work-from-home boom will lift productivity in the U.S. economy by 5%

[cyhiphopp]

I'm not arguing for 100% WFH. I would ideally be in the office 1-2 days a week. But the employers who are clinging to the idea that office jobs must be 100% butt in office are missing the boat. Having a mixture or full time WFH as an option greatly expands the recruitment pool and appeals to people with young families or other obligations where being home a higher % is beneficial.

Yep it's all about balance. Having WFH as an option is great. Doesn't mean it's 100% effective for all office environments for use all the time.

My current job really likes having people in the office even after being virtual for a good period during the pandemic. I'd love to occasionally work from home just to avoid the commute though.

 

[cowgirl836]

Yep it's all about balance. Having WFH as an option is great. Doesn't mean it's 100% effective for all office environments for use all the time.

My current job really likes having people in the office even after being virtual for a good period during the pandemic. I'd love to occasionally work from home just to avoid the commute though.

Commute, delivery item/service person, sick kid, mildly sick yourself, need a break from people/want to focus on work, do some background house chores, be there when kids get off bus, run yourself or family member to appointments, weather - tons of reasons. But people end up having to use PTO for much of that now instead of on things they'd actually enjoy.

Put employee happiness higher on the list and productivity/retention will follow.

 

[Clonehomer]

That's exactly why some people are finding that they get more work done at home. At the office, dead space is filled by going to grab coffee and chatting with your coworkers on the way, or running into your boss and casually conversing about something work related, or any number of other time fillers. Many of those time fillers have been eliminated, or dramatically reduced because in a remote situation, they take effort to reproduce. They're active tasks now, rather than just ones that occur organically. And as a result employees are finding they have more time to work. I know personally, I don't feel like I'm working harder than I did in the office. I just feel like I have more time to actually work, than I used to, which translates into more work getting done.

This is great for the short term, but those interactions develop a relationship that often proves to be beneficial over time. Without those interactions, you're not going to really get to know your colleagues and the team dynamic just won't be there. I just think over time you're going to see a lot more issues with stress and depression if your entire day is by yourself in front of your screen. And maybe that is different depending on your job function and how much of your day is in meetings vs individual work.

 

[Mr Janny]

This is great for the short term, but those interactions develop a relationship that often proves to be beneficial over time. Without those interactions, you're not going to really get to know your colleagues and the team dynamic just won't be there. I just think over time you're going to see a lot more issues with stress and depression if your entire day is by yourself in front of your screen. And maybe that is different depending on your job function and how much of your day is in meetings vs individual work.

My particular situation is one where I took a new job in the middle of the pandemic. And yes, initially it was a challenge to acclimate myself. However, it's been 9 months and I don't feel like remote working has had an adverse effect on my work at all. Have a great team dynamic despite not ever meeting people face to face. This may be a challenge for older folks, but I feel like the generation that grew up with the internet, message boards and online gaming doesn't see it as much of a hurdle to establishing relationships.

Cyclone Fanatic itself, is a prime example of that. Shared interests and tasks can forge strong bonds without the need for face to face communication

 

[Entropy]

My particular situation is one where I took a new job in the middle of the pandemic. And yes, initially it was a challenge to acclimate myself. However, it's been 9 months and I don't feel like remote working has had an adverse effect on my work at all. Have a great team dynamic despite not ever meeting people face to face. This may be a challenge for older folks, but I feel like the generation that grew up with the internet, message boards and online gaming doesn't see it as much of a hurdle to establishing relationships.

Cyclone Fanatic itself, is a prime example of that. Shared interests and tasks can forge strong bonds without the need for face to face communication

It does take time to figure out personalities.
It's one of my concerns about teaching remotely. I can pick up so much more quickly in a classroom by reading non-verbal cues from students about how well they are understanding the concepts being presented.

 

[CycloneErik]

WFH is one of those things that sounds great in recruitment. In practice our college hires that started during COVID are leaps and bounds behind developmentally than previous classes. Part of this may be due to trying to update training/onboarding courses to be entirely virtual, but the other side is you lose a lot not learning in person. Most people for full WFH in my field are people with families.

The vast majority of my younger co-workers are itching to get back to the office, travel, etc... as sitting in a one bedroom apartment by yourself all day is bad for their mental health.

Sounds like skewed or faulty measurements. No way college grads who have been learning independently, remotely, or have e-mailed profs for years trail behind in learning and development because they're in a remote environment. That ignores everything they learn about learning in college.

So, it sounds like anecdotal BS from someone who dislikes having to adapt their methods to a new environment.

 

[cowgirl836]

Sounds like skewed or faulty measurements. No way college grads who have been learning independently, remotely, or have e-mailed profs for years trail behind in learning and development because they're in a remote environment. That ignores everything they learn about learning in college.

So, it sounds like anecdotal BS from someone who dislikes having to adapt their methods to a new environment.

could also be reflective of the training/onboarding not adapting well to virtual, especially if it relied on a lot of in person interaction.

 

[CycloneErik]

could also be reflective of the training/onboarding not adapting well to virtual, especially if it relied on a lot of in person interaction.

Good point. I was including that in the last few words about adapting.

 

[besserheimerphat]

Cyclone Fanatic itself, is a prime example of that. Shared interests and tasks can forge strong bonds without the need for face to face communication

I actually hate all you *******.

 

[Beerbrat]

Sounds like skewed or faulty measurements. No way college grads who have been learning independently, remotely, or have e-mailed profs for years trail behind in learning and development because they're in a remote environment. That ignores everything they learn about learning in college.

So, it sounds like anecdotal BS from someone who dislikes having to adapt their methods to a new environment.

Or we generally send our new hires to 4 months of all day in person training which is a highly collaborative event. I never said they weren't adapting or were overall bad performers (and most people are giving them the benefit of the doubt), but they are behind the previous classes that were in-person at this point of their development cycle.

 

[CycloneErik]

Or we generally send our new hires to 4 months of all day in person training which is a highly collaborative event. I never said they weren't adapting or were overall bad performers (and most people are giving them the benefit of the doubt), but they are behind the previous classes that were in-person at this point of their development cycle.

So I nailed it. You didn't adapt.

 

[cyhiphopp]

Sounds like skewed or faulty measurements. No way college grads who have been learning independently, remotely, or have e-mailed profs for years trail behind in learning and development because they're in a remote environment. That ignores everything they learn about learning in college.

So, it sounds like anecdotal BS from someone who dislikes having to adapt their methods to a new environment.

Sounds like it's very specific to his own experience. Some jobs are better suited to WFH especially with respect to training. It's not a one size fits all situation.

 

[cyhiphopp]

Or we generally send our new hires to 4 months of all day in person training which is a highly collaborative event. I never said they weren't adapting or were overall bad performers (and most people are giving them the benefit of the doubt), but they are behind the previous classes that were in-person at this point of their development cycle.

So it IS very specific to YOUR needs and the positions you are trying to fill. Doesn't mean WHF wouldn't work for many other jobs at other companies. Or even work better for your positions if your training was structured differently.

 

[carvers4math]

could also be reflective of the training/onboarding not adapting well to virtual, especially if it relied on a lot of in person interaction.

This. My son was laid off during Covid, and moved for new job. They asked his interests, and gave him a mentor that answers his questions and golfs with him.

Meanwhile HR is useless. One person ******* he hasn’t completed his checklist by getting his travel credit card, while another says they aren’t issuing them since no one can travel anyway.

After listening to half an hour of stupid in Skype meeting, he finally chimed in and resolved an issue they have been arguing about how to approach for months.

 

[CycloneErik]

So it IS very specific to YOUR needs and the positions you are trying to fill. Doesn't mean WHF wouldn't work for many other jobs at other companies. Or even work better for your positions if your training was structured differently.

Exactly. They have a structure with their own pre-measured (in time, "achievement" and whatever) schedule and benchmarks. It didn't translate to a remote environment, so the remote part is the issue.

 

[Beerbrat]

So it IS very specific to YOUR needs and the positions you are trying to fill. Doesn't mean WHF wouldn't work for many other jobs at other companies. Or even work better for your positions if your training was structured differently.

Isn't this entire thread very industry specific and anecdotal? There is no one size fits all solution. I'm specifically calling out that from our experience in doing training internally and externally it generally isn't as effective virtually. You may be able to do your job remotely currently, but bringing in new people is a big challenge from a training and adapting to culture (getting to know co-workers, lay of the land, etc...) standpoint.

 

[cyhiphopp]

This. My son was laid off during Covid, and moved for new job. They asked his interests, and gave him a mentor that answers his questions and golfs with him.

Meanwhile HR is useless. One person ******* he hasn’t completed his checklist by getting his travel credit card, while another says they aren’t issuing them since no one can travel anyway.

After listening to half an hour of stupid in Skype meeting, he finally chimed in and resolved an issue they have been arguing about how to approach for months.

I got laid off mid pandemic which sucked. And I was hired where I am right after they went back to the office full time. I can imagine it would be hard for a lot of places to onboard employees during a pandemic. But you kind of have to figure it out and have leadership that's all on the same page.

I'm in a small office (18 people) so they probably wouldn't have hired me to take over two of their systems if they had to train me remotely, so being back in the office worked out.
Now that I know what I'm doing, I could work from home a few days of the week when I didn't have any meetings scheduled, without any problems. But I don't think the ownership is as open to remote if it's not necessary. We'll see if I can work on that though.

 

[Beerbrat]

Isn't this entire thread very industry specific and anecdotal? There is no one size fits all solution. I'm specifically calling out that from our experience in doing training internally and externally it generally isn't as effective virtually. You may be able to do your job remotely currently, but bringing in new people is a big challenge from a training and adapting to culture (getting to know co-workers, lay of the land, etc...) standpoint.

I should also clarify. I'm not against work from home. Most of my practice works remote (home or client site) even pre-Covid. Training was 100% in person.

 

[cyhiphopp]

Isn't this entire thread very industry specific and anecdotal? There is no one size fits all solution. I'm specifically calling out that from our experience in doing training internally and externally it generally isn't as effective virtually. You may be able to do your job remotely currently, but bringing in new people is a big challenge from a training and adapting to culture (getting to know co-workers, lay of the land, etc...) standpoint.

I didn't catch that you were being specific to your experience. If you mentioned that then I understand a lot better. It seemed like you were against WFH in general.

 

[cyhiphopp]

I should also clarify. I'm not against work from home. Most of my practice works remote (home or client site) even pre-Covid. Training was 100% in person.

It makes sense that Training would be one of the hardest things to do with WFH employees. That's understandable and different industries and environments will have varying levels of success if they have to adjust to only WFH