The Argument against work from home

This issues isn’t going away.


I laugh at the one of the main arguments that is used against work from home.

It is said that workers aren’t as efficient, engaged, blah blah blah blah as they are when they are in the office…. (Pssst. We know that’s a lie)

Well I have a question. If that is the case, why do most executives travel so much? Shouldn’t they be in the home office the most..??!!!
We often hear executives get paid the big bucks because they are efficient, have a high level of “performance”.. How is that possible with so much travel? Do tell.

You can’t have it both ways. I have heard that some companies are making leaders stay in the office more due to this backlash, and I think it’s hilarious.

The one unintended consequence of Covid was that people realized how much they love home, their family, their pets….
In a way they woke a sleeping giant..

I also feel some of the economic happening are because they want more bodies at work. Money isn’t spent greasing the wheel when people are brewing their own mocha choke late ya ya.

a reply to: JAGStorm

WFH is the best thing ever

When at home, I won't work...too many distractions. When I'm at the office I don't get a lot done either...too many distractions. In fact a lot of my work is to keep my crew from getting distracted by the insanity around us.

I work from home, and it's not what most people would think. You never clock out. I'm at my desk sometimes 16 hours a day. If I'm lucky, and I can bill 8-10 hours. Not productive? Over productive and basically always working.

Depending on what I'm doing I have the option of working from home. Currently we have a problem with a lack of Production Engineers so I'm kind of wearing two hats at the moment. Because of that I'm usually in the office. When that isn't the case I usually get more done from home. A large part of that is because of my not being interrupted by problems on the floor. Production tends to come to me, because I'll drop what I'm doing to help correct something holding up Production.

We were looking at having to build a new building before COVID, but, the productivity of certain groups working from home has changed that. Purchasing, Finance and Sales have shown no loss in working from home, actually they are a bit more efficient, so we're keeping that and taking unused office space and making it into Production space.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I work from home. I don't think I'll ever work in an office again if I can help it. And if I have to it will only be until I can find another job that is WFH.

The amount of money I save in gas and food alone makes it worth it.

Companies that don't do WFH are just wasting money on over priced office space.

In my previous career as a professional designer/craftsman, I was a studio rat, seldom leaving the home/ studio when in the serious creative/ production mode.

Then sales trips all over the US and Europe for a month. I couldn't wait to get back in the studio to start the process all over again.

My husband did the work from home thing for three years.

We saved a ton of money on gas. He saved a ton of time not having to get on I95 and the traffic to work. Saved all that stress driving in traffic. Got the same work done and did it in a more healthy environment.

Love the work from home thing.

There's only two reasons why companies don't want people working from home:

1. They are getting pressure from real estate companies and/or politicians to bring people back to downtown. Places like Chicago/SF/DC are empty. No tax revenue from parking/shopping/lunch restaurants. WFH is going to be the final straw that ends cities - they will all be like Detroit.

2. Management are control freaks. You have those bosses who get off on power trips. If you aren't physically in front of them, control loses its thrill.

Flying cars and taxis are just a few years away. United Airlines is already going to start air taxi service at the cost of an Uber ride.

I work for an auto manufacturer. They sold a majority of their buildings, and kept a few larger ones for collaboration centers for teams to meet onsite when necessary. Some positions are required to be onsite and they kept those buildings. They have to be saving an enormous amount of money I would think. There do not seem to be any plans to move everyone back eventually.

I work longer actually at home as I work during what would be my normal hour commute, back and forth, I'll work days I don't feel well, where maybe I wouldn't have gone to the office, but don't need to be in bed all day. I also will sometimes just work on something at other times, if I have the time and it's something I'd like to get over to a global co-worker when they come in for the day. It makes no sense for my team to work on site, as it's me and two other people, one located on the other side of the state, and we deal with global issues. I also think if you're happy with WFH, then you're more productive.

The company has no issues with their policy of working from anywhere. I recently spent a few weeks in the Turks and Caicos, starting very early 3 days a week working to get the work day in, with swimming or snorkeling during lunch, and using a few vacation days to make the weekends longer. I plan to do the same in Florida in a month or so.

I still meet all my deadlines. I think it's ridiculous to force people back. I find all the co-workers stopping to chat, or the loudness of other workers more distracting than being at home.

ETA: This was my view working last month. I wouldn't change jobs for pretty much anything at this point.

originally posted by: frogs453
I find all the co-workers stopping to chat, or the loudness of other workers more distracting than being at home.

My husband said the same thing. He could concentrate much better working from home than in the office with all the talking and interruptions going on.

a reply to: FlyersFan

Yes, you don't realize how it is until you go back. It's very distracting.

I noticed when we first WFH that it was mostly men complaining about WFH. I also know of a few who rent a space, like a WeWork type office, fairly cheap to get out of the house to work at times. I don't know if it's a guy thing? I haven't encountered any women complaining or renting a cubicle somewhere.

a reply to: frogs453

I too am working my way into a position where all I will need is a laptop and can work from anywhere my lady and I want to go. She is already in that position and is talking Parrot Cay this winter.

a reply to: olaru12

Nice! I hope you two enjoy it! I always say "a happy employee is a productive employee".

originally posted by: olaru12
When at home, I won't work...too many distractions. When I'm at the office I don't get a lot done either...too many distractions. In fact a lot of my work is to keep my crew from getting distracted by the insanity around us.

LOL

I went from worker to manager. It’s a whole different ballgame.

I also worked from home. It does require organization and discipline. I got dressed for work every morning (within reason).

Not every personality will be proficient.

However, I support it.

Ways to measure workload need to be implemented.

Work from home has it's pros and cons like any other milieu. I thought about it but it's difficult if you didn't already work for a company that offered WFH privileges as Covid tyranny settled on the people. One does need high speed dependable internet access. Some companies are state specific. So if you don't live in a certain state, you can't work for that particular company.

I've heard horror stories from some WFH places like not getting paid consistently, having to work way too many hours and not getting paid the OT. But there are also some huge benefits. Saving on transportation and food, clothing and all the misc that goes with working regularly out of the home.

I personally would do it if I could find a reputable company to work for but so far, no luck. One seems to have to know someone on the inside I guess.

And yes, they certainly opened a huge can of worms with the WFH option. I don't think anyone had ANY idea of the huge repercussions, especially not considering that the transition was going to end up as a permanent arrangement. It is sad though for companies that need live beings to handle tasks. Honeywell, restaurants, grocery stores and many, many businesses with need of hands-on employees for delivery, repair, maintenance, assembly, servers etc. are having a heck of a time supplying all of us, including those who WFH with everyday things they need and use. It's a quandary for certain.

Having a work force that works from home is tremendously less efficient than having that same work force being co-located. And there are other issues that arise as well.

It isn't a matter of individuals slacking off because they are home instead of "at the office" ... its not an individual mater at all.

Individuals can be efficient while working from home; or they can be slackers. That's up to the individual and it's different for every person. No mater if they are the executive or the dishwasher.

The issue is a matter of synergy within the entire workforce, and when your employees are not colocated they loose that synergy. You would be esonished how much gets done in hall way conversations. Or how important face to face conversations are. How important comradery is when facing a difficult deadline. How important impromptu stand up meetings are.

Ofcourse not every profession is the same; some professions are made up of individual contributors that never have to interact with each other ... for example it doesn't matter where your customer service representatives are; they don't need to work with each other to get the work done.... some professions require a tremendous amount of interaction to accomplish the work ... for example electrical hardware design where it is common to get designers in a room to brain storm a problem. Sure some technology does let you interact online, buy try having your rover land safely on mars while battling zoom connection issues. Access to material also can not be accomplish online; you can't have your employees make chipotle burritos from home.

Then there is the fact that no workforce is made up of the same type of workers. Instead, for example, it's likely that you have both customer service representatives, engineers, and assemblers on your workforce. How do you allow your customer service representatives work from home all of the time, while letting your engineers work hybrid and force your assemblers to come to the factory every day with out fostering animosity between your workers?

The unintended consequences of Covid are that our workforces are less efficient then they use to be before covid. I'll give you an anecdotal example that hits close to home...

I work for a company that does a lot of contract work for the US government. I am an individual contributor (engineer) and all so help manage projects that included engineers with my type of expertise. I have a foot on both sides, I contribute individually to solve a given problem but I also have to be a bean counter for the rest of my team and interact with all the other bean counters. All of our efficiency metrics are down post covid due hybrid and remote working. We are a rather large company and have access to all the current tech that lets you work from home "efficiently". Dispite that we have had to renegotiate with the government several times across several contracts since covid due to the new level of inefficiencies... the government has roled over every time because they know they can't get a better deal elsewhere ... because every company they deal with has the same problem.

You are literally paying for these inefficiencies with your taxes. But you get to work from home so there is a pluse side.

originally posted by: EmmanuelGoldstein
I work from home, and it's not what most people would think. You never clock out. I'm at my desk sometimes 16 hours a day. If I'm lucky, and I can bill 8-10 hours. Not productive? Over productive and basically always working.

Burn out ... unintended consequences of work from home post covid.

originally posted by: JIMC5499
Depending on what I'm doing I have the option of working from home. Currently we have a problem with a lack of Production Engineers so I'm kind of wearing two hats at the moment. Because of that I'm usually in the office. When that isn't the case I usually get more done from home. A large part of that is because of my not being interrupted by problems on the floor. Production tends to come to me, because I'll drop what I'm doing to help correct something holding up Production.

We were looking at having to build a new building before COVID, but, the productivity of certain groups working from home has changed that. Purchasing, Finance and Sales have shown no loss in working from home, actually they are a bit more efficient, so we're keeping that and taking unused office space and making it into Production space.

My company had the same floor space problem before covid and were in the process of setting up new buildings all over the country. Post covid floor space isn't a problem any more.

How do you're production workers feel about the fact that they have to come to work while the Purchasing, Finance and Sales guys get to stay home?

Our production workers resent this fact and we have seen a down swing in productivity as a result. It's enough to offset the increase in efficiency with the Purchasing, Finance and Sales teams.

My company has had to put in places new moral boosting programs; but it doesn't seem to be helping enough. The whispers are starting regarding bringing back the Purchasing, Finance and Sales teams.

Couple of responses:

-They have plenty of ways to measure productivity. Software exists that will measure how long you are protective on the computer and what sites you are visiting. Meetings, phone calls and emails can all be tracked and monitored. In fact, it's much easier to track.

-To the poster who said it's mostly men who want to go into the office - yes, children and housework at home.

-All these smaller states are probably getting a sales tax increase. If you have a home office employee, you get taxed on all sales in that State. If you don't have an employee, usually the first 100k isn't taxable.