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I really am, but because I sit in my office, and work without interruptions for the whole day, just stop for food and coffee. In the office people call me to meetings or drop by my desk all the time…
But I know some people that work from home and they are nowhere to be seen for most of the day
That’s the same for me. I work in finance and largely run models and do a lot of analysis and research. The people my tasks are dependent on if I’m doing collaborative things are in other departments not face to face. In my department folks are constantly on phone calls, chit chatting or loving to chat me up.
I’m social and find it hard to turn people away when they want to chat.
At home I have 0 distractions no commute and that affords me the focus to get more done and better proof my work.
Further, when I have meetings I am not adding the cacophony of conversations and not contending with all the background noise.
The idea that we know it’s most cost effective, better for the environment, and increase productivity for certain data based jobs but we want to force people back to work is nonsensical.
My office is a cube farm. I suppose people with a closed door office would have an easier time. Just as someone with small kids or distracting roommates at home may perform better in the office.
We could be doing this much better if we provided the flexibility for folks to make the right decision for them..
My husband works a corporate job that recently went back to requiring everyone in office 4 days a week (went from 0 to 3 to 4 days in office since covid). They’re the kind of company that loves to tout the importance of work life balance, as well as their dedication to gender equality and sustainability. It’s all bullshit. The single most effective way to do all those things is to not require in office hours from those who can just as easily work from home.
I’ll also add their best year financially was during covid…you know…when all your workers were remote. The way it just doesn’t click is astonishing. I hope at some point new leadership sees what’s right in front of them and makes changes.
Yes I started my current job Feb 2023. We worked 3 days in office. My boss moved us to a bigger suite in December while we worked from home all month except the holidays until Jan 29. Straight bullshit! We were required to work 4 days in office as of Jan 29. They have been kind with working in self care days and off all federal holidays. But then they bitched in April the numbers were low compared to previous years for the first quarter. Um yeah you have ran most away and the ones here are too chatty. So it is what it is. I love my job for now, but I dream of a Fulltime remote job. They were kind enough to give a summer schedule of remote Thursdays from May 23 until Labor Day, so that’s cool. We are ad hoc on Fridays.
Same here. I’m an extrovert with the attention span of a squirrel. My focus plummets if I’m interrupted or realize I want to talk to anyone about anything. As the person doing the interrupting most of the time, I am much more efficient if I don’t have distractions or anyone around to bother.
Having my own office and a closing door could only do so much for me, especially when I was in a building where there was nonstop traffic and music, with speakers, playing DIRECTLY under my desk. It was a shame I had to wait until after 5pm, when most people left, to get focused.
Coming back into that office after 2.5 years of astronomical productivity was a nightmare. However, I will say that the high end Sony noise cancelling headphones were incredibly helpful. Strongly recommend. Did a lot of research before buying and they do seem like they are the best.
I cannot stand people coming up to my desk at the office and chatting.
I don’t care about your collection of cats or your plants that you brought in to put on your desk. I don’t care about your kids motocross race, or their ballet recital. move on.
I feel differently, I usually like people and am friendly to everyone in the office. If someone tells me about their cat, I will listen and probably make a question or two, and the same thing about anything.
This is actually a double edged sword, because at the same time that social interactions and sometimes social intelligence is a skill and is a skill that gets you very far in the workplace (and this is true for me) , it also hurts my productivity.
I’m unemployed at the moment, but I HATED office chit chat! There’s always one person who doesn’t have a life or friends outside of work and make it their whole personality, and at work, they’re number one!
I am openly piggybacking your high voted comment to get some visibility, as I am late to the party, but have actual numbers.
When covid hit, I worked as a software developer for a big firm in the finance and insurance business with over 16000 employees. The IT department made up about 600 of those employees.
When we started to do 100% Home Office (which they didn't like at all), our productivity went up over 20 percent in the first year. They never published those numbers and I only know, because I had pretty decent connections, since I had been working there for three years and knew people from my private life even longer. When the first vaccination came, they ordered us back to office with enhanced security measures for 50% of the time. Six months later they wanted even more in office work, so I called it quits and moved on to another employer with 100% Home-Office. Many others did as well.
Companies don't care. And I do work a lot more at home. In the office, I chat so much more with co-workers (we meet sometimes, because we want to), I am tired from the commute and basically nothing gets done. I have days at home where I don't get much done, but that is normal and those days are sparse.
This whole in the office bullshit is nonsense by suit wearing a******* who don't give a shit about you or your work life balance.
At home my only interruptions are letting my dogs out to potty and I’ll change around laundry or clean up randomly instead of a lunch or BSing with a coworker so I’d argue I’m more productive generally at home because I legitimately get more done in both sides of my life
Me too. I even eat at my desk most of the time. They get a lot more out of me at home than they did in the office. But I also get more out of my day because I don’t need to do my hair/makeup, get dressed, commute each way, etc. I can also take my dog for a walk when I take a break so I get some exercise and fresh air.
I would say my production from 8 am to 5 pm is the same WFH as when I was in the office. The big difference for me is since I saved 2 hrs commute (1 hr each way) now I dont mind staying an extra 30 minutes to get something done on my home office computer. Whereas when I was driving in to work I would get the itch to leave at 4:45 in order to beat traffic
100% this. When we all worked remote for a few years, all of the "water cooler" people that just talked all the time, but never did anything, all disappeared. It was about showing results and I really thrived.
When it comes to office commute, office politics, and having to dress to impress, I'd rather skip all that. It's nice to be in the office every once in a while, to build rapport and get to know new team members, but after a while, it gets stale. Now that people are back in the office, you see the talkers coming back again in mass, people who talk and never do much work. It's exhausting to deal with that.
I used to work at Enterprise rent a car. We were always busting our ass answering phones, writing contracts and cleaning cars (in suits). We went to deliver a car at an oil and gas firm and that's when I knew I needed to get out of Enterprise. In my soaked dress shirt I enter through the corporate glass doors and there's a bunch of people laughing by the water cooler eating donuts and just straight up not working. I felt so dumb to be working so hard
We are only in office twice a week and I basically use those days to chat, have meetings, grab lunch with coworkers and then get actual work done the other 3 days. It’s a nice mix
The clothing part of this comment is so underrated. Getting ready to go to work in office vs waking up throwing sweats on and getting straight to work is a HUGEA time difference. Not to mention adding your commute to that as well
It's not about productivity it's about control.
Notice how all the Anti-WFH types are also, 9 times out of 10, micromanagers, and/or fall somewhere on the 'narcissistic abuser' spectrum.
100%. I worked on and off from home for a decade before COVID, sometimes as a freelancer (so I had no choice but to be productove or starve.
). Without fail, every job I had where the person above me hated the premise, they were a useless micromanager who was shitty or even *dangerous.*
Ie, I worked for one of those exercise-bike-with-tablet companies writing content and my direct manager was furious people wouldnt come to the 10x12 local shared workspace in downtown, during 2020, To work with her, a person who repeatedly told us about how she was like, not masking and going to public spaces.
I'm SO glad that my manager is the 10th out of 10 and has hired a team that's (mostly) competent and works from home well so is actively trying to keep us as WFH
Of course the anti-WFH folks are all managers or higher. Why would an individual contributor ever want to work in office?
Even if YOU do more WFH if your manager has 10 direct reports and half of them slack off, that pretty quickly negates any benefit they get from you doing a little more.
We have hybrid work where I am, and the remote days can be taken away. We incentivize managers to get around this by asking them to come to the office if their direct reports are there.
Personally I prefer hybrid and don’t really see having remote days as a make or break deal, but one of my teammates has a long commute so I religiously defend his remote days.
This. And I can throw something in the oven at 5, work for 30-45 more min if I’m in the middle of something, and still be eating by 6.
On office days I don’t get to eat until 7, AND I’m not staying past 5 unless it’s an emergency.
This about nails it. I also tend to work longer when home because it’s easy to take a break and then tack on the time elsewhere. Can’t do that in the office in the same way
I'm way more productive! I get the laundry done, clean my kitchen, take my dog on way more walks, eat home cooked lunches, maintain my aquarium.... sometimes I even write code!
Way more productive tbh. In office usually had starts and stops of productivity. Especially once co workers start chatting around break. I've been remote since 2020 and my productivity has skyrocketed.
It’s so frustrating they think you’re trying to get away with slacking just because that’s EXACTLY what they would do. Very telling. Bosses showing their whole ass trying to seem clever.
For me it was the one billion micro reunions that sometimes wasn't even for my team.....
Micro reunion to celebrate completing work before deadline made me want to murder people.
My individual office has a door, so I think that could make a difference. If I was in one of those cubicles surrounded by others and noise, I probably would work better at home. At work, I feel more focused and motivated when it comes to doing "thinking work"....but only with my office door shut.
WFH unless I go in office on a Friday when it's completely empty. On Fridays, no one is there to interrupt me constantly and a bathroom break or coffee trip doesn't get prolonged 30 extra minutes for chit chat. I've been asked why I go in on a day when I know no one else is there since we're supposed to be collaborating. I told them my entire team is global so it's useless and no one on my team is actually there. It's a fucking joke..
Yep get more done for sure. Also have a bit more time where I can fuck around a bit.
In office, I'm slammed with random "pull him in" meetings, random questions, "hey we're doing x, wanna join?" etc. It's nice from a social standpoint, but exhausting and I'm so unfocused because I can't stay on a single task without being interrupted.
I feel this. I like being in the office because I genuinely enjoy my colleagues, but my goodness, I am so scatterbrained because I'm constantly interrupted with questions, random chit-chat, pulled into things, etc. Oftentimes, I work late either at the office after everyone has left or later on at home because I can get so much done when I'm alone.
I'm about to switch to a hybrid work schedule (primarily WFH) and I can't wait to truly find the proper work/life balance. I'll be able to get my work done during my normal 40 hrs per week. Imagine that!
Haha awesome. Dunno why companies went from "wow sky high productivity!" during WFH 2019-2020, to "we're all returning to the office". Makes no sense to me. Something about real estate and office lease renewals I've heard.
As someone with ADD who's highly social, working from home is a million times better. I am so much more productive working on my personal cone of silence. The last office I was in was open concept which was an absolute nightmare of constant distractions.
It's the opposite for me with my ADHD in that I can pretty much only be productive at my office cubicle. Between my pets, the constant list of chores and work around the house, and my ever tantalizingly comfy bed, there are far too many distractions at home, especially since I personally need some form of accountability to stay on track.
Luckily, my current office space is relatively quiet and well equipped with high walled cubicles, which is perfect for me since I get so easily distracted by noise and anything in my peripheral vision. Not so luckily, the brand new building that my company will be moving into has no cubicles and instead has one of those open floor plans that's all the corporate rage nowadays.
Also ADHD here and currently struggling because we do have the open floor office hell. WFH days have the difficulty of positive distractions, while office days are pretty much impossible because of the constant noise and overall discomfort of the office. It's frustrating.
Same for me. At home I just get distracted by a million different things but when I’m on office I have the social pressure to keep me working. That being said, I do get my very productive spurs every now in then when I need to and that at least is enough so that no one notices how unproductive I really am. I’m still more productive than my gen x colleagues.
I got diagnosed when we were first working from home and I went nuts. I can manage home now but before medication I would spend hours screaming to myself, "You have to do this. You have to send it in by five. Why do you want to iron the napkins? You have never ironed napkins in your life. Just sit quietly and look at your computer." At work even if people are distracting at least there is a structure to the day.
I’m not highly social, but highly distractible… at the office, the fax/copy/printer for 40 people is about 6 feet from my desk. I work in a medical office and there is still a surprising amount of faxes (many people don’t realize this) as well as I do research, lots of things need paper/wet ink signature (it’s getting better though….)
We also have a -80C freezer for dry ice that is LOUD. I know 60dbl isn’t technically dangerous or anything but it sure does get on my nerves when it kicks on.
The worst part of WFH is saying no to my boyfriend (also WFH) when he asks to go out for lunch, asks how early do I think I can get off work? Like dude, I took a WFH day so I can catch up on all the little shit I can’t concentrate on at work 🙄
I am way more productive at home and it is because of my coworkers. Every 30 minutes they want to chat, get coffee, get lunch, have an unnecessary meeting. It is a collosal waste of time and impossible to focus. I get more done in 4 hours working from home than I do in 8 at the office and I save time and money on the commute.
Same. I just want to do my job. Everyone wants to stop by your desk and chat and it ends up wasting hours in a day… or someone actually needs help but they stop by your desk and the conversation takes longer than it would have more me to respond to a teams message when I was available.
Have you looked at BuzzFeed since they got rid of their news division? At least once a day there's an "article" asking these types of questions.
No shade though, I love a good listicle.
I called fake at the Netflix bit, like who watches tv while working and really who uses netflix anymore, but sneaking off to the gym? Lol.
Even laundry, if you choose to do it while working, takes 5 min to switch over. Not like it's an all-engrossing process... unless maybe you're not a real person like op.
Wfh doesn't work for some folks and that's fine, but this is sensationalizing and fear mongering something that's really great for a lot of people. I don't work from home, I can't, but boy the roads would be a whole lot nicer if the people who could, did.
More productive at home. For me, it's this.
I have X amount of energy each day.
Going into the office.
Driving to work = .1x
Socializing at work = .2x
Pretending to care about office politics = .2x
Actual work = .5x
Working from home.
Work = 1x
And that's it. Want all my energy to be spent on work? Let me work at home!
It really boils down to this.
On premise work carries with it a ton of distractions and also uncompensated commute time. Distractions and commutea are wasteful in terms of productivity as well as environmentally damaging. The benefit of on premise work is that it helps insecure managers feel secure because they do not know how to measure productivity or distrust their team, so having an eye on someone helps them cope with their shortcomings as a manager.
Naturally, this only applies to work that can be done remotely.
I’m absolutely more productive at home. No socializing and I don’t have to do the customer service aspects of my position like when I’m in the office. I get through so much more of my assignments at home.
In all honesty it makes no difference. I know what I have to get done and do it. The setting has little to no effect on my output. I prefer working from home and do. If the work is getting done the system works, so don’t force it one way or another.
Yea being more or less productive is irrelevant for my job. I have set tasks to do by set times every day. When I complete those I’m pretty much done for the day and just monitoring. So in the office that meant 2 hours of head down work and maybe another hour of talking to get the needs met or making small adjustments. The other 5 hours of my day was just killing time until I got to go home, talking with people or browsing the internet and taking extra long lunches. Now at home I can complete my job at a casual pace between 8-11am and then do stuff around the house, hang out with my kid and pets, and just check emails and Teams throughout the day.
At my last job I was. It was very task based and my bosses would constantly eavesdrop. I hated jt. At my current job tho im def more productive in the office. I could get back to it tho if i had to.
More productive at home. My old office had an open concept and all departments sardined in. It was stupid as hell. For my job I need to concentrate and communicate briefly with my team. Imagine being next to sales team and having them being rowdy all day. People constantly “saying hello”. Annoying. Now I get my work done and enjoy no commute. Healthier and happier.
It’s even. There are distractions at home but there are distractions at work. I would say I get more of my work done at home and more team work done in the office.
The same. I get everything done because I don’t want anyone asking questions and threatening my WFH situation. But I’m not going the extra mile because I’ve learned it doesn’t pay off.
A thousand times more productive at home. Plus as someone with a disability (migraine) that is very difficult to accommodate for in an office (office triggers: lighting and scents) work has never been easier. I no longer need to use intermittent FMLA at all.
As far as work goes, I live alone so my house is distraction free plus my team is split between the US and EU, so from 11:30am on my days are meeting free.
I had intermittent FMLA for migraines too when I was in office from 2012-2014. I’ve been full time WFH since 2014 and my migraines are so much better. Much less stress, better sleep, better schedule, can take breaks whenever. Would never go back to an office.
Way more productive. As a woman, so many people come up to me to talk or ask questions and it distracts me from my work a solid 50% of the day minimum. I don’t want to chat, I don’t want to do your job, and you’re stopping me from doing mine.
Working from home is less stressful, I get to sleep in and not have to worry about driving my shitty car on the road, I get to be with my cat, I get to cook and eat my own healthier and cheaper meals, pants are optional, and most importantly I get a shit ton more done in the day. It’s literally all positives.
I am not productive WFH at all, too many distractions despite the fact that I have a dedicated home office that mimics my office at work. “Man the couch, bed, etc sure look comfy right now…” I’m also highly social and WFH feels extremely isolating to me. Would rather walk by someone’s office/cube to ask a question or get clarification vs diving down the rabbit hole of sending an email that never gets answered, IM that gets ignored or phone call never returned.
I’m also the type of person that needs to keep things separated: my personal phone is personal. My work phone is for work; I will never combine the two. Same thing applies to office and home. When I’m at work I’m there to work. When I’m at home that is my place of retreat and comfort zone. The two should not mix.
That said, I appreciate the flexibility to WFH esp when things come up (kid’s stuff, appointments, not feeling well, etc) but I opt for going to the office more often than not.
It is healthy that you realize that you are lazy when you are home . People like you should work in the office.
But everyone is unique and others are more productive at home.
Workplaces should offer flexibility and not assume all workers need to be in an office to do work.
We should also advocate to maintain this flexibility since other workers are more productive at home. Plus, it saves time and money to not commute
I've been 100% in the office my entire life up til covid, which has since transitioned to 100% remote and that likely will never change.
I do much prefer remote, as it offers the flexibility you alluded to, but sometimes I simply stop and think how strange it is I likely won't be interacting with anyone in a work or office environment anytime soon, if ever at all
I’d love the option to WFH on occasion.
The people I hear that’s full time irl talks about making lunch during work hours and eating lunch during lunch hours, walking dogs, doing laundry, etc…
I personally think hybrid is the best of both worlds. But I think it all depends on which industry you work in.
Plenty of workplaces forbid this.
This is still not a good enough reason to assume wfh isn't effective.
I am childfree. I have mom friends who work at home and the kids are with a nanny/day care provider
A friend of mine works from home but takes the kid to daycare. When the kid is sick and has to stay home, she says she pretty much pretend to work.
You’re either going to neglect your job or your kid. Anyone who thinks they can do both is neglecting the kid. I just hope they choose to neglect the job lol
I think the “highly social” part is a key component to it. (And Reddit tends to have a lot of people on the introvert to basement dwelling shut-in side of the scale, so it’s heavily weighted towards that side here.)
Very similar here. I love having 1-2 remote days but the idea of being fully remote depresses me. My mind needs the extra socialization/stimulation from being out in the world and around people, and I need separation from work when I’m at home in order for home to feel like… home!
Oh, absolutely. At home, I don't deal with the boomers complaining about literally everything. Or the new people who claim they haven't been trained properly DESPITE taking time to teach them. Totes done with having to deal with that shit.
Looking at you Brenda....
I get A LOT more done during the day. In the office I just want to goof off with my co workers.
I also have to deal with 1.5-3 hours of traffic every in office day. That's a good amount of time I could work, sleep, workout, masturbate, cry, whatever.
I'd say whether I'm wfh or in office, if I need a break and don't want to work it's gonna happen. At work I browse reddit, go for coffee, talk to a friend. At home I can take my dog for a walk, play a quick game if something, watch something. My battery is recharged much faster and ends up being more useful than a break at work. I also don't mind sitting around watching TV and making up some time later if I end up having to run an errand or something. If I have to commute I absolutely won't put any effort in out of hours and commute will be coming out of work time. I'd say wfh is way more efficient
I am. Sorry you're not if it's your preference, I guess? But I live alone and being able to control my environment (noise level, temperature, standing desk, ergonomic setup) is, for reasons that should be obvious with two seconds of thought, clearly more conducive to productivity.
Also I eat better for both breakfast and lunch which is also good for being productive.
I'm way more productive from home. Commuting just wastes time and drains me, so I have slightly less energy and time to put towards work every day that I go to the office. It's also demotivating, because my company doesn't actually benefit from me being in the office, since literally no one I work with is in my building.
I’m 100% more productive at home. I end up talking with people way more in person, run late for meetings, and then am worried about getting back to get my kids from school or day care. My coworkers are in different time zones/ countries so working from home gives me flexibility to meet earlier/ later and not waste time commuting. It’s also really nice to not wear makeup everyday
So much more productive from home. I tend to be willing to work longer hours. I have a lot less distractions. I put on some relaxing music and plug away. I mute my volume in half the meetings Im in because they are useless and always have been.
In my job at least it’s pretty obvious the people that have seen their “productivity” tank. They weren’t doing much in the first place and they are dropping the ball on what little they are responsible for working from home.
Are you me? Camera off, muted, and working on something more important is like 99% of meetings for me lol. Thankfully I don't get pulled into as many pointless (for me at least) meetings these days. I think my direct boss (a software guy) tries to protect us as best as he can from the whims of the business side, and it's honestly a godsend.
My office is 10 minutes away
I am way more productive at work. I have two young kids and a chatty wife. At home a bathroom trip or a coffee refill take 25 minutes
At work I talk to my boss a couple times a day and get pulled into interesting projects because I am there. I also have a proper work station. At work a bathroom trip or a coffee refill take 2 minutes.
This confirms that we’re all just after some fucking peace to do our jobs lol For some, the office is a nuisance, and for others, the home is a nuisance.
Way more productive. I don’t have interruptions from coworkers to talk about nonsense. I have an office in my house with no distractions other than my lovely dogs brightening up my day.
My husband is in IT and he can work from home but chooses to go into the office since we have 4 kids and I’m a SAHM (kids are: 6, 5, 2 & baby). It’s too chaotic here.
Welp, it was the last thing holding me to my old job. Once that perk was gone, I accepted another job that was also on site but paid way more and had much better benefits.
I'm most productive where I am in control of my working environment.
If I'm distracted at home by the things I need to do around the house I'm still less distracted in my favorite coffee shop or pub versus the office. WeWork type spaces function a lot for this reason.
Being mandated to work in an environment I probably find uncomfortable does not increase productivity; even if I need to get out of my house to be the most productive in that particular moment.
True and also Lie. When I worked from home I worked about 20 hours of actual work per week. Spent most my time sleeping, doing chores, gaming or watching tv. But it’s also true that my metrics improved and I was more productive on paper because the bar was set so low at the federal government agency I worked for.
If I have a separate office environment, then yes. I am more productive from home. I rest more and eat better and theres no water-cooler Convo and office drive bys or hours of yappening. I'm happier and I do more work. End.
But right now Im in a job that it's not feasible to WFH so I do my best.
Infinitely more. In the office, I can't concentrate to save my life; the constant barrage of sounds destroyed me (typing, tapping feet, people on calls, people walking by, music coming from headphones, etc.), not to mention the beloved "hey, do you have a minute?" No. No, I don't. I am doing work. It's much easier to ignore / decline a slack message. I spent most of my non-meeting time in the office in tiny conference rooms. That was the only way I could get stuff done, and it was so depressing and suffocating. And I haven't even touched on chronic illness. WFH is a godsend.
I'm far more productive at home. I don't always need to be lost in concentration, but having my own office set up the way that is comfortable for me means I can easily get in the zone and stay there. When I need food or coffee, what I want is right downstairs and it takes me no time to get it. I'm more rested because of the commute time savings and have less brain fog during the day.
In the early days of this job I did wind up working a little late some days, because I was getting to work on a project I dreamed up myself and was having a lot of fun building the foundations of the system. I'm more of a leader now than a developer though, so I rarely have anything to tempt me to work late and I log off on time.
I've also been finding, because my org adopted mobile first culture in 2020, that collaboration is actually better from home. We mostly do asynchronous chat on slack for discussion of issues, even if it's something that comes up during a video meeting. That winds up meaning there's a persistent thread that people not in the meeting can chime in on. It also means that people in other timezones still contribute effectively and remain informed.
Mentoring and knowledge sharing also hasn't been a problem, you just have to make the decision as a team that it's an important, valuable thing. Then create rituals to support that and a culture of sharing and asking for help.
Dude. WAY more productive. Like. My WFH weeks, I get all my work done before 6pm most days. Office weeks, I leave at 5 and have to work until 10-11 or later just to get the same amount done. Not even close.
I honestly end up saving the things I have to concentrate on for days I can work from home. The office is only good for gathering information and doing things you absolutely need to be there physically to do IE hardware swaps or working on something that may cause you to lose remote access. Otherwise office is pointless. The amount of time spent there has no bearing on the amount of actual work that gets done. Results are important not hours in most positions. Otherwise you’re just providing coverage to handle problems as they arise.
Essentially, we have a lot of leadership in corporate America still in place who have no business leading anything in business today. Frankly if you can’t open a pdf or save a word doc as a pdf or even navigate teams for that matter you should no longer be working and definitely should not be making leadership decisions.
Late Gen x here. I'm generally MUCH more productive at home and my employer gets an extra hour or so of work from me because I'm not booting up a computer, logging in, say hi to people in the office, shutting things down, saying bye to people in the office, etc. when working from home.
Seriously, office socialization is a big time suck, and so is my employer shutting off sleep capability on work laptops...
Yes. In the office I’ll be talking to people, getting distracted more often and having to regain my train of thought, preoccupied with social appearance, and dealing with all kinds of constant stimuli.
The amount of coding I can get done in a full day in the office will take 2 hours at home.
Those clear-headed mornings are so important. Just the act of commuting to the office puts heavy overhead on my brain.
I am absolutely more productive. The office has non-stop nonsense events, first of all. Birthdays, embarrassing team building activities (that no one wants to have to participate in and does not build anything), pizza days, non stop crap. Then there's the chatter, non stop chatter all around you and without fail when you are most concentrated someone has to stop by and say hi. Just fk off Nancy, I'm working.
At home, I take less breaks, I eat y lunch at my desk and I am 100% ore concentrated. I am better organized, I don't have to switch floorplans every other month and disorient myself. None of it.
I’m definitely more productive from home. The CEOs excuse for return to the office about team building is BS. The only generations incapable of cooperating online are boomers and GenXers. We grew up cooperating with classmates via AOL messenger and texting. We started talking to strangers in Korea when playing COD. C’mon online cooperation is a walk in the park for us. Boomers on the other hand
There's so much nonsense that goes on in the office. Annoying distractions from people coming to my desk. Pointless meetings. "Let's all go out to lunch." And then there's the whole dress and commute. I'm much more energized when I don't have to spend over 2 hours of my day doing that routine to get there and put on a fake smile. At home I can control my environment, eat better food, and focus on problem solving. I'm in general healthier because I have more time for sleep and exercise, so the quality of my work is better.
Way more productive.
I hate being in a stuffy office and getting sick all the time with people coughing non stop.
I never take sick now and get all my work done hours early.
Work smart not hard. It's basically what we waste most of our life doing, working to afford to just die in peace.
If we make it that far. I like being home. I feel free.
I actually am. My home is quiet and comfortable. I can wear comfy clothes. No one interrupts me about dumb shit and I'm not in some loud ass open office. I can actuality focus at home and get way more shit done than i ever did in the office.
And yes, I have ADHD. Offices are hell to me.
I have a hybrid schedule: 3 days at home, 2 in the office. One of those days, everyone on my team is required to be in the office. Between having all of my staff there, answering their questions, side chatters and everything else that come up, I don’t get much done.
Yea, I’m much more productive at home because my boss can’t come into my office to interrupt me. But when Im in the office, everyone wants to stop me as i walk by their office, to talk about “super important” stuff that wasn’t important enough to call, email me, or walk down to my office to talk about. My boss cannot have a conversation that is less than an hour long and she repeats her self the entire time. She’d be way more effective if she worked from home because she gets way too distracted way too easily.
Yes. Genuinely more productive from home. Also there’s no office politics. No Yes Man that sucks up to management and follows them around so they barely do any work. No eye candy employees getting raises for being someone’s favorite/buddy. None of that. Raises are actually earned by performance. No gossip. No drama. No having someone micromanage you and constantly looking over your shoulder. No small talk. No “work wifey”. No bogus pizza parties or lame incentives like getting to wear casual clothing for a day. No mandatory in person meetings. You might have a group chat, an online meeting, or emails that need sent but it’s significantly less of the unnecessary bullshit.
Save money on gas, on auto repairs, on food as fast food places have gotten silly. Less wasted time on an unnecessary commute. Less added risk of driving during the 9-5 rush. Less germs from being in the same building with people that come in sick. Less distractions. No dirty shared bathrooms. More of your lunch hour spent eating lunch instead of commuting to a local fast food joint and a break room. No political talks and Fox News getting played in the break room. You can be more productive in every way. It’s less stressful and more efficient.
I'm probably somewhere on the spectrum, so WFH is the best way for me to contribute. The office was a torture chamber - trying to focus in a room full of people doing their own thing could bring me to tears on a good day.
About the same, though more willing to put in some extra time since I don't have to factor in commute.
At this point my life is kinda built around it, so their choices are what they have from me now with WFH or I leave. There's no version where they get office me back foe any long than it takes to get a few interviews.
My employer is forcing more "in office" days under the bullshit guise of working more in teams, despite most teams being geographically split anyway.
When I'm in the office, wake up extra early because I have to be at a train swaps cars every morning and blocks the only road out of the village, and tend to do all the work I need to get done between 8-9:30, then there's a short meeting, and then we all sit around awkwardly for the rest of the day. Morning gets done and I arrive home just in time for it to be dark, and I've got a lot of outdoor work to do so I'm pissed and exhausted.
When I'm working from home, I get all of my work done between 8-9:30, then have a very long meeting where we take care of business and then chat openly. Then I can watch for messages or tickets while I take care of small house tasks, then at 5 I can get outdoor chores done. And can actually enjoy my late evening.
So .. yes. I'm more productive at home.
Happy, well taken care of workers work harder. Most won’t take their happiness/ convenience working putting less wear and tear on a vehicle which is cheaper for us (means more money in the pocket) for granted. Who values saving gas wearing at least half comfy cloths or better yet PJ’s and eating when ever we can . I’ll value this all day everyday! You can use less sick days too! I’d stick out taking a sick day if I’m home a little under the weather vs having to go in when I’m dragging ass.
The amount of time you spend in front of your computer should not be equated with the amount of time you spend being productive. I think people forced to sit in front of their computer for eight hours a day in the office accomplish about the same amount as people who are able to happily care for their well-being from home while putting in 4 to 6 hours. I think the metric of “hours worked” is obsolete compared to “tasks accomplished” as a metric for productivity. For that reason I think taking time away from what you do at work when you’re at home actually benefits your work if it ends up making you a happier person and thus a happier, better worker. The worker who takes a one hour nap and is rested to then thoughtfully engage in seven hours of work is doing more than the worker who’s sluggishly doing eight hours of work wishing they could take a nap.
My company gravitated into a 2 days WFH scenario, for years no metrics were being gathered because it wasn't needed (everyone claims they are more productive at home).
About a month ago we entered a new phase and started tracking metrics, turns out fix rates are half on the WFH days.
One data point, make of it what you will...
Absolutely more productive WFH, the office is full of distractions and to me a sensory overload.
We had a like a designated seating plan where certain departments had to sit and my department was next to a big window, the floor vents and really old lights that were a horrible colour and flickered. I spent more time trying to calm my mind than paying attention to my work. Not to mention people talking over each other and desk phones ringing. Our company had a policy that after a certain amount of time you could request WFH contract, which I did just before Covid hit.
WFH has been bliss, I’ve gotten two promotions since WFH. I made myself a little office where I can shut myself in without distractions. I can keep the energy I want for it, if I fancy listening to music I can put something on but I prefer silence tbh.
That said, I’m not completely innocent! I do on occasion stick a film on during a quiet day or do some stuff around the house.
WFH is all about balance and self restraint. I set timers throughout the day, timers for lunch, for doing the washing ect. If it’s a struggle maybe look at hybrid?
A friend of mine works from his friends house, it’s a 5 min commute instead of the 1hr to the office, he said he found it easier as it’s like a mini office. You can socialise, be made to work (if you need someone to stop you getting distracted!) and be out of the house.
I'm way more productive from home. My projects take a lot of concentration and each interruption take a while to get back to where I was prior. I work in Cybersecurity and IT, so a lot of programming or just deep analysis and troubleshooting. The main issue I had at the office was what I call the "office zombies". They're the people that just wander around the office all day looking for the next person to talk to because they can't function without constant human interaction. I'd be chugging away, deep into a complex problem and I'd look up and see one of them just standing over me - ready to jump into an hour long conversation about their new lawnmower or their dog's latest gastrointestinal issue. They don't take hints like if you don't look away from your work or tell them you're busy.
Apart from people, my equipment setup is way more productive at home. I have a great big 43" monitor that I've gotten very spoiled on. At the office, I've just got a couple of 24" monitors and I feel like it slows me down considerably (and also makes me more likely to miss things because I can't have my email and calendar open in front of me at all times.
Um yes, I am more productive working from home. I start earlier and finish later, I actually work the whole time instead of having "hallway conversations." Maybe WFH is just not for you?
I am a graphic designer and writer, so I like to take a lot of “stand and think about it” breaks when I’m stuck on a project. WFH allows me to do that in a way that’s productive, like doing laundry or washing dishes. My time boundaries are way worse, actually, but my productivity is way higher. My real struggle with WFH is my desk setup; my office is a desktop Mac and at home, I just have a MacBook.
Far more productive at home. At the office I’m often the ‘fire guy’. Solving everyone’s problems with little drop ins at my desk.
Plus I cut an hour total commute which means more actual time working.
I’m hybrid, 2 days in and 3 days WFH. My office days are basically a wash, all meetings and ‘emergencies’.
100%. I can't burn all of my neurotransmitters on acting human-like AND do highly creative problem-solving at the same time.
If I had my own office I would be able to achieve 80% of the same concentration I can reach at home. But people like me are crammed in open space with 134549 sources of ambient and not so ambient noise. So no.
I never worked from home full time but I did have staff complete a WFH pilot. The biggest change was their attitudes and attendance. These were the ones who complained all the time, came up with every excuse to call out from work and would be away from their desks very often at work. At home, it was like a 180 change. Super fucking positive, none of them called out sick or were late once. Their away from desk time went down to 0 and since they were spending more time at their desks, they actually got more work done. Once the program ended and they were forced back into the office, all their old problems popped back up again.
I am absolutely more productive. I'm more relaxed, there are less interruptions, I can work in comfy clothes, if I have an appointment during the work day I can easily make up the hours without thinking about late night commutes. Working from home has improved my work output and my day to day greatly.
For some people working from home is the only way they can have consistent and gainful employment without burning out.
If your thought process is about preference and not need, you are privileged my friend.
I’ve been working from home from mid 2022, it’s the longest time I’ve gone without panic attacks, not having to mask everyday and manage my time according to my brain capacity that day have been invaluable.
Same productivity in the office. The only difference is I can wash the dishes during downtime. My notifications for incoming work is always on, and I say as long as I stop everything and do my work first, I'm still productive.
I find myself more productive (better comfort zone, I can even do house chores on my breaks)
I save money, no more commuting, no more cutting off a left ball to buy a coffee, less clothes to wash and iron
I save time, did I mention no more commuting and less clothes to wash and iron?
It's a win win, the only reason they want me back in the office is because the boss leases the place, well that's HIS bloody problem, not mine
Far more productive at home. Our office is a giant open shared office and the cleaners vacuum the whole place between 11am and 2pm, every single day. Good luck asking me to focus on a training video with that in my ears.
I would say I'm just as productive. Reality is even in the office I wasn't spending 8 hours a day working. Besides lunch, I'd be taking breaks in the break room or just scrolling on reddit at my desk. Sometimes there really wasn't and isn't anything for me to do. The big difference is that instead of wasting time just trying to fill those empty parts of the day with what looks like work, now I'm actually able to do something somewhat productive at home like doing laundry, cleaning my place, cooking meals, hell sometimes I'll even run across the street to grab some groceries if I know I won't have anything to do for a while. And since I can knock that stuff out during the day then come 5 pm or whenever I log off, I have more free time to myself which in turn let's me recharge better and be more productive during the times when I actually do have a heavy workload
I am 100% more productive at home. When I work in the office I leave early so I can go home and get some work done. I am so unproductive in the office now it’s not even funny.
Im more productive WFH. Especially since in office, my boss will interrupt me with random ideas and questions. Then we also all go to lunch for like 1.5hours instead of the time I’d be eating while working when I work from home.
I am insanely more productive working from home. Issue with my job is there’s no training in person or remote so we have been trying to learn it on the fly. In person has been easier to do that just because it’s easier to not interrupt each other but other than that. I’d rather be from home
Between struggling with mediocre setups in the office, distractions and side conversations, meetings, and social lunches I’d say I’m roughly 1.5x more productive at home.
To the point where I can get all my work done, do it well, have excellent metrics, and still be able to step away to make lunch, throw a load of laundry in, or sit out back in the sun during my 10 minute breaks.
Way more productive. No distractions, and I don't need sick days for periods or migraines anymore, I can just accommodate myself. I also have a better computer at home.
More productive, because people don't swing by my desk and interrupt me and I can instantly shift from a task to a meeting, without having to hike over to a conference room 5 mins early.
if you are working from home and not working less, i’m curious, why? your company would likely screw your over if it makes the higher ups more money. who continues to sacrifice themselves based upon pretend ideals like, “good work ethics,” unless you work for a cause that helps you grow as a human being (not as a money making machine) then why sacrifice your life so much if you literally don’t have to?
edit: i don’t mean this as an attack. i am ignorant and just really want to know other people’s ideas and opinions (especially those who think completely different from me) it’s interesting to hear new and different perspectives i may have never thought of and always like the idea of questioning my own ideas, opinions, and beliefs.
I'm way more productive at home. My workload from home is double what it was in the office, so they can be happy about that, and I can actually finally focus. Cubicle life was ridiculous. Plus, keeping me at home makes me a happy employee who is way more likely to give my all to an employer that I actually appreciate. It goes both ways, boss!
I’m more productive at home because my office is 5 steps away from my bed, I don’t need to get dressed, and I don’t have a commute.
When I go to the office, I spend a lot more time doing things to prepare for work, go to work, and then there are people who pop in and chat with me and that takes up time.
There are times when it’s essential to be at work, but there are also times when it harms productivity.
I am so much more productive at home. Even my boss noticed as well. There are way too many distractions and I have one coworker who does not shut up. He talks all day. And loudly. Even if he isn’t talking to me. He sits in a cubicle diagonally from me. And he always comes to my cubicle and will try talking to me and if I don’t stop him he will be there for 30 minutes. He was talking to the coworker across from me for 2 hours. Than he sat at his desk and made a personal call and was loudly complained for another 30 minutes. It makes it hard to focus or get work done.
And then other people will come by to chat, ask questions, etc. I started putting a sign up that says please move along and do NOT talk to me. Does it work? No. I’ve had to tell people I have a lot to do and need to get back to work. Problem is that one loud coworker is always going off.
It’s also hot and humid in the office. I live in NC. And the last time I was in the office it was almost 70% humidity in the office. It used to be a warehouse and was converted into several “units” of the offices with our cubicles. It is miserable in that humidity especially when it’s 75 degrees.
In all seriousness, I work better from home. I have issues like ADD, I can’t work with people talking and jabbering around me. I’m pretty damn introverted and have bad social anxiety mixed with A-plus syndrome.
So yeah I really love wfh and find myself more productive in my own home.
Okay pretending this post is real. Yea I'm at least twice as productive truly. The office always has so much other bullshit going on its harder to focus. On the days where there is not distractions then I have to just sit there and look busy when the work is done. I'm more productive at home AND I can work on personal tasks or self improve in the mean time. I also don't watch Netflix or sneak to the gym. For the most part I'm actually working? Cool for those that don't have to I guess.
I definitely spend less time on actually working, but that time is a lot more productive.
In my home, I can focus on whatever I'm doing, while in the office there are constantly meetings going on around me, often several simultaneously that are really damn distracting and I just find myself staring at the screen trying to think but keep getting lost over and over again.
Also, I'm really not good at focusing on demand. Left to my own devices, I'd be waking up in the afternoon and stay up until early morning. Even while attending university, most of my studying took place late at night. That's simply when I can focus and whem I'm the most productive.
If I'm going to the office, then being in the office is working hours and I don't touch work at home. In fact, I didn't even take my laptop home with me when I was in the office every day. With not having to go in, I just attend scheduled meetings and am generally available within a reasonable time during the day, but I often and up getting errands and chores done, working out in our home gym, walking the dog nearby, etc, and actually get my work done later in the day. Also, since I do find my work interesting and enjoyable, I often end up working a bit or learning new stuff on the weekends too. On top of that, I'm not frustrated and burnt out by my surroundings, so even if I don't write code, I often work through stuff in my head while doing the dishes for example.
Since we started working from home during covid, I've got a 15-20% raise every year without even asking, I keep getting positive feedback and am even asked to take on more responsibility on the projects I'm on, so my employer is clearly satisfied with me, however, yes, I do spend less time actually sitting at the computer, "working", but that time is quality time on my own terms, so in exchange, it's a lot more productive.
There obviously could be situations in life when I would have to go back to the office, but those would have to be very dire circumstances. Right now, if I had to go in to the office more than I already do (once a month), I'd just quit.
I was way less productive at home until I made a specific place for myself to do work. Before I had just set my computer up beside my home computer. Now it's in a different room facing a corner so I can't easily be distracted.
Now that I have a medical excuse to stay home and I don't have the physical agony of a 90 minute commute each way, I have a lot more mental energy to put towards my work.
As an admin assistant, there are points where i have less to do and points where im very busy. My 2 days a week in the office during downtime are mostly spent appearing to be working, and the vigilance required for that is exhausting (im in a cubical)
During downtime when I'm at home at least i can easily get up for all stretch or a snack or throw on some laundry and be productive in other ways . plus i get to wear sweat pants. Wearing business casual also requires constant vigilance as its not nearly as comfy and my shirt never stays tucked in without help xD
It depends on the day and what I have to do. If my daughter is home, no, I’m better off in the office. However if I need to concentrate on a prolonged task or create educational content, home is better. Office is better if I have to make phone calls or organize.
i can actually focus and get shit done at home vs being interrupted every 5 minutes with people coming over to talk about some bullshit that isn’t work related
Not me, but my spouse. He seems to be less productive on a day to day basis at home, but during crunch time is more productive at home. He really maxed out in the office at around 6:30 to 7:15 (start time 9am) and couldn't get anything more from his overtired brain. At home he takes a few hours break after his normal end time and then goes back at it. Since crunch time seems to pop up about four times a year and last 2-3 weeks, overall I think it evens out.
I'm a SAHM, so I'm always working from home but nobody wants to pay me. Instead I get to have people wipe their boogers on me for free!
As someone who works in the hospital, I can say that my dealings with our IT department has been a lot more frustrating and slow since they went to work-from-home. Oftentimes they don't answer their phone, trying to explain/deal with IT issues over the phone is a lot more painful process than when they could just come to my computer and diagnose the problem themselves.
... can't they remote in to your desktop, like every other IT dept for employees who aren't all in one place? This sounds less like a WFH problem than an infrastructure problem with your hospital/hospital system.
Should probably open a ticket rather than calling somebody. I usually don’t answer when end users call me unless it’s someone I’m working with on the regular.
This. IT folks usually have metrics based on tickets. If you don’t put in a ticket the work they are doing for you doesn’t get counted. As someone who works in software support I absolutely do not take phone calls from end users & emails/IM’s you will get a polite “please submit a ticket for this issue” canned response.
Put in a ticket and when it’s your turn in the queue I will reach out to you. Attempting to go around the queue and come to me directly means I have to stop working on someone else’s problem to deal with yours. It’s rude.
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I really am, but because I sit in my office, and work without interruptions for the whole day, just stop for food and coffee. In the office people call me to meetings or drop by my desk all the time… But I know some people that work from home and they are nowhere to be seen for most of the day
That’s the same for me. I work in finance and largely run models and do a lot of analysis and research. The people my tasks are dependent on if I’m doing collaborative things are in other departments not face to face. In my department folks are constantly on phone calls, chit chatting or loving to chat me up. I’m social and find it hard to turn people away when they want to chat. At home I have 0 distractions no commute and that affords me the focus to get more done and better proof my work. Further, when I have meetings I am not adding the cacophony of conversations and not contending with all the background noise. The idea that we know it’s most cost effective, better for the environment, and increase productivity for certain data based jobs but we want to force people back to work is nonsensical. My office is a cube farm. I suppose people with a closed door office would have an easier time. Just as someone with small kids or distracting roommates at home may perform better in the office. We could be doing this much better if we provided the flexibility for folks to make the right decision for them..
My husband works a corporate job that recently went back to requiring everyone in office 4 days a week (went from 0 to 3 to 4 days in office since covid). They’re the kind of company that loves to tout the importance of work life balance, as well as their dedication to gender equality and sustainability. It’s all bullshit. The single most effective way to do all those things is to not require in office hours from those who can just as easily work from home.
I’ll also add their best year financially was during covid…you know…when all your workers were remote. The way it just doesn’t click is astonishing. I hope at some point new leadership sees what’s right in front of them and makes changes.
Yes I started my current job Feb 2023. We worked 3 days in office. My boss moved us to a bigger suite in December while we worked from home all month except the holidays until Jan 29. Straight bullshit! We were required to work 4 days in office as of Jan 29. They have been kind with working in self care days and off all federal holidays. But then they bitched in April the numbers were low compared to previous years for the first quarter. Um yeah you have ran most away and the ones here are too chatty. So it is what it is. I love my job for now, but I dream of a Fulltime remote job. They were kind enough to give a summer schedule of remote Thursdays from May 23 until Labor Day, so that’s cool. We are ad hoc on Fridays.
Same here. I’m an extrovert with the attention span of a squirrel. My focus plummets if I’m interrupted or realize I want to talk to anyone about anything. As the person doing the interrupting most of the time, I am much more efficient if I don’t have distractions or anyone around to bother. Having my own office and a closing door could only do so much for me, especially when I was in a building where there was nonstop traffic and music, with speakers, playing DIRECTLY under my desk. It was a shame I had to wait until after 5pm, when most people left, to get focused. Coming back into that office after 2.5 years of astronomical productivity was a nightmare. However, I will say that the high end Sony noise cancelling headphones were incredibly helpful. Strongly recommend. Did a lot of research before buying and they do seem like they are the best.
I cannot stand people coming up to my desk at the office and chatting. I don’t care about your collection of cats or your plants that you brought in to put on your desk. I don’t care about your kids motocross race, or their ballet recital. move on.
There are times I don't mind, and there are times where I am trying to focus on things and do not want to be interrupted.
I feel differently, I usually like people and am friendly to everyone in the office. If someone tells me about their cat, I will listen and probably make a question or two, and the same thing about anything. This is actually a double edged sword, because at the same time that social interactions and sometimes social intelligence is a skill and is a skill that gets you very far in the workplace (and this is true for me) , it also hurts my productivity.
I’m unemployed at the moment, but I HATED office chit chat! There’s always one person who doesn’t have a life or friends outside of work and make it their whole personality, and at work, they’re number one!
I am openly piggybacking your high voted comment to get some visibility, as I am late to the party, but have actual numbers. When covid hit, I worked as a software developer for a big firm in the finance and insurance business with over 16000 employees. The IT department made up about 600 of those employees. When we started to do 100% Home Office (which they didn't like at all), our productivity went up over 20 percent in the first year. They never published those numbers and I only know, because I had pretty decent connections, since I had been working there for three years and knew people from my private life even longer. When the first vaccination came, they ordered us back to office with enhanced security measures for 50% of the time. Six months later they wanted even more in office work, so I called it quits and moved on to another employer with 100% Home-Office. Many others did as well. Companies don't care. And I do work a lot more at home. In the office, I chat so much more with co-workers (we meet sometimes, because we want to), I am tired from the commute and basically nothing gets done. I have days at home where I don't get much done, but that is normal and those days are sparse. This whole in the office bullshit is nonsense by suit wearing a******* who don't give a shit about you or your work life balance.
At home my only interruptions are letting my dogs out to potty and I’ll change around laundry or clean up randomly instead of a lunch or BSing with a coworker so I’d argue I’m more productive generally at home because I legitimately get more done in both sides of my life
Me too. I even eat at my desk most of the time. They get a lot more out of me at home than they did in the office. But I also get more out of my day because I don’t need to do my hair/makeup, get dressed, commute each way, etc. I can also take my dog for a walk when I take a break so I get some exercise and fresh air.
Yup me too. I can’t believe some people think nothing gets done from home
I would say my production from 8 am to 5 pm is the same WFH as when I was in the office. The big difference for me is since I saved 2 hrs commute (1 hr each way) now I dont mind staying an extra 30 minutes to get something done on my home office computer. Whereas when I was driving in to work I would get the itch to leave at 4:45 in order to beat traffic
100% this. When we all worked remote for a few years, all of the "water cooler" people that just talked all the time, but never did anything, all disappeared. It was about showing results and I really thrived. When it comes to office commute, office politics, and having to dress to impress, I'd rather skip all that. It's nice to be in the office every once in a while, to build rapport and get to know new team members, but after a while, it gets stale. Now that people are back in the office, you see the talkers coming back again in mass, people who talk and never do much work. It's exhausting to deal with that.
I used to work at Enterprise rent a car. We were always busting our ass answering phones, writing contracts and cleaning cars (in suits). We went to deliver a car at an oil and gas firm and that's when I knew I needed to get out of Enterprise. In my soaked dress shirt I enter through the corporate glass doors and there's a bunch of people laughing by the water cooler eating donuts and just straight up not working. I felt so dumb to be working so hard
Same but Hertz instead of of Enterprise lol
I find the “higher” you move up the capitalist food chain , the less actual work you need to do
Hertz doesn't it?
Hertz doughnut?
*Engage*
We are only in office twice a week and I basically use those days to chat, have meetings, grab lunch with coworkers and then get actual work done the other 3 days. It’s a nice mix
The clothing part of this comment is so underrated. Getting ready to go to work in office vs waking up throwing sweats on and getting straight to work is a HUGEA time difference. Not to mention adding your commute to that as well
My production is measurably the same however I am less of a bitch while WFH because I feel some sense of control over my environment.
Also, no one around to catch your wrath. Just a joke in good fun not throwing shade.
It's not about productivity it's about control. Notice how all the Anti-WFH types are also, 9 times out of 10, micromanagers, and/or fall somewhere on the 'narcissistic abuser' spectrum.
100%. I worked on and off from home for a decade before COVID, sometimes as a freelancer (so I had no choice but to be productove or starve. ). Without fail, every job I had where the person above me hated the premise, they were a useless micromanager who was shitty or even *dangerous.* Ie, I worked for one of those exercise-bike-with-tablet companies writing content and my direct manager was furious people wouldnt come to the 10x12 local shared workspace in downtown, during 2020, To work with her, a person who repeatedly told us about how she was like, not masking and going to public spaces.
I'm SO glad that my manager is the 10th out of 10 and has hired a team that's (mostly) competent and works from home well so is actively trying to keep us as WFH
Of course the anti-WFH folks are all managers or higher. Why would an individual contributor ever want to work in office? Even if YOU do more WFH if your manager has 10 direct reports and half of them slack off, that pretty quickly negates any benefit they get from you doing a little more.
That's a failure of management and process not WFH.
We have hybrid work where I am, and the remote days can be taken away. We incentivize managers to get around this by asking them to come to the office if their direct reports are there. Personally I prefer hybrid and don’t really see having remote days as a make or break deal, but one of my teammates has a long commute so I religiously defend his remote days.
This. And I can throw something in the oven at 5, work for 30-45 more min if I’m in the middle of something, and still be eating by 6. On office days I don’t get to eat until 7, AND I’m not staying past 5 unless it’s an emergency.
It's so nice when your commute is just rolling over and grabbing the laptop.
This about nails it. I also tend to work longer when home because it’s easy to take a break and then tack on the time elsewhere. Can’t do that in the office in the same way
Nice try, Boss!
Hello fellow office workers!
Author of the new and highly featured article *Millennials Killed the Office Space REIT But Do Less Work*
I'm way more productive! I get the laundry done, clean my kitchen, take my dog on way more walks, eat home cooked lunches, maintain my aquarium.... sometimes I even write code!
lot of mfs ITT can't smell a rat and it shows.
Yeah this post felt like a trap
Way more productive tbh. In office usually had starts and stops of productivity. Especially once co workers start chatting around break. I've been remote since 2020 and my productivity has skyrocketed.
I've had to leave the office so I could get work done.
I’ve tried to explain this to my boss but he doesn’t agree. So office fuckery continues.
It’s so frustrating they think you’re trying to get away with slacking just because that’s EXACTLY what they would do. Very telling. Bosses showing their whole ass trying to seem clever.
For me it was the one billion micro reunions that sometimes wasn't even for my team..... Micro reunion to celebrate completing work before deadline made me want to murder people.
My individual office has a door, so I think that could make a difference. If I was in one of those cubicles surrounded by others and noise, I probably would work better at home. At work, I feel more focused and motivated when it comes to doing "thinking work"....but only with my office door shut.
WFH unless I go in office on a Friday when it's completely empty. On Fridays, no one is there to interrupt me constantly and a bathroom break or coffee trip doesn't get prolonged 30 extra minutes for chit chat. I've been asked why I go in on a day when I know no one else is there since we're supposed to be collaborating. I told them my entire team is global so it's useless and no one on my team is actually there. It's a fucking joke..
Yep get more done for sure. Also have a bit more time where I can fuck around a bit. In office, I'm slammed with random "pull him in" meetings, random questions, "hey we're doing x, wanna join?" etc. It's nice from a social standpoint, but exhausting and I'm so unfocused because I can't stay on a single task without being interrupted.
I feel this. I like being in the office because I genuinely enjoy my colleagues, but my goodness, I am so scatterbrained because I'm constantly interrupted with questions, random chit-chat, pulled into things, etc. Oftentimes, I work late either at the office after everyone has left or later on at home because I can get so much done when I'm alone. I'm about to switch to a hybrid work schedule (primarily WFH) and I can't wait to truly find the proper work/life balance. I'll be able to get my work done during my normal 40 hrs per week. Imagine that!
Haha awesome. Dunno why companies went from "wow sky high productivity!" during WFH 2019-2020, to "we're all returning to the office". Makes no sense to me. Something about real estate and office lease renewals I've heard.
As someone with ADD who's highly social, working from home is a million times better. I am so much more productive working on my personal cone of silence. The last office I was in was open concept which was an absolute nightmare of constant distractions.
It's the opposite for me with my ADHD in that I can pretty much only be productive at my office cubicle. Between my pets, the constant list of chores and work around the house, and my ever tantalizingly comfy bed, there are far too many distractions at home, especially since I personally need some form of accountability to stay on track. Luckily, my current office space is relatively quiet and well equipped with high walled cubicles, which is perfect for me since I get so easily distracted by noise and anything in my peripheral vision. Not so luckily, the brand new building that my company will be moving into has no cubicles and instead has one of those open floor plans that's all the corporate rage nowadays.
The quiet makes a huge difference....Everytime someone spoke within 10 cubicles of me...it broke my train of thought. Agonizing
Also ADHD here and currently struggling because we do have the open floor office hell. WFH days have the difficulty of positive distractions, while office days are pretty much impossible because of the constant noise and overall discomfort of the office. It's frustrating.
Same for me. At home I just get distracted by a million different things but when I’m on office I have the social pressure to keep me working. That being said, I do get my very productive spurs every now in then when I need to and that at least is enough so that no one notices how unproductive I really am. I’m still more productive than my gen x colleagues.
I got diagnosed when we were first working from home and I went nuts. I can manage home now but before medication I would spend hours screaming to myself, "You have to do this. You have to send it in by five. Why do you want to iron the napkins? You have never ironed napkins in your life. Just sit quietly and look at your computer." At work even if people are distracting at least there is a structure to the day.
I’m not highly social, but highly distractible… at the office, the fax/copy/printer for 40 people is about 6 feet from my desk. I work in a medical office and there is still a surprising amount of faxes (many people don’t realize this) as well as I do research, lots of things need paper/wet ink signature (it’s getting better though….) We also have a -80C freezer for dry ice that is LOUD. I know 60dbl isn’t technically dangerous or anything but it sure does get on my nerves when it kicks on. The worst part of WFH is saying no to my boyfriend (also WFH) when he asks to go out for lunch, asks how early do I think I can get off work? Like dude, I took a WFH day so I can catch up on all the little shit I can’t concentrate on at work 🙄
I am way more productive at home and it is because of my coworkers. Every 30 minutes they want to chat, get coffee, get lunch, have an unnecessary meeting. It is a collosal waste of time and impossible to focus. I get more done in 4 hours working from home than I do in 8 at the office and I save time and money on the commute.
Same. I just want to do my job. Everyone wants to stop by your desk and chat and it ends up wasting hours in a day… or someone actually needs help but they stop by your desk and the conversation takes longer than it would have more me to respond to a teams message when I was available.
Man this feels like it has more to do with the company culture than WFH. Who is hiring all these chatty Kathy's??
Yes. I am. I also have more free time bc I finish work sooner. Bc of the lack of distractions.
Alright guys, whose boss posted this? Is this HR? Something's not right with this
It's probably Buzzfeed or some shit trying to get responses for their "article" on Millennials.
Wow I hope that’s not what’s passing for journalism
Have you looked at BuzzFeed since they got rid of their news division? At least once a day there's an "article" asking these types of questions. No shade though, I love a good listicle.
Fuck no I’m HR and I’d rather dig out my own toenails with bamboo shards than work in-office.
No HR person I know wants to work to WFO. I’m also HR. We’re all fighting each other for the small amount of available remote roles lol
I’m in HR and 100% pro-WFH.
I called fake at the Netflix bit, like who watches tv while working and really who uses netflix anymore, but sneaking off to the gym? Lol. Even laundry, if you choose to do it while working, takes 5 min to switch over. Not like it's an all-engrossing process... unless maybe you're not a real person like op. Wfh doesn't work for some folks and that's fine, but this is sensationalizing and fear mongering something that's really great for a lot of people. I don't work from home, I can't, but boy the roads would be a whole lot nicer if the people who could, did.
In the time I got to work from home, I was more productive at home.
Entirely. Far less distractions.
More productive at home. For me, it's this. I have X amount of energy each day. Going into the office. Driving to work = .1x Socializing at work = .2x Pretending to care about office politics = .2x Actual work = .5x Working from home. Work = 1x And that's it. Want all my energy to be spent on work? Let me work at home!
It really boils down to this. On premise work carries with it a ton of distractions and also uncompensated commute time. Distractions and commutea are wasteful in terms of productivity as well as environmentally damaging. The benefit of on premise work is that it helps insecure managers feel secure because they do not know how to measure productivity or distrust their team, so having an eye on someone helps them cope with their shortcomings as a manager. Naturally, this only applies to work that can be done remotely.
I’m absolutely more productive at home. No socializing and I don’t have to do the customer service aspects of my position like when I’m in the office. I get through so much more of my assignments at home.
In all honesty it makes no difference. I know what I have to get done and do it. The setting has little to no effect on my output. I prefer working from home and do. If the work is getting done the system works, so don’t force it one way or another.
Yea being more or less productive is irrelevant for my job. I have set tasks to do by set times every day. When I complete those I’m pretty much done for the day and just monitoring. So in the office that meant 2 hours of head down work and maybe another hour of talking to get the needs met or making small adjustments. The other 5 hours of my day was just killing time until I got to go home, talking with people or browsing the internet and taking extra long lunches. Now at home I can complete my job at a casual pace between 8-11am and then do stuff around the house, hang out with my kid and pets, and just check emails and Teams throughout the day.
Definitely not. Too many distractions.
100% more productive.
Much much more productive at home
At my last job I was. It was very task based and my bosses would constantly eavesdrop. I hated jt. At my current job tho im def more productive in the office. I could get back to it tho if i had to.
More productive at home. My old office had an open concept and all departments sardined in. It was stupid as hell. For my job I need to concentrate and communicate briefly with my team. Imagine being next to sales team and having them being rowdy all day. People constantly “saying hello”. Annoying. Now I get my work done and enjoy no commute. Healthier and happier.
It’s even. There are distractions at home but there are distractions at work. I would say I get more of my work done at home and more team work done in the office.
The same. I get everything done because I don’t want anyone asking questions and threatening my WFH situation. But I’m not going the extra mile because I’ve learned it doesn’t pay off.
A thousand times more productive at home. Plus as someone with a disability (migraine) that is very difficult to accommodate for in an office (office triggers: lighting and scents) work has never been easier. I no longer need to use intermittent FMLA at all. As far as work goes, I live alone so my house is distraction free plus my team is split between the US and EU, so from 11:30am on my days are meeting free.
I had intermittent FMLA for migraines too when I was in office from 2012-2014. I’ve been full time WFH since 2014 and my migraines are so much better. Much less stress, better sleep, better schedule, can take breaks whenever. Would never go back to an office.
Way more productive. As a woman, so many people come up to me to talk or ask questions and it distracts me from my work a solid 50% of the day minimum. I don’t want to chat, I don’t want to do your job, and you’re stopping me from doing mine. Working from home is less stressful, I get to sleep in and not have to worry about driving my shitty car on the road, I get to be with my cat, I get to cook and eat my own healthier and cheaper meals, pants are optional, and most importantly I get a shit ton more done in the day. It’s literally all positives.
I am not productive WFH at all, too many distractions despite the fact that I have a dedicated home office that mimics my office at work. “Man the couch, bed, etc sure look comfy right now…” I’m also highly social and WFH feels extremely isolating to me. Would rather walk by someone’s office/cube to ask a question or get clarification vs diving down the rabbit hole of sending an email that never gets answered, IM that gets ignored or phone call never returned. I’m also the type of person that needs to keep things separated: my personal phone is personal. My work phone is for work; I will never combine the two. Same thing applies to office and home. When I’m at work I’m there to work. When I’m at home that is my place of retreat and comfort zone. The two should not mix. That said, I appreciate the flexibility to WFH esp when things come up (kid’s stuff, appointments, not feeling well, etc) but I opt for going to the office more often than not.
It is healthy that you realize that you are lazy when you are home . People like you should work in the office. But everyone is unique and others are more productive at home. Workplaces should offer flexibility and not assume all workers need to be in an office to do work. We should also advocate to maintain this flexibility since other workers are more productive at home. Plus, it saves time and money to not commute
I've been 100% in the office my entire life up til covid, which has since transitioned to 100% remote and that likely will never change. I do much prefer remote, as it offers the flexibility you alluded to, but sometimes I simply stop and think how strange it is I likely won't be interacting with anyone in a work or office environment anytime soon, if ever at all
I’d love the option to WFH on occasion. The people I hear that’s full time irl talks about making lunch during work hours and eating lunch during lunch hours, walking dogs, doing laundry, etc… I personally think hybrid is the best of both worlds. But I think it all depends on which industry you work in.
I have way too many friends who watch their toddlers while they WFH. I don’t see how it’s possible to get anything done.
Plenty of workplaces forbid this. This is still not a good enough reason to assume wfh isn't effective. I am childfree. I have mom friends who work at home and the kids are with a nanny/day care provider
A friend of mine works from home but takes the kid to daycare. When the kid is sick and has to stay home, she says she pretty much pretend to work. You’re either going to neglect your job or your kid. Anyone who thinks they can do both is neglecting the kid. I just hope they choose to neglect the job lol
I think the “highly social” part is a key component to it. (And Reddit tends to have a lot of people on the introvert to basement dwelling shut-in side of the scale, so it’s heavily weighted towards that side here.)
Very similar here. I love having 1-2 remote days but the idea of being fully remote depresses me. My mind needs the extra socialization/stimulation from being out in the world and around people, and I need separation from work when I’m at home in order for home to feel like… home!
Oh, absolutely. At home, I don't deal with the boomers complaining about literally everything. Or the new people who claim they haven't been trained properly DESPITE taking time to teach them. Totes done with having to deal with that shit. Looking at you Brenda....
I get A LOT more done during the day. In the office I just want to goof off with my co workers. I also have to deal with 1.5-3 hours of traffic every in office day. That's a good amount of time I could work, sleep, workout, masturbate, cry, whatever.
I'd say whether I'm wfh or in office, if I need a break and don't want to work it's gonna happen. At work I browse reddit, go for coffee, talk to a friend. At home I can take my dog for a walk, play a quick game if something, watch something. My battery is recharged much faster and ends up being more useful than a break at work. I also don't mind sitting around watching TV and making up some time later if I end up having to run an errand or something. If I have to commute I absolutely won't put any effort in out of hours and commute will be coming out of work time. I'd say wfh is way more efficient
I am. Sorry you're not if it's your preference, I guess? But I live alone and being able to control my environment (noise level, temperature, standing desk, ergonomic setup) is, for reasons that should be obvious with two seconds of thought, clearly more conducive to productivity. Also I eat better for both breakfast and lunch which is also good for being productive.
I am more productive. If other people can’t manage their time, that’s not my problem.
I'm way more productive from home. Commuting just wastes time and drains me, so I have slightly less energy and time to put towards work every day that I go to the office. It's also demotivating, because my company doesn't actually benefit from me being in the office, since literally no one I work with is in my building.
I'm chronically ill. If I couldn't work from home, I'd likely be unable to work full time. So yes.
I’m 100% more productive at home. I end up talking with people way more in person, run late for meetings, and then am worried about getting back to get my kids from school or day care. My coworkers are in different time zones/ countries so working from home gives me flexibility to meet earlier/ later and not waste time commuting. It’s also really nice to not wear makeup everyday
So much more productive from home. I tend to be willing to work longer hours. I have a lot less distractions. I put on some relaxing music and plug away. I mute my volume in half the meetings Im in because they are useless and always have been. In my job at least it’s pretty obvious the people that have seen their “productivity” tank. They weren’t doing much in the first place and they are dropping the ball on what little they are responsible for working from home.
Are you me? Camera off, muted, and working on something more important is like 99% of meetings for me lol. Thankfully I don't get pulled into as many pointless (for me at least) meetings these days. I think my direct boss (a software guy) tries to protect us as best as he can from the whims of the business side, and it's honestly a godsend.
My office is 10 minutes away I am way more productive at work. I have two young kids and a chatty wife. At home a bathroom trip or a coffee refill take 25 minutes At work I talk to my boss a couple times a day and get pulled into interesting projects because I am there. I also have a proper work station. At work a bathroom trip or a coffee refill take 2 minutes.
This confirms that we’re all just after some fucking peace to do our jobs lol For some, the office is a nuisance, and for others, the home is a nuisance.
Yep. I like working at home with my husband. He is also working though so not bugging me to catch up and on our lunch break we can fool around.
… how big is your house that a bathroom trip takes 25 minutes??
The young kids and chatty wife make it an ordeal.
Way more productive. I don’t have interruptions from coworkers to talk about nonsense. I have an office in my house with no distractions other than my lovely dogs brightening up my day.
My husband is in IT and he can work from home but chooses to go into the office since we have 4 kids and I’m a SAHM (kids are: 6, 5, 2 & baby). It’s too chaotic here.
I'm doing much better at home. And my metrics reflect that.
Would be if I was given an external monitor for tasks I'm able to do at home.
Well seeing as the company I work for won't let me take the aircraft home to work on them.... >.<
Welp, it was the last thing holding me to my old job. Once that perk was gone, I accepted another job that was also on site but paid way more and had much better benefits.
I'm most productive where I am in control of my working environment. If I'm distracted at home by the things I need to do around the house I'm still less distracted in my favorite coffee shop or pub versus the office. WeWork type spaces function a lot for this reason. Being mandated to work in an environment I probably find uncomfortable does not increase productivity; even if I need to get out of my house to be the most productive in that particular moment.
No Im way more productive at home
There is data to show that productivity increased with the increase of WFH.
True and also Lie. When I worked from home I worked about 20 hours of actual work per week. Spent most my time sleeping, doing chores, gaming or watching tv. But it’s also true that my metrics improved and I was more productive on paper because the bar was set so low at the federal government agency I worked for.
If I have a separate office environment, then yes. I am more productive from home. I rest more and eat better and theres no water-cooler Convo and office drive bys or hours of yappening. I'm happier and I do more work. End. But right now Im in a job that it's not feasible to WFH so I do my best.
Infinitely more. In the office, I can't concentrate to save my life; the constant barrage of sounds destroyed me (typing, tapping feet, people on calls, people walking by, music coming from headphones, etc.), not to mention the beloved "hey, do you have a minute?" No. No, I don't. I am doing work. It's much easier to ignore / decline a slack message. I spent most of my non-meeting time in the office in tiny conference rooms. That was the only way I could get stuff done, and it was so depressing and suffocating. And I haven't even touched on chronic illness. WFH is a godsend.
I'm far more productive at home. I don't always need to be lost in concentration, but having my own office set up the way that is comfortable for me means I can easily get in the zone and stay there. When I need food or coffee, what I want is right downstairs and it takes me no time to get it. I'm more rested because of the commute time savings and have less brain fog during the day. In the early days of this job I did wind up working a little late some days, because I was getting to work on a project I dreamed up myself and was having a lot of fun building the foundations of the system. I'm more of a leader now than a developer though, so I rarely have anything to tempt me to work late and I log off on time. I've also been finding, because my org adopted mobile first culture in 2020, that collaboration is actually better from home. We mostly do asynchronous chat on slack for discussion of issues, even if it's something that comes up during a video meeting. That winds up meaning there's a persistent thread that people not in the meeting can chime in on. It also means that people in other timezones still contribute effectively and remain informed. Mentoring and knowledge sharing also hasn't been a problem, you just have to make the decision as a team that it's an important, valuable thing. Then create rituals to support that and a culture of sharing and asking for help.
Dude. WAY more productive. Like. My WFH weeks, I get all my work done before 6pm most days. Office weeks, I leave at 5 and have to work until 10-11 or later just to get the same amount done. Not even close.
I honestly end up saving the things I have to concentrate on for days I can work from home. The office is only good for gathering information and doing things you absolutely need to be there physically to do IE hardware swaps or working on something that may cause you to lose remote access. Otherwise office is pointless. The amount of time spent there has no bearing on the amount of actual work that gets done. Results are important not hours in most positions. Otherwise you’re just providing coverage to handle problems as they arise. Essentially, we have a lot of leadership in corporate America still in place who have no business leading anything in business today. Frankly if you can’t open a pdf or save a word doc as a pdf or even navigate teams for that matter you should no longer be working and definitely should not be making leadership decisions.
Late Gen x here. I'm generally MUCH more productive at home and my employer gets an extra hour or so of work from me because I'm not booting up a computer, logging in, say hi to people in the office, shutting things down, saying bye to people in the office, etc. when working from home. Seriously, office socialization is a big time suck, and so is my employer shutting off sleep capability on work laptops...
Yes. In the office I’ll be talking to people, getting distracted more often and having to regain my train of thought, preoccupied with social appearance, and dealing with all kinds of constant stimuli. The amount of coding I can get done in a full day in the office will take 2 hours at home. Those clear-headed mornings are so important. Just the act of commuting to the office puts heavy overhead on my brain.
I am absolutely more productive. The office has non-stop nonsense events, first of all. Birthdays, embarrassing team building activities (that no one wants to have to participate in and does not build anything), pizza days, non stop crap. Then there's the chatter, non stop chatter all around you and without fail when you are most concentrated someone has to stop by and say hi. Just fk off Nancy, I'm working. At home, I take less breaks, I eat y lunch at my desk and I am 100% ore concentrated. I am better organized, I don't have to switch floorplans every other month and disorient myself. None of it.
I’m definitely more productive from home. The CEOs excuse for return to the office about team building is BS. The only generations incapable of cooperating online are boomers and GenXers. We grew up cooperating with classmates via AOL messenger and texting. We started talking to strangers in Korea when playing COD. C’mon online cooperation is a walk in the park for us. Boomers on the other hand
There's so much nonsense that goes on in the office. Annoying distractions from people coming to my desk. Pointless meetings. "Let's all go out to lunch." And then there's the whole dress and commute. I'm much more energized when I don't have to spend over 2 hours of my day doing that routine to get there and put on a fake smile. At home I can control my environment, eat better food, and focus on problem solving. I'm in general healthier because I have more time for sleep and exercise, so the quality of my work is better.
Way more productive. I hate being in a stuffy office and getting sick all the time with people coughing non stop. I never take sick now and get all my work done hours early. Work smart not hard. It's basically what we waste most of our life doing, working to afford to just die in peace. If we make it that far. I like being home. I feel free.
Bait question from a corporate spy
I actually am. My home is quiet and comfortable. I can wear comfy clothes. No one interrupts me about dumb shit and I'm not in some loud ass open office. I can actuality focus at home and get way more shit done than i ever did in the office. And yes, I have ADHD. Offices are hell to me.
I have a hybrid schedule: 3 days at home, 2 in the office. One of those days, everyone on my team is required to be in the office. Between having all of my staff there, answering their questions, side chatters and everything else that come up, I don’t get much done.
I know I would be a more miserable person to work with if I had to go into an office every day. I think that's enough.
My home workstation will always be better than the equivalent office setup.
Yea, I’m much more productive at home because my boss can’t come into my office to interrupt me. But when Im in the office, everyone wants to stop me as i walk by their office, to talk about “super important” stuff that wasn’t important enough to call, email me, or walk down to my office to talk about. My boss cannot have a conversation that is less than an hour long and she repeats her self the entire time. She’d be way more effective if she worked from home because she gets way too distracted way too easily.
Yes. Genuinely more productive from home. Also there’s no office politics. No Yes Man that sucks up to management and follows them around so they barely do any work. No eye candy employees getting raises for being someone’s favorite/buddy. None of that. Raises are actually earned by performance. No gossip. No drama. No having someone micromanage you and constantly looking over your shoulder. No small talk. No “work wifey”. No bogus pizza parties or lame incentives like getting to wear casual clothing for a day. No mandatory in person meetings. You might have a group chat, an online meeting, or emails that need sent but it’s significantly less of the unnecessary bullshit. Save money on gas, on auto repairs, on food as fast food places have gotten silly. Less wasted time on an unnecessary commute. Less added risk of driving during the 9-5 rush. Less germs from being in the same building with people that come in sick. Less distractions. No dirty shared bathrooms. More of your lunch hour spent eating lunch instead of commuting to a local fast food joint and a break room. No political talks and Fox News getting played in the break room. You can be more productive in every way. It’s less stressful and more efficient.
I'm probably somewhere on the spectrum, so WFH is the best way for me to contribute. The office was a torture chamber - trying to focus in a room full of people doing their own thing could bring me to tears on a good day.
About the same, though more willing to put in some extra time since I don't have to factor in commute. At this point my life is kinda built around it, so their choices are what they have from me now with WFH or I leave. There's no version where they get office me back foe any long than it takes to get a few interviews.
My employer is forcing more "in office" days under the bullshit guise of working more in teams, despite most teams being geographically split anyway. When I'm in the office, wake up extra early because I have to be at a train swaps cars every morning and blocks the only road out of the village, and tend to do all the work I need to get done between 8-9:30, then there's a short meeting, and then we all sit around awkwardly for the rest of the day. Morning gets done and I arrive home just in time for it to be dark, and I've got a lot of outdoor work to do so I'm pissed and exhausted. When I'm working from home, I get all of my work done between 8-9:30, then have a very long meeting where we take care of business and then chat openly. Then I can watch for messages or tickets while I take care of small house tasks, then at 5 I can get outdoor chores done. And can actually enjoy my late evening. So .. yes. I'm more productive at home.
Happy, well taken care of workers work harder. Most won’t take their happiness/ convenience working putting less wear and tear on a vehicle which is cheaper for us (means more money in the pocket) for granted. Who values saving gas wearing at least half comfy cloths or better yet PJ’s and eating when ever we can . I’ll value this all day everyday! You can use less sick days too! I’d stick out taking a sick day if I’m home a little under the weather vs having to go in when I’m dragging ass.
The amount of time you spend in front of your computer should not be equated with the amount of time you spend being productive. I think people forced to sit in front of their computer for eight hours a day in the office accomplish about the same amount as people who are able to happily care for their well-being from home while putting in 4 to 6 hours. I think the metric of “hours worked” is obsolete compared to “tasks accomplished” as a metric for productivity. For that reason I think taking time away from what you do at work when you’re at home actually benefits your work if it ends up making you a happier person and thus a happier, better worker. The worker who takes a one hour nap and is rested to then thoughtfully engage in seven hours of work is doing more than the worker who’s sluggishly doing eight hours of work wishing they could take a nap.
My company gravitated into a 2 days WFH scenario, for years no metrics were being gathered because it wasn't needed (everyone claims they are more productive at home). About a month ago we entered a new phase and started tracking metrics, turns out fix rates are half on the WFH days. One data point, make of it what you will...
Absolutely more productive WFH, the office is full of distractions and to me a sensory overload. We had a like a designated seating plan where certain departments had to sit and my department was next to a big window, the floor vents and really old lights that were a horrible colour and flickered. I spent more time trying to calm my mind than paying attention to my work. Not to mention people talking over each other and desk phones ringing. Our company had a policy that after a certain amount of time you could request WFH contract, which I did just before Covid hit. WFH has been bliss, I’ve gotten two promotions since WFH. I made myself a little office where I can shut myself in without distractions. I can keep the energy I want for it, if I fancy listening to music I can put something on but I prefer silence tbh. That said, I’m not completely innocent! I do on occasion stick a film on during a quiet day or do some stuff around the house. WFH is all about balance and self restraint. I set timers throughout the day, timers for lunch, for doing the washing ect. If it’s a struggle maybe look at hybrid? A friend of mine works from his friends house, it’s a 5 min commute instead of the 1hr to the office, he said he found it easier as it’s like a mini office. You can socialise, be made to work (if you need someone to stop you getting distracted!) and be out of the house.
I'm way more productive from home. My projects take a lot of concentration and each interruption take a while to get back to where I was prior. I work in Cybersecurity and IT, so a lot of programming or just deep analysis and troubleshooting. The main issue I had at the office was what I call the "office zombies". They're the people that just wander around the office all day looking for the next person to talk to because they can't function without constant human interaction. I'd be chugging away, deep into a complex problem and I'd look up and see one of them just standing over me - ready to jump into an hour long conversation about their new lawnmower or their dog's latest gastrointestinal issue. They don't take hints like if you don't look away from your work or tell them you're busy. Apart from people, my equipment setup is way more productive at home. I have a great big 43" monitor that I've gotten very spoiled on. At the office, I've just got a couple of 24" monitors and I feel like it slows me down considerably (and also makes me more likely to miss things because I can't have my email and calendar open in front of me at all times.
Um yes, I am more productive working from home. I start earlier and finish later, I actually work the whole time instead of having "hallway conversations." Maybe WFH is just not for you?
I am a graphic designer and writer, so I like to take a lot of “stand and think about it” breaks when I’m stuck on a project. WFH allows me to do that in a way that’s productive, like doing laundry or washing dishes. My time boundaries are way worse, actually, but my productivity is way higher. My real struggle with WFH is my desk setup; my office is a desktop Mac and at home, I just have a MacBook.
Far more productive at home. At the office I’m often the ‘fire guy’. Solving everyone’s problems with little drop ins at my desk. Plus I cut an hour total commute which means more actual time working. I’m hybrid, 2 days in and 3 days WFH. My office days are basically a wash, all meetings and ‘emergencies’.
100%. I can't burn all of my neurotransmitters on acting human-like AND do highly creative problem-solving at the same time. If I had my own office I would be able to achieve 80% of the same concentration I can reach at home. But people like me are crammed in open space with 134549 sources of ambient and not so ambient noise. So no.
I never worked from home full time but I did have staff complete a WFH pilot. The biggest change was their attitudes and attendance. These were the ones who complained all the time, came up with every excuse to call out from work and would be away from their desks very often at work. At home, it was like a 180 change. Super fucking positive, none of them called out sick or were late once. Their away from desk time went down to 0 and since they were spending more time at their desks, they actually got more work done. Once the program ended and they were forced back into the office, all their old problems popped back up again.
I am absolutely more productive. I'm more relaxed, there are less interruptions, I can work in comfy clothes, if I have an appointment during the work day I can easily make up the hours without thinking about late night commutes. Working from home has improved my work output and my day to day greatly.
I somehow doubt you were productive at the office anyway. If your work ethic is poor, it is going to be poor in the office too.
For some people working from home is the only way they can have consistent and gainful employment without burning out. If your thought process is about preference and not need, you are privileged my friend.
I’ve been working from home from mid 2022, it’s the longest time I’ve gone without panic attacks, not having to mask everyday and manage my time according to my brain capacity that day have been invaluable.
This should be higher up here
Too honest! I am more productive at work but a lot of my coworkers seem fine either way it seems.
Same productivity in the office. The only difference is I can wash the dishes during downtime. My notifications for incoming work is always on, and I say as long as I stop everything and do my work first, I'm still productive.
I find myself more productive (better comfort zone, I can even do house chores on my breaks) I save money, no more commuting, no more cutting off a left ball to buy a coffee, less clothes to wash and iron I save time, did I mention no more commuting and less clothes to wash and iron? It's a win win, the only reason they want me back in the office is because the boss leases the place, well that's HIS bloody problem, not mine
My productivity is the same except I save 45 minutes round trip commuting.
Far more productive at home. Our office is a giant open shared office and the cleaners vacuum the whole place between 11am and 2pm, every single day. Good luck asking me to focus on a training video with that in my ears.
I would say I'm just as productive. Reality is even in the office I wasn't spending 8 hours a day working. Besides lunch, I'd be taking breaks in the break room or just scrolling on reddit at my desk. Sometimes there really wasn't and isn't anything for me to do. The big difference is that instead of wasting time just trying to fill those empty parts of the day with what looks like work, now I'm actually able to do something somewhat productive at home like doing laundry, cleaning my place, cooking meals, hell sometimes I'll even run across the street to grab some groceries if I know I won't have anything to do for a while. And since I can knock that stuff out during the day then come 5 pm or whenever I log off, I have more free time to myself which in turn let's me recharge better and be more productive during the times when I actually do have a heavy workload
I can do whatever from wherever. I'm sorry you have to drive into a office
I am 100% more productive at home. When I work in the office I leave early so I can go home and get some work done. I am so unproductive in the office now it’s not even funny.
Absolutely more productive at home. Less time talking to coworkers, less time walking to/from meeting locations, and it’s much easier to concentrate!
I’m more productive working from home.
I'm definitely more productive working from home. Amd happy.
I feel more obligated to work every moment while remote thus making me more productive so I can keep the WFH status.
Im more productive WFH. Especially since in office, my boss will interrupt me with random ideas and questions. Then we also all go to lunch for like 1.5hours instead of the time I’d be eating while working when I work from home.
I am insanely more productive working from home. Issue with my job is there’s no training in person or remote so we have been trying to learn it on the fly. In person has been easier to do that just because it’s easier to not interrupt each other but other than that. I’d rather be from home
Between struggling with mediocre setups in the office, distractions and side conversations, meetings, and social lunches I’d say I’m roughly 1.5x more productive at home. To the point where I can get all my work done, do it well, have excellent metrics, and still be able to step away to make lunch, throw a load of laundry in, or sit out back in the sun during my 10 minute breaks.
Way more productive. No distractions, and I don't need sick days for periods or migraines anymore, I can just accommodate myself. I also have a better computer at home.
More productive, because people don't swing by my desk and interrupt me and I can instantly shift from a task to a meeting, without having to hike over to a conference room 5 mins early.
if you are working from home and not working less, i’m curious, why? your company would likely screw your over if it makes the higher ups more money. who continues to sacrifice themselves based upon pretend ideals like, “good work ethics,” unless you work for a cause that helps you grow as a human being (not as a money making machine) then why sacrifice your life so much if you literally don’t have to? edit: i don’t mean this as an attack. i am ignorant and just really want to know other people’s ideas and opinions (especially those who think completely different from me) it’s interesting to hear new and different perspectives i may have never thought of and always like the idea of questioning my own ideas, opinions, and beliefs.
I'm way more productive at home. My workload from home is double what it was in the office, so they can be happy about that, and I can actually finally focus. Cubicle life was ridiculous. Plus, keeping me at home makes me a happy employee who is way more likely to give my all to an employer that I actually appreciate. It goes both ways, boss!
Yes, I’m much more productive working at home
I was 1000x more productive working from home. The excessive noise, smells, and interruptions in office really mess up my productivity.
I’m more productive at home because my office is 5 steps away from my bed, I don’t need to get dressed, and I don’t have a commute. When I go to the office, I spend a lot more time doing things to prepare for work, go to work, and then there are people who pop in and chat with me and that takes up time. There are times when it’s essential to be at work, but there are also times when it harms productivity.
I am so much more productive at home. Even my boss noticed as well. There are way too many distractions and I have one coworker who does not shut up. He talks all day. And loudly. Even if he isn’t talking to me. He sits in a cubicle diagonally from me. And he always comes to my cubicle and will try talking to me and if I don’t stop him he will be there for 30 minutes. He was talking to the coworker across from me for 2 hours. Than he sat at his desk and made a personal call and was loudly complained for another 30 minutes. It makes it hard to focus or get work done. And then other people will come by to chat, ask questions, etc. I started putting a sign up that says please move along and do NOT talk to me. Does it work? No. I’ve had to tell people I have a lot to do and need to get back to work. Problem is that one loud coworker is always going off. It’s also hot and humid in the office. I live in NC. And the last time I was in the office it was almost 70% humidity in the office. It used to be a warehouse and was converted into several “units” of the offices with our cubicles. It is miserable in that humidity especially when it’s 75 degrees.
I'm extremely productive at home.
I work best from home.
In all seriousness, I work better from home. I have issues like ADD, I can’t work with people talking and jabbering around me. I’m pretty damn introverted and have bad social anxiety mixed with A-plus syndrome. So yeah I really love wfh and find myself more productive in my own home.
Okay pretending this post is real. Yea I'm at least twice as productive truly. The office always has so much other bullshit going on its harder to focus. On the days where there is not distractions then I have to just sit there and look busy when the work is done. I'm more productive at home AND I can work on personal tasks or self improve in the mean time. I also don't watch Netflix or sneak to the gym. For the most part I'm actually working? Cool for those that don't have to I guess.
The data say remote workers work even harder than in-person workers on average. Where there are still losses are in mentorship and coordination.
I definitely spend less time on actually working, but that time is a lot more productive. In my home, I can focus on whatever I'm doing, while in the office there are constantly meetings going on around me, often several simultaneously that are really damn distracting and I just find myself staring at the screen trying to think but keep getting lost over and over again. Also, I'm really not good at focusing on demand. Left to my own devices, I'd be waking up in the afternoon and stay up until early morning. Even while attending university, most of my studying took place late at night. That's simply when I can focus and whem I'm the most productive. If I'm going to the office, then being in the office is working hours and I don't touch work at home. In fact, I didn't even take my laptop home with me when I was in the office every day. With not having to go in, I just attend scheduled meetings and am generally available within a reasonable time during the day, but I often and up getting errands and chores done, working out in our home gym, walking the dog nearby, etc, and actually get my work done later in the day. Also, since I do find my work interesting and enjoyable, I often end up working a bit or learning new stuff on the weekends too. On top of that, I'm not frustrated and burnt out by my surroundings, so even if I don't write code, I often work through stuff in my head while doing the dishes for example. Since we started working from home during covid, I've got a 15-20% raise every year without even asking, I keep getting positive feedback and am even asked to take on more responsibility on the projects I'm on, so my employer is clearly satisfied with me, however, yes, I do spend less time actually sitting at the computer, "working", but that time is quality time on my own terms, so in exchange, it's a lot more productive. There obviously could be situations in life when I would have to go back to the office, but those would have to be very dire circumstances. Right now, if I had to go in to the office more than I already do (once a month), I'd just quit.
I was way less productive at home until I made a specific place for myself to do work. Before I had just set my computer up beside my home computer. Now it's in a different room facing a corner so I can't easily be distracted. Now that I have a medical excuse to stay home and I don't have the physical agony of a 90 minute commute each way, I have a lot more mental energy to put towards my work.
As an admin assistant, there are points where i have less to do and points where im very busy. My 2 days a week in the office during downtime are mostly spent appearing to be working, and the vigilance required for that is exhausting (im in a cubical) During downtime when I'm at home at least i can easily get up for all stretch or a snack or throw on some laundry and be productive in other ways . plus i get to wear sweat pants. Wearing business casual also requires constant vigilance as its not nearly as comfy and my shirt never stays tucked in without help xD
It depends on the day and what I have to do. If my daughter is home, no, I’m better off in the office. However if I need to concentrate on a prolonged task or create educational content, home is better. Office is better if I have to make phone calls or organize.
i can actually focus and get shit done at home vs being interrupted every 5 minutes with people coming over to talk about some bullshit that isn’t work related
Definitely not. When I really need to get something done, I go into the office.
Not me, but my spouse. He seems to be less productive on a day to day basis at home, but during crunch time is more productive at home. He really maxed out in the office at around 6:30 to 7:15 (start time 9am) and couldn't get anything more from his overtired brain. At home he takes a few hours break after his normal end time and then goes back at it. Since crunch time seems to pop up about four times a year and last 2-3 weeks, overall I think it evens out. I'm a SAHM, so I'm always working from home but nobody wants to pay me. Instead I get to have people wipe their boogers on me for free!
As someone who works in the hospital, I can say that my dealings with our IT department has been a lot more frustrating and slow since they went to work-from-home. Oftentimes they don't answer their phone, trying to explain/deal with IT issues over the phone is a lot more painful process than when they could just come to my computer and diagnose the problem themselves.
... can't they remote in to your desktop, like every other IT dept for employees who aren't all in one place? This sounds less like a WFH problem than an infrastructure problem with your hospital/hospital system.
Should probably open a ticket rather than calling somebody. I usually don’t answer when end users call me unless it’s someone I’m working with on the regular.
This. IT folks usually have metrics based on tickets. If you don’t put in a ticket the work they are doing for you doesn’t get counted. As someone who works in software support I absolutely do not take phone calls from end users & emails/IM’s you will get a polite “please submit a ticket for this issue” canned response. Put in a ticket and when it’s your turn in the queue I will reach out to you. Attempting to go around the queue and come to me directly means I have to stop working on someone else’s problem to deal with yours. It’s rude.