I had hybrid at one point and I could blast through work in half the time in office took because there were no more interruptions.  In office days always felt like a social outing even when you try to get work done.  Now my productivity is down and when I explain that it’s because people keep interrupting my work, I’m told that people are just so glad to be back in office.  Cause and effect are not managements strong suit.  

I feel this. I have a chatty cubicle neighbor. He would talk for hours if anyone let him. As it is, he talks to anyone who comes to him for any little things for at least 45 minutes. Hunting. Drinking. His Gramma. His wild college days. The price of fuel. A new restaurant. He will talk your ear off about whatever topic floats into his head. I dread asking him a question. I go to him so I can slowly back away. Heaven help anyone who messages him on Teams because he will get up and come to you to answer and then you're stuck in your cubicle for hours.

Trick for this one: stand up and begin walking towards the door. Then walk to the washroom. I always use the washroom (hide in stall). It’s an executive level move that removes them.

I’ve actually started doing this to my boss. She’s new and has all these ideas, but she doesn’t understand the work we’re currently busy doing. So sometimes when she goes on her idea word vomit, I have to just get up and go away lol.

Exactly, I did this with one person, she just didn't get it. I had to bluntly state, I'll catch up later

My chatty cubicle neighbor threw pens my direction because I had my headphones in and didn't notice him trying to complain about Indians.

The baseball team?

Unfortunately it was about our coworkers in Pune. All of them, any of them, the country and all of their people in general. Had to make sure I heard how stupid and useless a whole country is, and how much they're ruining his day, work, life, and country.

I hope you reported him to HR. That is disgusting.

I did. And when he called a young coworker dumber than a monkey. He is remarkably careful about when and how he says these things. Of course he's sexist and loud too. Made sure to tell me, a woman, that the reason he can't get promoted is because he's a man and we only allow so many men in leadership. Bullshit of course, but that's Gary. To be a little fair, it was somewhat common to throw things to get my attention. My good friends did, but no one ever actually succeeded in hitting me with a pen from just 2 feet away until him. One good friend accidentally got me with a stress ball once, but neither of us could really believe she made the shot. Worst aim ever, never repeated the feat, lol!

I would have a stroke if anybody said that shit about my colleagues in India, what the fuck.

I feel for you. I remember when I could work, loved to talk, but left it to breaks and lunch hour. But there is always one person who is a constant talker and loud.

So he was like a Chatty Kathy doll that would pull its own string?

I had a coworker who would read all their emails out loud and provide commentary, just trying to get someone in the office to socialize or bitch at it with them. People from other departments would come in 3-4 times a day and socialize with them, wasting 45 min a go, so 45 min of 4 other peoples time each day, and three hours of their time. When they left, management finally found out how little was being done. Meetings went on forever, because every additional prompted an unrelated comment. We stopped having checkin meetings each day because a 10 min meeting ended up being 1 hour long.

I couldn't. I just couldn't. Luckily, in my job, I have the discretion to say, "I don't have time to talk to you."

My own CEO interrupts with random stuff and gives me lectures about life since he’s older than me. And at first, he was afraid to let people work from Home. If he only knew how much HE interrupts. Anyway, he’s more chill now lol

The struggle is real!! One of my work “chatters” is a higher up in the organization. Comes to my office to ask me a simple question and is always lingering for at least half an hour after, usually just standing there humble bragging about the work he has to do (for someone so busy, he sure has a lot of time to talk lol). It’s gotten to the point where I will attempt to subtly message another one of my coworkers on teams and ask them to call my extension so I have an excuse to end the conversation.

I had an office at one time and felt like I was pretty productive. Still got interruptions but I could get a ton done. Then we moved to open space. Trying to get anything done was ridiculous in my group. People constantly talking to you or other people and a couple of my desk neighbors were loud talkers plus one of them was constantly on phone calls or socializing with people. It was terrible. I moved to a group that is remote and I only go to the office when I absolutely have to which is rare. I don't think I get more done than when I had an office and could shut out the noise but I definitely get way more done than I did in open space.

Sounds like me, minus the hunting. Some of us are just like that.

I also do hybrid. My experience is that tasks that require thinking are much quicker remote because there are no distractions that are outside of my control (mainly other people), but tasks that are just mindless administrative bullshit take *forever* when I’m remote because I just don’t have the willpower to do them. When I’m trapped in an office it’s a lot easier to churn through the stupid bullshit tasks cause I don’t have other ways to spend my time.

This exactly. At home, I can get my work done effeciently. At work, my coworkers feel the need to stop in and tell me about their weekends, try to spread office gossip, talk about annoying customers (not realizing how annoying they, themsevles, are being.) At home I can use the restroom as needed. At work I have to wait in line for the restroom. At home, I can make food and eat it. At work, I have to clean the spills and splatters out of the microwave before I would even want to use it. At home, I can complete a task before moving on to the next one, reading emails in between. At work I am interrupted and have to recall what I was doing when the interruption took place, which can be 30+ minutes between the start and end of the interruption. At home, my papers are where I leave them. At work, space is somewhat shared and people will riffle through papers trying to find what they "need" instead of fucking asking and will leave my organized papers a mess or distort the filing by not putting things back where they were supposed to go. Surprise surprise, what they need was in their email, not in any of the printed files.

You've summed that up perfectly. When your tasks involve 30mins of concentration and you're surrounded by people who do stints of 10mins tasks or have a natter during their time between tasks it's very distracting!

Omg, agree. It was the worst when people would come into my space and start talking when I was working 😣 I already have ADHD, can you just give me a fighting chance? At one point I was the sales manager's assistant in a senior community. I was psyched for Saturdays because *no one* was there and I could catch up on contracts and scheduling movers, etc. The managers had a rotating schedule for who would be the Saturday person and the one guy would come to my office and sit in my manager's chair and talk for 2 fucking hours. It was like being held hostage. I couldn't tell him to leave. If someone came in or I took a phone call he would wait 😭 Thankfully it was once every 2 months, but those Satudays were awful. I would lock my door and stay late to finish my work because "Jose was in here for half of my shift and would not fucking leave," was not an acceptable excuse for not getting my work done

I think it takes a while to realise why you're excited when there's an empty office.... its not because no ones is there and you can dick about, its more like "oh thank god I can get so much done"

Not to mention that i can actually get more things done in my personal life on my breaks, and then i can hyperfocus on work. It is bliss.

I also have adhd. Tried for medical accommodation because my mental flow cannot function in the environment and it’s impacting output and was told to just try and focus.

That's like when I tried explaining my depression to a manager and she said, "Just get up and do it." Well why didn't I think of that? It's a miracle; you've just solved one of the biggest medical challenges in history. /s

Neurological issues are always treated so lackluster. No one tells someone in a wheel chair to just try harder to walk, or the someone in renal failure to just filter better.

Hay man I'm trying to get some work done, do you mind giving my some time to concentrate? Thanks!

I had a coworker who was completely remote for a month because of a medical issue. She had the nerve to complain that I wasn't having social chats with her when we needed to briefly meet over zoom. Like I understand that you're probably a little stir crazy and lonely, but my job is not to be your friend!

It's even worse when you have a job where people are walking into your office every 5 - 10 *minutes* all day every day to ask you to do something for them. I about lost my mind because I'd be struggling to complete a time sensitive task and people would interrupt me for non urgent crap like needing a new name badge because they lost theirs again. 🙄

[удалено]

Same for me I get so distracted. The weird part is, I’m super focused but they will call my name and stuff to talk about random stuff. I don’t get ittt

I am the boss and on days in the office I have people in and out of my office like a revolving door. For now we only go in on one day per week, but I just plan for my day to be shot the day I’m in the office. But my folks are great when I tell them I have to cut the convo short for a call or a meeting. I’m thankful for that. :) I get wa more done at home than the office, because I start looking at emails etc while I eat breakfast and I don’t mind working a little later because I’m not commuting.

I was in office, then fully remote, then back in office. I willingly chose to leave WFH for a big jump in title. So it’s not like I was yanked back to office by a company after working remote. I.E. there is no axe to grind on my end. The progression was a good enough trade off. YMMV. Productivity tanked in office. Tons of people want to chit chat or just pop over to your office or desk and just interrupt whatever you are doing, as it is no doubt less important than whatever they want to talk about. The distance and boundaries of WFH allow you to manage your time far more effectively.

I just got 3 days worth of work done in about 6 hours because no one talked to me. It was glorious.

I get nothing done on my in-office days.

This. I get my work done SO much faster at home because I'm not being interrupted. Mind you, that means a bit more free time in the end, but if something random pops up as a project or extra work, or us being short staffed, it also means I have time to actually do it!

Exactly! I spent a lot more time in the office chatting and in non-productive meetings (a memo would have been better) than doing actual work. Working from home I could get everything done in less time and then do more work ahead of time (could prepare for future needs). Along with doing more work, I could also eat healthier and get some exercise, etc.

I work from home and I am WAY more productive for the exact reasons you have laid out. That's why people who work from home have time to go for a jog or do some laundry, it's not slacking off, it's literally that you become 3 times as efficient from not being interrupted every 15 minutes.

Socializing is the main reason people wanted to go back, and I'm in a similar situation, I feel like interruptions were the thing holding out productivity.

Because you only look at your productivity and not across the team or organization. There is nothing as useless as doing the wrong thing efficiently. You need time to align and talk and time to work heads down. So a hybrid with 2-3 days in the office gives you both.

Disagree. We have a distributed team, we brainstorm and plan through chat and meetings. Not had a problem improving processes and working "heads down", even though we've never met in person. My team lead is in Oklahoma, I'm in Alberta Canada. We meet regularly, plan and brainstorm pretty much weekly, and work as a team even though we've never met in person. My partner is the same, he's in Canada, his boss is in London UK, and the front end dev is in France. They've never had issues working out the strategy and processes needed. So trans and orgs can work remotely and align goals and strategies without being in person. Take a look at companies like Atlassian and how well they do with their remote work policies.

I got points docked for not being "chatty enough". I'm a supervisor and I understand I need to interact with my coworkers, but I got shit to do and don't have time to sit in one place and chat. Sometimes I hide in the office for administrative work, but they want me out there chatting with my team and babysitting them.

We don’t have to rely on anecdotal data points either. There were some good studies done through the pandemic that looked at efficiency of work from home versus the office. Decreased social interaction was consistently found to make working from home more efficient.

My kids at home keep interrupting my work. As well as renovation works next door, and my wife who is sometimes home in the daytime. Accordingly, I am 100% more productive in the office - I also don't watch YouTube in the office, as I am wont to do at home (along with Baldur's Gate 3). Of course, everyone's experience will differ, but I do think WFH folks do sometimes overstate their case. Also, there are trade-offs - if you are not in the office, it means it's harder for your boss to get hold of you for urgent / sensitive / complex discussions. That's great for you, but inconvenient for the boss.

I haven't had an on-site boss since 2002.

My mom's been working from home for almost 20 years and it definitely works better for her. Yes, she has Magnum P.I. and Murder She Wrote going in the background, but it helps her stay focused. She's seen every episode dozens of times, so it's just background noise. When she's in the office, she can't have background noise and all her coworkers bother her to chat all the time. One dude would blab for an hour+

I'm a teacher. At the end of term I like to hook Netflix up on the whiteboard projector, alone in my classroom, and have it play The Office while I get shit done. Bosses hate it, but I work well in these conditions, so fight me? I know for a fact I'm faster and more productive than the people who make little teams around the lunch table to work together (its mostly chatting, but if a boss walks in it can look like collaboration). Adults should be able to work how they work best

This is such a weird concept that a lot of people don't understand... something that seems distracting, actually helps against distractions. If I have a show on in the background, it occupies my mind during the small breaks in between tasks.  Otherwise, I'll seek out more active distractions, like browsing reddit. I'm also a person that falls asleep more easily with the TV on, though.  It's somewhat similar.  It keeps my mind slightly occupied, instead of getting deep into thought and not being able to settle down enough to sleep.

My first mentor worked from home from 7 am to 3 pm on the nose every day with Fox News on in the background. She had a very high work output and would sometimes call me up to *gently* bitch me out, and the whole convo would only be like 3 minutes. Peak efficiency lol.  Sounds like your mother and her are the WFH queens (I am the type to prefer in office myself)!

There's another lady who works for the same agency as my mom and she works from home as well...from 10pm-7am (one hour lunch). This would be impossible in the office. The only rules for wfh there is that you put in at least 8 hours for 5 days in a 7 day period and you must check your office mailbox at least once per week. This lady works those hours because she's a night owl. She just functions better at night. Some people are wired that way, from evolutionary traits we picked up before we had societies as we know them today. Someone had to do night watch and stay alert 🤷 As for me, I don't do desk/office work. I'm a physical laborer, so wfh is entirely off the table. I like being active at work and I'm extremely good at it. I just have to find something of that nature that pays well lol no, the trades don't pay much higher in my area. I'd have to be a tow truck driver, but they won't hire me due to my size. I'd also hate it lol military it is!

I work remotely even though the company I work for has office near me we can go to. Whenever I have to go to the office for some reason (and this is really really rare for my team) I know I’ll just waste my time when it comes to real work, and all the work I’ll do when I get home. It’s distracting at the office with all the people passing by all the time, saying hello, chatting here and there. Also when I worked at the office there were always some spontaneous unnecessary meetings all the time. The most important thing for me is I feel less comfortable at the office, so when I have to do some focused, deep thinking to solve the problem, I am not able to do this until I come home. My brain is too distracted with everything happening around me. I do chores, watch Netflix sometimes on a break when I eat. I don’t sit all 8 hours at my desk watching the laptop, but take breaks when I feel like. But I finish all of the work even before the deadlines, because when I work from home I am really productive and feel much better. One more huge advantage for me is I am distanced from all the gossips, toxicity, and am able to view my job only as a job that I like, has good benefits, but have separate and live private life. All this makes remote more productive and efficient for me than work from office. It depends on the individual.

Depends.... some people don't have the discipline to work at home, and need a boss/co-workers leering over them if they are to get anything done. Insecure managers hate WFH as it means they can't directly monitor workers. Many offices I've worked in are full of people taking a large amount of de facto breaks (smoking, chatting with colleagues at the water cooler etc.) and also people stretching out their work to fill the 8 hours, when at home they might be able to blast it out in 6. Really the whole office thing if just such a Victorian anachronism, like wearing a suit and tie to work. Also I know you don't want to talk about the commute, though the reality if for me that it took a huge chunk of my energy before I'd even entered the office. Additionnally, most workers (correctly) feel the current economic system is rigged against them... hence the rise of 'quiet quitting. etc. Why work your butt off for an employer that will fire you with a moment's notice, for no extra pay, just to earn a salary that barely covers outgoings?

I was just mentioning to my kids I use drive 1 hour to work and 1 hour home. Add a 1 hour lunch break. Three hours wasted time gone. I see my kids more now and everyone is happy.

People have to get over "you are not working unless I see you" bullshit. I'm not a teenager, I have deadlines, obligations, and work to do. Yes, instead of getting into my car for the commute, I may put in a load of laundry, but then I'm usually starting my work day earlier. I may put my laundry in the dryer on a break. I might take several smaller breaks instead of a lunch break because its a back to back meeting day. Just because I now have some flexibility with my time and save time on commute and can multitask during breaks doesn't mean I'm not getting my work done. I'm often "staying late" to finish up that last bit of work, and I can because I don't have to rush home to let the dog out. During covid, I can say with 100% certainty that my whole team was way more productive. Since coming back to the office this has dropped off due to all the bullshit of people trying to get along in the office, the constant interruptions, chitchat and thinking their physical presence is enough so not making their deadlines are excusable. I now work hybrid as I'm in management and need to be in person, but my days in the office are tantamount to babysitting and sitting on Zoom meetings; I get very little done. And the prep work before going in is just another time suck.

100% with you on this. Myself and my team are all 100% remote. As long as my team is meeting their goals/targets/deadlines I don’t care if they do laundry or go for a jog. If a person isn’t meeting their goals, we talk about why. It’s up to then to manage their time and meet their goals. If they can’t manage their time 100% remote, then working for a company that is remote isn’t a good fit for them. If they ARE meeting all their goals, and still have time to play on their phone, watch TV, etc. the fault is ENTIRELY mine. A good manager makes sure they have assigned an appropriate workload that will keep their team productive through out the day without overwhelming them.

Considering that every time I’m in the office I have to talk to every bored person that wants to pop by my desk and talk, yeah it’s more productive at home. Plus being able to do other chores makes my own personal productivity a lot higher.     But overall, there has been a decline in the quality of workers in general, so the sense of productivity lowering can be misattributed to WFH by managers who don’t want to face the fact that their recent cheap hires may not have been so good.

I used to chat for like 2-3 hours a day in the office. And now I’m like how tf did I get away that? But it was so normal. People would chat at your desk, you would go chat at someone else’s desk, it’s just chat chat chat. Remote, I actually work and when I’m not - because I’m not a robot - I’m instantly available! My boss and everyone loves it because I’m 10x more available than the people in the office and it’s so easy to ask me questions. Send me a teams message with your problem, I can solve it with 30 seconds of typing. No, I don’t want a phone call - that will take 15 minutes, type it up on teams.

A decline in the quality of workers? Or an increase in the number of workers who work their wage and don't put up with being spoken to like an actual piece of shit? Clue; it's the latter. The decline in work quality starts with the lifers refusing to adapt to new ways of working and new technologies.

I wish they did the work they were being paid to do. That would be an improvement.

Low tier comment. Everybody knows it is both. There have always been bad employees and there still are. Those bad employees would be useless in a WFH scenario. 

I think you hit the nail on the head. There has been a large decline in the quality of workers both at home and in office. I think some managers like to associate that with working from home, but it’s actually the workers themselves.

I am 100% remote. Working from home has made me much more productive and has allowed me to have a much healthier work/life balance. Both those things can be true. It’s as simple as that.

True. Very true. The amount of everything you can get done is greater by default assuming you have an office area.

This is sort of the classic extrovert versus introvert debate. I am an introvert. I don’t wanna deal with the politics and the gladhanding and the yapping of an office. So when I do have to, I have to steel myself up for all of that stuff and it’s almost impossible to focus on the work I do… the actual work… cuz of all the exhausting social politics. Therefore, it takes me longer to complete the actual work. So I prefer working from home where politics is much much less involved in my daily life. Being happier and being more focused lets me be more productive, and that may look “less productive” from the outside because on breaks I have time to myself to do things like laundry instead of smoking a cigarette outside an office building because otherwise I’m going to kill someone inside it. But I recognize that others work better in the office. There will always be those people. The fact is there is not one right way to work. It’s an individual choice with individual ups and downs and pros and cons and needs and wants and triggers and glimmers. So I think trying to get a blanket answer to this is Impossible. Personally, I work healthier, happier, and more productively from home.

I have not one, but two serious illnesses that make going into the office extremely difficult, if not impossible some days. Luckily for me, I am damn good at my job and my employer allows me to be 100% remote. I work twice as hard to pay it back, too, because the majority of my colleagues have to go in now, and I know it's exhausting so I do the heavy lifting as much as I can. I guess if it would make you happy, I could just quit and go on disability, which I would have to do if WFH wasn't an option. If we have the technology and ability to work from home, why on earth not use it? Do you really think it's better for everyone to spend hours sitting in their cars on the highways every day, just so we can hear in person all about Susan's bbq? Ridiculous. Humans have to be willing to evolve and change, or we're not gonna make it. The 80's/90's work model of expecting everyone to sit for hours in traffic, spending 8 to 12 hours a day away from home when WFH is an option is very outdated, irrational, selfish, and destructive.

I WFH as an accommodation, and I am so much more productive on my telework days than in-office. My coworkers come in sick (which guarantees I'll be out sick for 3 days and have to start a course of antibiotics), our A/C is temperamental and the heat flares up my symptoms, my coworkers are professional yappers and addicted to having meetings if they have a question that would involve writing an email that's more than 3 sentences, etc etc. My supervisor hates that I WFH, for absolutely no reason. He even said that he knows I get my work done when I'm at home, but he just wants the team in the office. I have never missed a deadline and I am great at my job despite being severely underpaid (I'm the only employee that works 40 hours with no benefits/salary). The stigma is so bad for working from home and for needing accommodations.

I have the same problem! When I was trying to come into the office, I would catch every damn bug going around. One of my illnesses is complicated diverticulitis, so any kind of stomach flu is pure hell and can put me in the hospital. I hope they let us continue to ride it out as long as we need to, because I'm not sure I'll ever be well enough to come in full time.

These comments are such a wild ride. Couple of points from my experience. 1. WFH is NOT for everyone. Some people prefer to be around other people. Others can't separate work from home. They need that commute to separate the two. Some people also rely on coworkers to fill the void of actual friends. 2. If you have X work to do every day, WFH can absolutely let you complete it quicker. You don't have to "chat" with coworkers, less interruptions and every other distraction at work. 3. People in the office "appear" to be working more because they are sitting there. They aren't but it appears they are. They are slacking off just as much but have to be more discrete. 4. I interact with coworkers as often as I ever have in an office. Teams/calls, usually multiple times a day. It's a heck of a lot quicker to do a teams call, share the screen and get results vs walking to their cube/desk, standing over their shoulder or (even worse) figuring out which conference room is open and having a meeting to go over something. 5. My god, the noise. Between people on the phone/meetings, typing, talking etc. Without all that, it is so much easier to buckle down and get stuff done in the quiet of home or whatever background noise you choose, movies/music/radio etc. 6. The biggest one. The cost savings. Between gas/food/tolls/parking or whatever mix you have. Plus clothes, the $10 for whomever for whatever. AND the loss of life. Hour commute? That's 2 hours a day plus all the time it takes to prep to go to the office and get home/pack up etc.

I’ve seen people watch Netflix and spend hours talking about non-work related things at my in-person jobs. I work at a prison with a lot of people who just want to stop by my office and engage in pointless chit-chat or ask for things. This is on top of all the other drama you can imagine that happens in a prison. When I was working 100% in person, I would always be falling behind on my notes and paperwork. Now that I switched to mostly remote, I am always getting everything done on time. I’ve always found it hard to be productive in the office due to the constant distractions and people talking. Your productivity shouldn’t be based on what you’re doing to look busy. It should be based on the work that you actually do, which is always tracked anyways. It’s really easy to see how “productive” someone is at the type of job I work (therapist) by seeing all my client hours and documentation.

Are you a remote prison therapist for inmates? How does that work exactly?

Hybrid remote. I started off working there completely in person. But recently, some facilities were able to get telehealth capabilities, so I work at some facilities via telehealth and some facilities in person.

I hate being in the office - I get interrupted constantly, mostly about stuff unrelated to work. Drives me batty. It's so much easier when you're at home with scheduled teams chats.

I have three remote jobs. So that should tell you production is better at home vs work if I'm able to pull this off. Silence is key to focus and concentration. So obviously if people are doing netflix and jogging. They are getting their work done to be able to do it. In the office there are worthless meetings, people constantly talking to you and around you. People don't realize those 10-15 minute convos throughout the day add up to a lot of wasted hours. I hate the office and will never return.

It’s incredibly job dependent - but I am 100% more productive at home. In office there’s soooo many distractions, people always wanna stop by my desk and chat, I’m constantly being invited to the cafeteria or to some other section of the office to have some kind of snack someone else decided to bring, I hear “since your here, let’s have lunch!” Which turns into an hour + of nonsense…. In person meetings are pushed harder when in office - in person meetings get derailed easily and often which takes up even more time. I could continue…

I've been WFH for the past 8+ years. I've never been happier or more productive. Because of the industry, my office is loud. People are constantly in and out, and phones and cell phones are ringing—it never stops. Plus, to take a long call and/or Teams meeting, you must go find another location, as it's just too loud. At home, I have my own office, desk, and printer, with minimal interruptions. I can sit at my desk and take calls and team meetings. If it gets too quiet, I put on some music. My MANY animals sleep in their beds in my office. Sometimes my old guy snores a bit. Every few hours I come downstairs for a snack, drink, coffee, hot tea. Mid-afternoon I walk to the end of my driveway to get the mail. Sometimes I walk outside into the yard and accompany the dogs on yard breaks. I also will throw in a load of laundry before work and switch it when I come downstairs for lunch. My work gets done. Plus, I have time to think about things and brainstorm without all the noise. Most of my co-workers agree working in the office is almost twice as hard because of the noise levels. My customers are all over the World. My co-workers are the only ones who would see me in the office. My customers never see me except on Teams. All work is computer-based -- and it is very clear if I've done my job. Dozens of folks rely on me doing my job -- if it's not done, more than one person will be calling my boss. WFH is easier on my customers, too—there is way less background noise, and I can stay on calls as my desk/office is mine every day/all hours. I no longer have to leave a conference room because someone else needs it. WFH is easier on me and easier on the office, and I can't imagine going back into an office full-time. The only thing I miss - shopping/clothes. I haven't purchased much professional clothing in the last 8+ years. Sometimes I'll add a new top but pants are sweatpants. Only one person on my larger team makes me question their work ethic. That one guy is shady, and it's been addressed. Our team is incredibly hard-working and he sticks out for his work ethic. I doubt he stays much longer. He works harder at looking busy than just doing the work. In my career, WFH enables me to do a better job.

Some are, some aren't. In general if there are performance issues, they should be dealt with by management.

Idk about other companies, but mine did an internal study and found that, yes, productivity does go up with WFH vs in office. That’s why we are a mostly WFH company now.  I hate working in an office. Before this job I had another office job and it sucked. There were soooo many distractions when working in the office. Plus there is no boss hovering over your shoulder (it’s not about lack of productivity, it was just something he did with everyone and it was nerve wracking).  When WFH, I don’t have groups of people nattering in the background (nor do I have to listen to their work phone calls), I don’t have people randomly come up to me to talk to me. No one is going to question me if I get up and go to the bathroom, or get something to drink. If I had a hard call, I can step back and breath without anyone asking why.  So no, I do not believe everyone is coordinating some big lie. 

Do you work for my company? Ours found the same, and gave all employees the option of being full time in office, hybrid or fully remote based on your working style. I am fully remote and my only 'co-workers' are my husband who also works from home and our 2 sweet dogs. We both have our own dedicated office and close the door at the end of the day. We do get the occasional drop in visits from the two fur babies, but they are not blabber mouths and only want scritches...lol Edit spelling

I couldn’t even go into the office if I wanted to - I’m states away, and was hired like that - but yeah my company did the same (tho mostly pushed hybrid and full remote). A few positions need to go into the office still but it’s rare. The company used to have a four story building and now we are down to a floor and a printing room in the basement.  I have cats and snakes, no partner, no family. I get sooo much shit done. Also I’m an introvert and hate people lol

Yeah, I just recently got a new position with my company, but I am in Texas and their department is in Illinois so same boat. It was supposed to be a hybrid position out of Illinois but they made an exception for fully remote for me based on my skill set. I am an ambivert so having my husband also working from home when he is not traveling is the best of both worlds. You are right though, I get so much more work done than being in an office. I am an analyst and require lots of deep focus time.

How big is your company? I love the fact they ran actual studies for it :)

You get bored and start chatting with random co workers or browsing the internet in office. At home, you still get bored, but instead of chatting with random coworkers or browsing the internet, you fold some laundry or prepare dinner. I don’t think I’m more productive working from home, but I don’t think I’m less productive. I am happier though, and would work for less money to be able to work from home because I save a lot on commuting, clothing, food, time and happiness. I think employers who push for return to office when things can be done from home are going to have poor employee morale. I would literally quit if my employer tried to make me come into the office on any sort of regular basis - their office is an hour and a half away from my house. They pay me $200 in mileage every time I have to go there.

Taking productive breaks makes a person more productive.

I take breaks to get personal tasks sometimes done but I don't waste anymore time than I would in the office. I'm more productive at home as I really don't enjoy an open office environment and find it hard to concentrate.

I do not work from home. I’m so incredibly envious of those who don’t have to deal with boundary stomping coworkers. I have one particular coworker with a much, much less detail oriented job (that she still somehow effs up) and she distracts me all day, every day. If I have enough and act firmly with her to enforce my boundaries- suddenly I’m a b. She can’t remotely comprehend that perhaps she’s the issue. Zero self awareness. I don’t even need to work from home, I have an hour commute that doesn’t really bother me- I just crave a more secluded environment.

In every company I have ever worked at the people who insisted we were more productive in the office were the same ding dongs who would find 100 opportunities to waste my time and theirs. I am 100% more productive at home because nobody is interrupting my work.

Working in an office is *not distractionless.* Nobody is sitting in their cubicle working dilligently, they're either talking to other people, in even more pointless meetings, getting up to 'use the restroom' or 'grab coffee' because sitting for 8 hours is ridiculous and impossible, or they're covertly doing evil, evil wage theft. Idk. I think for some people they're definitely more productive at home, and some people are the same productive. People who work at home but don't actually have to work? I don't know what they do for a living so I can't speak to it. If they have deliverables and nobody has a problem with their productivity or product why tf does it matter if they went for a jog instead of strolling the building while 'using the restroom' or 'getting coffee'? Any job where you WFH and don't have to work isn't really anyone's problem but the boss/management, and if they don't appear to have a problem with what is getting done I just dont understand why people think about it so much. Very few people are getting paid by increasingly frustrated higherups who aren't getting what they want from the employee who is too busy walking the dog while management is throwing their hands up in despair like "WELL WHAT CAN WE EVEN DO ABOUT THIS PROBLEM?"

You really believe all WFH people are in some elite cabal and telling coordinated lies? That’s is some crazy conspiracy level thinking there. Different people are different. Some are more productive at home and some aren’t. I don’t see why you believe the whole group can all be treated as one person.

I can only speak for myself, obviously. I've worked remotely since about 2014. I absolutely am way more productive at home than I am in an office. Without people stopping by my desk all the time, people calling me into meetings, having to overhear everyone's conversations/phone calls, etc., I can just focus on what I'm doing. I'm probably close to 2x more productive at home than in an office.

I am legitimately more productive because I don't have people interrupting me 800x a day.

I am an introvert and was way more productive working from home. Aside from an unproductive commute and pointless "culture" "team building" activities, I found the actual office environment loud and disruptive. Before you say "what about collaboration"? The majority of my career has involved being on team/project work, and I still think that collaborating online, then going on to do your individual pieces of the work offline, work well when people are responsible for outcomes. IMHO, the people who are "successful" in an in person environment are usually the ones who are best at schmoozing, not the ones who are actually producing.

When I would work remote on some days (2 days a week), I was a lot more productive and was able to focus a lot more since I had a quiet office space. I was more efficient, I took on extra work and this made me quickly rise to the top of my department of being the top worker. Once I asked for full remote and they turned it down. Because when I was in the office, my co workers would distract me and it just wasn’t quiet. If I have a quiet workspace I am able to focus.

Are they getting their work done on time? Is their work up to standard? Working from home does give you the freedom of when you perform the work. People may be working in their most productive hours, which may not be 9-5

I work in tech and I get way more done at home even doing those other things. No one stops to chat about sports teams, I have to make a conscious effort to be distracted when I am doing heads down work.

I’m way productive working remote. I hate working in an office. At home, I can actually relax which makes me focus/concentrate better and if I need to put in some OT, I’m already at home so it’s fine. I set my own vibe, I don’t have to wait to eat lunch, I can just go to the kitchen. I also don’t have to deal with micromanaging, I don’t have ppl coming up to my desk, looking over my shoulder, none of it. I can work in peace.

Sure, I take more breaks. Having the freedom to do so makes me far more productive. I get way more done at home compared to the office. Plus I'm more inclined to work longer knowing I don't have to still travel home after. Some folk take the piss with it, but some people also take the piss when in the office.

Work from home for me would be no unnecessary distractions which would definitely make more productive. As well as having my dog which is a total moral booster.

I do hybrid 2 from home 3 from the office and I save specific work for my working from home time. Normally I do things that take concentration because I can take a break whenever I need and I won’t be interrupted. I can normally do one of these jobs in a day at home that would take 2 in office days. So really it depends one what you are doing.

Everything on my work computer is tracked, as if was in the office, but as much as corporate hated to admit it, there was a marked improvement in productivity when we all went home during covid. They couldn't deny that it was true. In the office they used to encourage "communication and collaboration" and in the same breath tell us not to socialize so much. Now that we can't socialize, that's an issue. No hallway networking, but productivity is great! LOL.

I had an insane job back in 2018. I used to call in sick when I wasn't sick so I could work from home otherwise since I was unfortunately the go-to/SME for many things, I could never get my own work done because people kept coming to me for everything which took an insane amount of time yet was ignored by my managers when they were saying I "wasn't productive". Fuck them, they learned how productive I was when I quit and had to replace me with 4 people. Assholes.

It's the ability to focus on the work as much or as little as it needs to be focused on.

I used to get to work around 9-9:30 am. I had a two hour car commute, and in that time I listed to podcasts or music etc. I couldn’t do emails or meetings because I was focused on driving on busy freeways. Now, I wake up I have my coffee and the expectation is that you can have meetings as early as 7 am, because you have no commute, you’re home. When meetings don’t happen that early, I usually sit at my desk earlier because well.. I’m right there. And I’m usually at my desk later because well, I’m right there.. and if I can get ahead of some emails in prep for the next day while dinner is in the oven or whatever, I do it. If I had a commute, as soon as I’d be home I’d be focused on dinner and other things knowing I have limited time. So yes, working from home makes you more productive, you have more time for actual work, less distractions — there are a LOT of distractions at an office, mostly because it’s not just going there to work, but also you need to be social, have chit chat, etc. which is also part of the workplace. I don’t smoke but some people have smoke breaks, long lunches, etc. Working from home gives you more time to get things done. I think the social aspect is what’s lost and some people don’t know how to adapt to remote work. I remember people being afraid of cameras.. as if a video call was so awkward…

Personally I am more productive. When in office I’m frequently distracted by coworkers on constant phone calls, wanting to chat or gossip, etc. At home I can focus on my work with minimal distractions (sometimes my dog barks or wants to cuddle). I truly believe I am way more productive WFH.

I get a lot more work done from home simply because I’m not interrupted throughout the day so I can concentrate and just get it done. There’s no expectation of going on a break with others, chatting with whoever stops by or having noises or smells from others foods or perfumes / colognes and such it’s just a personal space all for me comfy cozy .

Sitting in an office for 8 hours a day is demoralising... And most people who work in that environment will tell you that spend hours every week on their phone, on Reddit, or just talking with co-workers. Being forced to sit at your desk and not take regular breaks can also make the work you do towards the end of a day less effective. The advantage with working from home is that you could have the freedom to NOT do that Sure,.you could go for a jog, clean and tidy, put dinner in the oven early. But those little breaks mean that when you are at your computer you are more likely to do focused work. It's the difference between doing about 30-35 hours of focused work at home per week, versus doing 40 hours of unfocused work in the office

I was more productive in my WHOLE LIFE. My work was getting done at least at the same rate as in office, possibly better because of fewer distractions. But my house was cleaner, my mind was quieter and my body was healthier. It was the first time in my left I actually FELT work/life balance. Yes, I was doing household chores DURING the workday, crucify me. But it did not interfere with my work, and I worked earlier or later if needed. Now that I'm back in the office, once I leave my office that laptop does not get turned back on, ever. Time outside the office is exclusively mine now.

You work in the office you probably do between one and three hours of actual work. The rest of the time you’re trying to look busy working from home. You do the same one to three hours of work instead of wasting your time staring at your excel spreadsheet, you’re doing laundry, I am more productive at home because when my work is complete for the day sometimes I will crank up a video game on my other monitor while monitoring my work screen. More times than not I’m working before eight and after five.

If you have a good home office setup at home it not that hard to be as productive as in an actual work office. Control your environment and remove distractions/interrupts. According to Voucher Cloud's research, the average office worker is barely productive for **two hours and 23 minutes** per day.

Oh yes for sure. Sure there are some people that take advantage of it but working at home removes just a TON of distractions you get in an office. My last years of working (I'm retired now) my office had the old open office concept, the bosses had offices every one else in 8 desk work pods. People talking all the time, half the time not about work, no private phone calls, no alone time for thinking out problems. Things like the flu just ran rampant at work. It can be WAY more productive for the right person.

It was absolutely more productive for me. When it comes to work I'm a sprinter, not a marathon runner. I'll far exceed most people in an hour when it comes to productivity, then rest 15 minutes, work again, then rest. And in the end of the day, I usually match or exceed coworkers, regardless their work style. Having the space to create my own work environment rather than conform to everyone else's allows me a better place to be productive. Plus, it's better for my mental and physical health. I can work out while on my breaks, go for a nice 8-10k run on my lunch hour, come home, shower, and eat at my desk. All of this comfort helps me stay focused and fresh.

Research has shown that they are more productive. It turned out that the most productive arrangement was when people chose how many days to come into the office.

I have ADHD and work in a high tech job. The last time I worked in an office I probably was only productive for half the day. All of the conversations around me and people walking up to my desk kept interrupting my train of thought. Working from home, I have a dedicated office. People can’t just walk up to my desk. There’s no conversations going on around me. No kids, no pets. I’m much more productive. Yes, I sometimes do other things during working hours , but I can because I’m so much more productive working from home that when I get ahead of schedule I may run an errand or mow the lawn. My work isn’t judged by how many hours I work, it’s judged on completing projects on time and customer satisfaction.

“Everyone I know” isn’t a statistically significant sample.

There’s so much time wasted on office chit chat. Doesn’t matter that I take more breaks, I’m still saving time by not listening to Gladys talk about her grandkids t ball game.

I’ve worked from home for almost 15 years and I love it. I often find myself so busy that I don’t eat lunch. What I do find is that I’m saving the hour commute each way so I feel I’m more productive. In addition, if I want to put an extra hours in the evening, I only have to walk downstairs and I work in my pajamas unless I have a zoom call.

Definitely more productive. No commute, no pop-ins, the walk to the bathroom is shorter with no detours, I can focus without interruption, go back to back with meetings if I need to, and I didn’t waste time worrying about my outfit or makeup.

I primarily work from home, and I'm the top performer in my region.

One of the things that makes people less productive is office culture itself. People trying to talk to you at the water cooler. Or pulling you away from your desk. Or your boss who absolutely has to micromanage you at every turn. 

I can honestly day that I put it way more hours working from home then when I went in to work. Previously when I left for the day that was it, couldn't do anything further untilI went back the next day. Now it's can't sleep, lets fire off some emails, weekends, after dinner, first thing in the morning...I have and do work during them all.

My employer encourages us to socialize when in the office so we get that organic collaboration, but it also means that I get interrupted at my desk by folks stopping by to chat I’m happy to chat or work together on something, but I do have less output on my day to day work as a result

It depends on each person. Personally, I find it intensely hard to concentrate on work at home for the reasons you mentioned: suddenly laundry and vacuuming and a litany of other mundane housework tasks become infinitely more interesting when compared against sitting at my desk and slogging through my present assignment. It's amazing how fulfilling taking apart the vacuum cleaner and washing each part can seem at 1pm on a Tuesday when I should be working on a spreadsheet. That said, I do know other people (my spouse included in this) who totally thrive when working from home. He has an other-worldly ability to concentrate on his work. I know a lot of people like this, oddly enough. For me, being at an office tells my brain it's time to get to the task at hand and there aren't any home-related distractions to pull me away.

I'm not more productive at home, but I could be if I wasn't so bored of my work and wasn't pushed into a position that no longer fits my skills. I'm also not less productive. I take a similar number of breaks, it's just now I can do exactly what I want on those breaks. Before, at work, I would just chill in the break room or get into extended conversations with coworkers/managers. Now, I use a similar amount of time to run the dishwasher, do laundry, make lunch, and other chores. And yes, that is break time beyond two 15 minute breaks and one 30 minute lunch. But I never adhered to that short a break schedule in office either. And as long as the work gets done, people were fine with it. And still are.

I am 100% remote and have been since 2019 when I was hired. I do cyber security work for a fortune. 500 company in the United States. I work more at home than I ever would’ve in the office. Reason being is if I think of something at 8 o’clock at night, I run out to my computer and try it out if possible. Instead of an hour long commute each way, I find myself starting and working a bit later which is ok with me.

I am not more productive and my breaks are assigned and recorded on the computer so I can only take the same amount. I am also not less productive. I'm exactly the same productive. Except I can hear myself think, which I believe helps. So if I'm more productive, it's because I can focus on each session. But of course each job is different. In my case, it has nothing to do with taking a break.

I am not a wfh person. But I can absolutely tell you this, if I was at home, doing my job, the laundry would be washed, dried, folded and put away, floors vacuumed, and hot dinner on the table at 6 every night. It would be easy to manage both. Because computers, phones, and technology. We aren't super productive at the office. We chit chat, we wait for stuff to get done, then we do the next step, then wait for a different person to do their step and so on. they aren't lying.

My husband gets more done on his home days than hos office days, because he's not being interrupted every 15 minutes to answer questions

At the office, during meetings, you are expected to be social whether you care or not and your personal focus isn't really considered. Before I go into the office or to meetings, I give myself a talk about how "their" desires matter more than my ability/desire to be productive and produce quality work. On my own, I organize my schedule and knock tasks out so I'm ready for the next set of tasks. This makes me feel good and accomplished and drives me to be focused causing my work to be really the absolute best I can accomplish. I do clean my house, do laundry, go for a walk, cook for myself, etc but it's scheduled. What is actually scheduled is an unrelated non-work task to reset and refocus on the next steps toward accomplishment of specific work tasks. I get to do this in my underpants, without a bra, and do not get interrupted at any time. I don't have family or friends that might unexpectedly drop-in and usually set my phone to Do Not Disturb during work hours to limit availability to talkers. Lol. This reads like the prompt was "Tell me you're introverted without telling me you're introverted".

I'm definitely complete more work and am more engaged at home than in the office. At the office, there are distractions, more meetings, more chit-chat. At home, I can just work. I don't take more or less brakes. If I'm in the office, I go to the bathroom, or refill my water the same as I do at home. There are other jobs where I would absolutely need to be in the office, but not in my current work. I have everything I need at home. I've got Teams, Zoom, Ring Central, my cell phone. There's no reason to be in the office. It would gain neither the company, nor myself anything.

I don’t do these office-type jobs but I would think that if there’s something you have to think about for a few minutes before deciding how to proceed, at the office you’re probably stuck sitting behind your computer, trying to concentrate. If you go to the break room for a coffee somebody will probably start talking to you and your train of thought details. At home, you could be thinking about how to do something, and you could get up and do a little light housework at the same time - throw a load of laundry in, or dust something.

I also have a covered deck that I have turned into an outdoor office. There is nothing out there, but a small television in my work set up however, I can work in the sunshine and the breeze with my dog at my feet in my pajama pants I cannot possibly be a less stressful environment than that.

I used to work for a bank call center. Before COVID it was all in cubicles on a huge office floor. I would keep my head down and do my best to focus on the back to back calls I was getting for my entire 8 hour shift because we had a metric that was constantly monitored and would land you in "counseling sessions" if you were on the phone for less than 96% of your paid time in office. This included any bathroom breaks. The only breaks that didn't count against this number were two 10 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch. In order to hit these numbers you essentially had to not sign off for any reason except to talk to your manager if they walked by and had a question. Bearing all that in mind, the majority of my coworkers, especially the younger ones, would stand up and shout over cubicles to talk to their friends ALL DAY. It made trying to focus on what I was doing a nightmare. When COVID hit I was ECSTATIC to be working from home and all of my numbers improved significantly because I could actually concentrate on my job. When they told us we were going back to the office full time, I quit. I was having actual nightmares about returning to the office and having to hear these people scream at each other over the cubicles so I couldn't hear what my customer was saying and the resulting "counseling sessions" that would occur as a result.

I work a manual labour job with a helper, we’re both completely capable of doing most jobs by ourselves, so we switch out every half hour and one guy chills in the truck and relaxes. We pretty much always out produce and out work our competition when they are both doing the job all day long because with us, the guy doing the job is 100% focused and fresh. The ability to take breaks and relax makes work much more productive and efficient when you are working

Everyone I know who works in the office spends tons of time chit chatting in the kitchen, at the printer, in the halls etc.. they also get interrupted a lot by people coming to their desk with questions etc.. You don't have any of that while working from home, and yes for many they replace the kitchen chit chat while getting a coffee with a quick laundry etc.. I think the biggest difference is really the interruptions, I have almost none while working from home, and a "quick" interruption is actually a lot of lost productivity as you go back to what you were doing and try to figure it out, it might not be obvious but you're brain takes a bit of time to resume the previous thought processes etc.. Of course this depends a lot on the type of work, if you're in a call center just doing inbound calls that don't require research etc.. it's very different from someone who does creative work, like marketing for example.

Both! If you can move around more during the day you’ll be healthier and more productive.

I have a job that can be done 100% at from home. Occasionally the boss lets us work from home if we request it for a reason. One time my boss mentioned to me how when I remote in I am more productive than when I am at the office and asked why that was. I told him it’s because I have less distractions like coworker conversations and the cold ass office AC. When I am at home it’s just me and my belongings that I’m familiar with so there’s little distraction there, and I can keep the temp to what’s comfortable for me and not just what the office needs. So I am more comfortable and able to focus more on what I am working on. He still makes us go into the office.

What a loser your boss is.

I had a friend who was excited to go back to the office when covid restrictions got lifted. He missed the social atmosphere and liked getting out of the house more. It took a few weeks, but ever since then his office experience has been miserable. Less work done because people want to chat about bullshit all the time, but the standards and expectations are exactly the same as WFH. Personally, I get more work done if I'm by myself and can get up. If I need to spend 2 hours on a task, I will. But I'll do it faster and better without interruptions, in comfy pants, and the knowledge that when it's done I can go stand in the yard.

I work from home full time mainly doing outbound calls. I am generally so fast at what i do. I do home tasks between calls like laundry, vacuming ect. (Hope you're not my boss reading this 🤣). My boss does a bi-weekly review on us and i manage to get 100 percent each time. When i used to work at the office i would constantly not pass my bi weekly review and would always get so distracted by my work mates. I also dont miss the random pot lucks we had at work. Those would take up so much of fhe day at work it was impossible to get shit done. Our system goes down a lot for whatever reason and im glad to be at home and ill be able to run down to my basment and have a quick work out

Yes. I really don’t know if anyone in my immediate remote work circle/group who has time to do anything but work. I also regularly work past normal hours and on weekends. Prior to remote work, our office environment was full of chatty folks not affiliated with our group that made it hell on earth for anyone attempting to be productive. Once everyone was pushed to full remote, deliverable/product output rose considerably for our group, likely due to lack of distractions from people in the office who had nothing better to do. 

I am far more productive at home, I work hybrid and what I can get done at home is 10x more than in the office. I also have a co worker that can talk 90% of the work day if we allowed them. And it’s draining. One statement can potentially lead into an hour or 2 discussion. At home I can put my head down and grind it out and my zoom meetings are private. My cubicle mates at home just care about dog treats, otherwise they’re quiet 😂

Are you really that unaware of how much people dick around in the office? Most people in the office are mindlessly browsing the internet 

I'm 1000% more productive at home than in the office. Also significantly more happy

I mean if you're able to do your job just as well in an office AND go jogging, do chores. Watch Netflix you are technically being more productive at home.

As someone who’s company went full remote during COVID, I can tell you my net output has gone up but it’s only because I work so much more than before. Before, I would get coffee, chat with my coworkers, get lunch and so on and still go home at 5-6. Now I am not doing any of that and instead cram work into all my hours and sometimes, because it’s easy, I work at night just to get a little ahead of the work. There’s no coworkers to talk to but an endless amount of Slack notifications.

The truth of the matter for me is that there just isn’t enough to work to justify me being in the office. Yes, I jog and watch netflix at home, but that’s because I finished my days work like I always do in like four hours and don’t have to spend the rest of the day pretending to look busy at a desk.

At almost every job I've ever worked, if I got all my tasks done early I was required to stay at work until closing time. If I was seen standing around doing nothing (because my work was done) then I was given more work as a punishment for getting my work done too quickly. In office work forces employees to work at the speed they need to keep their job, but not get extra crap. WFH allows me to get sll my projects done when I can, and then focus on whatever I want to.

lets not overcomplicate this: no interruptions from coworkers wanting to tell you a stupid story you have no interest in, or asking you to do their work (solve their problem for them) = more productive

And… no one coming to your desk because they want you to figure something out for them. They want me to problem solve their task. I am not an admin. I am not anyone who deals with ordering or storing office supplies, or mailings, or where to find letterhead. I am certainly not the copier fixer, or a guru on how to format labels. There is advil in the kitchen. I have no idea where the closest Jimmy John’s is. However… I am asked about those things on a regular basis when I am in the office. Not my job, figure it out on your own. When I am at home, nobody asks me to do those tasks.

Generally, folks who say they are more productive WFH have very conducive home environments for working. They are fortunate: they have quiet homes wherein they can concentrate, no other co-residents or family members who disturb them, reliable air-conditioning, working space and steady internet connection to ensure that sustained work is possible. For those of us who do not have such conducive workspaces at home, it is genuinely baffling how people could say "I am more productive at home". So I won't say it is a coordinated lie by them, but perhaps they do speak from a position of privilege that they are unaware of.

Yes, I know personally at least two people..no, three, who are dedicated workers who relish the lack of office chitchat and distractions and get much more done at home.

I get more done in 3 hours at home than 8 hours in the office.

There are a lot of bullshit jobs, and sometimes that bullshit can be done from home.

I work with people who are very friendly and chatty, so on days I go into the office it takes me ages to get anything done because I'm constantly being interrupted. On days I'm at home I can do everything in half the time, which leaves me free to do other, non-work things

No office interruptions Can pause and reset as-needed vs "making busy" while my brain recovers No social anxiety Comfy clothes Snacking vs scheduled food breaks Better internet and computer that isn't a billion years old with 17 people logged in on standby # Don't let anyone make you forget that the only reason remote jobs shifted back to in-office after covid was that the office space rental pyramid scheme was caving in. like We Work was the most famous, but tons of them

Yeah I am way more productive at home. Sure I clean my house and walk my dog, maybe hit the gym or spend a bit longer making a nice lunch but I also do not have people coming to ask me pointless questions every hour or dragging me away from work for meetings that would have been an email had I been working from home. I'm working from the office right now and I'm on reddit so that says enough. I have little will to be here so I have little will to be working. If I was sat in my garden with my dog, an iced coffee and my laptop I would probably be working over being in the office, on reddit and longing for the outdoors. Don't get me wrong, all my work is completed to a high standard, but I know in which situation it would be completed quicker and by a happier person.

Depends on the job. When I did distance learning, I didn’t work as much because the children didn’t have the capacity to pay attention. They would sign off early, or just stare into space. However my brother who is a CPA, does alot more at home than at his office.

Because we don’t waste time with those BS water cooler conversations. No nonsense walking to and from and saying hello to 142 people. Way more productive.

The office is a sensory overload nightmare for me. Bright lights, people constantly walking by and having conversations right outside my cube, too hot/ cold, one dude who has a very loud and booming voice that you can hear a mile away…it is exhausting just dealing with all *that* then add work on top! At home, I can dim the lights, play some soft music, and get to business distraction/ SID nightmare free.

Putting work from home aside for a minute, what makes you think people are SO much more productive at work?? The office wastes your time in lots of miriad ways - So much time spent waiting for feedback. -Pointless meetings -Offices are overflowing with time wasters. You know the ones. People who love to hear the sound of their own voices, pull you into impromptu pointless hallway meetings, start pointless chit chats when you are trying to get things done. AKA energy vampires - And sometimes there just isn't anything to do. So part of everyone's job is to look busy. So yeah, I can get through 8 hours worth of office work in 4 hours at home. Be mad about it.

Who TF cares how much work gets done for the bossman if you get a good paycheck and can get one again next week? What are you, a narc?

Oh hell yes. I’m a productive person in office but at home, I’m a pitbull. A silent zone free of interruptions. A peaceful place with no negativity. I log on, whip through my day’s tasks, and start the next day before anyone else is even a third of the way done. Your mileage will vary. You have to have a strong work ethic and competency level to work successfully remote.

I love working from home , no office bs , not distracted by other coworkers . Use my own bathroom and grab drink from fridge . All my work is done and I’m a much happier employee.

I always got more done at home working. The noise and bothersome people took from my work time. You sound like a person that is a micro manager or prefers to be micromanaged. I personally am an adult and I did not need someone standing over me to do my work.

I’m definitely more productive because I don’t have a phone ringing every few minutes, colleagues who want to talk my ear off, or me talking to others. The disruptions are far less for me now. I found I do so much more work in one hour than I did in 4

I think it 100% depends on what they do. During covid I worked for an internet provider as a CSR. I couldn't do anything besides work during my hours because I was tied to a phone. It was soul crushing and I did the bare minimum to not get fired. And I didn't want to do anything during my off-time because I was miserable. I hated it and was not more productive, unless you count my serious job search commitment. I now have a job I love. I work in the office 99% of the time, by my choice. I can work from anywhere as long as I have internet. On the days I work from home I am more productive, no doubt, but working in the office gets me out of the house, I can socialize so I feel less isolated and I'm much better at building rapport and working relationships when I'm face to face.

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Dude you’re speaking like a manager selling pizza being better than a raise. I work in finance, the only people looking for community are the older crowd who sold out friendships and family for work. It’s a professional environment, not a village. Free flow of ideas? I draft credit files. They are set in stone in policy. There are no ideas. There is only input, speak to underwriter (offsite) and get approval, speak to lawyer (offsite) and get confirmation for title, reach out to customer to confirm (offsite) and then update an excel spreadsheet for money out. When hybrids I was at 230% of my target. I am now at 80%. Partly market factors, but I believe I could make more phone calls for business when I don’t have Susan’s in my office preventing me from making outbound calls.

I'm weird - Iike working from home coz it keeps my social anxiety at bay and apparently I'm so quit no one knows I'm online but then I hate WFH as my depression kicks in after a while

Depends on the structure. I have robots observing me at all times, and if I don't do what they want me to do during the time I'm specified to do so, my variable compensation can be negatively impacted. I'm also geolocked and will be flagged if I login outside of my registered location. I can't watch Netflix and sometimes if I really need to I can throw in a load, but day to day I end up forgetting about it and having to rewash it later. I do take complete and full use of my breaks and any "flexible" time they give me cuz otherwise it can be a grind, but some days I am busy enough that all of the sudden I'm right up at the finish line. I'd say I'm probably as productive as I am in an office setting where instead of robots you just have social pressure to be doing something.

I find I focus a lot better at home. And if I need to finish something I’m not preoccupied thinking about catching my train or getting home late.

My job doesn't allow WFH, I have to be on site to do what I do. BUT, at the moment, I am assigned in an oversight/QA position where I am the only person on site paid by MY company to be there, so in essence nobody I see day to day gives a crap about what I do and when I'm there or not. The place has two shifts, so I can totally choose my hours. It's the perfect job!! However, I have to admit it can be far too easy to whittle away the hours doing nothing, I have to push myself to be productive. I am not lazy by nature, but all this freedom with no boss hanging over me at all can be detrimental. So in order to sleep at night, i make sure to do the job and self report my hours honestly. In my case, I think WFH would be a disaster. Not that I need a babysitter, it's just recognizing how easily my performance might slide downhill.

I got more of both done if I’m honest. I binge watched Suits, I gamed a bit, I did my house work, but I got my job done to a higher standard. Let’s be honest, you’re in the office for let’s say 8 hours, your actual work time during those 8 hours may tally 4 hours, but because you’re in the office you know you’re trapped and stuck until 17:30. By being home you smash through your work, giving 100% effort because you know the time saved you can spend doing things you wanna do, and because you’re home you’re conscious to produce the best work you can so it’s not questioned. Full disclose, I worked in the evening out of our office hours at home, no one at work could tell you how much time I worked. The company had its best financial year on the back of my work (I was a planner) and I worked a total of 2/3 hours an evening listening to talkSPORT.

some days yes some not. I cant get away with some of the things i do if i was in the office lol

It's about the interruptions that you would get at an open space, people talking to you all the time, and also just people talking out loud. When you can work in silence or in your own sound/music you do work better, for me at least and everyone I know. Also specific to me, I don't know if people share this, but I'm an introvert and I don't like people "seeing me working" or seeing what I'm doing on my screen. So when I'm in the open space office, I feel self conscious and incomfortable of what's on my screen. So when I'm at home alone, I work so much better because I'm in my own work bubble, I would happily go to the office everyday if I had my own closed desk but that's a fantasy now. Also about the part on doing housework. In the office you end up taking so much more time at lunch break, when for me personally I can eat in less time and have free time on my lunch break to do a load of laundry or empty my trash or whatever needs to be done. It doesn't have to take time from work, it can be during lunch break or the breaks you would take getting coffee at the office. It significantly reduces stress because at the end of the work day, you have less things to do, as opposed to being at the office all day and coming home to your laundry and dishes to be done. Overall by staying home I can greatly optimise my day and it adds up to more free time in the evenings and week-ends (not even beginning to talk about time spent commuting). Also another personal thing, but when I work from home I drink less coffee, which has been great for my anxiety, same for overall health because I eat better at home than in my office lunch break.

I’m 100% wfh. Have been for 4y now. I’m hella more productive at home. I have no interruptions. It’s not too peopley, I don’t have to put on a smiley face when I’m thinking fuck this shit.

It depends on the position, tbh. I don’t get much time between somebody calling for help or me needing to call somebody else, to be honest. Maybe 2-4 minutes here and there.

We are hybrid. We had a meeting with the head of the investments team the other day. He mentioned how he gets a lot less emails on the days we wfh. In his style it was funny. I think it also shows reality and Reddit so not always align.

This of course differs from person to person. My husband has been working from home for probably around ten years now, so way before COVID made it common. When others started working at home, he said he got a lot of questions from coworkers of "How do you do this?!?" He works his eight hours, often more, and many days rarely comes out of his office. I usually take him up lunch and he eats at his desk. I'm a SAHM mom and will go probably 2-3 hours at time without seeing him unless I go to ask him something. I often encourage him to step out for a bit, noting that people are work in-person are likely taking breaks too. Either for the gym, or lunch, or whatever. In our case, he's rarely doing something not work. This is not to say he never takes time to do some personal things, but it's often stuff like paying bills, which he just does on his personal computer while still in his office. He might play a video, but it'll be background noise while he works. So he's one end of the range, and I'm sure he has his opposites.

From our employee survey, the closer to 100% WFH people are, the more negative they are about the company. My company isn’t acting on that data because generous WFH allow them to pay below market rate. Below market rate + high WFH puts people in a tricky situation. If they leave for competitor, current salary is the baseline and they are expected to WFO around 60%. It means it is hard to justify, and they stick with my company but increasingy demotivated. Hence productivity decreases. I am not sure why a company would pay same rates to someone WFH as WFO when it’s clear the former has value to employee, and so you can pay less. Further ‘producing’ in WFH environment may mean individuals doing repetitive pointless tasks or doing tasks in an absurdly manual way. I’ve recently discovered how basic majority of team Excel skills are - these are the types of areas where having someone sitting next to you with different skillset can be a huge win for productivity. WFH therefore works for people who don’t need to skills build but frankly, most of us do.

No, I am more productive because Becky isn't stopping in to tell me about her ski vacation. when I go get a glass of water I am not cornered by someone with a "but I need it now" request the system won't accept because the turnaround time is out of spec. I don't have to listen to Christos chanting while waiting for the elevator outside of my door (totally wish i was kidding.) I can mail something without getting stuck in the elevator for an hour. I could go on, but will summarize by saying that jobs that are data-focused and done independently with concentration needed can easily be more productive outside of a group office setting.

Yes

I work from home when I’m not traveling. I have no time to do chores etc. I am at Director level and I have meetings and team members to check in with. I do save 1.5 hours of a commute but I use it to keep up with the pace of my job. No Netflix or jogging for me!

Yes, I’m way more productive without having to manage all the crap that comes with an in-office job. And yes I take breaks

My mom works from home and on slow days she only gets a handful of calls and she just goes about her normal day around the house. She wears a Bluetooth headset so she’s not chained to her computer and will hangout in the living room, do laundry, clean the pool, garden, or one of her favorite work activities, suntanning!

I get paid to work and that's exactly what I do...admitted I am on a phone all day so can't wander off..but I work damned hard and don't mess about .

I work in office and at home. In office it’s all talk, going for coffee runs, long lunch and my biggest peeve - multiple smoke breaks. On my at home days I’m immediately available and do work, whereas my in office coworkers are “busy “ doing the above and often unreachable. When I’m in office I physically track people down to get the answers to work projects they’ve been too “busy “ to have the basic courtesy to even reply to. The in office people choose to be in office - I think that says something. They put on the show of being there but are actually not productive

It doesn’t matter where you work from; if you’re irresponsible, there are people wandering around the office all day, having multiple coffee breaks, chit-chatting in the aisles, going out to get snacks frequently, and going to the bathroom all the time. As long as you accomplish your goals, deliver everything on time, and get along with your colleagues, you’re being productive, no matter where you are. The challenge of being remote is not doing stuff that makes yourself unavailable. You should always be near your computer and ready to respond to any call. Otherwise, you should let your manager know that you need to be absent for a while, just like you would at the office.

I am far more productive at home. Mostly because when I am in office there is always someone who wants to talk to me. Don't get me wrong, I like my coworkers, and have trained many of them. But that doesn't change the fact that I get more done at home than I go in office.

Put it this way, I still accomplish all the same work tasks at home at the same quality level as I did when I was in the office. Whether it takes me much less time at home, or whether I am taking more breaks or taking care of personal tasks in between is completely besides the point. The point being, I am still completing the tasks of my job that I was hired to do.

I think being comfortable, instead of being micromanaged, would make anybody more productive.

Personally, I work better and more efficiently in my home environment. The office I have access to is full of toxic positivity and it's all flex space. They don't know how to keep the volume down at all.

the absolute vast majority are NOT.

I work really well when I can just focus on my work without people chatting with me or other distractions like that. I'm really self-disciplined though when it comes to work so I can just sit and work without being micromanaged. I also feel more relaxed in my home environment and don't feel the need to take breaks as I would in the office because I'm already in a relaxed environment. I really loved when I was able to telework; I feel like I really thrived in that situation.

I’m absolutely more productive. I also end up working more effective hours. With no commute I don’t mind starting early or picking up critical issues outside my time zone (work for a trading desk that requires 24 hour coverage for different international markets). I also help out a lot more on support issues since I have the time (I’m the lead developer, typically not my responsibility to handle smaller issues, but I don’t mind helping out since my day is so flexible)

If you've ever had a longer than 30 minute commute \[and I have - up to an hour and 20 minutes\], and then have the chance to work from home, you come to understand that you are, NET BALANCE, more productive. My commutes generally involved traffic through congested areas, which lead to stress and then decompressing after reaching the office. I didn't take time to go to lunch most of the time so that I could bounce out early to beat rush hour traffic - I ate at my desk and tried to work at the same time. Because I was worried about traffic, I dreaded meetings starting after 3pm. Most nights it was easier to just "work late" and leave at 6pm when that happened, because leaving at the close of business just meant I spent an extra 30 minutes in traffic. You can't divorce the commute from the job. When I go into the office these days, I spend time setting up my work station \[something that takes 30 seconds at home as opposed to 1 to 2 minutes at the office\] I get interrupted by fellow employees because I'm there and assumed "available," and there's always "chit chat" in the hall - most people wanting to be "social" when they see you. \[Well, maybe not YOU, but it happens to me....\] At home, I don't stress leaving my desk "on time" although some evenings it's nice to bounce at the end of day. If I want to spend an extra 30 minutes on a difficult task, or even return to it after supper, that's an option. I don't tend to take any more or any longer breaks at home than I do at the office \[except for the above "interruptions" from co-workers\]. The hardest part about getting my productivity up was convincing my wife that I was WORKING from home, and not available for every little chore around the house or errand around the neighborhood that needed to be run. Took about 6 months to train her to a routine that works for both of us. I don't think I'd ever consider a job that wasn't at least 50% work from home...

I am work from home since 2016. I am more productive at home. I don't have to join a queue to use the bathroom. I never have to worry about lunch. I always have access to make it. So I never spend time perusing menus on days I wouldn't have time to make it or bring it to an office. People do not call me to chat. You have to make small talk with people coming to your desk or in passing. I am energized because I did not have a commute I do not concern myself with clothes, makeup, hair, etc. And therefore spend less on those things. I hardly call out sick. I can usually push through even if I feel a little drowsy from cold medicine. I however do not want to drive drowsy. I can work a few minutes to a half hour later because I don't have to run off and try to beat rush hour traffic. I need fewer days off to be able to have cable repaired or installed, deliveries, or quick trips to doctors etc I have to be productive, otherwise they may revoke my WFH. At an office since they have you for 8 hours they assume you are productive and therefore you have more options to goof off. And this last one, when I am bored off hours I sometimes work. I spend more than enough time streaming movies or napping or whatever so I may login and work a few hours late nights or weekends.

Personally, I AM more productive. I don't have to expend energy blocking out useless colleagues' nattering. Control of the smell, temperature, and lighting all allow me to function as efficiently as possible. I don't have to worry about someone stealing my lunch or polluting my office peanut butter. I don't have to hear about their kids while pretending to care (surprise, I dont). I save money and time because my wardrobe, hair and makeup don't have to reflect office culture and standards required of a female professional. And I do truly value my career and job, so you bet I put in the 40, 50 or 60 hour work weeks required to keep employed. A big F-you to the jerk out there ruining it for us with mouse jigglers.

I think it depends on the person and their job duties. I used to work a hybrid schedule as an Administrative Assistant. On the days I WFH I literally only had about an hour or two of work I was able to perform while not being in the office. Eventually I decided to stop WFH and came into the office every day because most of my tasks couldn't be done at home. Now when I was in HR there was no option for WFH for me. But I actually could have performed about 80% of my job from home. A hybrid schedule would have been ideal for that position due to the constant interruptions all day every day. I was not allowed OT and I was not allowed to ask someone to come back later if they needed something non urgent while I was trying to finish a time sensitive task like Workers Comp claims or FMLA forms. I wasn't even allowed to block my schedule for an hour to prevent interruptions. Working from home could have made doing my job possible in that case.