As any fule kno, you need to have a lot of self-discipline to work unsupervised at a job, any job, with a high degree of productivity. (Self-employment doesn’t count.)
In the aftermath of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the 16th biggest bank in the country, many are left wondering what went wrong. Both current and former employees have stated that the bank’s support of remote work is a contributing factor.
Well, duh. When even a wunderkind like that Facebook twerp is thinking about ending laze-at-home and bringing the worker bees back into the hive, you have to know that the writing is on the wall.
Of all the bullshit ideas perpetrated on the public by the WuFlu panic, WFH was easily one of the worst.
It takes a certain mentality and discipline to work from home. I worked from home in the late 1990s and early 2000s, when dial-up internet was king. I legitimately stayed busy and cranked out work products, always answered my emails promptly, and never missed a call on my work cell phone.
I did this because work from home was quite rare back then, and perception was just as important as work output. When most of my colleagues were slaving away in the office, I didn’t want to be perceived as a slacker.
The problem with work from home today is that it suddenly (overnight) became much more common and thus it quickly became a slacker’s paradise.
The Meta/Facebook thing is probably “soft layoffs”–putting people in the position of quitting rather than coming back.
The company I’m currently contracting at has committed to a mixed model–if you live near an office and want to go in, go ahead. If not, then stay at home. Our Senior Director just re-committed to that yesterday, and the company is divesting itself of office real estate. He did suggest that those who are close should probably avail themselves of the office occasionally if only because ‘meeting coworkers in person is energizing’. Yeah, maybe. Except my co-workers are all several states away in every direction. Well, one of them is 100 miles south of me (and the office 10 miles north).
My wife’s company is a “remote only” company that has employees on 5 or 6 continents and no offices. They are a small company that is competing with products from much larger organizations and doing quite well.
For many of us the modern office is a horrible place to get work done. The last time (2015) I was “in office” on a regular basis we were in an office space with half-height cubes, and I was facing the entrance, which mean for me and the people on either side of me, every time someone went to the bathroom or whatever it there was distracting movement. It also meant that every time my cube-neighbor took a sales call, I was part of the conversation. At least passively.
I’ve been remote or mostly remote since then, and my productivity is directly correlated with how much work I have.
It’s a lot easier to control my focus at home–I have an office with walls and a door, and can adjust things as needed for my comfort.
It’s just as easy for me to f*k off in the office as it is at home. No one has the time to watch over my shoulder to make sure that that web page I’m reading is technical material rather than Instapundit.
Of course, in the office I can’t read YOUR blog, because boobies.
The first few months of working from home after the shutdown started I was getting so much done I was moderately concerned that my boss would begin wondering why I hadn’t been as productive when in the office.
I concur with B’Livion: most office settings are the worst place to focus. I’m not even in a cube farm any more but there’s always as much going on there to be a distraction as at home. And it’s easy to slack off in either place should you allow yourself.
The one significant distraction at home which isn’t an issue at the office is my cat, who regularly demands attention by walking between me and the keyboard. Shutting the door doesn’t help because, like most cats, a closed door is deemed to be a challenge and a mystery to be solved by yowling to be let in.
Correct. I tend to get more work done working from home than working in the office. Fewer distractions in general (despite 2 cats), and I have my library of professional literature at hand as well.
That said, some things are easier to do in a face to face meeting or by sitting behind a single screen with 2 people.
Thus the company I work for has gone to a hybrid system for most employees for whom working from home is feasible: 50-50 or 60/40 home/on site working, with each team having 1 fixed office day and everyone being able to select the other office days as they wish (usually teams coordinate so as many people as possible are in the office together, and coordinate with other teams so the limited space isn’t overflowing, we’ve grown in numbers since the policy started when covid hit, and no longer have the space to have everyone on site at once).
Productivity is up, employee morale is up, sick calls are down (as many people just work from home full time when feeling a bit under the weather rather than calling in sick and taking a few days off most likely, I sure do that when e.g. I’m on crutches with back pain or gout and can’t drive to the office, but can still work).
It would appear to my untrained eyes and ears that SVB was more committed to funding social justice and a “wonderful work experience” than making a profit. Underwriting loans to the politically correct start ups with socially responsible business plans instead of making a profit doomed the whole enterprise.
Having he/she/it home drinking mocha lattes instead of in the office probably made little difference.
I do agree we got a measurably less work from our software engineers when they worked at home versus being in the office . Zoom meetings were never productive.
As with all things, “Work From Home” could be a boon or a bane. If I had the type of job which consisted of mostly taking information from column “A”, modifying or proofreading it, and putting it in column “B” (so to speak), I’d be more than willing, if not outright lobbying, to work at home. I could easily convert a spare room or the basement into an office and work from there because, quite honestly, I’m not a big fan of other people. I’m pretty sure that I’d wash out of the “office environment” pretty quickly. People who constantly whistle a few aimless notes and then trill; ditzy thirtysomethings who still snap their gum like high school sophomores; the sports douches who insist on rehashing the minutiae of last night’s game, etc. The benefits of avoiding these types of coworkers (and many, many others) would be secondary to not driving and hour or so EACH WAY to get to “The Office”. So I’m pretty sure that I’d be a good “remote employee”. Other people’s mileage may vary.
The last 12 years before I retired, I worked from home. If I didn’t do my job
it would have bubbled to the surface pretty quickly, Working from home
eliminated a 108 to 116 mile DAILY round-trip commute – depending on what
route I took !
Suddenly I ‘got back’ somewhere between 12 to 18 HOURS time EVERY week
to say nothing of saving gasoline, maintenance, wear and tear on my nerves etc. !
There are some caveats – You need an ‘office’ that you can close off if necessary.
The corner of some room, sitting on a 3 legged stool and a card table for the
laptop just isn’t going to work, in most cases.
You need a comfortable chair on casters, you’re going to sitting in it a LOT.
You also need to understand that you, to a degree, become ‘out of sight, out of mind’ to people who do not interact with you regularly. ‘You still work here ? How about that. WE thought you quit long ago !’
Lastly, if you can do your job WELL from home, there is a real good chance that
someone ELSE, on the other side of the planet, can do it just as well, possibly better and for considerably less money !! So there is a risk.
Anyone here remember Tom Peters from the 80’s and how EVERYTHING should be outsourced. Another college theoretician ( prof ) who’s ideas look GREAT on paper but fall flat in the real world where most of us are forced to live !!
I think Gerry is right on. The bank failure was due to decisions made by people
in the ‘upper echelons’ and NOT by the poor person just trying to do his job
while working in his spare bedroom BUT they have to blame SOMEBODY
so ……………………. why not the defenseless worker bee and then they can
continue to cling to and exercise their idiotic beliefs !