Working from home: things people don't usually mention

[senttoschool]

The mainstream media overwhelmingly supports working from home full-time or hybrid work environments. I hope Apple does not give in and force everyone to go back to the office.

There are a lot of issues that can pop up for hybrid or full-time remote work that the mainstream media does not acknowledge.

• Some employees can't work from home. Hardware engineers often need labs and expensive equipment to test and build. These employees will feel that it's unfair. So the company will then have to start paying these employees more or risk alienating this group of workers.
• Many employees want to go back to the office for various reasons: extroverts, productivity, separation between work and home, not having a good work environment at home, etc. This means most companies will need to maintain an HQ office.
• Having a hybrid work environment causes communication issues. Either you go all remote or you go all office.
• Full-time remote workers feel fine now because it's still early but over time, even they will want a separate space from work for whatever reason; they feel lonely, their house is no longer quiet, etc. So these people will want the company to pay for some sort of co-working space. This is an extra cost for the company. In addition to paying for their HQ office space, the company will have to pay for co-working space for these remote workers. And for these remote workers, they will be going to the office, but not their own company's which will be weird.
• Over time, full-time remote workers will feel like they're missing too much by not being physically present; passed over to lead an important project, passed over for a promotion, not being included in all the physical meetings. They will either leave the company or want to go back to the office. This can create toxic work environments.
• You always hear anecdote evidence that remote work does not drop productivity or it actually increases productivity. Sure, maybe for some small software-only companies. For a company like Apple? There are probably hundreds of people at Apple doing research into the productivity of remote work and concluded that it is worse. Hence, Apple, Google, and other big companies want their workers back in the office. You never get to see this side of the story in the mainstream media because Apple will never voluntarily publish a report saying that their productivity was worse over the last 1.5 years. That's just bad PR and bad for their stock. Heck, it's not something you want your internal employees to know either. I'm guessing only executives know. So Tim Cook might look like a bad guy trying to get everyone back in the office. But he's probably operating with very compelling evidence that office work is better.

Lastly, if I'm a skilled worker in the US, I'd fight tooth and nail to prevent full-time remote work. Why? Because there are a ton of hungry, skilled workers in poorer countries doing the same job but making 10x less. If your job can be done remotely full-time, it can be done by someone living in a poor country. Offices protect and slow this trend from happening. I've traveled extensively around the world in recent years. The average office worker in the US is extremely replaceable by cheaper workers in a poorer country.

 

[KaliYoni]

The mainstream media overwhelmingly supports working from home full-time or hybrid work environments.

Something to keep in mind is that journalists are overwhelmingly accustomed to remote work behaviors and norms, especially because:

• Freelancing is common
• Most news stories (as opposed to feature or service stories) involve going out into the field for reporting
• Establishing and cultivating contacts is an integral part of the job; confidential sources don't want to meet at a media outlet's offices
• Travel, both short-term and long-term, is common
• Writing and filing stories away from a newsroom has always been a frequent practice in journalism.

So, I think it's not surprising "mainstream media" stories tend to cast remote working in a positive light. Remote work is an integral part of American journalism.

 

[EdwardC]

I have been a salaried remote employee since 1992. I have not seen anyone from my office in 17 years and I’m here to tell you I am the most productive sales engineer in my firm. That being said, I have since day one had a dedicated office in my home. I would hate to have to go back to working in an office at this point in my life.

 

[MBAir2010]

going to work, I would brainstorm alot while pedaling there.
now I just "do what were told, told to do!"

 

[Madhatter32]

There are many pros and cons to WFH both for the employer and employee and depending on industry and job. Suffice it to say, I think we are likely to see a lot more of it in the future.