So, how long will Work From Home actually last?

hammies

Duke status
Apr 8, 2006
15,587
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Some people are introverts. They are most productive alone in their office with their door closed, not being bugged by random people. WFH is a godsend for them.

Some people are extroverts. They are most productive collaborating and having easy and instant communications with their colleagues. WFH sucks for them.

Some people are kind of in the middle. They like the freedom of WFH but hate being on call 24/7 and kind of miss the comeraderie of the workplace, or just getting away from home once in a while.

You can't successfully impose a one-size-fits-all solution when managing a variety of humans, despite coprorate HR's attempts to do so.
 

Leaverite

Rabbitt Bartholomew status
Dec 19, 2017
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America, Federal and State.

We have all of these wage/hour laws. Cut in Stone. What is an employee, what is an independant contractor, The established Work Week. Straight time, overtime. Doubletime. Exactly where do we stand????
 

racer1

Tom Curren status
Apr 16, 2014
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One of the great pleasures of my employment situation is pulling up to trailhead on a Tuesday, finding the parking lot empty as per usual, and not encountering another human for the next 8 hours.
I feel you on this. I've always worked from home and surfing around 1pm on a weekday was my jam. Get all my work done in the morning. Each lunch. Go surf uncrowded waves. Come home to circle back to work stuff. Was nice. Now, everybody seems to be on my schedule and I find myself surfing early or late in the day.
 

Leaverite

Rabbitt Bartholomew status
Dec 19, 2017
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I feel you on this. I've always worked from home and surfing around 1pm on a weekday was my jam. Get all my work done in the morning. Each lunch. Go surf uncrowded waves. Come home to circle back to work stuff. Was nice. Now, everybody seems to be on my schedule and I find myself surfing early or late in the day.
You have a schedule... And people respect it.
 

TeamScam

Miki Dora status
Jan 14, 2002
5,485
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I don't think Indians have a higher iq.
Not that Americans are superior, as a whole we are a bunch of worthless stupid crybabies, and I've known a lot of smart people of Indian decent, but you're probably a racist if you assume they're smarter. They smell funny too.
 

Leaverite

Rabbitt Bartholomew status
Dec 19, 2017
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Your everday joe.

Like me. That guy you can walk up to the counter and say: "I didnt Get Paid Right"..... And I have to defuse this kook and pacify them.
 

racer1

Tom Curren status
Apr 16, 2014
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I work with a few Indians that I only know through skype and haven't even heard their voices. They are all smart and will do work for a fraction of the price their contemporaries in America would charge. I like working with them.
 

TeamScam

Miki Dora status
Jan 14, 2002
5,485
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Yeah I like the ones I know too.
When I was a child, my pediatrician (who replaced the family guy that retired) was from India. Her daughter was my sister's best friend, I become good friends with their cousin, jr high we were smoking weeds on the DL before most of our peers, but he was full on boarding school, one of the smartest people I had known at the time. He turned me on to the Grateful Dead, the Who, good stereo equipment, sneaking out stealing parents cars etc.
Full on San Francisco attorney these days, I still steal cars but anyway, I don't necessarily buy into the other races/ethnicities being more intelligent, but if I'm wrong by all means I will hear you out and appreciate it.

I don't see a big shift toward working from home being good for Americans but that will likely be where we're headed, less interaction.

9am this morning, there were middle school and high school kids on the same sandbar I was on and I much prefer them to the 25-35 year old set. More stock, less ego. I think most young adults are dorks until they get over themselves, like me.
 
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92122

Michael Peterson status
Jul 29, 2015
2,597
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I’d be good with a hybrid approach. Sure don’t miss the traffic. I think it’s important to have some connections and synergy with your coworkers though. It getting pretty damn impersonal with most of em by now and people get way more testy over email, etc. than having to deal with things in person.
 
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SurfFuerteventura

Rabbitt Bartholomew status
Sep 20, 2014
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Ribbit
1-) work sucks, go surfing

2-) taxes suck even more, especially when there's some senile geezers in the white house deciding how they are spent, with every lobby in the world in their pockets, and on their shoulders.

3-) WFH has actually made me employed (under the table and fully tax free) after a 13 year run of unemployed.

I'm perfectly fine with it.
 

PeterDj

Legend (inyourownmind)
Jul 11, 2018
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I think IT companies are loving the WFH mandate. It gives them a good excuse to reduce salaries, and employees are much happier. 20% pay cut if you move out the bay is not that bad when you can upgrade your 700sqft closet to 3000sqft house on the golf course, especially if you have a family. Not to mention cheaper taxes and food expenses etc... It will be interesting to see how the real estate market reacts. The myth that your company needs to be in the bay to attract top talent is dead. HPE just announced they are moving to houston, and they were the very first bay area startup back in 1948. Cost of power/cooling, property taxes, high employment taxes etc... are just a few of the reason why IT wants to leave CA.
 

santacruzin

Kelly Slater status
Oct 17, 2007
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valley purgatory
I work with a few Indians that I only know through skype and haven't even heard their voices. They are all smart and will do work for a fraction of the price their contemporaries in America would charge. I like working with them.
I have a team in India , was out there for a couple weeks last year. Didn’t go this year due to the COVID situation. They are amazing people , smart and extremely hardworking.
The only knock is they are often very much a follow the spec/steps mentality . They will perform steps 1-8 in the instructions but if it’s obvious you should do step 9 but no one told them too they won’t touch it .

I guess they are often ‘’more tactical than strategical . Although this is not true for all it’s pretty common in my industry.
 

racer1

Tom Curren status
Apr 16, 2014
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Haha, they do take every instruction literal. And often times I find myself waiting for work from them, then when I follow up they say they weren't told to do that and I have to look through emails/skype to see that in fact I didn't ask them to do it specifically but it's kinda implied in that to deliver their product it needed to be done.

My other issue is that they often over book themselves with work.
 
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santacruzin

Kelly Slater status
Oct 17, 2007
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Haha, they do take every instruction literal. And often times I find myself waiting for work from them, then when I follow up they say they weren't told to do that and I have to look through emails/skype to see that in fact I didn't ask them to do it specifically but it's kinda implied in that to deliver their product it needed to be done.

My other issue is that they often over book themselves with work.
hahahah yes ! so much of that , for time sensitive sh!t I just have check ins daily so everything is clear and I lose a day at most.


the overworking thing is also somewhat cultural as was explained to me. You are seen as a better asset to your family the more you work. It was explained to me over many beers so the details are fuzzy :)
 

sdsrfr

Phil Edwards status
Jul 13, 2020
5,857
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San Diego
I don’t like the idea of WFH but I do like the idea of remotely working.

wfh requires a few things to go right. decent sized house, dedicated office, no toddlers running wild, fast internet, etc. otherwise you’re basically work-camping in the dining room and that will always suck.

remotely working is nice. I’ve had more freedom to be away from the office but can also still go in when requiring certain facilities. having a household group share a loft as a mini-WeWork is nice, too. similarly one could hop locations and rent a decent Airbnb without missing work and pick up a temporary view with pseudo vacation feels.

I do miss in-person collaboration and having an apprentice within earshot. I find I do a lot more grunt work than I used to and had to switch to structured meetings over impromptu 5min chats at the coffee machine.

i think my dream setup would be a large property where I could build an office/workshop off from the main house. The walk to the shed and back would be my commute and lunch would be catered by hunny bunny.
 

GromsDad

Duke status
Jan 21, 2014
54,153
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West of the Atlantic. East of the ICW.
I've only worked from home for a week at the very beginning of the "crisis" and then again this past week after being exposed to someone with the virus. I hate working from home. Open floorplan house with no private office area means I'm basically trying to work in the middle of everything going on in the house or sitting on the bed in the bedroom.
 

casa_mugrienta

Duke status
Apr 13, 2008
43,211
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Petak Island
I think IT companies are loving the WFH mandate. It gives them a good excuse to reduce salaries, and employees are much happier. 20% pay cut if you move out the bay is not that bad when you can upgrade your 700sqft closet to 3000sqft house on the golf course, especially if you have a family. Not to mention cheaper taxes and food expenses etc... It will be interesting to see how the real estate market reacts. The myth that your company needs to be in the bay to attract top talent is dead. HPE just announced they are moving to houston, and they were the very first bay area startup back in 1948. Cost of power/cooling, property taxes, high employment taxes etc... are just a few of the reason why IT wants to leave CA.

If WFH continues is there any reason you can think of that there won't be a mass migration of tech out of CA?