Comment by redhale

Comment by redhale a day ago

3 replies

Congrats on your work ethic. But consider that this may simply not be the case for every working adult on earth, and may not even be true for every working adult in your company.

Not everyone is like you. I am, but I know people (some of whom are former and current coworkers) who are much more easily distracted, and are meaningfully less able to compete their work in a timely manner when they work from home.

I'll probably be downvoted, but I just don't think most of these execs are engaging in some larger "authoritarian" play with these moves (maybe some are, but I think incompetence is more likely than malice in most cases). But maybe I'm naive.

As one point, consider the case of Tokyo's "Manuscript Cafe" [0] where patrons intentionally visit to have a cafe owner "force" them to compete a task they may have been procrastinating on. I read this as: being in a "work" location surrounded by other working people is conducive to productivity for some people.

[0] https://www.vice.com/en/article/manuscript-cafe-japan-remote...

duskdozer 6 hours ago

I think it's only a small portion of WFH advocates who say that everyone should be forced to work remotely. Most want each person to have the ability to work the way that's best for them.

QuiEgo 18 hours ago

Body doubling is a thing!

The crux of this is the way everyone is at their best is different per person.

Work from office is the brute force solution - if it’s the hammer, flexible work is the scalple.

Not every org has managers capable of welding a scalpel instead of a hammer, or who have time to be surgical even if they have the ability. I accept this reality.

IAmBroom a day ago

You raise an interesting point. No downvote from me, although I'm firmly in the WFH camp.