Working From Home

I have been working from home for almost four years. I can only see advantages. If you're office based and you have Skype, Webex and so forth I really don't see any reason *not* to. The people who still insist on buying or renting huge energy consuming, Earth destroying office space (space which could be used so much more constructively, be it for housing, parkland or given back to nature) are truly behind the curve.

What I'm interested in -- and I'm interested to know if there has been research in these areas:

(a) Has anyone done serious calculations of how much energy we could save (inter)nationally if everyone who *could* work from home did so and secondly,

(b) from a sociological point of view, the focus has been on the negative ("you can't get to know/work properly with people who don't see and physically interract with, ergo groups of home working people are doomed to failure") but shouldn't we also consider the flipside, that home working allows for people to be judged on their true merits, rather than the ad hominem nasty stuff that comes to the fore when people have to share a space?

Heh, my wife just started doing this full-time and has liked it so far.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, a couple people at my office must have asked about the possibility because the partners sent out this really passive-aggressive email at the start of the year about how it will never be a possibility here because, basically, "it is impossible to believe that anyone could work productively out of their home". It was just laughably obnoxious and reductive about any possible benefits. (Of course, several months later one of the partners' favorites moved to Texas with her husband and was suddenly approved to work "remotely")

I don't ever want to do it

with my immunocompromised status and the virus terror, I may have to

BUT

the plantation I contract for, at a pitiful wage, uses a "VPN" that requires use of your

PHONE

which I do not have and do not want

fuck apps, fuck texts

is that app PingID?

no

Full time wfh since Oct 2012. Best thing ever. Makes work not suck. Def still look forward to the weekends but I no longer dread Monday. Limits my "advancement" options but I don't care; if I could maintain current position now thru retirement I'd be thrilled.

makes personal traveling mid-week possible. it's harder now that I changed roles, but when I was working in implementations, all they cared about is that I worked, not where I worked from, so sometimes I'd head out of town mid week and bring my laptop.

did manage to go to Vegas midweek last year because i had no classes that week

I’m starting to wonder whether spending £4500 a year on train tickets so I can commute to London, sit in an office and have web conferences with my colleagues and customers around the world is the most productive use of my time and money. The big problem with working from home ime is that it is much harder to put a cap on the day. I’m more likely to agree to 7pm meetings or answer emails at 10pm than I am if I have physically left my place of work.

Full time WFH since May 2015. It is definitely harder to put a cap on the day, though I don't really have meetings or emails to answer (I'm a web dev)

Its the job content itself as much as the WFH but I've changed around my perspective to not see work in terms of hours or blocks of time like this, but blocks of stuff that I need to have built by the end of the week or month. This means the delineation between own time and work time is more entwined. Mentally I'm kind of always at work but also never at work, I don't know if its better or not but I don't miss my 90 minute each way commute!

I feel a lot of the risk could have been mitigated if more organisations were better at actually allowing people to work staggered or different hours - fewer people on public transport at peak times, less crowding on train/tube platforms (can’t count the number of times I’ve been in a crush of a few hundred people waiting to get on a tube train) and management doesn’t have to pretend it cares about having a coherent wfh policy. My parents have never worked more than ten minutes from where they live and I envy them.

I feel a lot of the risk could have been mitigated if more organisations were better at actually allowing people to work staggered or different hours - fewer people on public transport at peak times, less crowding on train/tube platforms (can’t count the number of times I’ve been in a crush of a few hundred people waiting to get on a tube train) and management doesn’t have to pretend it cares about having a coherent wfh policy. My parents have never worked more than ten minutes from where they live and I envy them.

WFH today. Probably one of many. Technically I am a 'remote worker' anyway, having been made one about a year ago, but I still come into the office as it's about 10 mins cycle away. Frankly I've nowhere to work at home - I have a small desk in my room that's uncomfortable to sit at, and my sofa and kitchen table are no better.

been asked to supply emergency contact info at work in case of

lol

"adverse weather closing the office"

politics is the art of what cannot be said etc

The big problem with working from home ime is that it is much harder to put a cap on the day. I’m more likely to agree to 7pm meetings or answer emails at 10pm than I am if I have physically left my place of work.

We have a pretty flexible working culture with a lot of working from home and honestly it's great, but it only works if you're prepared to treat people like grown-ups. TBH I'd retain the same boundaries as you do in the office. I don't especially mind working a bit later if I'm not going to be commuting home, but if you do have a 7pm meeting what's to stop you taking a longer lunch break or similar. As long as you get the work done when you're supposed to, who cares?

International meetings make things harder, but one way psychologically to put a cap on the day is just to make a clean break by immediately doing something that absolutely says to yourself I Am Not At Work Any More. Cooking, opening a beer, playing a video game, whatever. If you just start tapering off it becomes very easy to get dragged back into it.

I'm a freelancer, about 80% of my work is on-site at various places, just had my first conversation this morning about an office shutdown, guessing that most everywhere else will follow, shit is going to get tight.

no wonder u ppl are on ilx all fucking day

Been WFH since 2017. Love it. Possibly starting a 9-5 office job on Monday, though, and not sure how I feel about that (besides “thanks for the money”)...

The lifeblood of ILX the entire internet is bored office workers, moreso without the office.

its a turning point in history

in a bad way

let's run all the megapolls we've been fantasising about

i hope office buildings empty out like suburban malls and are repurposed into affordable housing.

Does anyone do this with kids in the house? Seems kind of impossible without turning child into tv zombie

Looks like this will be me from next week, or even maybe tomorrow. My plan is to move to the conservatory and stock up on educational software / film downloads for them.

I cannot work with kids disturbing me, this is going to be hard.

turn child into book and board game zombie imo

my carrom board is finally gonna get some use, v excited to get good

i hope office buildings empty out like suburban malls and are repurposed into affordable housing.

― Yerac, Thursday, 12 March 2020 12:56 (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm

I wish I could find that faux-pamphlet from a few years back about an office building gradually turning into an overgrown post-apocalyptic ecosystem

I've worked from home for almost 19 years. I expect it to all come crashing down around my ears any day now.

i don't maintain much of a social circle outside of work (mostly just my wife, my parents, and my cat) so I do think I benefit from the social aspects of coming into an office every day and interacting with people. i'm lucky in my position that I typically don't HAVE to do much interacting in any given day if I don't feel like it, but if I do then there are always people around who want to shoot the shit.

Does anyone do this with kids in the house? Seems kind of impossible without turning child into tv zombie

i do but there's always another carer around. she (child not carer) occasionally comes up to spin around on my chair but generally respects the sanctity of the office space.

that sanctity in full:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKxqy9SJ-0I

Spare a thought for us poor sods who can't work from home, we're dead.

My first day of working at home. Not without its downsides, but I did watch an episode of Kojak during my lunch hour, and so without coronavirus I would possibly never known about this meeting of the titans

https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/190/1346970079_6.jpg

I'm less likely to brush my teeth on time WFH

I thought you’d been running this drill for years?

I had no use for it but bring it on!

xpost I have. but bad habits never change.

the only real prob i had working from home was a) animals, who would bark in the background during meetings/training, or b) roommates. right now, "b" isn't a prob cos he's never home and even when he is, he's quiet.

my brother used to walk in the door and intentionally try to get me to laugh while I was in a meeting by yelling non-sequiturs (a man in his mid-30s, going on 12). one day he came out the bathroom singing Billy Joel at the top of his lungs, forgetting I was working, so all of my colleagues were treated to that.

animals, otoh, usually the people on the phone go "aww how cute, what breed are they?"

One blessing of my job is that I have not been expected to read and respond to emails outside of work hours. Based on the rules for our WFH, my management seems to be respecting this.

Recommendation of uncertain usefulness to other ILXors, based on my previous WFH experiences: Get dressed, including putting on a bra. (In my specific case, bralessness soon becomes uncomfortable, sweaty, and otherwise not conducive to work.)

I draw the line at pants (US definition) tho

got access

the daily requirement to reoort back on the detail of my work have made me rather kindly disposed to coming in

one of the first days I worked from home in 2012, I was given a new laptop, and we headed into a web meeting (Skype, Sametime, WebEx, I can't even remember rn). then, like now, I just woke up and turned on my computer in my current state of dress, so I had underwear and pants on, but no shirt. so I log into the meeting, and the webcam comes on by default, and for two seconds, I see myself on camera, face to just slightly below the shoulders. then I realized this was sharing and my project manager said "uhh I can see you", so I ducked below the desk, put a shirt on, and disabled the webcam for-eva

Daily seven-way meeting this morning. Everyone hears a voice: "How much is the toilet roll?" Everyone denies it was them (or a TV they're surreptitiously watching). Everyone then mutes their microphone.

access revoked.

they didnt realise so many people would actually use it

guys I wish i was making any of it up, i really do

It's why I like WebEx because if you dial in through the computer it says who is speaking and there is no denial!

Xxpost

That's fucked, deems, I'm sorry. FWIW, feel like we might not have made it a week into WFH if we hadn't had a confirmed Cov Case in our actual office. MF-ers gonna need a winch to haul me back into that plague den at this point.

I've adjusted surprisingly quickly to working on one tiny laptop screen as opposed to the two big monitors I'm used to. Just involves constant shifting and sliding of all the programs I have open at a given moment. I was relying on this being my busiest time of year to keep me occupied and focused but, ehh, I'm noticing a marked decline in the amount of work product coming in.

I like to go out for lunch to break up the monotony of the day, work a little while out, then go home and finish the day.

today, I forgot somehow that I had a meeting at 1:30, and I only arrived at the McDonald's at 1:15. oh well, I'll attend it from here. this McDonald's is quiet, and it's a short meeting.

no sooner than the meeting starts, a very noisy pair sit very close to me and the barely audible muzak suddenly turns into a very loud Usher/Lil Jon "Yea"

lol....lesson learned.

The place I work for part-time is interested in increasing my hours starting in June; meanwhile, the place I work for "full-time" as a contractor is giving me additional responsibilities and there's talk of hiring me as a full-time employee. I really hope the part-time spot doesn't want me to go full-time as well; juggling both would probably start to feel like real work.

lol, it was a valiant effort Neando.

Going out for a walk at lunchtime and forgetting about that 1pm meeting is something I do a bit too often. Likely to happen a bit more often in the coming weeks with the spring weather.

I walk down to a park a few blocks from my house almost every day, usually stopping to buy a bottle of Guinness on the way.. rain or shine
Nice to get out of my place, even if just for a half-hour

I was inspired by my trip to Stockholm last summer, seeing people laying in the grass sunbathing: "what are theses people doing? don't they have work or school? Wait, I'm gonna start doing that too."

another monthly Face to Face day where everybody is meant to come into the office. but...

one is crying off with 'diarrhea since early morning' (thanks for that)

and the one who instigated these face 2 face days has just posted 'would love to have been there, but have to wait in for delivery'

elsewhere people are commuting in having moved away during lockdown, hours of train travel and literally £100 in one case.

the other two senior managers are a) travelling in after 11 after not feeling well this morning and b) on holiday today

but nigel HAS made it in from Penge. and a colleague who nobody has seen since in person since march 2020 is here.

after last time i booked a desk on the quiet side, away from the desk-eaters and the shouty people. nice view of white city, if such a thing is possible.

Going out for a walk at lunchtime and forgetting about that 1pm meeting is something I do a bit too often.

Having the dev scrum dailies right in the middle of my lunch break (it's not anyone else's 1:30pm) is a new intrusion into routine. Walking around the rec ground, earbuds in, trying to follow a screen-share on a phone.

Going in tomorrow: the Xmas gifts have arrived! Corporate-branded merch that the kids like. Ironically perhaps. In three years we've gone from: 200 'credits' to spend in our online store, shipped to yr house in Dec, to: choose two things only, it'll be three months before you get them, collect from the office.

The best thing about working from home (which I’ve done, for, gasp, 11 YEARS now) is the lunchtime walks in relatively mellow surroundings. Just essential for clearing my head. Every now and then the work day is too crazy or the weather sucks, but without the ability to do this I might lose it

Koogs, your description of your office is straight out of Barbara Pym's Late Quartet.

another in-office day on... Tuesday, the day after Easter holiday weekend. i can guarantee people haven't seen this in their calendars because nobody looks beyond the current week, especially if the week before is short.

(and last Monday all the mixer taps were out of order so no hot drinks (short of popping to starbucks))

Dear Andrew ****,

You have 1 assignment that is 1454 days overdue.

You must complete the following assignment(s):

- Executive Series: Securely Working From Home with Quiz

Lol

I am working from home tomorrow but cannot because kids are on Easter holiday and mother-in-law in staying and I will not be able to focus for one minute. So I need to go to a cafe or a pub, however though I live in a city (Cambridge) there are no cafes or pubs within half an hour's walk.

No point here, just thought I would have a whinge.

Coffe grounds and hard boiled eggs

anybody else used speech to text in meetings to transcribe boring, unnecessary meetings when your mind inevitably drifts

Someone I know online just got a job at some startup offering this service

(Xp) we use Teams and I think it transcribes all meetings that are recorded. The problem is asking everyone at the beginning is they consent to be recorded.

If someone is giving me some long list of tasks/grievances etc in a meeting I just pull the old ‘please send that to me in an email so I I have a record of it’ trick. Makes them very less likely to do it again.

Company just decided to go from 2 days in the office to three. I am not happy.

we had another in-office day and someone got upset because someone else had booked the one standing desk

and i inadvertantly sat in someone else's desk (they are all in the booking system but some obviously have residents like 50% of the time, residents who don't book their own desks)

nobody really benefited from being there afaict

i feel like it doesn't work unless there's a regular sked. i like 1 day a week, everybody in the department shows up boom you can talk to whoever you want to or need to and then that's it. you can develop understandings and habits etc

boss sends me and another guy a video of a meeting we missed as we were on PTO and tells us to watch it asap.

he turned transcript on. I ain't watching shit lol.

Also posting for amusement for LOLs at clueless leaders. We changed our telephony technology two years ago to move to a cloud based application. It has been a complete disaster, as it's been very poor and overcomplicated a simple process, but then leaders were stunned yesterday to find out that employees found a loophole to avoid work that nobody knew about.

Under all of our previous telephony applications, agents had two lines - a personal and a business line. If you were on a personal call and a work call came in, and you refused to answer it, you'd still be next in line and keep getting calls until you did. And it was easy for managers to tell you were refusing to take calls.

Our new application has one line. Yes, there is a personal call option on it, but it's from the same line - it just turns off the call recording technology and makes the agent's direct phone number visible on caller ID.

Leaders mistakenly thought these were actually two separate lines. Agents otoh discovered that if they were on a personal call, it would prevent a work call from coming in, AND would put them at the back of the line for call routing.

You can figure out the rest. Lol...

in-person day again today including 3 hours of meetings in the other building, about 2 hours of which were attempting to get the corporate wifi working (no success, ended up using my phone). the instructions on the intraweb talk about removing profiles. mac tool for disabling profiles has the '-' button greyed out and a message that 'this mac is supervised and managed by [corporate overloads]'

when not in meetings i've been using bandwidth to do the outstanding mandatory training. my main dangers are neck ache from a badly setup chair but the training videos are full of war correspondants getting shot at.

it also turns out that bribes are not ok, but paying bribes to get through armed roadblocks if you are a war correspondant is ok. swings and roundabouts i guess.

mac tool for disabling profiles has the '-' button greyed out and a message that 'this mac is supervised and managed by [corporate overloads]'

i love when corporate equipment restrictions actively prevent you from doing the things you're expected to do or expose your machine to risk. at my place, the software updates are restricted by IT to just those the system automatically pushes out to you, or those available in the appstore, which is fine with competent admins, but...not ours.

one time, Java published a security update to prevent against a recent exploit that was of severe high importance. our admins apparently missed the memo, and continued to push out/host a very outdated version of Java.

which lasted until several people had their laptops basically rendered inoperable due to the exploit in question.

six people were let go from WFH positions for not, well, doing ANY work during their training class. they were saying 'hello' during role call and disappearing for the rest of the day.

every time I see this I secretly think "you're going to get WFH taken away from us, jerks". there's already talk about possibly moving some training back to in-person because of things like this, but I don't know how that would work as we stopped hiring people based on proximity to our offices in 2020. nevermind that it's a tiny number of people that are the problem.

I fortunately don't think I'd ever be forced to go into the office as our Orlando office has sold off so many floors to other companies, there's barely any room to conduct trainings there.

(I've been WFH for 12 years, so...not exactly pining for a change)

My contract for my part-time job expires next Friday, and the vast corporate hydra for which I work has a policy that you can only be a contractor with them for 18 months. Somehow I managed to dodge auto-culling for a while (probably because they kept firing my supervisors, ha ha) and stayed with them for two years and change, but now the axe has finally fallen. It's not a grievous loss; I was only billing them for 15 hours a week and have a full-time job as well. But funnily enough, I got an email today from a different recruiter than the one who got me the job offering me... the same job! Except it's a dollar less an hour, and they've added a requirement that the candidate must provide a weekly report accounting for their time, including listing which projects they've worked on. Hahahahaha, good luck, whoever gets my old job!

work message board:
> I may not be able to attend the early meeting as I will be commuting to work

this is how things have changed. people used to be expected to be here for 9:30 every day but after 3 years of mostly wfh, commuting now feels like something done on the company's time, not the employee's.

I meet 'em halfway

After 2.5 years of being managed out of N America, I'm back to having a UK based mgr. He goes into the Z1 hub most days and while there's "no pressure" to come in, he is running 60min workflow meetings once a week from the conference room at that facility and I'm the only London person dialling in remotely. At far end of the room he makes notes on a whiteboard which, of course, I cannot possibly read from a webcam 5m away. So time to start frequenting Bond St Crossrail.

(I have been to the Z1 facility once this year; it's a hot-desky single-floor remnant of a previously warren-like cinema production house (and in that form it was my regular place of business for two very strange weeks in summer 2018). Was fine but not a single power supply fitted my ancient laptop; went rooting through cupboards for an old PSU after the old fella's battery shut down mid-morning. IT support does not exist.)

I normally get to wfh 2 days a week but this week it will be 4 days and I am overjoyed. Lot of laundry gonna be getting done.

man this is rich coming from Wells fuckin Fargo

https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/14/business/wells-fargo-staff-wfh-nightcap/index.html