but the general manager (and others) are firmly against WFH.


My job requires me to spend many hours at the shop floor. However, I have enough meetings, conference calls and other desk work that I could easily spend a couple days at home every week. Or a couple hours each workday. But its verboten.
They say I need to be ready to assist if something happens ... which is silly, since we work 3 shifts. And I'm certainly not on call at 3 AM. That's why we have a Maintenance department.
I actually like going to the office and socializing, so some kind of hybrid setup would be great for me (and much less likely for me to jump ship).

[crazy canuck]

I have no problem with more flexible hybrid models.  But I would not employ someone who refused to come to the office at all.

[Tamas]

Presumably you walk around your office and talk to people in person rather than staring at a screen all day?

Not if I have work to do.

Most of what my work entails is walking around the office, talking to people about what they need to do, how they need to do it, and answering their questions.

For the people who view work as working in solitude and just staring at a screen,  I can understand why work from home works for them.


As I've said repeatedly, I think the cross-section of people we have here at languish are the latter and not the former and that is why there are so many people here who support work from home. The reality though is that for the vast majority of the workforce that is not how it's done.

I manage projects. I literally do nothing else than talk to people (and create documentation based on what they say), answer their question, and make sure conversation between others happen. It IS possible to do that remotely efficiently. Yes there are situations which would work better in person, but so are situations that work better online. And company surveys always have work-life balance scored very highly (only thing that is, really).

I am not saying every and all working places would work WFH, but so what? But I do think almost all white collar ones would.

[Maladict]

I rolled out of bed at 5h45, did 40 minutes of weight lifting & stretching & was ready to go by 6h45.

You're all lazy bums.

Morning people are weird.

[crazy canuck]

Presumably you walk around your office and talk to people in person rather than staring at a screen all day?

Not if I have work to do.

Most of what my work entails is walking around the office, talking to people about what they need to do, how they need to do it, and answering their questions.

For the people who view work as working in solitude and just staring at a screen,  I can understand why work from home works for them.


As I've said repeatedly, I think the cross-section of people we have here at languish are the latter and not the former and that is why there are so many people here who support work from home. The reality though is that for the vast majority of the workforce that is not how it's done.

I manage projects. I literally do nothing else than talk to people (and create documentation based on what they say), answer their question, and make sure conversation between others happen. It IS possible to do that remotely efficiently. Yes there are situations which would work better in person, but so are situations that work better online. And company surveys always have work-life balance scored very highly (only thing that is, really).

I am not saying every and all working places would work WFH, but so what? But I do think almost all white collar ones would.

So you agree with me that talking to people is part of work.  A point Valmy seemed to dismiss.  The difference between us is you will end up looking like the picture posted upstream as you sit on your ass and star at a screen all day 

[Tamas]

Presumably you walk around your office and talk to people in person rather than staring at a screen all day?

Not if I have work to do.

Most of what my work entails is walking around the office, talking to people about what they need to do, how they need to do it, and answering their questions.

For the people who view work as working in solitude and just staring at a screen,  I can understand why work from home works for them.


As I've said repeatedly, I think the cross-section of people we have here at languish are the latter and not the former and that is why there are so many people here who support work from home. The reality though is that for the vast majority of the workforce that is not how it's done.

I manage projects. I literally do nothing else than talk to people (and create documentation based on what they say), answer their question, and make sure conversation between others happen. It IS possible to do that remotely efficiently. Yes there are situations which would work better in person, but so are situations that work better online. And company surveys always have work-life balance scored very highly (only thing that is, really).

I am not saying every and all working places would work WFH, but so what? But I do think almost all white collar ones would.

So you agree with me that talking to people is part of work.  A point Valmy seemed to dismiss.  The difference between us is you will end up looking like the picture posted upstream as you sit on your ass and star at a screen all day 

I am happy the Canadian legal profession is still paper-based and you and your guys can still shuffle paper files around in your briefcases the whole day, but the rest of the world moved to digital. Even during meetings you are often staring into screens or at the very least one big screen. Old man.

[crazy canuck]

I am happy the Canadian legal profession is still paper-based and you and your guys can still shuffle paper files around in your briefcases the whole day, but the rest of the world moved to digital. Even during meetings you are often staring into screens or at the very least one big screen. Old man.

I am sorry to make you unhappy then.  My practice is entirely digital and has been since 2020.  Sorry 

And I hate to break it to you, being digital does not mean you cannot also talk to people in person.

[Iormlund]

Our Project Manager could (and has) definitely work from home. His role is basically one conf. call after another, with many if not most of the attendees being in Germany, Slovakia, etc. The only moments where he needs to be at the plant are the launch milestones.

Which reminds me of one benefit of being at the office (or technically not at home): One of our senior C-Levels was presenting when he had what seemed like a stroke/seizure. Thankfully one of the other attendees lives nearby and the emergency services got there in time. But had he been just working alone at home instead of presenting ...

[Tamas]

CC, have you surveyed your workforce how they'd feel about the option to WFH?

[Zoupa]

I work from home since 2020, switching from retail pharmacy to a pharmaceutical company.

I am never going back. I make about 10% less and I could not care less.

[Grey Fox]

I rolled out of bed at 5h45, did 40 minutes of weight lifting & stretching & was ready to go by 6h45.

You're all lazy bums.

Morning people are weird.

Sure but I haven't work after 3pm in years.

[Josquius]

People need to recognise there are advantages and disadvantages for both.

Remote work pros:

* recruitment. It's popular and you have a broader choice of people to begin with than in any one place.
* commute elimination
* easier for self organised exercise and interaction.
* more sleep.
* more flexibility
* opens up a broader array of jobs to people all over the country.
* much better for those with accessibility needs.
* no facilities costs for the company.
* privacy/being treat like an adult.

Remote work cons :

* miss out on incidental learning and colab.
* innovation workshops are much harder. I organised and ran one for Indian unis last year and it was just nowhere near as good as in person. So much lost without the physical space and face to face
* broader societal effects bode poorly (several here)
* less enforced exercise and interaction. Which some need.
* favours the already rich who have a home work space and don't care about the extra bills.
* puts company more out of reach of customers without a physical address where everyone is.
* potential retention suffering vs other remote jobs.