They know this. They don’t care, they want your asses in their office buildings that they’re using as passive assets. Those assets lose value if there’s no demand for office buildings. Simple as
They say remote working less productive
Submitted 1 day ago by genfood@feddit.org to [deleted]
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Comments
chuckleslord@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
SaraTonin@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
It’s not just that. Employers think you’re “getting away” with…something…if you can manage to be productive while having something which advantages you.
For one example, several firms - including Microsoft - have conducted experiments where they move an office to a 4 day, 32 hour week while paying people the same. They unfailingly found that productivity either stayed the same or went up. So, at the end of the experiment they…went back to a 5 day week. Because otherwise people are just getting an extra day off, aren’t they? When they “should” be working.
Even if productivity went up and it was better for the company and for the workers, it was still ultimately seen as a bad thing because the workers were better off.
Another example: at a previous job I had we got an hour’s break over the course of the day. 15 minutes 2 hours after start, 30 minutes 4 hours after start, and another 15 minutes 6 hours after start. On a Friday, however, the workday was 7 hours rather than 8. This meant that an hour before leaving people would have a 15 minute break, and then it wasn’t worth actually starting anything because before you’d have a chance to get into it you’d be getting ready to go home. So the workers went to management and said “let’s work through the last break on a Friday and go home 15 minutes early instead”. Management agreed, productivity went up, and everybody was happy at getting off an extra 15 minutes early.
Then the old upper manager was fired and a new one took their place, and this arrangement was deemed to be “getting away with it”. Taking a final break & going home later was mandated. Suddenly none of the management who had agreed it had anything to do with the initial decision and they’d always thought it was a bad idea.
So the workers were unhappy because they had a longer workday, less work got done because everybody was unproductive after break, and the company was getting less value for money becuse they were paying people the same amount for less work. But they thought it was a better situation because people were physically in the building for an extra 15 minutes, and therefore not “getting away with it”.
There’s very often a mindset in management that employees are naughty children, and that strict rules must be good just because they’re rules, rather than because they actually lead to better outcomes for the company.
RaivoKulli@sopuli.xyz 8 hours ago
I’ve been productive even when I’ve looked like shit in public transit. I’d prefer to work from home though if it was possible for me
kamen@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
Maybe “productive” means “occupying the space someone pays rent for”.
blackn1ght@feddit.uk 10 hours ago
Really it depends on the individuals and what their home and office environments are like. I work from home 95% of the time and much prefer it over being in the office, but if I lived in a house share with housemates or had very little space then I’d probably feel more productive in the office.
One thing I do miss about commuting is the return journey. It was nice to have a gap to decompress from work before getting home, now it’s straight off calls and 10 seconds later I’m dealing with a trillion questions from the kids and immediately start cooking dinner.
Quexotic@infosec.pub 12 hours ago
I go into work one day a week. Guess which day I don’t get much of anything done…
chocrates@piefed.world 18 hours ago
I work from home and never want to go back, but I don't use the time I used to commute to work. I usually sleep until my dog gets me up and roll into my first meeting
Prox@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
Sleeping for an extra 60-90 minutes is using the time.
Droggelbecher@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
Idk about you but waking up at least semi naturally really does boost my productivity for the day
chocrates@piefed.world 9 hours ago
I have about a 2 to 4 hour period where I can get deep work done. Starting around 10am usually. Sadly I'm in meetings daily until noon so by the time I have cycles my brain is already nearly burned out.
I got a recent ADHD diagnosis so that and my meds probably are related.blobchoice@feddit.uk 12 hours ago
I remember what life was like before COVID/being in the office full time. I used to travel to work for an hour and a half on the M25 motorway, and for that I had to wake up stupidly early hours.
I’m genuinely surprised I never got into a car accident considering how lacking in sleep I was. And that was every day, 5 days a week.
Now I work from home in most days, can’t say I miss it.
LiveLM@lemmy.zip 8 hours ago
I fucking wish my country had better public transport dude.
Nothing more soul-crushing than waking up early as fuck, dragging my half-awake ass to the bus stop full of people and getting smushed in a bus for 2h. I was walking into the office ready to punch the first mf that bothered me about anything, which wasn’t really fair because it wasn’t their fault ~~ (but they also sucked ass so they almost fucking deserved it).~~All in all the only thing I want from governors is better public transport, yet it seems lately they’re taking measures that actively worsen it, somehow
Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 hours ago
London Tube, maybe the Green Line that goes the Heathrow?!
Using the Tube at rush hour was so bad I switched to cycling for my commute (which turned out to take the same time whilst being far more pleasant), this before before cycling in London was fashionable so when I started doing it there weren’t all that many of us and drivers weren’t yet used to cyclists so you had to be extra careful with things like being on their blindspot near places were they might turn.
Also some of the Tube lines in London are old and hence the tunnels are less high, so the tube trains that run there (like this one) have lower ceilings and feel extra opprossive.
Mind you, using the Tube is still a superior experience to driving since you can actually bring a book and distract yourself by reading in the Tube.
Definitelly not the thing I miss about London.
tetris11@feddit.uk 1 hour ago
oh man, I had word for word the same experience. The number of times I’d turn up to work with bloodied knuckles because I was filtering through those narrow roads.
“Keep up with traffic, or pull over” were to two tenets I lived by. The sheer rush of adrenaline of getting to work alive, nothing beats it.
Now it’s all cycle lanes, and even those lanes have queues and though it’s still miles faster than car/tube/bus, it’s not as satisfying as those early wild west days of flying over a car bonnet
PissingIntoTheWind@lemmy.world 17 hours ago
I start a new remote job on Monday. It’s been a while since I was laid off. Just about 7 months. But I was lucky to find a firm looking specifically for a remote engineer in the specific support territory. Bingo!
FlexibleToast@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Nah, I was most productive for maybe a few hours after lunch.
pet1t@lemmy.world 1 day ago
the hours after lunch are my crashdown hahaha
Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca 21 hours ago
Same. 7-3:30 most days. Some an hour or two earlier. I always crash out after lunch, or guaranteed by 1:30. At that point I’m just walking around trying to find shit to do.
FlexibleToast@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
That can certainly depend on the lunch. Usually in the morning I would do idling tasks like checking email and just simple stuff. I would be hungry and mostly just waiting for lunch. Thinking about that now, I wonder if it would be different now that I’m taking GLP1. That’s that “food noise” that gets muted. I would always take the earliest possible lunch and then come back ready to knock some stuff out.
v4ld1z@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Had a breakdown today because, after being on sick leave for a week, I came back to school and realised I need to prepare three therapies for tomorrow in between classes and barely any time to thoroughly prepare even one of them. But nooooo, working from home for those days where just school wouldn’t work because we have a contract that obligates us to be physically present. Plus, we’re just not as productive. Sure. Fuck my 2h of commuting everyday
etchinghillside@reddthat.com 23 hours ago
All I see is collaboration!
In misery.
selkiesidhe@sh.itjust.works 20 hours ago
I get to be in sweats all day and look like holy hell. I can get up and wander the house on a whim. Drink coffee, snack.
I’m way more motivated to do actual work than if I was forced out of bed at an ungodly hour just so I can sit and traffic and go somewhere terrible for eight hours then do it all again the next day until I die…
monkeyslikebananas2@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
I would go to the office if they provided office cocaine like they did back in the day. I would be hella productive then.
tired_n_bored@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
I’ll get downvoted to hell but I’m more productive at the office than at home. When you work at the office you need to dress up, take proper care of yourself, walk around and step by a cafe. At home I personally feel more sluggish: I am with my pajamas on, wake up 10 minutes before clock in and stay alone the whole time
SexualPolytope@lemmy.sdf.org 21 hours ago
No one’s stopping you. It’s only a problem when this is forced on people. Some of us don’t need to go to work to do all of those things.
tired_n_bored@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
Yeah never said it should be forced on people 👍
0x0@lemmy.zip 10 hours ago
I’m more productive at the office than at home.
And that’s ok, you do you. I prefer to work from home but that’s my personal choice and i don’t push it onto others.
The thing is, no one is telling you No! You should work from home!
Yet a lot of management are telling workers No! You should work at the office!tired_n_bored@lemmy.world 7 hours ago
Yes I totally get it and I find it so weird
hammertime@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
I wake up every morning, shower, shave, trim my beard, put on clean clothes… I look good. Then I park my ass in my home office. I don’t feel right starting my day in pyjamas, never have… even on weekends.
Aceticon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 hours ago
I think it depends a lot on a person’s personality.
Myself I find it much harder to have the discipline to do that when working from home, plus it’s far easier to get distracted at home, so I chose to work from a coworking space which is about 15m walk from home.
Also, from the Covid days I found out I that for my own sanity I need to go out if only to be outside four walls, which I get to do regularly with my current setup.
So as I see it you’re both right and as somebody else says, it’s only a problem when this forced on people.
dil@lemmy.zip 22 hours ago
I wake up earlier take a long shit/shower and get ready for the day before working at home in a clean environemnt, feels great
tired_n_bored@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
Yeah I know that each one has their own. I’d hate to go to work sitting in a traffic jam for example
faythofdragons@slrpnk.net 22 hours ago
When you work at the office you need to dress up, take proper care of yourself, walk around and step by a cafe.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a job that paid well enough for me to do any of that tho
A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.cl 22 hours ago
Same for me, having to go outside, touch some grass and get some vitamine D on the way to work makes wonders both for my mental health and for my productivity.
I bet 80% of people who always cry about this commutes by car into an office in an office park in the middle of nowhere.
FishFace@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
It’s that the complaints come out on Lemmy, or on Reddit, or elsewhere that’s extremely online.
I found lockdown quite enjoyable. My partner had grinding depression due to not having the stimulation and connection and support of being physically present with people, including at work.
That experience is common, but not amongst the vocal online lot!
kkj@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 hours ago
I bet 80% of people who always cry about this commutes by car into an office in an office park in the middle of nowhere.
It was that or work at a gas station for 1/3 the pay. I’m just asking for a choice.
doingthestuff@lemy.lol 20 hours ago
My commute is 20 minutes of curvy back roads. No traffic. Some farms and livestock, some forest. The roads get too much heavy truck use to be safe for cycling, but it’s a really nice drive.
ayyy@sh.itjust.works 23 hours ago
This is really creepy behavior.
A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.cl 22 hours ago
You post a half full metro car as an example of misery? LMAO
Then firstworlders ask why people from the rest of the world make fun of them.
callouscomic@lemmy.zip 21 hours ago
People are not allowed to dislike their station in life because someone else has it ‘worse’ somewhere else?
A_Chilean_Cyborg@feddit.cl 21 hours ago
Because is a privilege, and you should at least aknowledge or respect that it is.
blarghly@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
I mean, it’s rather gauche. Plenty here are happy to make fun of, say, rich people’s problems with social relationships, white people’s problems feeling comfortable talking about race, or men’s dating problems. And yet the disparity in privilege between these people and the average lemming is trounced by the disparity between a peasant farmer in a developing nation and the average lemming.
It seems the problems of the privileged are only reasonable to talk about when those problems relate to being a potentially-remote office worker in a developed nation. Strange that this is a disproportionately represented population here on Lemmy…
trashgirlfriend@lemmy.world 22 hours ago
Guys I have this theory that a level of discomfort below “currently getting guts eaten by bird” exists, not sure on the specifics yet.
logi@piefed.world 1 day ago
That guy with the baseball cap might. But only because he's going to Heathrow and won't see an office for a few more days.
stupidcasey@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
Gotta keep that inner city property value inflated enough to keep the boomers in a prestige class somehow.
(This is the actual reason the governor of NY and a bunch of city higher ups made shady deals with CEOs to keep the property value up)
Also gotta incentivize illegal banking through social pressure and less online monitoring some how.
(This is also true work from home during covid almost completely stopped bank fraud and the banks competing sold the fraud as an advantage from the companies that kept employees at home)
Ging@anarchist.nexus 1 day ago
But the shareholders already reinvested so much in the shitty office spaces for their excessive tax write-offs! /j
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world 1 day ago
…joke?
Ging@anarchist.nexus 18 hours ago
I assumed that’s what /j meant, was I wrong? I assume way too much