My favorite quote:
While employees in the office might kill time messaging friends or flipping through TikTok, remote workers take advantage of being far from the watchful gaze of bosses to chip away at personal to-do lists or to goof off.
Nearly half of remote workers multitask on work calls or complete household chores like unloading the dishwasher or doing a load of laundry, according to the SurveyMonkey poll of 3,117 full-time workers in the U.S.
Oh noes, people actually doing things that are useful for their families instead of even more computer time.
It’s insane that this is even considered strange or surprising. When I work from home, I take longer lunch breaks and I often stop working earlier, but I’m still three times as productive compared to sitting in an office.
At home, I actually get focused time to do something and think. At the office, this is extreamly difficult with all the distractions and noise constantly interrupting my train of thought.
This article can be applied the same way to Office workers. No they’re not working 100% of the time. What’s a problem is if they’re exceedingly unavailable or underperforming at their job and affecting others.
I stay at home to work on cool projects and I go to the office to get through mountains of boring administrative tasks and socialize. The whole time at work issue being discussed isn’t as important as labour productivity.
I’m constantly preaching that “we don’t work in a widget factory, there is only the work there is to do, and if it’s all done, wtf are you complaining about? Asses in seats does not correlate to work completed. As long as we’re available to complete tasks, you’re getting what you’re paying for.”
Shit, my desk used to be next to the kitchen. I made lunch and ran/emptied the dishwasher at the office and the bosses didn’t whinge about how I spent my time. I also did a bunch of my ideation on the office couch.
But do the same things in my home and it’s a problem? That tells me what the real issue is: the threat of agency.
My management prizes my ability to write complex things ina professional and easily digestible manner. However part of that process might look like I’m doing nothing at all, while I’ve got a half a draft written and I’m just sitting there for an hour and a half doing sudoku puzzles while what I’ve written vs what I need to say percolates in my brain. And yet I have to be cautious about it because some of them are convinced we work in a widget factory, where ass in seat and hands on keyboard equals work produced.
Businesses during covid: we are seeing an all time high in productivity from our workers due to them working from home, this is amazing!
Businesses after covid: these people working from home are nothing but lazy leeches who probably arent even doing their job and are robbing us of our money, despite all our previous statements to the contrary and verifiable statistics counter to this narrative we’re now pushing!
despite all our previous statements to the contrary and verifiable statistics counter to this narrative
This was by far the most frustrating part of the RTO push at my old company. The unofficial motto I was always told was “Show me the data”, as it was basically impossible to push for any sort of decision without solid data to back it up, even if everyone in the group thought it was a good idea.
When RTO was announced and the big all people town hall was held, multiple group heads stood up and asked the execs why they were doing this, and what data they had to back it up. Literally, and I quote from one of the execs, “Well, we don’t really have any, but we feel that people will be more productive, will be sharing more ideas and innovating when in the office.”
Yes, the executive at a multi-billion dollar automotive company literally said with a straight face to thousands of engineers who’d been working almost entirely from home for the past 3 years “This decision is based on feels, not reality”. Even better was since there was already an initial non-mandatory RTO push, some absolute chads even interrupted them to pull up hard data showing they had been tracking productivity since the RTO push, and their group members were significantly less productive on days they were in-office. Not only that, but they also showed there literally wasn’t the office space to fit everyone. The exec just hand waved it away and said “I’m sure we have plenty of desks for everyone”.
It’s absolutely infuriating seeing these people getting paid millions, if not billions, to suck so hard at basically everything.
It was never about RTO or Productivity. It was all about getting people to quit to reduce the bottom line. Otherwise they would have had layoffs and would have looked bad and cost more money in severance. It’s all just trying to save money.
I worked at a different company that was big on “data driven decisions”. They had tshirts made that literally said something like"data > feelings"
Before the pandemic, someone mentioned that studies were showing 4 day work weeks were effective and made people happier. The CEO just said “Yeah we’re not doing that.” Didn’t read the article or the study. Just nah.
After the pandemic, they were making people go back into the office. Same energy.
So what I’m saying is management and leadership are often just gutfeel idiots. Expensive babies.
My billables jumped by 25% when I switched to fully WFH. I never want to go back.
You think that’s bad, wait until you hear about the shareholders and landlords.
They dont even have to pretend to work to get paid.
There is a class difference in there though… Some people own while others slave
Thats exactly what I mean. My aim is to point out the ridiculousness of them trying to moralise it, by making the people who ease off a little bit to put to washing on out to be lazy and undeserving of their wages etc.
That wrath for people not working or “slacking off” slightly while getting paid is only reserved for poor people.
The regime relies on plebs larping this bushit.
If tomorrow every fucking wage slave got a pair of balls and started acting like daddy capitalist, half of issues would be solved and parasites would be punished.
But instead of we got bootlickers serving as regime enforcers 🤡
I’m not sure I get what you’re saying tbh. I’ve probably read it wrong but it almost seems like you’re saying the way out of capitalism is to capitalism harder.
There is nothing capitalism about advocating for yourself but some how regime was able to convince people that only capitalist are allowed to do it and peasants agreed to larp at disadvantage to themselves… Adult people 🤡
If only someone would’ve thought to that and tried it before. It could’ve saved everyone so much time.
And in the office there are people who literally hang out at the coffee machine for 30-60 minutes at a time, talking to everyone who comes by under the guise of “networking”.
The media gotta stop reporting on the laundry like it’s the equivalent of stealing from the company.
It’d be cool if the media did a piece about how companies are stealing the excess labor of their employees. It will never happen though because “the media” also steals the excess labor from it’s employees.
Maybe the solution to return-to-work is manufacturing a bunch of fake news about remote workers being significantly less likely to unionize and more likely to take an ass pounding from corporate overlords?
The thing is, you don’t even need to manufacture a good story. You could tell the true story of how companies have slashed overhead by reducing the amount of office space needed or how employees working from home turn out to be just as if not more productive than those working in the offices and happier with their jobs besides.
There were companies planning to move more jobs to work from home even before the pandemic because it’s a model that just makes more sense for a lot of positions. The return to office crowd could be beaten simply by pointing out the for most positions, working on-site is a needless expense. The problem is, the media isn’t willing to tell that story.
The real estate tycoons who lease out the office buildings are the reason for the return to office push by the media. They must continue to justify their existence at all costs.
We have people here working maximum 1 hour per day, in the home office they can at least not stop others from working.
So, I work in a maintenance position that really isn’t possible to do remotely but we have a fair amount of desk work too. We’re in the process of setting up a workstation to program and new head ends for our systems. The first thing on everyone’s list when we were deciding on a location was “as far from everyone else as possible” because we all know that other people being around to make small talk is a distraction that will easily double the time it takes to get this shit done.
In every maintenance position I’ve had, every one of us has had our own secret workspaces where most other guys didn’t know to look for us just so that we could get some desk work done in peace. Co-workers are a distraction more often than they are a help and I think we’ve all known this for years.
I worked with people who could easily spend 30 minutes scrolling social media while pooping.
Don’t shame my post-meeting decompression.
I can admit I delay work more from home than I did when I was at the office. I do about the same amount overall I just don’t get around to it as quickly.
But the company I’m with would also have to pay me 20-30% more to go into the office as I have better offers for that already and I’d still probably just hop to another company that lets me work from home for a similar salary.
I do about the same amount overall I just don’t get around to it as quickly.
That’s the important part. Who gives a fuck when and how you finish your work, as long as you do. We can only be productive for so many hours a day anyway.
Do office workers actually work? No, but they make coffee, collaborate, and network.
Don’t forget smoking.
Offices still have smokers, right? The nearly retired old lady who smokes two packs a day and is way too familiar with the young men?
I’ve not worked in an office in like a decade, so I don’t know.
Yeah she’s still there and her name is Pam. Really interesting lady when you get her talking.
Oh yeah theyre interesting and usually fun.
It’s the bitch who doesn’t smoke who hangs around trying to fish out rumours who’s not a good time.
Collaboration is actually useful. The phrase you’re looking for is synergizing the cross-functional modalities.
Alright stop, collaborate and listen
While experiencing overwhelming anxiety that their boss is going to come around the corner and chew them out for not working.
My coworkers recounting the oh so cute exploits of their oh so cute grandchildren in excruciating detail is very productive, I’m sure. Definitely makes the extra long commute worthwhile for me.
I take much shorter lunch breaks, but longer naps. Much more comfortable on my couch than in my car like I used to have to do.
Amen. I work through lunch, honestly. I’m sitting at home at my computer, may as well eat something and work for the 30m or so. I have no reason not to, besides not working for the sake of not working.
I love the day ending and my chores already being done. I log out and it’s like I’m completely done and can go fuck off somewhere.
Sometimes office workers rinse the coffee pot 😤
Rinse? With the modern machines it’s an elaborate cleaning out the grounds or capsules, refilling water, carefully taking the tray with spills to the sink to empty and maybe checking milk too.
Lol username so apt
So whilst I do this myself and 100% believe that multi-tasking like this is a good thing, the one argument I’ve seen which I don’t have a suitable response to is the idea that if you have time to spend on other thing rather than working, you’re not managing your workload correctly. I.e you’re being paid to work, not paid to fill the washing machine, pop to the shops etc. If you find yourself with spare time you should be proactively asking your manager for additional work, rather than goofing off. Same applies for working in the office.
They’re paying you to get a job done. They’re paying your manager to manage you, so don’t do that job too unless you’re getting paid for two jobs. If your manager wants to be a dick and micromanage you to death, get a new job.
If anything I shouldn’t be doing chores, I should be relaxing. Doing chores is working.
As in, I’m being paid to work, some of the process of working is recharge time. By instead doing chores, I’m arguably not recharging as effectively.
Of course it’s a bit more complex than that, and uncompleted domestic tasks create mental overhead that distract from focus, so where the balance lies is hard to say.
I do, as it happens, ask for more work when necessary. I like to have a queue of tasks to work through, then take them on at a sustainable pace. So far it’s been several years and no one has expressed anything negative about my pace of work. In fact it got me promoted a couple of weeks ago.
Makes sense. Probably the best answer I’ve had, thanks.
I’m sure your boss/manager would proactively increase your wage relatively to the extra work you asked for
If you find yourself with spare time you should be proactively asking your manager for additional work, rather than goofing off. Same applies for working in the office.
And then:
We don’t have enough work for all these people, we can fire half of them.
Because telling your manager that this (online or in office) meeting is useless for you always works out great. /s Very often there is a discussion between two people and the rest are just spectators, but leaving is disrespectful.
If you find yourself with spare time you should be proactively asking your manager for additional work, rather than goofing off.
And this folks is what we call either a bootlicker or manager with no skills.
Which is u?
Someone with better reading comprehension than you, evidently…
Clearly the audience thinks otherwise 🤡
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Fuck this so very very hard. The economic system is geared against workers, take everything you can.
Humans don’t work this way, especially knowledge workers. We need breaks to function at our best, and constantly doing work for 8 hours (or more) is not it. Not to mention the health issues that come from constantly sitting.
Yeah but think about this: is it reasonable for companies to expect human beings to spend 100% of their focus on work for the entire day, five days per week, as if we are machines?
Companies expect people to last their entire life. This is not happening if you are working hard all the time. You will get injuries and feel like shit, which is not sustainable. We are not made to work like machines.
Also, happiness means higher productivity, with no exceptions. Also, what the fuck are we working for? Is there any point besides increasing the profits? There is no point to any of it. Except to get money to eat and relax.
The first hour in the office was spent staring at the screen wiggling the mouse from time to time when the screen saver came on because too tired from commuting every day. But, it was at the office so it was productive staring I guess.
Starring in your own office movie.
Office Space is a documentary
Haha it’s so ridiculous that these articles never take into consideration that people in the office don’t have a lot of productive time.
I had the same, I would have a somewhat easy first hour, then spend 2 to 3 hours really focusing and then I’d basically be done for the day and would spend some time idling after lunch until I deemed it was an appropriate time to leave and “work some more from home”.
My best year billability wise was the first year of the covid lockdowns, I managed to generate something like 25% more just because of being able to work from home and cutting back on the travel time to customers and being able to multi-task occasionally when I had a quiet day for a customer. I’m glad I live in the Netherlands, hybrid/remote working seems like it’ll remain over here at least.
And they they go on about the free flow of ideas, innovations and cooperation. Please, we were all sitting there with headphones trying to isolate ourselves to get anything done because some manager would always be on a loud phone call and using a meeting space to work was forbidden.
Driving to customers or flying to the other side of the world for a meeting was such a big time sink.
It also reminds me of the story of Rotterdam harbour where they just couldn’t find any people anymore. Turns out that the cost of commuting was so high, people made more money doing lower paid work closer to home.
Ah the bullshit justifications of open office plans. If I want free communication with my coworkers I’ll go communicate with them. If I need to be left alone to focus let me
Turns out that the cost of commuting was so high, people made more money doing lower paid work closer to home.
This is true for a lot of people everywhere. It’s often ridiculous the amount of time and money lost from commutes that gets forgotten about.
For me commuting outside the city costs at least an hour of time every day, and $1+/hour in fuel weekly that I don’t get paid. For me WFH is like a $1.50+/hr raise that is far more convenient and stress reducing than a better paying job.
I have a day job and a night job, and I do surveys for money between work tasks and read books on my phone. My night job I can pretty much do one handed while doing whatever on my phone. I don’t care at all.
Quit hoarding all the jobs, you!!
Sadly I am too old for Only fans.
I’ll absolutely turn off the camera and do laundry or make lunch during a Teams meeting. I’m still on the audio and participate. I’m just able to be productive at work AND at home simultaneously.
Right? Shocker, I’m able to listen to a thing actively and vocally contribute while doing something mindless like doing/folding laundry or making food because they use different parts of my brain.
The meat mech is capable of doing something physical with no thought, while engaging language processing for something else.
This was my experience as well but I found it a drag. My family loved me working from home, because I did more of the housework, great dinners on time, basically I did more so then they did less. Wildly productive overall, yes. Work took longer for me, less condensed, probably better work product that way, so sure everyone was getting better work from me but it was unbalanced. Husband and kids did less.
I don’t have a commute really, 20 minute walk or 4 minute drive, which I know is unusual, but I do like working in the office and leaving my laptop there better. Work stays at work. It’s not a strong preference, would do either but life more balanced for me with the office job.
