Post-COVID Poll

[Recto]

The following is a post that was on top of my LinkedIn feed this morning (I can't link it directly as I lost it...) :

Where do you want to work after COVID ?
Number of respondent 140,933

Remote Full-time 50,593 35.9%
3+ days remote 44,625 31.7%
2+ days remote 29,670 21.1%
1+ days remote 7,532 5.3%
Office Full-time 7,888 5.6%

What caught my eye is that 150k people answered so far (it's probably more by now) and it is quite a large number. It is interesting to see that two thirds of the respondents prefer remote working for most of the workweek.
They must have a better home desk/office than I do Joking aside, there may be a real need to shift towards working from home for many. It might be because of long commute hours to go to the office, COVID fright, or convenience.

I may be old fashion but at what time do we see/interact with other people if we work from home ? Virtual meetings and phone calls are lacking something but I can't figure out what, it's not the same as speaking face to face with someone. If it is adopted globally, I'm not sure I could adapt that easily... It is perhaps better to stay at home than wearing a mask all day and getting exposed to the various toxins of modern cities. I don't know.

What's your take on this ?

 

[Jono]

I've always wanted to work from home party because I can smoke at work and party because as you say, the commute and lunch prep can turn my 40 hour week into at least a 50. I think most offices will recommend people to meet up with their teams now and then, but probably won't demand all work forces to be full time back at the office for fear of being shamed if the cases go 'up'.

I've also been thinking how easily they have prepared the majority of people for mass migration if that ever becomes necessary.

 

[Aquarian1962]

The following is a post that was on top of my LinkedIn feed this morning (I can't link it directly as I lost it...) :

Where do you want to work after COVID ?
Number of respondent 140,933

Remote Full-time 50,593 35.9%
3+ days remote 44,625 31.7%
2+ days remote 29,670 21.1%
1+ days remote 7,532 5.3%
Office Full-time 7,888 5.6%

What caught my eye is that 150k people answered so far (it's probably more by now) and it is quite a large number. It is interesting to see that two thirds of the respondents prefer remote working for most of the workweek.
They must have a better home desk/office than I do Joking aside, there may be a real need to shift towards working from home for many. It might be because of long commute hours to go to the office, COVID fright, or convenience.

I may be old fashion but at what time do we see/interact with other people if we work from home ? Virtual meetings and phone calls are lacking something but I can't figure out what, it's not the same as speaking face to face with someone. If it is adopted globally, I'm not sure I could adapt that easily... It is perhaps better to stay at home than wearing a mask all day and getting exposed to the various toxins of modern cities. I don't know.

What's your take on this ?

Well, I think it's another case of be careful what you wish for. Sure, working from home can be awesome... I worked from home for 3 months when Covid first started, and yeah, what's not to like. You can get up and get something to eat or drink any time you want, smoke whatever you like (hahaha), have the TV or radio on in the background if you want etc... Plus none of the drama from work and peers.... I admit, it was hard to come back to the office once they told us to come back, but at the same time... the more things turn virtual, the more privacy we will lose in our homes, and the more control our employers will want to have over us in the privacy of our own home. For instance, just like they are doing with school kids who are doing distance learning, employers will soon be using programs that track our keystrokes to make sure we are actually working all day.. it's just a matter of time before our homes become places where we are tracked. And yes, I do think we need to interact as humans, even if people at work are difficult, it's a learning experience, it's how we evolve. I think "they" want us to become more isolated, to interact less, to become more robotic and obedient... and if we stay at home, and do everything the "easy" way, it is going to halt our evolution as humans.

 

[SOTTREADER]

Choice... I believe in choice.

The person must choose rather than the employer impose. As long as productive work is getting done in a way that drives the objective of the business in question, then the employee should have choice to work from wherever. I'm somewhat extreme and say the employee can be given the choice to work remotely from a different country for a specified period of time if they so choose.

 

[Ursus Minor]

Where do you want to work after Covid?

Joking aside, there may be a real need to shift towards working from home for many. It might be because of long commute hours to go to the office, COVID fright, or convenience.

I think there might be a real need towards taking or retaining any job that will still be on offer.

If office space cannot be sustained anymore people will have to work from home, if at all.

 

[Alejo]

I can see the benefits of working from home, and I am sure I would enjoy them and perhaps get used to them. I worked from home for several months last year and it was very nice, I got to spend time with my dogs and have freshly cooked lunches, I saved a ton on gas and whatnot.

But once I was back at the office, I realized that I personally enjoy leaving my home to go work elsewhere, I have always enjoyed traveling and being outside so I learned to appreciate the commute. There's a lot of value to be found in interacting with people face to face at the office, my immune system stays strong, I get to see the human being and hear their voices as opposed to read their emails.

At home the line between at work and off work becomes very blurry and very thin because of all the benefits, and all the stress that is had at the office invades my haven. Leaving work was clicking a "sign off" button and I was in the same room, that felt odd. I know a few people that have lost their weekends and evenings since they started working from home, and it happened so smoothly that they've become used to it.

The boundaries of being at work became so loose and flimsy, while at the office I know when I am done working, and I like that, at home the assumption of a lot of employers is, you can log on anytime. But everyone's experience is different I assume.

Then there's the fact that I think one is more useful to society in general if you leave your house, looking at it from a mere economic viewpoint, you participate a lot more in it and help all those people who don't have a job that allows for a remote position.

So I am an old school "let me go to the office" kind of guy I guess.

 

[herondancer]

I think most will opt for the 2/3 or 3/2 work set up depending on their personality.

My younger daughter has been working remotely for almost a year and she's very happy with it. She can be marvellously social (a born networker) but is an introvert at heart. She remarked that this was the first winter in ages that she did not have a period of depression. She chalked it up to not having so much intense interpersonal activity. She works on the front line of a university registration office, and has to do a lot of hand holding, especially with the first-years. She's really good at it, but it does wear her out. Two days in, three days out would suit her just fine.

Three in, two out would be my choice if I was still working.

 

[AndrewMn]

Even before covid, I had an interesting period in my life. I lost a very good job and worked as a freelancer for almost 3 years. Of course, I had to work from home quite often. Although I rented a small office for myself afterwards. As mentioned above - working from home - we get a blurry line between personal affairs and work. Because of this, we begin to imperceptibly immerse ourselves in stress, without leaving it even late in the evening, thinking about work. During these three years, I am terribly tired psychologically. I hardly found a job (I started looking just before the corona-craizes) and despite the fact that there are a number of my own difficulties here too, I think it is more useful for immunity and for a psychological state - to work in an office. Constant live communication "teaches" to understand others, to feel their energy, to study it. And even if these are negative-minded people, this is also a kind of lesson for me on how to block negativity and be able to get out of difficult situations.

 

[SOTTREADER]

One thing I don't particularly like about offices are the "office politics". I've always been uncomfortable with office politics and I find it somewhat sad that they play such a huge role in the culture that drives the office hierarchical structure (in terms of human relationships).

Another thing I never liked about offices are that the structure drives hierarchical based relationships which in my opinion are never genuine or emotionally healthy. So this forced type of relationship I disliked.

Another thing I dislike about offices are the low level stress you experience just by being in an office space. It's always ticking away in the background, albeit at a low level.

Most of all though, I hate office spaces for what they do to your view of the world. I'd dare say office spaces really do drive STSness to such an extent that few other spaces rival. I understand there's no choice in being in such a space given the need to earn a living but personally I never saw that as a good enough reason to like the space, I just took it as something I had to endure as it was necessary.

I never found an office space I genuinely liked. I always felt like walking in an exam hall from back when I was studying. The first thing you do when you sit down is look at the time, take a sip of something and compose yourself, maybe take a couple deep breaths and look around to help settle into the rather strange environment.

 

[Rhansen]

So I am an old school "let me go to the office" kind of guy I guess.

It's not often that I can work from home but I find I would rather go to the office since I have access to physical files and better hardware/software. The majority of my work is in the field.

Another thing I never liked about offices are that the structure drives hierarchical based relationships which in my opinion are never genuine or emotionally healthy.

IME it's not just in the office.

 

[Mari]

As much as I like being at home, I would choose 2-3 days on-site (in office) work simply because I like company.
I had such a great team of people, we had so much fun time, also helping each other and going for coffee breaks that were filled with laughter and intelligent conversation.
When I moved to different job, the team wasn´t that much fun but conversation was still grownup - I really miss talking to adult people....
So, with my current state of mind, I wouldn´t mind going to office 2 days a week when my kids are in school.....

 

[psychegram]

I'd be very interested to see the breakdown by sex. I've a sneaking suspicion that women are more likely to prefer working from home, as it gives them the excuse to be homemakers instead of office drones ... something the feminists told them was akin to chattel slavery, and that they can't admit to themselves they secretly enjoy. I further suspect this quiet preference underlies the continued support for lockdowns amongst (overwhelmingly) liberal/progressive voters (with liberals, at least in the US, being predominantly female).

Speaking for myself, I've been working from home continuously since March 2020. It is driving me insane. While working in my bathrobe listening to melodic death metal cranked to max volume has its charms, the lack of ability to break up my day by changing work environment isn't great for productivity. Going from home office to cafe to library to office - as was previously my pattern - is a creativity aid, I find.

Frankly I also miss the social interaction of the office. To say nothing of the absolutely mind-numbing nature of interminable Zoom meetings ... and the lack of accountability (when the camera is turned off) that almost inevitably leads to ignoring Zoom in favor of my phone.

tl;dr personally I'd prefer to have the option to come and go from the office as I please. Mandatory work from home is a kind of prison; so is mandatory work from office.

 

[Recto]

Thank you all for your feedback, it gave me a much needed perspective on the matter. From what I gather, there's no one size fits all (as usual) regarding the best work setup we should have since our home and work environment are wildly different, as well as our temperaments and social bonds. I believe @psychegram summed it up nicely :

tl;dr personally I'd prefer to have the option to come and go from the office as I please. Mandatory work from home is a kind of prison; so is mandatory work from office.

So could maybe all agree that the worst case scenario would be that a specific work pattern be mandatory. Remote working as a day to day choice/option surely is a great step forward, even a lifesaver as our environment and society gradually decays (stress, long commute time, toxins, etc). I'm curious if we were pushed to it or if it was merely the evolution of how we conceive work, especially after the internet revolution.

Since the first poll wasn't specific enough to extract much meaningful information, I'll try adding a bit more to the topic for cross-examination purposes.

Is Remote Work Here to Stay? | Career Planning | LiveCareer

While most businesses thrive in a remote capacity, they still plan to eventually return to brick-and-mortar offices. But—are workers ready for yet another change?

www.livecareer.com

The article above is a run down of a (very) thorough survey about how people perceived working remotely and how they perceive the future on that matter. A bit more context :

Methodology​

We surveyed 1,022 respondents online via a bespoke polling tool that have been working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. All respondents included in the study passed an attention-check question. The study was created through several steps of research, crowdsourcing, and surveying.

Limitations​

The data we are presenting rely on self-reports from respondents. Each person who took our survey read and responded to each question without any research administration or interference. There are many potential issues with self-reported data like selective memory, telescoping, attribution, or exaggeration.

Some questions and responses have been rephrased or condensed for clarity and ease of understanding for readers. In some cases, the percentages presented may not add up to 100 percent; depending on the case, this is either due to rounding or due to responses of "neither/uncertain/unknown" not being presented.

The whole article is well worth the read, there's a couple of answers I want to include here. 29% of respondents would rather quit their job rather than quit remote working. It's not so far from the 35% of the poll I shared so there may be something to it. 61% want to work remotely indefinitely after the pandemic situation is over. However 79% of people think their company plan to return to on-site work eventually.
It doesn't surprise me that companies would be reluctant to change their ways, but it would be a shame to pass up an opportunity like this one as it would benefit both employees and the companies themselves to keep remote working as an option on a day-to-day basis.

Interestingly enough, there is this article and this study, that are talking about productivity from home over longer timespans :

Surprising Working From Home Productivity Statistics (2024)

With the world discovering alternative ways to work without human contact, the work from home force is getting a facelift.… Read More »

www.apollotechnical.com

Does Working from Home Work? Evidence from a Chinese Experiment

www.gsb.stanford.edu

While productivity has increased by transitioning to remote working, it won't necessarily mean that it'll stay that way forever.

The same NYT article reports some companies are seeing employees struggle with the lack of social interaction. The mental health of employees will start to hinder productivity over time decreasing employee satisfaction.

Home workers also reported improved work satisfaction and experienced less turnover, but their promotion rate conditional on performance fell. Due to the success of the experiment, CTrip rolled-out the option to WFH to the whole firm and allowed the experimental employees to re-select between the home or office. Interestingly, over half of them switched, which led to the gains from WFH almost doubling to 22%.

So going one way or the other may be detrimental in the long term. Flexibility in the way we work may be the best of both worlds, a win-win for productivity and happiness. This paper may be another way to look at it :

How intermittent breaks in interaction improve collective intelligence

Many human endeavors—from teams and organizations to crowds and democracies—rely on solving problems collectively. Prior research has shown that when people interact and influence each other while solving complex problems, the average ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Significance​

Many human endeavors—from teams and organizations to crowds and democracies—rely on solving problems collectively. Prior research has shown that when people interact and influence each other while solving complex problems, the average problem-solving performance of the group increases, but the best solution of the group actually decreases in quality. We find that when such influence is intermittent it improves the average while maintaining a high maximum performance. We also show that storing solutions for quick recall is similar to constant social influence. Instead of supporting more transparency, the results imply that technologies and organizations should be redesigned to intermittently isolate people from each other’s work for best collective performance in solving complex problems.

An imbalance/renewal of some sort may be periodically needed in order to thrive at work. It may be also true for life in general, as in the Yin and the Yang, Chaos and Order, suffering and joy, etc.

 

[Miracle]

About 4 months ago I started a new job as a customer service rep for a great local company. Previous to that, I was in the restaurant business during the full extent of Covid. The current policy for our company is to work from home unless you absolutely have to go to the office for Covid reasons. So for the past 4 months I've trained and worked from home which was a wonderful break from 50 hour mask wearing weeks in a very busy restaurant. The restaurant conditions were intolerable!

Our company is looking to have people come back to the office a couple times each week now that vaccination is almost done. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I've only met a couple of people in person since I've started, so on one hand I'm nervous, and on the other hand it would be nice to build in-person connection with my coworkers.

If I had to choose... I'd say we should go back to the way things were pre-covid! Is that still an option?

 

[Alejo]

One thing I don't particularly like about offices are the "office politics". I've always been uncomfortable with office politics and I find it somewhat sad that they play such a huge role in the culture that drives the office hierarchical structure (in terms of human relationships).

Yes, I agree, office politics are sometimes quite distasteful. But I think of them as the way I would see our immune system, it has to interact with the world in order to remain strong and prepared.

Office politics and the hierarchies that form around social gatherings are part of what we can use to learn a lot about humanity, and ourselves. I consider myself an introvert and I am very comfortable being alone, social gatherings can give me some anxiety from time to time, specially around strangers. But it's one of those things where I realized at some point that I was too self involved in my own head about it, and so I had to work out that social muscle, and go through the discomfort, sort of like going to the gym represents discomfort.

I think if done with that idea in mind, the office politics can be something one could learn to appreciate as it teaches one to "behave", not to be obedient, but to be considerate, to learn boundaries personal and those of others, to be courteous and sincere, and to see other human beings as such.

To put a quick example of my recent experience, I now have a coworker who is an ardent Biden lover who also is an absolute believer in the narrative of the virus. If I interacted with him purely online, I probably would not be able to stand him and work with him as I would make a lot of assumptions about his character based on that one dimension of his being. But being able to interact with him, and see him everyday, I can safely say that he's simply a man that I deeply disagree with on several levels, but with whom I am completely capable of having a sincere, courteous and professional relationship because he is still a human being.

And funny enough, we now joke about it which actually reduces stress immensely, it almost eliminates it. Quick example, the other day he asked me if he could borrow a pen, I said: "sure, you're gonna love it, it's a blue pen, which means it's a democrat... it has covid though". We laughed and we found a way to be kind to one another despite the disagreement.

And I think that this is one of the downsides of the working from home situation, it gives everyone a false image of what other people are like, it deepens polarization, it turns everything into a cold social network conversation, and we're disconnected from one another constantly making assumptions about what other people are like. And if you ask me, that's the largest form of divide and conquer I've seen in maybe ever.