There is an interesting debate that has been going on for a couple years now about the work from home options, and while it has been consistently talked about for ages, it has been brought up again loudly through an Elon Musk interview recently. Musk brought up the "immorality" of the demand for WFH, considering that the majority of workers and especially the lower-paid, don't have the option and are expected to do their job from location.
Work from home has been a topic that I have talked about a fair bit since the start, because while I do think the option for working from home should be there, I also think that it is being misused and perhaps, misunderstood. The reason is that many people see working from home as a benefit, without factoring in all of the other aspects of it that aren't so great - like work-life balance.
One of the common complaints I heard throughout the Covid pandemic in regards to working from home, was that holidays didn't feel like holidays, for as people were forced into not travelling, there was no distance from work. They spent their time in their office, slash home. There was little change of scenery. Similar complaints have come up when people have days off, are ill or have sick children. At least in Finland, when sick or a child is sick, the law says that you don't have to work - yet, with work from home possible, people are working and there is "almost" an expectation that this will happen.
What people haven't seemed to realize in this argument, is while they are fighting to stay at home for convenience, the corporations are able to have less sick days, as well as reduce office space and provide less specialized equipment. While people are sitting at their kitchen table making Teams calls from a chair that is nowhere near ergonomically designed and in a position that puts unnecessary pressure on the body, a company is still getting productivity out at a lower cost. But, it is lower productivity in general, so they are weighing up the costs and since bottom-line is the driving force, it is still cheaper in the short-term.
But, for an employee, there is still very much an out of sight, out of mind factor in play, which means that the people who aren't making themselves visible in the organization, are going to increasingly miss out on advancement opportunity, even if they are doing their job well. While companies work on a profit maximization algorithm, promotions still have a very high human element involved, and not building internal relationships will mean missing opportunity. This is also part of the reason that people who work from home have to change company in order to get a promotion more often than those in the office. The other part of that is likely due to those working from home not being part of the social culture of the business, not having any personal relationships with their colleagues, making work, all very robotic.
People think that working from home empowers them in how they spend their time, but this is only have the story. What it does is makes their home an extension of an office without as good facilities or equipment, no cleaner, no discounted lunch place, no coffee with colleagues, no social events, no separation. In some ways, the lie I see in work from home is a similar lie to what is happening on OnlyFans.
What?
For decades women have been fighting for their right to not be sexualized or objectified, yet, now people call this female empowerment. Women are actually volunteering to be sexualized and objectified for money. And people justify it because the money that some of the women are getting is very, very good. Yet, because this has been normalized, they don't factor in that it has also lowered the bar to women been put into abusive situations and because it is all done at distance through a webcam, they have little chance of getting helped.
Isolation.
Work from home is a divide and conquer strategy that has further isolated us, taken away random interaction and reduced our personal time and space - and we feel empowered by it? We no longer get to talk with colleagues over a coffee in the same way, we don't see how corporations treat their people, we don't know who is hired and fired, we have little visibility on any of what is going on. We are in the dark.
But, our instant gratification culture means that because there is surface level convenience for it because we don't have to commute or wear pants to work, that is fine.
We also don't see when people are replaced by AI.
Winning.
Just like Nike doesn't care about whether the people who buy their products are healthy or not, corporations are looking to maximize the value of their employees. Through technological advancement, the per head value has increased in many industries, and now we are moving into a world where decreasing headcount and replacing it with processing power is the next major shift. Processors don't require offices, coffee or a desk - and they don't need a carpark. They work from anywhere and they don't complain about their conditions.
But, while this might not be the major concern for many now, what should be a concern is that the less face time they have with colleagues and supervisors, the more irrelevant they become in the organization. Sure, many will be able to keep changing jobs for a raise in salary for some period of time, but eventually, that plan falls through too, because without track-record which comes through references and results, they will not be hired.
Musk is not wrong when it comes to much of what he has said about working from home culture, but he is thrown under the bus because he talks in terms of productivity and profit. However, all companies are doing the same and for many of those companies, it is actually more profitable to have people work from home, because they see their people as more disposable, more replaceable.
It is getting very, very hard to find highly skilled and motivated people for specific positions, but there is a lot of middle of the road people out there who can fill a basic slot, get minimal training, require no space and will churn in six months when they move on, as they inevitably do. People don't commit to their workplaces anymore, but working from home means that companies don't have to commit to their employees at all either - everyone is faceless, just a number.
It is funny, people used to demand better working conditions, but now, they are demanding lower quality conditions being sold under the guise of convenience and options. Workplaces have got worse, and we think we are winning - even though salaries aren't increasing ands depression is on the rise. Add up the pros and cons, the costs and savings of working from home, and the positives are far slimmer and have a lower value than what people's intuition award them.
But, they are convenient.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
Posted Using LeoFinance Alpha
I am an advocate of work from home when the situation requires it. When I got sick, I had to get treatments and had issues driving. This was due to medication, along with other things that made it difficult, if not damn near impossible for me to make it the 50 mile drive to my office. I started working from home at that point and continued to until my medical retirement.
At first it was great, even though I was sick, I was still a work-aholic, which makes WFH a disaster if your that type of person. It did not help me get better. I even worked on my sickest of days, I even worked from my laptop from the hospital getting my IVIG infusions once they gave me the access. This did not give me the time to properly rest and heal myself and I eventually think it led to me getting even sicker.
It was a cycle!
I also resembled much of what you covered in your post. Because I was also struggling with my physical health, and then started struggling with my mental health, my relationships at work suffered. This was because they could not be nurtured with that personal contact and relationship building you get from person to person interaction. We didn't even have Teams at the time until towards my retirement time.
My organization did what they could to give me the equipment and resources I needed to work, but I couldn't get everything, like certain network resources could only be accessed onsite and not through VPN. This limited my functionality and I had to depend on others for some functions I used to be able to do myself.
I think WFH is fine if one balances work and life. They should have a seperate space in the home to work from. Don;t try to work from home sick and do other "home" tasks while working from home. They should stop work when work is done. Shut the computer and leave it off. No sneaking into the home office for late night work sessions. Balance WFH and going into the office as much as possible. Make a schedule to show your face in the office and make a point to show your face to your comrades so they know you are alive and remain relevant.
Just the thoughts from my experience.
Yes, but it is a slippery slope, isn't it? It is kind of like violence - it is okay when the situation requires it, but the hurdle is lowering. I think it is the same for various mental and health disorders, everyone ends up having an excuse as to why they should be exempted or included, but they never want to pay the costs of getting their way.
And then, as you mentioned, it also had other impacts on you that were negative. Sure, you could work from home, but at what costs? It is hard to factor it all in, but I think individuals need to consider it from a more holistic viewpoint.
Balance is a difficult thing to accomplish for most of us. Like a balanced diet, most fail and end up eating more of what they like to eat, even though it isn't good for them.
Thanks for your thoughts!
Yes, I think WFH requires very careful and watchful leadership. I don't necessarily mean that from a the perspective of watching for the employee knocking off while they should be working. That seems to be where management always goes. A good leader wil also be monitoring for employees who are over throttled while WFH. They will be looking for things like the employee who is sending emails after hours etc.
I notice that the working culture in the US is generally more unhealthy than that of Europe.
Yes it most likely is.
As long as social rights like normal working times and salary, breaks and daily food continue, WFH is acceptable.
The problem is, that they don't tend to be as clearly defined.
Company should make a new employment agreement.
No, it isn't the contract, it is the workers. People tend to have less structure in their work life from home.
I prefer to be in my office quite honestly. I think I have mentioned before that when I work from home it is too easy to be pulled away by other things that break your focus. For example, the dog needing to go out, or my wife needing something (assuming she is home as well). That being said, I do like having the option to work from home. Say when the weather is bad and school is cancelled anyway. It just makes more sense to me that they don't want me dead in a ditch somewhere.
There is the option to work from home and the want to not go into the office. I actually question people who don't want to be in the office at all, as they are siloing themselves and therefore, making it harder for others too.
I just like not having to take a personal day in the winter when I don't want to drive the 20 miles into work through the snow. I used to have to either take a day or show up. Covid showed that work can get done from home and they allow us to work from home now. I am careful not to take advantage of it.
Yeah, that is silly. I work in a tech company, so it has always been possible to wfh, with many doing it well before pandemics. Bad weather was one of the reasons.
I remember in 2006 I started working from home. It was nice to wake up late, take a break from work at any time, and the earnings were good (more than at work).
Were you working for yourself?
Yes, I opened a brokerage account and worked from a laptop.
So, that is a bit different. The responsibility changes and you have to make the decisions for yourself. For an employee however, it ends up in a different basket.
Also consider all the health problems you can get when you have to work countless hours just to make "enough money," specially when you're a lower-paid worker. This can be disastrous; consider the stress when there is a time limit, the pain you get in your neck, shoulders, and back, no to mention the anxiety when you have kids running from here to there and vice versa, all the day...
Poor quality equipment adds to the physical stress at least. I know that during the pandemic, my wife and I suffered a lot, as we didn't have space or equipment to work comfortably.
That's exactly the point bro.
On the other hand, I know the type of people who bless WFH because they can do the bare minimum not to get fired. I have observed this when supervising a small group of 10 to 20 people in my time. Such people end up being very weak, but stay with the company a lot longer than the best people, who burn out for the reasons you wrote.
As a result, the company is left with such half-robots, who do not demand or do not deserve a promotion...
Like any system, this system will go its way to death or mutate to be useful. It takes time, I think.
Dead weight. In some countries, they would be gone earlier - Europe tends to have better protections for them. It is funny how people think that getting away with doing the bare minimum is winning.
Many places took the opportunity to downsize during the pandemic. Hybrid home-office actually started for many companies even earlier.
I don’t remember when this started but offices are now open concept in the name of more collaboration. People don’t get their own spots unless they are in the upper management.
I find it less productive and less comfortable in the new environment than home office.
Face time for promotion? Not if your manager don’t come to the office either! 🤣
People really don’t care who you are, people don’t sit in the same place like before, and introverts don’t go around and introduce themselves during the office days.
Totally agree buddy, we must work at the same place.
The company I work for has always been hybrid, nothing really changed after.
They tend to be there enough. :)
I don't find this to be true in my experience. People don't care who you are, if they have never met you - then you are just a thing performing a role. When people work together, they do build relationships and even introverts benefit.
I say the implementation of WFH is a blessing, it's one of the few "good things" that was presented to us during Covid.
Now, I say it's good because I live in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. Yet, the number of people here still keeps growing rapidly, because all the big jobs and "opportunities" are here in this city, at least that's what they say.
I've seen my father and uncles waste 3 to 4 hours a day pushing traffic for the past 2 decades and more. The distance only being around a total of 20 to 30 kilometers, up and down. If there were strict traffic laws and a better traffic control systems, then maybe things would've been better, but sadly, nothing has changed in all these years. The traffic is getting worse, more cars and people on the streets too.
For now WFH is the only way out I'd say, it's an easy solution, because decentralization isn't going to be a thing before 2040/50. The rest of the cities are still playing catch up in terms of "opportunities" and job offers.
You can't even put a number or price on the amount of time we waste daily here in Dhaka, and that's just from pushing traffic. The transpiration costs are sky high as well, what used to be cheap, is cheap no more. So, with the time wasted and the money spent on the daily commute, most of the people can't really live a normal life, nor do they have the time or money for a bit of me time.
It's work, push traffic, sleep and repeat, and it's been that way for way too long.
I had some training sessions with some Indian clients during Covid and what was interesting, was how people wouldn't put their cameras on. They are working from home, but they also don't want people coming into their home, so to speak. Especially when there is likely quite big differences in living conditions around the world. It was much harder to build relationships with people and was nowhere near as effective as a face to face or even a camera on session.
That's actually a thing here, people around these parts are quite shy, some don't even know how to turn on the camera lol.
But things are changing though, now as freelancing and remote jobs become more common, people are opening up a bit more, especially the younger generation.
Thanks to new remote jobs and opportunities, people are now making three to five times more of what they'd earn here locally. A job that pays $500 a month here is considered "great", but to earn that much you'd need proper connections and probably half a decades worth of work and promotions in a single company.
But now, with all these new WFH opportunities and the outsourcing of jobs from the NA/EU region, people are making two to three times more of they'd make while working from their homes. From teenagers to millennials, if they now have the required skills and can adapt, then they're offered a way better starting salary, which can even be compared to what their parents make after climbing up the job/promotion ladder for a decade or so.
That's why the local companies are now having to step things up, a better pay, better facilities and flexibility, and many more options are now being offered. I wonder how the job sector will look like in 10 to 20 years.
I think WFH was a good idea but I feel it's not going to be healthy. But there are going to be strong jobs in that space once the need for the office is reduced for some sectors. I feel most of the busy sectors don't have the WFH requirement anymore and so they are keeping at as an option. I feel keeping hybrid would be future for next 5 years or so.
Hybrid is fine in my opinion. I just think that people are going to soon be complaining about missing out on opportunities, because they aren't present enough in the office.
SR. Ita a Very interesting topic and you also very nicely highlighted the disadvantages of WFH working from home but I think you should also highlight the advantages or benefits of WFH, may be you published a new post in coming days about benefits of WHF
I read a comment of yours under this post I feel you personally think WFH is only have disadvantages that's not true, you know better than me there are some advantages and benefits of WHF, another very important thing is so many people are working from home not by choice but they are doing this because they don't have another option, there is also a huge difference between working from home as an employee of a company or just working as self employed to make money from online business, like you and me writing content or publishing it on hive that also a form of WFH
There is a fundamental difference between working for yourself and being employed, and it comes down to responsibility. When self-employed, all responsibilities for working conditions are down to you - this is not the case when employed.
I think you hit the nail on the head right here. For the average person, quality of work suffers tremendously when it's done from a location where there's less physical monitoring than in a workplace locati0n. I've experienced this with customer service representatives... and you can tell very rapidly when one is working from home. Delays, poor sound quality, background noise. It takes twice as long to get the same outcome as you would get if they were in a workplace location.
Another concern is the retention of customer data on employees' personal devices. As someone who understand the importance of privacy, I don't want my data to be stored on some stranger's personal device! I never gave that type of permission to the company, yet with the rapid WFH changes that took place, we didn't even have the opportunity, as customers, to opt in or opt out of this.
While the superficial benefits of WFH are clear, the underlying downsides just carry on revealing themselves over time.
The privacy is an interesting thing in regards to this and there is very little oversight in most companies in how to deal with it. The company I ,work for doesn't have this issue, but there are still some issues.
Thank you for this post, as someone working from home, I can tell you that I am under paid and put in so much work so I can get results, and so my employer doesn’t think I spend little time working. I work all the time, weekends inclusive. WFH is a blessing, but it’s got it’s challenges.
What makes it a blessing?
The fact that I don’t have to look for a caregiver for my baby, I get to work and take care of her at home, and working for an organization that is miles away from where I live without having to relocate.
That is a benefit, and also a potential drawback, at least in the future. I often wonder how kids are affected when they see their parents working from home, rarely completely relaxing. I know for my daughter, when she is ill and one of us is home with her but still working, she gets frustrated.
I understand your concerns. I have a 3 year old son who constantly needs my attention, especially with his academics. Unfortunately I do not always have the time to assist him so I send him away when he “distracts” me from work. WFH definitely gives you little room for a work-life balance, somehow, one has to suffer.
I spent a few years travelling 90 minutes each way to work, now I've reduced that to about an hour each way.
My gf on the other hand works from home 3 days a week, but there is no separation. She'll 'finish' at later hours, and continue talking to clients through the night, weekends, vacations. There is no escape.
For me, I walk away at 5pm and there could be a monkey tearing up my desk and I'll not give the tiniest shit until I clock in the next day.
Can't put a price on that separation, imo.
Yep. And it isn't just the working more, it is that feeling of "always at work", always walking by the office, day and night. It is good to have the option to work from home, but I think those who choose it too often, are doing themselves a disservice down the road.
I agree with you!Dear @tarazkp !
Relationships with colleagues within an organization are very important! Because humans are social animals!
Humans grow through human relationships within organizations, not simply for money!
Excellent post. Very interesting points of view that you touch that are generally left aside when talking about this topic. It is true that most advocates only talk about the relative flexibility in schedules and the comfort of clothing. Without taking into account how you do ergonomics, the quality of the equipment and other aspects brilliantly explained in your analysis. Congratulations excellent article. Thanks for sharing.
Wow this is an interesting perspective! Never thought of it this way actually. Personally I am quite ok to work from both home and office, and my preference is a hybrid arrangement. I think the workplace culture is important, when it comes to issues like "protection" of personal time during non office/working hours.
I'm definitely split on this matter. I am a social person, so I do feel that I am missing out on important, enjoyable social interactions at work. I would constantly post in our work "watercooler" thread, where people would interact like they used to by the water cooler. I would always show up to our work "happy hours" where we just got to shoot the shit with our fellow employees during downtime. I really enjoyed these opportunities and the ability to meet coworkers who were out of my department.
It was always quite sad to me how little interaction I had outside of my 5-person department, so I would relish the chance to get to know new people thru these virtual social events.
I love working in my underwear at my standing desk. I love being able to handle my work on my time as long as I continued to meet my deadlines. I love that I no longer have a daily commute to the office. But I do miss hanging out in the office. I miss the daily interactions with my coworkers. I miss sharing a joke and having a laugh.
As I search for my next job, I would really like to find something with a hybrid opportunity, so I can stay home when I need to do more with my time and go to work when it is important to meet face-to-face with my colleagues. Hybrid truly is the best of both worlds!