The power of proximity to coworkers [pdf](pallais.scholars.harvard.edu)
pallais.scholars.harvard.edu
The power of proximity to coworkers [pdf]
https://pallais.scholars.harvard.edu/sites/g/files/omnuum5926/files/2025-11/Power%20of%20Proximity%20to%20Coworkers%20November%202025.pdf
12 comments
Hybrid vs in-person is a meaningless debate. Once you’re hybrid, you’ve restricted your candidate pool to an hour’s drive radius around the office. The damage has been done at that point.
Depends where you live - Australia has a lot of FiFo work, Fly In Fly Out on minesites and for various kinds of office work.
There's certainly people I know that live several hundred km away from a capital city, work remote, and come in for two or three days to catch up with everbody once a fortnight, once a month, etc.
It helps to have a wider PoV perhaps.
There's certainly people I know that live several hundred km away from a capital city, work remote, and come in for two or three days to catch up with everbody once a fortnight, once a month, etc.
It helps to have a wider PoV perhaps.
Virtually all the "hybrid" companies I've seen have 2/3 day in-office, 3/2 day remote schedules for office work. That doesn't necessarily apply to say, the employees working loading docks and shipping, but a couple days a month feels different enough to justify its own term.
1) that's mostly mining, or oil & gas, or the like and usually needs bodies on site. NOC folks and developers aren't flying to Outer Nowhere to type C# in a poorly air conditioned sea-can.
2) FIFO is rarely 2 days in office 3 at home, it's 2 weeks on site and 1 week off -- or similar. Many day stretches. "once a month, etc." is far more common.
3) FIFO to major cities like Perth is more workable simply because the airport and infrastructure are there. It's a shorter flight to somewhere like Carnarvon, West Australia, but they literally don't have the aiport size or housing capacity.
2) FIFO is rarely 2 days in office 3 at home, it's 2 weeks on site and 1 week off -- or similar. Many day stretches. "once a month, etc." is far more common.
3) FIFO to major cities like Perth is more workable simply because the airport and infrastructure are there. It's a shorter flight to somewhere like Carnarvon, West Australia, but they literally don't have the aiport size or housing capacity.
>how do hybrid schemes work out: some home, some office, less commute overall?
I think it depends on the type of work. I work as a support engineer for business stakeholders. Business stakeholders don't work in "Sprints", and always want to get anything ASAP. In that sense, if I want to maximize my value to the company, in-office is the best.
But frankly, I don't like that, so working remote is the best for me, IN THAT PERSPECTIVE. However, I do love the snacks in office, and I want to keep my job, so hybrid works the best for me. The stakeholders get to bug me from time to time in 3 days per week, and I book as many meetings as I can in those 3 days, and bring a non-fiction just to breath a little better.
I just wish Toronto has cheaper housing though, so I can live closer to the office.
I think it depends on the type of work. I work as a support engineer for business stakeholders. Business stakeholders don't work in "Sprints", and always want to get anything ASAP. In that sense, if I want to maximize my value to the company, in-office is the best.
But frankly, I don't like that, so working remote is the best for me, IN THAT PERSPECTIVE. However, I do love the snacks in office, and I want to keep my job, so hybrid works the best for me. The stakeholders get to bug me from time to time in 3 days per week, and I book as many meetings as I can in those 3 days, and bring a non-fiction just to breath a little better.
I just wish Toronto has cheaper housing though, so I can live closer to the office.
Discussion (201 points, 6 days ago, 149 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46121243
Hem... Geographical distance isn't a sensible parameter when computers are involved, because what matters is informational distance. Knowledge isn't transmitted through physical proximity but through the exchange of information.
The problem here is that most companies and workers lack the IT skills to operate as a virtual company or a learning organisation, so onboarding is complicated and gaining experience is difficult. Skilled workers are frustrated by the inefficiency of less competent colleagues and the organisation itself, while all the friction points are highly visible rather than hidden within in-person collaboration.
This can't be studied without comparing virtual companies/learning organisations to companies from the time of Taylor/Weber/Fayol.
The problem here is that most companies and workers lack the IT skills to operate as a virtual company or a learning organisation, so onboarding is complicated and gaining experience is difficult. Skilled workers are frustrated by the inefficiency of less competent colleagues and the organisation itself, while all the friction points are highly visible rather than hidden within in-person collaboration.
This can't be studied without comparing virtual companies/learning organisations to companies from the time of Taylor/Weber/Fayol.
This is a re-discovery of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_J._Allen 's work, everything old is new again!
Framing "less code written" as a trade-off is a red flag to me. Anyone who judges productivity by lines of code written should inquire with me about a limited time, fantastic deal on a bridge...
RTO rationalization wank for consumption by the elites bosses who want to sell a narrative that Ass In Seat Mentality and monitored control of serfs in a distraction-oriented environment maximizing "collaboration" is The Only True (Scotsman) Way.
Using KLOC as a KPI falls into the trap Goodhart's law and of PHB mentality.
Using KLOC as a KPI falls into the trap Goodhart's law and of PHB mentality.
Interesting questions raised by this, for myself at least,
* how do hybrid schemes work out: some home, some office, less commute overall?
A HN submission yesterday on Australian studies showed remote work being mostly loved in AU, having little productivity impact either way for many, having significant benefits for for people with spectrum / social issues.
* has any tried junior coder meetups with experienced coders "out of office"?
Co working at one home or another, at public libraries, etc.