The working-from-home delusion fades(economist.com)
economist.com
The working-from-home delusion fades
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2023/06/28/the-working-from-home-delusion-fades
24 comments
I was thinking something similar, like this journalist is close friends with executives who want workers back
Yeah. Keep pushing it. It's cool that you can write an article trying to astroturf the illusion of control once enjoyed. The world changed, if your organization can't evolve and figure out that there's no going back only forward and the model that works is not just sitting around waiting for you to pluck from your recent addled memory... And when I say you i mean me or anyone else who tells you they know what's going on. What's happening is good. The old model was way dead before we noticed under the hyper tight light of a global pandemic.
That for sure doesn't mean people don't want to collaboratively work in person with humans they like towards a goal that they can all agree on. That has been a thing and always will be. Free money created a lot of vampires who malinvested and now they are whining about how they should be in charge.
Lately I think a lot about what it means that every day of my life since post puberty I've been making computers do illusions. Tricks are something blah blah blah. What is the difference between digital goods and making someone a hammer or chair. The infinite reproducibility. The MBA class was so well heeled by all this free money they assumed that the tickets they collected to go redeem at the prize bank were reality and they are and they can redeem them.
Most of the folks that make the big technical pushes are in a minority, but it's not because the rest of the wash can't. The rest of the wash is given busy work to not compete. It's wild seeing people on LinkedIn getting screwed in the layoffs complimenting the people that wrecked em like that's the only meal.
Foster local, atomized, productive communities. Screw the silos. It's now or never and now was really a while ago.
That for sure doesn't mean people don't want to collaboratively work in person with humans they like towards a goal that they can all agree on. That has been a thing and always will be. Free money created a lot of vampires who malinvested and now they are whining about how they should be in charge.
Lately I think a lot about what it means that every day of my life since post puberty I've been making computers do illusions. Tricks are something blah blah blah. What is the difference between digital goods and making someone a hammer or chair. The infinite reproducibility. The MBA class was so well heeled by all this free money they assumed that the tickets they collected to go redeem at the prize bank were reality and they are and they can redeem them.
Most of the folks that make the big technical pushes are in a minority, but it's not because the rest of the wash can't. The rest of the wash is given busy work to not compete. It's wild seeing people on LinkedIn getting screwed in the layoffs complimenting the people that wrecked em like that's the only meal.
Foster local, atomized, productive communities. Screw the silos. It's now or never and now was really a while ago.
> The reasons for the findings will probably not surprise anyone who has spent much of the past few years working from a dining-room table.
Lmao what a condescending piece of crap writing
Lmao what a condescending piece of crap writing
Some people don't even have dining rooms, guaranteed this is some upper-class snob (not that all "upper-class" people are snobs), related to one, or they were commissioned to write this piece by such a person
I have a tiny apartment and I still have a dedicated office space. Whose working from a dining room table?
bashing WFH seems to be a meme coming from legacy corporate who sense a loss of control... I've been working remote for 15 years and have no desire to ever again be forced to commute into a cubicle
Quality of life is so much better when remote workers can live anywhere they choose... it may take a generation for management to clue into this reality and fully embrace WFH
Quality of life is so much better when remote workers can live anywhere they choose... it may take a generation for management to clue into this reality and fully embrace WFH
There is a hidden premise when it comes to productivity - it always comes at the expense of your personal life. Any numbers like 'X % increase' in productivity at work need to be accompanied with a commensurate 'X % decrease' in time spent living a life. If there is a delusion at all, it is the willful ignorance of this equation. Productivity is at odds with a life well spent.
The average commute in America by car is 55 minutes round trip or about 2 hours by public transit. That is 12.5–25% more time invested in your job to get your boss at best a few percentage points increase in productivity.
Wasn’t there another study saying that attrition at places with mandatory work from home was higher than forecast, and hiring replacements for in-office is also much more difficult than these companies projected?
A self-imposed labor shortage (compounded by layoffs) could explain the current productivity boost.
After all, you can simultaneously lower production and worker count, but still increase their ratio.
A self-imposed labor shortage (compounded by layoffs) could explain the current productivity boost.
After all, you can simultaneously lower production and worker count, but still increase their ratio.
"Far less noticed was a revised version of their paper, published in May by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York."
The Fed certainly have an agenda here.
And then there's that some of these studies seem to comparing pre-covid productivity to during or after covid, which are quite different worlds.
It might well be the case that trading houses and investment banks can be more 'productive' in-person, since gossip, insider-ish tips, feeling the trading sentiment, collusion etc, is far easier.
I think the take-away is that it very much depends on the work.
One factor of in-office productivity might be the unreported over-time that is almost always a part of office life (can you just do X before you leave/over lunch, etc).
The Fed certainly have an agenda here.
And then there's that some of these studies seem to comparing pre-covid productivity to during or after covid, which are quite different worlds.
It might well be the case that trading houses and investment banks can be more 'productive' in-person, since gossip, insider-ish tips, feeling the trading sentiment, collusion etc, is far easier.
I think the take-away is that it very much depends on the work.
One factor of in-office productivity might be the unreported over-time that is almost always a part of office life (can you just do X before you leave/over lunch, etc).
I am sick and tired of group stereotyping. Not every worker is the same, not every job is the same. Employer should retain and reward individual employees based on their actual productivity, not micromanage their lives. If work from home is less productive but desirable for other reasons, save money by hiring remote workers for less. For decades companies have been outsourcing to India and claiming it doesn't matter. Surely US employees within a couple of hours time difference and able to travel for frequent in person events can do at least as well?
I'm glad that everyone is hitting this guy hard, I see these articles all the time and they all stink of entitlement and definitely the guy writing this has something to gain by having this opinion.
Can we just stop with the types of articles and agree that everyone is different and that the best strategy is to provide flexibility for employees?
Where I work, employees can work from home or in the office, THEIR choice. There are no mandates. As long as you’re getting done what you need to get done, no one really cares where you do it.
I know several who thrive in an office environment and that is where they are most productive. I’m a Director and for me, I am far more productive at home because I have fewer distractions and without the commute I can start work earlier and get a lot done while I’m my most productive then end my day earlier. and enjoy my afternoon. I still do 1 on 1’s and various team activities but a big part of my job requires focus which was nigh impossible in the office.
I also have been in far better shape mentally and physically. I no longer have the stress of a 1 hour commute (each way), sometimes 2 hours coming home due to traffic. And I am in better physical health than I’ve been in a decade because I can cook a healthy lunch and not rushing for dinner whereas in the office we ended up eating at restaurants or fast food. I can make better healthy choices. The extra time I have because of no commutes has allowed me to take up cycling which has done wonders for my physical and mental wellbeing.
Now, I know everyone isn’t like me and different people have different challenges but it’s the CHOICE for employees that is so powerful.
Lastly, from a company standpoint, I love my job and I love where I work, the extra flexibility just makes me want to stay that much more.
To quote Michael Gary Scott: “It’s a win-win-win!”
Where I work, employees can work from home or in the office, THEIR choice. There are no mandates. As long as you’re getting done what you need to get done, no one really cares where you do it.
I know several who thrive in an office environment and that is where they are most productive. I’m a Director and for me, I am far more productive at home because I have fewer distractions and without the commute I can start work earlier and get a lot done while I’m my most productive then end my day earlier. and enjoy my afternoon. I still do 1 on 1’s and various team activities but a big part of my job requires focus which was nigh impossible in the office.
I also have been in far better shape mentally and physically. I no longer have the stress of a 1 hour commute (each way), sometimes 2 hours coming home due to traffic. And I am in better physical health than I’ve been in a decade because I can cook a healthy lunch and not rushing for dinner whereas in the office we ended up eating at restaurants or fast food. I can make better healthy choices. The extra time I have because of no commutes has allowed me to take up cycling which has done wonders for my physical and mental wellbeing.
Now, I know everyone isn’t like me and different people have different challenges but it’s the CHOICE for employees that is so powerful.
Lastly, from a company standpoint, I love my job and I love where I work, the extra flexibility just makes me want to stay that much more.
To quote Michael Gary Scott: “It’s a win-win-win!”
It is not one size fits all, that is the outcome of the experiment. Use your best judgment for you and your team. If someone truly benifits from WFH, and you arbitrarily limit them without good reason, they'll probably be unhappy, less productive, and liable to leave.
I've seen a few places take the worst of all worlds as part of a return to office push - People sitting in endless MS Teams video calls while sitting in an open-plan office
[deleted]
The Economist: Propaganda Rag For Imperialism and Calitalism
None of the material in this article individually or together justifies the title
"The working-from-home delusion fades" > Far less noticed was a revised version of their paper, published in May by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The boost to efficiency had instead become a 4% decline.
Four percent sounds like noise but if it isn't it still sounds like less than the cost of providing facilities for your at location workforce. The average American commute is now 55 minutes round trip. If you wanted to pay them 4% less than in person cost, pocket the money you would have spent on facilities, and let them save an hour a day everyone wins.
> The revision comes hot on the tails of other studies that have reached similar conclusions. David Atkin and Antoinette Schoar, both of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Sumit Shinde of the University of California, Los Angeles, randomly assigned data-entry workers in India to labour either from home or the office. Those working at home were 18% less productive than their peers in the office.
You paid them to participate in a study in their homes. I'm guessing some of the people assigned to do fake work at home decided to do other things.
> Chinese firm eventually halted remote work because off-site employees struggled to get promoted.
So the problem is you promote the people who socialize with the boss. Sounds like Chinese firms work exactly like American firms.
> Teleconferencing is a pale imitation of in-the-flesh meetings:
This depends on how much people are actually engaged. Plenty of people are doing this very well.
"The working-from-home delusion fades" > Far less noticed was a revised version of their paper, published in May by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The boost to efficiency had instead become a 4% decline.
Four percent sounds like noise but if it isn't it still sounds like less than the cost of providing facilities for your at location workforce. The average American commute is now 55 minutes round trip. If you wanted to pay them 4% less than in person cost, pocket the money you would have spent on facilities, and let them save an hour a day everyone wins.
> The revision comes hot on the tails of other studies that have reached similar conclusions. David Atkin and Antoinette Schoar, both of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Sumit Shinde of the University of California, Los Angeles, randomly assigned data-entry workers in India to labour either from home or the office. Those working at home were 18% less productive than their peers in the office.
You paid them to participate in a study in their homes. I'm guessing some of the people assigned to do fake work at home decided to do other things.
> Chinese firm eventually halted remote work because off-site employees struggled to get promoted.
So the problem is you promote the people who socialize with the boss. Sounds like Chinese firms work exactly like American firms.
> Teleconferencing is a pale imitation of in-the-flesh meetings:
This depends on how much people are actually engaged. Plenty of people are doing this very well.
Sadly, from all the car traffic, the vast majority agrees.
Oddly the Economist podcast had a guy on this week saying the exact opposite.
remote workers: “This is great and I’m more productive.”
managers: “I was skeptical but honestly this is fine.”
upper brass: “We’re so far removed from the trenches that we are completely divorced from reality, so this sucks and needs to come to an end.”
folks who own office buildings: “Thoughtful essay about how the results are in from the work-from-home experiment, I bet you can’t guess what conclusion I’ve come to”