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

[CloneIce]

What I am looking forward to most. In the new virtual meeting environment every hour can get booked up with meetings. It’s insane how many meetings we have a day now, usually back to back. I really miss when meetings included drive time to client offices, time to BS, grab lunch after the meeting, etc. now it is just wall to wall virtual meetings, back to back. Eating lunch at desk during Teams meetings. No breaks!

I’m not sure it’s sustainable long term. It might be less productive in some ways, but I’m really looking forward to a more reasonable pace of meetings.

 

[HFCS]

What I am looking forward to most. In the new virtual meeting environment every hour can get booked up with meetings. It’s insane how many meetings we have a day now, usually back to back. I really miss when meetings included drive time to client offices, time to BS, grab lunch after the meeting, etc. now it is just wall to wall virtual meetings, back to back. Eating lunch at desk during Teams meetings. No breaks!

I’m not sure it’s sustainable long term. It might be less productive in some ways, but I’m really looking forward to a more reasonable pace of meetings.

Lunch breaks definitely need to be orchestrated better in my experience.

I have a grocery store I walk to most days to grab something for lunch. I'd say 75% of the time I get a call while I'm there just in that 20 minutes. Pre-covid someone would call me at lunch maybe one time a month and that was during an entire hour of being away.

Time zones are a killer with this.

 

[BCoffClone125]

Honestly, I've found that since WFH meetings have been way more productive and the meaningless ones have been cut out. Things tend to be on topic and to the point and not a lot of side BS like we had in person.

I would agree with this. Thinking of my in person work meetings before the pandemic, they were usually fully of a lot of BS-ing either before or after the meeting.

I do agree that meetings where you are just providing updates and touch points IMO are more efficient and effective in a virtual environment. However, the more collaborative meetings where you are trying to brainstorm, problem solve, etc. are almost always more effective in person. There's just only so much collaboration you can do virtually. I've found myself thinking many times "glad I went and talked to XXX in person" vs emailing or setting up a call with them because we ultimately came up with a better idea and got to a resolution much quicker.

 

[brett108]

I absolutely hated working from home. And I’m glad I’m not anymore.

I agree with this. Being an engineer I cant just get away with using Outlook all day. The programs I engage are terrible when you aren't tied into license servers with higher performance connections. Everyone who says they are so productive at home must be using Google sheets and no actual VPN.

 

[cycloneG]

I agree with this. Being an engineer I cant just get away with using Outlook all day. The programs I engage are terrible when you aren't tied into license servers with higher performance connections. Everyone who says they are so productive at home must be using Google sheets and no actual VPN.

I'm on a VPN all day and just remote in to an on-site system for any sort of heavy data processing.

 

[Mr Janny]

I think a hybrid model is best balance of productivity, safety and environmental concerns.

My ideal post-covid week that seems it is actually going to happen:
1 day a week in office
Second day either in the office or meeting in a client's office. (lucky for me I live walking distance from where meetings often are)
3 days a week from home office

I can definitely agree that many 100s of days in a row working from home with no meetings or interactions in person is not ideal.

That's similar to what I'm shooting for. No more than 1-2 days a week in the office. I have found it very effective to be 100% remote this past year, and I could easily continue that, but my personal preference is for at least a day or so in the office.

 

[Cyched]

Lunch breaks definitely need to be orchestrated better in my experience.

I have a grocery store I walk to most days to grab something for lunch. I'd say 75% of the time I get a call while I'm there just in that 20 minutes. Pre-covid someone would call me at lunch maybe one time a month and that was during an entire hour of being away.

Time zones are a killer with this.

It’s been less of an issue recently, but when full time WFH started there was an uptick in evening/weekend emails. Usually they’re important, but I still hate getting work emails during “my time.”

I think WFH is a good thing, and I’ll be doing an office/home hybrid from here on out. But I hope we don’t let it blur the line between work and home life.

 

[brett108]

I'm on a VPN all day and just remote in to an on-site system for any sort of heavy data processing.

Thats one way around it with the virtual workstation. It requires a company to dedicate some on site resources to the cause.

 

[cycloneG]

It’s been less of an issue recently, but when full time WFH started there was an uptick in evening/weekend emails. Usually they’re important, but I still hate getting work emails during “my time.”

I think WFH is a good thing, and I’ll be doing an office/home hybrid from here on out. But I hope we don’t let it blur the line between work and home life.

We've combatted this with well defined work hours. I don't look at or respond to work emails outside of those hours.

 

[brett108]

It’s been less of an issue recently, but when full time WFH started there was an uptick in evening/weekend emails. Usually they’re important, but I still hate getting work emails during “my time.”

I think WFH is a good thing, and I’ll be doing an office/home hybrid from here on out. But I hope we don’t let it blur the line between work and home life.

If you have work email on your phone its already blurred.

 

[Cyched]

We've combatted this with well defined work ours. I don't look at or respond to work emails outside of those hours.

Like I said, it’s been getting better. And I’ve started snoozing notifications over the weekend, etc.

One improvement that’s been nice is when you have to work OT for deadlines, etc. Its nice to be at home instead of staying in the office late

 

[Mr Janny]

Lunch breaks definitely need to be orchestrated better in my experience.

I have a grocery store I walk to most days to grab something for lunch. I'd say 75% of the time I get a call while I'm there just in that 20 minutes. Pre-covid someone would call me at lunch maybe one time a month and that was during an entire hour of being away.

Time zones are a killer with this.

I will agree with this. Pre-pandemic, I had a dedicated lunch time, and while there were definitely times that circumstances impacted it, most of the time I took it at as scheduled. Since switching to working remotely, lunch is strictly a "take it when I can get it" affair. The official company stance is not to schedule meetings from noon to one, but that hardly stops anyone.

 

[madguy30]

It’s been less of an issue recently, but when full time WFH started there was an uptick in evening/weekend emails. Usually they’re important, but I still hate getting work emails during “my time.”

I think WFH is a good thing, and I’ll be doing an office/home hybrid from here on out. But I hope we don’t let it blur the line between work and home life.

When I've been in that position it was automated reply time. I think I could actually schedule it in at one point.

 

[Cyched]

When I've been in that position it was automated reply time. I think I could actually schedule it in at one point.

Automatic reply for vacations is my favorite thing in the world.

I strive to strike the perfect balance between professional and passive-aggressive

 

[BCClone]

WFH does probably lower office affairs also.

 

[qwerty]

We've combatted this with well defined work hours. I don't look at or respond to work emails outside of those hours.

 

[shadow]

I read a book a while back called "Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It."

Some Best Buy HR folks basically did a pilot project where employees could work anywhere they wanted as long as they got results. Seems like they were a few years ahead of this trend.

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[JM4CY]

WFH does probably lower office affairs also.

 

[MeowingCows]

WFH does probably lower office affairs also.

Now you just have regular affairs with non-coworkers during the workday!

 

[isufbcurt]

I also get to use my internet, phone, utilities and toilet paper. My favorite part is having no separation from where I live and where I work.

That was sarcasm. I tried working from home for a week when covid first started and was playing tennis, mowing and drinking beer by Thursday. Fortunately, we all got laid off that Friday and went back to work full time when we went back.

I prefer going to work, but understand people that prefer wfh. I do also feel that a lot of wfh are full of **** when they say they don't **** off parts of the day though, they just don't have to be sneaky about it like those of us in the office. I'm writing this from my desk right now, so you can tell how productive my Friday is.

I ****** off way more when I was in the office because there were people to BS with. WFH I still play on the internet the same as I did when I worked in an office but now I don't have the people to BS with. So I get my work done faster. It also helps to know that when I get my stuff done then I can go outside or whatever instead of having to sit at the office until it's time to go home, so there's more incentive for me to work efficiently.