Do you support 100% remote work?

[jmack]

Absolutely, there is no downside for me. I get to spend more time with my family, help the environment by not commuting, and can live in the middle of no where as long as I have an internet connection.

I work in cybersecurity and have been fully remote for 7 years, hybrid (2office/3home) for 2 years before that. There is no circumstance that would ever return to the office.

[ryan stewart]

Originally Posted by Balr14

I never thought of that until you mentioned it. But, my old 335i that sat waaaay more than it was driven, had that smell. I think I averaged less than 1000 miles per year.

Yeah and its climate controlled so not mold/mildew, guess just a collection of off gassing of the plastics, leathers, carpets, etc.

Ive been leaving a window open in the garage and that helps some but since the air still isnt moving its still there somewhat.

[ArthurMorgan]

I've worked from home for 8 years now.

I have no intention of ever wasting 1.5+ hours of my life 5 days of the week commuting back and forth to a crowded, disgusting city and then sitting in a modern "open floorplan" office just so I can talk to people via Slack/WebEx/whatever who sit a thousand miles away.

It made zero sense when I used to do it, and it makes zero sense now. Then again, I work in IT and literally nothing I do requires me to physically be in an office. When I started working from home we still had actual cubicles with high walls which massively limited distractions. Today, all of our offices are open floorplan/open seating. No thanks. I have a nice big desk in my home office with 27" 4K monitors, a real keyboard and mouse, and no one is here to distract me during the day other than my dogs.

I don't waste gas commuting, I don't add unnecessary wear and tear to my car. I don't have to get up 2 hours before I need to be there so I can shave, get dressed, eat breakfast, etc. I also don't buy the "if you work from home you'll never get promoted" myth. I've had multiple promotions and moved up two career bands all while working from my home. WFH is what you make of it. If you slack off and get disengaged, you'll fail. If you're already a hard worker and people know you for it, you'll be fine.

[Impressionville]

Originally Posted by Tyga11

If not, why? Do you think people are less productive?

No I'm Not
I think if you learn more and more you take a part time job instead of full time if you love remote.
I think Remote job, will ruin your productive mind. Remote job yes it is flexible but the best taste of life is in adventure.

[vreihen16]

(Saving the original text of the above post for my own amusement.)

Originally Posted by Adam9

No I'm Not
I think if you learn more and more you take a part time job instead of full time if you love remote.
I think Remote job, will ruin your productive mind. Remote job yes it is flexible but the best taste of life is in adventure.

[Lady Jane]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

(Saving the original text of the above post for my own amusement.)

If I drove a Yaris in Pakistan, I would stay home.

[XutvJet]

For those that are supportive of 100% remote work, how did you get your training/mentoring for your first job? I would bet a majority of it was by working side by side with a number of people for a few years.

I see no way for a college grad to come into my line of work (consulting) and be successful if they aren't working with their manager/mentor/staff in person at least 30% of the time. I can not imagine that my job is much more different in terms of green staff needing in-person work experience.

[dreamingat30fps]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

For those that are supportive of 100% remote work, how did you get your training/mentoring for your first job? I would bet a majority of it was by working side by side with a number of people for a few years.

I see no way for a college grad to come into my line of work (consulting) and be successful if they aren't working with their manager/mentor/staff in person at least 30% of the time. I can not imagine that my job is much more different in terms of green staff needing in-person work experience.

I would imagine that's super job specific. I can't imagine many jobs in my field that would require years of in person training. Now you do need to have technical skills to do what I do, but if you didn't have the skills to start with you wouldn't be getting hired. So any training would be more like company specific processes or maybe some kind of CRM system specific for them and all that stuff can be learned pretty quick.

[ryan stewart]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

For those that are supportive of 100% remote work, how did you get your training/mentoring for your first job? I would bet a majority of it was by working side by side with a number of people for a few years.

I see no way for a college grad to come into my line of work (consulting) and be successful if they aren't working with their manager/mentor/staff in person at least 30% of the time. I can not imagine that my job is much more different in terms of green staff needing in-person work experience.

That was done in-person but I would still support that. Im all for being in the office when it requires it. Training classes, etc. I just dont want to go in to get in front of a screen.

And now Ive done a lot of training on a new software online and its just fine if youre a driven person.

[RobotDoctor]

I have done both and prefer going to a work location. If a person is very disciplined and don't have outside distractions then working from home would be fine. There is the lack of social interaction but more importantly there is a loss of knowledge/skill/technique that remote work cannot take advantage of. I have always learned more for my craft when I was in an office setting.

[unluky]

Originally Posted by RobotDoctor

I have done both and prefer going to a work location. If a person is very disciplined and don't have outside distractions then working from home would be fine. There is the lack of social interaction but more importantly there is a loss of knowledge/skill/technique that remote work cannot take advantage of. I have always learned more for my craft when I was in an office setting.

100% me. I get it - if I were an IT professional or only spoke to customers via phone/chat/email anyway - it makes since. But I am in sales and marketing for a manufacturing company and I like to know our products from the inside out from cradle to grave and being hands on is 100% how I do it. I think I would be far less affective being 100% remote.

I get both sides of the argument - but I think it depends a lot on the type of work AND the individual. Some people are just self motivated and some look for the shadows whenever they can. Not a one size fits all subject to me.

I'm glad for those that it fits and they can make it work. Just not for me.

[RobotDoctor]

Originally Posted by unluky

100% me. I get it - if I were an IT professional or only spoke to customers via phone/chat/email anyway - it makes since. But I am in sales and marketing for a manufacturing company and I like to know our products from the inside out from cradle to grave and being hands on is 100% how I do it. I think I would be far less affective being 100% remote.

I get both sides of the argument - but I think it depends a lot on the type of work AND the individual. Some people are just self motivated and some look for the shadows whenever they can. Not a one size fits all subject to me.

I'm glad for those that it fits and they can make it work. Just not for me.

I have to travel to manufacturing sites to perform nearly all the work I do. I am a technical field service engineer in the industrial robotics industry. On rare occasion I can work from home, like the next two weeks working on an offline robotic programming project. Generally I am a road warrior and have been this year. I have been working a pre-Covid schedule, which is outstanding!!!

[xander_g]

Personally, I prefer working from the office as I prefer to keep my home and work life separate. Even though I can work remotely, I prefer to be at the office whenever I can.

However, from a business standpoint - if I can hire someone from overseas to work remotely doing admin/clerical for around $5/hr, why would I pay someone $20+ locally? Outsourced remote workers tend to be more reliable and consistent as well.

[unluky]

Originally Posted by minn19

I don’t think this is related to work from home IMO. Terrible employees exist/existed in the office as well. The geography of where they work (home or office) doesn’t change that.

So you think an employee that does the very bare minimum in the office where everyone can see will do that same amount of work at home where no one is watching? I think it applies to them MORE than anyone else. I will be just as productive at home as I am at work because I am super self motivated. Those looking for hiding spots will find it much easier at home.

[minn19]

Originally Posted by unluky

So you think an employee that does the very bare minimum in the office where everyone can see will do that same amount of work at home where no one is watching? I think it applies to them MORE than anyone else. I will be just as productive at home as I am at work because I am super self motivated. Those looking for hiding spots will find it much easier at home.

I think it is very clear what I was saying. Home or the office has nothing to do with if they are a good or bad employee (as per your own example). It’s very evident in either place. It’s on management to do something about it, but most of the time they are too busy/lazy themselves to deal with it because they hate firing/hiring/replacing incompetent people etc.

[fcman]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

For those that are supportive of 100% remote work, how did you get your training/mentoring for your first job? I would bet a majority of it was by working side by side with a number of people for a few years.

I see no way for a college grad to come into my line of work (consulting) and be successful if they aren't working with their manager/mentor/staff in person at least 30% of the time. I can not imagine that my job is much more different in terms of green staff needing in-person work experience.

This is like being a plumber and being confused why you can’t work from home. As a consultant your job is literally to collaborate, of course it’s more effective in person.

[unluky]

Originally Posted by minn19

I think it is very clear what I was saying. Home or the office has nothing to do with if they are a good or bad employee (as per your own example). It’s very evident in either place. It’s on management to do something about it, but most of the time they are too busy/lazy themselves to deal with it because they hate firing/hiring/replacing incompetent people etc.

Now I see what you are saying. It is tough though - hiring now compared to 20-30 years ago is a whole new ballgame. Finding self motivated people for non-upper levels jobs is difficult to say the least.

It is a management issue - I agree with you.