The future of remote and full-time WFH

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Serious question for the wfh people- Aren't you worried that your companies will realize they can make even bigger profits by sending your jobs to other countries. If you can do the work remotely then why not hire people in Romania, Nigeria or Mexico? They have educated populations and have lower costs of living.

This is a good point, but more companies - and the federal government - are realizing the benefits of keeping jobs in the U.S. When a company exports its jobs overseas, especially to potentially unfriendly countries, it is not only vulnerable to the changing policies of the foreign government but the potential loss of intellectual property.

[Anonymous]

Come on. We all know the ways people abuse WFH - either ourselves, our spouses, our friends or neighbors or some combo of the above.

Anyone who says this isn’t true is totally lying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Come on. We all know the ways people abuse WFH - either ourselves, our spouses, our friends or neighbors or some combo of the above.

Anyone who says this isn’t true is totally lying.

Of course it’s true, but that’s not the question. For whatever reason, firms are letting workers do it. OP’s question is whether or not people are leveraging their freedom into moving or staying put. Maybe companies are willing to take lower productivity as an offset for lower building costs and lower pay (geo adjustment).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come on. We all know the ways people abuse WFH - either ourselves, our spouses, our friends or neighbors or some combo of the above.

Anyone who says this isn’t true is totally lying.

Of course it’s true, but that’s not the question. For whatever reason, firms are letting workers do it. OP’s question is whether or not people are leveraging their freedom into moving or staying put. Maybe companies are willing to take lower productivity as an offset for lower building costs and lower pay (geo adjustment).

They’ve been forced to let workers do it. Doesn’t mean they like it. Doesn’t mean they won’t revert back as a soon as they feel the market is on their side. People who have quotas, deliverables, or other ways to measure work productivity should be less concerned than those with more vague nebulous jobs. You know who you are. Attorneys who bill by the hour or clerks in accounts payable? Not that worried. Those people in marketing or other random department where others have no clue what they even do? Worried.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Come on. We all know the ways people abuse WFH - either ourselves, our spouses, our friends or neighbors or some combo of the above.

Anyone who says this isn’t true is totally lying.

Maybe in a job where there is no measure of your productivity, you cannot fathom that there are some of us who simply need to get a certain amount of work done, and if we are not getting it done, we are held accountable.

I cannot “abuse” WFH because I need to finish my work. If my work is not finished, it does not matter where I am.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come on. We all know the ways people abuse WFH - either ourselves, our spouses, our friends or neighbors or some combo of the above.

Anyone who says this isn’t true is totally lying.

Maybe in a job where there is no measure of your productivity, you cannot fathom that there are some of us who simply need to get a certain amount of work done, and if we are not getting it done, we are held accountable.

I cannot “abuse” WFH because I need to finish my work. If my work is not finished, it does not matter where I am.

Do you do housework or carpools or meal prep during the work day?

[Anonymous]

Source for increased evidence of working the system, please!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Source for increased evidence of working the system, please!

My source is the number of my neighbors mowing the lawn or running errands and carpools during the day. None did this before. Ergo, “more.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come on. We all know the ways people abuse WFH - either ourselves, our spouses, our friends or neighbors or some combo of the above.

Anyone who says this isn’t true is totally lying.

Maybe in a job where there is no measure of your productivity, you cannot fathom that there are some of us who simply need to get a certain amount of work done, and if we are not getting it done, we are held accountable.

I cannot “abuse” WFH because I need to finish my work. If my work is not finished, it does not matter where I am.

Do you do housework or carpools or meal prep during the work day?

You're saying that no one is allowed to take breaks during a work day? This is not a Dickens novel.

[Anonymous]

You post this every few months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come on. We all know the ways people abuse WFH - either ourselves, our spouses, our friends or neighbors or some combo of the above.

Anyone who says this isn’t true is totally lying.

Maybe in a job where there is no measure of your productivity, you cannot fathom that there are some of us who simply need to get a certain amount of work done, and if we are not getting it done, we are held accountable.

I cannot “abuse” WFH because I need to finish my work. If my work is not finished, it does not matter where I am.

Do you do housework or carpools or meal prep during the work day?

How does it matter as long as they are getting the work done? They are not galley slaves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come on. We all know the ways people abuse WFH - either ourselves, our spouses, our friends or neighbors or some combo of the above.

Anyone who says this isn’t true is totally lying.

Maybe in a job where there is no measure of your productivity, you cannot fathom that there are some of us who simply need to get a certain amount of work done, and if we are not getting it done, we are held accountable.

I cannot “abuse” WFH because I need to finish my work. If my work is not finished, it does not matter where I am.

Do you do housework or carpools or meal prep during the work day?

How does it matter as long as they are getting the work done? They are not galley slaves.

It matters if they are paid to work 40 hours a week and they aren’t. Many of you are arguing that a work week should be any length you desire as long as you “get your work done.” First, that is not as easily measured in some jobs. Second, that’s not how salaries are currently structured. You are paid in hours, not work product. If you ARE paid by your work product amount, I have no objection but many are not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come on. We all know the ways people abuse WFH - either ourselves, our spouses, our friends or neighbors or some combo of the above.

Anyone who says this isn’t true is totally lying.

Maybe in a job where there is no measure of your productivity, you cannot fathom that there are some of us who simply need to get a certain amount of work done, and if we are not getting it done, we are held accountable.

I cannot “abuse” WFH because I need to finish my work. If my work is not finished, it does not matter where I am.

Do you do housework or carpools or meal prep during the work day?

How does it matter as long as they are getting the work done? They are not galley slaves.

It matters if they are paid to work 40 hours a week and they aren’t. Many of you are arguing that a work week should be any length you desire as long as you “get your work done.” First, that is not as easily measured in some jobs. Second, that’s not how salaries are currently structured. You are paid in hours, not work product. If you ARE paid by your work product amount, I have no objection but many are not.

And how do you know that the people doing housework or carpools or meal prep aren’t putting in 40 hours? I do all those things with the time I save by not commuting.

The only orgs that should hate WFH are those who can’t be arsed to quantify productivity and results. Otherwise it’s swiftly obvious who’s working hard and who’s not - no matter how clean someone’s house is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Serious question for the wfh people- Aren't you worried that your companies will realize they can make even bigger profits by sending your jobs to other countries. If you can do the work remotely then why not hire people in Romania, Nigeria or Mexico? They have educated populations and have lower costs of living.

This is called offshore outsourcing. Companies were already doing this. This isn't a new thing. They aren't just all of a sudden discovering outsourcing. So no worry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Come on. We all know the ways people abuse WFH - either ourselves, our spouses, our friends or neighbors or some combo of the above.

Anyone who says this isn’t true is totally lying.

Maybe in a job where there is no measure of your productivity, you cannot fathom that there are some of us who simply need to get a certain amount of work done, and if we are not getting it done, we are held accountable.

I cannot “abuse” WFH because I need to finish my work. If my work is not finished, it does not matter where I am.

Do you do housework or carpools or meal prep during the work day?

How does it matter as long as they are getting the work done? They are not galley slaves.

It matters if they are paid to work 40 hours a week and they aren’t. Many of you are arguing that a work week should be any length you desire as long as you “get your work done.” First, that is not as easily measured in some jobs. Second, that’s not how salaries are currently structured. You are paid in hours, not work product. If you ARE paid by your work product amount, I have no objection but many are not.

I am required to record 40 hours/week. I am allowed to break up my day by, say, starting early and then stepping away to run the carpool. I'm also allowed to earn comp time (working late to meet deadline, say) and use that time to mow my lawn or go for a walk. At my last job I was given 3 free hours/week to exercise, as a health incentive. Sometimes they release us early on Fridays. My friend works Saturdays and has Tuesdays off.
In short, just because you see people out and about does not mean they aren't working a set number of hours.

And, the above all concedes your neighbor is in a job that requires recorded hours instead of sales targets or something. Most salaried jobs aren't actually on the clock the way govies and lawyers are. How the employer measures success is their business: just because you don't like their model doesn't mean the employee is cheating.