Work from Home vs Work from Office -- Chime in - Page 2

Nice topic in our DM series Armu4eva.

Loved reading all perspectives.

According to me work is work. Either you do it from home or at work place. The only criteria is one should enjoy what they are doing. I personally prefer wfo. Sitting at home gets boring. One needs to go outside, in real world. Some works can not be done at home. One needs to meet people. Things should be moving. Energy should flow freely.

Employees want wfh but companies won't give cause they are pressurised by other parties to force people come to office.

As an employee my work is data related and the company I am working for is based in Mumbai. I live in another city so anyways it's supposed to be remote work. Yet we are told to come to office except some issue where we ask for wfh. It's flexible enough thanks to my lead but I like wfh more. I don't have to give time to get ready and reach office 😆

My favourite is WFH. I have been working from home since March 2020. My work is data related, so it's not a problem where I work from. My company supports WFH and where possible staff can work from home between 1 and 5 days. With the introduction of hybrid working, staff can attend meetings online or be present in person if they wish.

I have a one-hour train journey to my office. WFH saves me two hours of travel time per day and the cost of a train ticket. Before, I was in an open-plan office with 18 colleagues. It was often so noisy there that it was very difficult to concentrate. I can work much more effectively at home.

It is much easier to reconcile work and family life. The working hours can be flexible. I can take care of my mother who needs help and I am there when she needs it.

The only disadvantage for me is the lack of personal contact and exchange with colleagues. I find personal exchange very important. Unfortunately, that is very much lacking. We are a good team and get along very well. Some are friends. Of course, we can talk via video call, but that doesn't replace face-to-face conversation. Once a month we have a face-to-face team meeting. There is also the occasional face-to-face meeting with clients. But by and large, the meetings take place on a hybrid basis.

For some people, it might be a problem to structure themselves properly at home. You have to be self-disciplined. In the WFO, this is certainly easier for some. Also, one should strictly separate work and free time and consistently close the laptop after work and only open it again when starting work the next day.

In my view it should depend on what the company and employee wants. I had moved to Germany a couple of years back, but during COVID came back to Toronto because the company I work for has gone remote and allows me to work from anywhere. My team is all over the world now.

This is not something my company decided on its own though. During COVID they obviously had no choice. But when things started opening up, they had VPs reach out to each team and discuss it. I work in a backend operations role. I manage a team of 10 people. My team wanted to stay remote because we didn't really have any requirement to be in the office. I liked the idea as well as it allows me to be there for my ailing mother. It has also helped in hiring. Today I can post a role in Toronto and someone sitting in Singapore can join it because we are 100% remote. There are other teams in my company that chose to go hybrid and others still that chose to go in-person 100%.

I feel like that is how it should be. Companies should give employees the option and employees should get to decide for themselves if they want to be in-person, hybrid, or remote.

The only place that it should be remote is if you are a tech firm helping other firms go remote. I have a friend who works in a tech company like that. His and his team's role is literally to help other companies go remote, but he has to be in the office 4 days a week. The hypocrisy and irony of that died a painful death long ago.

Originally posted by: dusk2dawn

Thank you for tagging Tanu 🤗

I have never had privilege to WFH as I work in healthcare so no chance working at home only except doing the notes which I couldn’t complete during my work day at office.

I would love to wfh during times like covid ( before the vaccine ) but alas not a chance for me.
Wfh is work for home like cleaning, laundry, cooking , decluttering etc.

Both the situation has its pros and cons.

In wfh situations you don’t have your fix hours of work.

While in office it’s always 9 to 5 or 8-10 hour shifts and you will be at home after work and relax n no more thinking about work.

WFH is better when you save time on commute ( which was 2+ hours for me everyday) so it would increase your productivity but there are distractions at home unlike in office environment you are more focused on your work. Sometimes you crave for WFH when you are sick/ not in mood to wake up and go to work. 😆

For me I always like to keep my professional life out at my door step before I enter my house. It always makes a relaxing and enjoyable environment at home as you don’t have to worry about your work which can be done the next day during your work hours.

Same happening with me for my studies as I can’t dedicate proper hours like I used to do while in college/ university which sometimes become stressful in completing coursework by the deadline. As the thoughts of what to cook for dinner / lunch etc., grocery shopping n I need to clean this and that household work is pending lingering on my mind. This deter my focus.

Hence these were my thoughts. People have their own choices some would love WFH n people like me loves working from office.

I rest my case here. Don’t judge me by my pov 😆

As time for work is the only time I step out of my house 🤣( Covid has changed a lot of things since its inception)

Originally posted by: la_Reine

People in healthcare services are so underrated and underappreciated for the work they do in helping and supporting us. Lots of respect for you and everyone else in this field.❤️

I absolutely agree with you!

❤️

This is such a nice topic and thank you for coming up with this. Enjoyed reading everyone's experiences.

I feel it depends on fields. In healthcare and many emergency services, wfh is next to impossible.

Members who are working in healthcare here, thank you for everything.❤️

I was working in a high school during COVID. I had to be on wfh and I honestly didn't like it. I missed the social contact with colleagues and students.

At my place, many companies and gvt institutions gave a place for wfh, it gives a break in a week and it saves time, energy and money for transports.

I would opt for hybrid to keep social contact.

I say that because many students who came to me suffered from being at home for too long because of pandemic.

I have read all the posts and would like to bring in a different perspective.

I am a software professional working in Silicon Valley, California, since more than 2 decades. I hav been working from home since quite a few years now. I can architect complex systems, code in multiple programming languages and based on the reviews I get year after year, do allow myself into thinking, at times, that I am indispensable to my company. This, however, is a delusion; a false belief! I am fully aware that with what my company pays me, they could easily hire 3-4 persons overseas, all of whom can kick my a$$ and name names when it comes to the skill set I possess.

What is the point I am making here? That, if my work can be done completely remotely, the word “my” could easily be replaced with a null and the sentence could be rephrased as “work can be done completely remotely”. And you don’t have to be a genius to know that companies are always in a cost reduction mode in order to streamline operational efficiency and stay competitive. If they don’t have a need to rent or lease huge office spaces, owing to people working from home, they would as easily downsize to a smaller office or move to a less expensive area or city.

This has actually happened with multiple tech, financial and healthcare companies in my state. Some have moved to Texas, some have moved to midwest and a few even closed operations and moved to a different country. This story is also not unique to California. Work from home is actually destroying cities all across the country. Foot traffic in central business districts is substantially lower compared to previous years. Cities’ tax revenues are heavily impacted. Demand for commercial real estate has plummeted. Not just property taxes, even sales based taxes are down because of lost transactions for local businesses. Add to this, emptier subways, emptier buses, low transit ridership, empty parking lots, you get the picture! Fewer people on the roads and in buildings is also translating to more criminal activities.

In today’s news, you may have seen that New York is losing out on $12 billion annually because of remote work. That’s just one city among dozens in US hemorrhaging revenues.

Am I worried for myself? No! I have a fully paid home, $0 debt and enough cash to eat roti, sabji, daal, rice for the rest of my life 😊But should I be thinking about myself or should we be thinking about ourselves? That’s something for you to ponder. I have bigger things to think about if you have noticed my profile.

Originally posted by: K.Universe.

I have read all the posts and would like to bring in a different perspective.

I am a software professional working in Silicon Valley, California, since more than 2 decades. I hav been working from home since quite a few years now. I can architect complex systems, code in multiple programming languages and based on the reviews I get year after year, do allow myself into thinking, at times, that I am indispensable to my company. This, however, is a delusion; a false belief! I am fully aware that with what my company pays me, they could easily hire 3-4 persons overseas, all of whom can kick my a$$ and name names when it comes to the skill set I possess.

What is the point I am making here? That, if my work can be done completely remotely, the word “my” could easily be replaced with a null and the sentence could be rephrased as “work can be done completely remotely”. And you don’t have to be a genius to know that companies are always in a cost reduction mode in order to streamline operational efficiency and stay competitive. If they don’t have a need to rent or lease huge office spaces, owing to people working from home, they would as easily downsize to a smaller office or move to a less expensive area or city.

This has actually happened with multiple tech, financial and healthcare companies in my state. Some have moved to Texas, some have moved to midwest and a few even closed operations and moved to a different country. This story is also not unique to California. Work from home is actually destroying cities all across the country. Foot traffic in central business districts is substantially lower compared to previous years. Cities’ tax revenues are heavily impacted. Demand for commercial real estate has plummeted. Not just property taxes, even sales based taxes are down because of lost transactions for local businesses. Add to this, emptier subways, emptier buses, low transit ridership, empty parking lots, you get the picture! Fewer people on the roads and in buildings is also translating to more criminal activities.

In today’s news, you may have seen that New York is losing out on $12 billion annually because of remote work. That’s just one city among dozens in US hemorrhaging revenues.

Am I worried for myself? No! I have a fully paid home, $0 debt and enough cash to eat roti, sabji, daal, rice for the rest of my life 😊But should I be thinking about myself or should we be thinking about ourselves? That’s something for you to ponder. I have bigger things to think about if you have noticed my profile.

I understand your take and it is what many of the management in the company who want to bring wfo back also promote. However, i beg to differ.

The wfo model has resulted in concentration of development and unrealistic rent/ payscales/ property taxes in select cities- LA, Bangalore to name a few. Money is a subjective topic- how much is enough?

The concentrated urbanisation of big cities leads to migration from smaller cities thereby increasing pressure on a city's already stressed infrastructure- land/water/energy etc.

Climate change is a reality and hence it is about time there is rationalisation in development. I am more than glad that LA has witnessed a reverse migration and I hope this continues for overstressed cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Tokyo, Singapore.

As for being replaced, i believe the old adage... untill you can be replaced, you can't be promoted.

I feel in India management suffers from a basic lack of trust on employees and that is one of the biggest factors that has driven people to opt back to wfo. For instance look at how wfh has resulted in a rise in "moonlighting" in IT.

So wfh is definitely a reality as transportation, rent and environment deteriorates going forward.

WFH is preferable to someone lazy like me.😆 Our office has started in hybrid mode but we have been spares for now. This is because our office moved to some far away place. Many people who are supposed to attend office in hybrid mode are still not going.😆

I did miss my old office earlier. It was comparatively close and in a good area. I miss chatting with my team mates, having fun with them. We used to plan launch/dinners and had fun eating out.

But I have become fatter sitting at home.😆 And lot more lazy about physical activities.😆

So I do prefer WFH. It saves travelling time. I have more time to spend with my family. And since the kind of work I do doesn't require Office presence, it's fine.