I think wide acceptance of WFH is the worst thing to have happened post-covid. I want to preface this by saying that I'm a huge introvert and generally don't like interacting with people very much either, but I'm self aware enough to know that while WFH is comfortable, it's utterly terrible and unnatural on many levels. 1. It WILL lead to lower levels of innovation and collaboration long-term. This effect may have been masked over the last two years because covid was fantastic for profitability for most of tech. But over the long term, isolated, lonely people who don't talk to each other won't form the connections to start a business together, come up with a good idea, or even just have the motivation to accomplish things the way they would if they worked together. I have friends who started companies, and all of them met IN PERSON while either interning together or working together. I have some great connections I made at work who I talk to about ideas we've had, and we all met IN PERSON. When I worked in the office, I learned so much from coworkers about tech and the industry via anecdotes over drinks or at lunch. All of that is now gone. 2. It has already lead to a mental health crisis. People were lonely and isolated in America before covid, but WFH has completely atomized us. I see many people on Blind who are very pro WFH but ask yourself, are you really happier, or just more comfortable? Sure you can sleep in, don't have to commute, and generally have a cushier existence. But I don't think that will lead people to being truly happier in life. 3. It has decreased productivity. Coming from direct experience here: at my last job, post WFH I figured out that I could get away with doing almost zero work. I would put in a couple hours at the beginning of the day, make sure my status was still online, but after that I was utterly checked out. I still got excellent performance reviews and got two promotions. This wasn't just me either. The entire team, including my manager did it. We all complained constantly about how "busy" we all were, but I knew that nobody was working. This culture permeated the entire team. I went to the gym, took naps, watched youtube, and browsed reddit all day. Why am I complaining about this? Because I realized it was depressing and sucked away my self worth. I spent two years of my career with almost nothing to show for it, despite two promotions and a big pay bump. 4. It's ruining cities. I still live in the city I grew up in, and I have a lot of pride in it. It's depressing to me to see how far it has fallen, with empty buildings, empty sidewalks, and closed businesses everywhere. 5. It will lead to outsourcing. Why this hasn't already happened yet on a wider scale is a mystery to me, but I suspect companies haven't had to tighten their belts yet due to the tech boom we've had. That boom is ending, and the first way companies will look to cut costs is to outsource. Why pay 300k to get a green card worker to come to the US and work virtually when you can keep him in India for a fraction of that cost. I don't want to hear any complaints about "commuting costs". The lowest paid workers in our economy have to commute the farthest for in-person jobs to deliver food for the spoiled, remote tech workers who are too comfortable and lazy to even leave their house anymore. Remote work is not the future, and it's an unnatural aberration. I have much higher respect for companies such as Apple, Google, and Lyft who have had the balls to force their employees to come back. I think we'll continue to see remote first companies fall behind and imitate, rather than innovate, a trend which will take years or even decades to fully play out. Apologies for the rant, but the idea of everyone sitting around alone, at home, in front of a computer for the rest of history depresses the hell out of me. Edit: to all the commenters telling me to go in to the office if I'm so anti-remote: you think I'm not? I've been going in 3-5 times per week for months. I don't think mandatory 5 days per week in-office is good either and I would welcome some form of hybrid work, and what I'd really like to see is a 4 day week. I'm also not Indian, a boomer, or a manager.
Desi manager spotted đđ
True..đđ
Yeah, so much Indian
Sperg post đ¨
Ok boomer
Go home, boomer. You are drunk
If you want to go to the office, just do so and leave us alone!
If they go alone then who will say âYes sirâ
Your totally right. WFH is a trend and it will end.
Just because it rhymes, it isn't right.
All of these are your opinions. Do not try to force us all to waste countless hours and resources commuting for a job we can be completely effective at from home.
I am pro-WFH but the reality is that working from the office doesn't work as well if you have WFH colleagues. So remote-friendly or remote-optional like Twitter and Square really means remote-first in practice.
That's a nice collection of anecdotes so I'm assuming you've never occupied a data driven role before.
If you want to go to the office, it's fine. Don't force others. Nobody cares about your opinions.
Including yours?
Yes, including mine.
Yes of course wfh cannot replace office working. A hybrid model is the best for future!
No you need more metaverse