Technology

Turns out the commute, fluorescent lighting, constant interruptions and performative desk sitting weren’t secretly essential ingredients for human happiness after all. Shocking. Next study: 7,700 managers discover that seeing someone in a chair is not actually a productivity metric.

RTO work often is about control and not about cost or efficiency.

Here's the actual study if anyone cares to read it.

Skimming it, a couple things I noticed: This was a study of over 7,000 people across all departments at a large healthcare system. They found on-site workers skewed younger with shorter tenure and remote workers skewed older with longer tenure.

One potential pitfall: They didn't control in any way for department or role, and so floor nurses and housekeeping staff who must work fully on-site are being compared to tenured nurses working utilization review or revenue cycle staff whose job is billing/coding and who don't have to interact with anyone in their roles. In-person and remote jobs in healthcare tend to be very different jobs. I don't know how well this study could be generalized to other types of job settings based on this info

extroverts can't understand that not everyone is like them. more at 11

I can’t believe how much more I get done when I’m left alone and focused on the task at hand.

I don’t feel particularly isolated. Everybody is different but a once-week team chat and seasonal social lunches fill my cup.

Turns out when you can do errands and meet non-work friends for coffee as you please you don’t need to lean on your office family so much for connection and purpose.

Whether it's a mix of control or egos, I think it is mostly about the fallacy that they are leaving unspent productivity on the table. Yet, COVID proved that people can be effective at home. It's nonsense to assume that you won't do the job and then somehow get paid for it. It's a strawman.

That is why, after all logical arguments were made, and bad faith responses dispelled, they chose to say it was about culture. That undefinable metric exist solely in the validation of HR and management. Pizza lunches, recognition events, and captive audiences.

I’m all for as much remote work as possible, but I would love a study to include commute length and mode of transport. When I lived a 20 min walk from my office it was great and didn’t mind being at the office full time.

I moved away and it’s now a 30 min car drive which I really hate, a 1 hr bus journey, or 45 min bike ride.

I wouldn’t mind the bus journey so much, as I can read a book on my way, but the unreliability makes it feel so much worse.

And despite being longer than the drive, I much prefer to cycle into work, and I’ll usually do extra days in the office during the summer as an “excuse” to be on the bike.

"I think flexibility is here to stay," she said.

This is the problem with academics. They do a study, find something is logically better, then assume humans will act logically.

Unfortunately, most CEOs don't give a shit if their employees are more happy, productive, and less likely to quit if they work remotely. They just want to feel like they have control over people's lives, which is why we're seeing more return to office initiatives.

When we got a new CEO one of the first things he mandated was RTO. He said the alternative was to shut the office down, and that he was fine with that (I highly doubt that) but a decision had to be made. And so RTO it was, because that had better vibes or something. It's fascinating, the leadership has during several meetings mentioned how much nicer it is now that people are in the office, but none of the "grunts" I've spoken to like it.

Management are assholes and idiots.

Nothing will get better without demands. People need to organize.

But if I've learned anything from history, it's that the ownership class would rather murder all of their employees than give a few dollars more a day.

I'm very fortunate to have a job with a very small company (literally 4 people) where we get to set the rules.

It is funny to see the ingrained notion we (collective "we") once had that working from home could never work. I started this job in 2018, and I often suggested we do a work from home day each week since we all had laptops. My bosses (co-owners of this company) always shot it down. "Oh we'd never get any work done!"

Then, of course, COVID. And while I certainly would rather COVID not have happened, it did convince them that working from actually works. And, of course, they loved it as well. So since 2020 I have not had to go back to the office. We still have office space for some minor things, and once in a blue moon we might gather there. But in six years I've probably spent six days in the office.

Heck, I'm fortunate enough to finally have convinced them we should take Fridays off, too. We piloted that program two years ago over the summer, and it, of course, stuck because everyone likes that—though we actually just take every-other Friday off. But still. Hard to beat.

They signed a 20-year lease 10 years ago so they feel like they have to use the building.

Source: wild assumptions, i know nothing about commercial real estate.

I worked on site for 4 months before my remote work was approved and it was literally the most unfulfilling life I had

I would work 9 to 630, come home so tired that all I could do is throw something quick to eat and watch TV (didn't process what I was watching) then later fall asleep and rinse and repeat

How anyone is able to do this lifestyle is a testament to humanity's ability to adapt

Working culture is fucked up and needs to change

Capitalism as we know it, isn't about effectiveness nor efficiency, it is primarily about power. So long as this remains the case, workers will continue to be abused for the amusement of the higher ups.

Employers don't care if you're happy at work, they just need to lord over you.

If they would get rid of these terrible open plan offices, where people can hear the silent fart you try to squeeze out gently, and go back to offices where you at least would have a smidgen of privacy, this would improve office attendance.

It's like the study itself became an expert in the obvious.

A couple of important caveats:

Still, Johnson said face-to-face interaction can play an important role in helping coworkers build relationships, especially if they are just starting out in their careers.

"Remote works better after you know people," she said. "So there is still a benefit of having some face time."

So, it does rather beg the question, what should one do if someone is joining an existing team?

Hybrid mode do me well.

Allows to have the advantages that on site have ( real contact with the collegues ) while allowing to take a breath from transportation.

B-bu-buh-buht Adam Conover told me that working from home makes me depressed and an easy target for being fired!

I love working from home especially the not having to dash into the car and drive there amongst angry drivers