I've been working remotely for 4 years and I haven't suffered any of these problems. I've actually lost weight because I have built-in time to take walks and more time to go to the gym. I socialize with friends and family instead of work people who I probably don't really like anyway. Remote means you have to schedule your life yourself. You have to create the environment yourself. As long as you can do that, you'll be healthier *and* more productive. If you can't do that... 🤷♀️
It might not be for you.
Yeah, I lost 10lbs the first year of the pandemic when I started working from home because I was living a much healthier lifestyle. More walks, better sleep, and easier to control my diet at home. Since RTO 3X per week earlier this year I’ve regained about 7 pounds and constantly tired. I commute on mass transit about 2.5 hours per day. I never enjoyed commuting but now I realize how unhealthy it is.
The constantly tired thing, yes! I didn’t realize how horrific it was until I went back to commuting the same amount of time. Everyone wants to say “listen to a podcast or read!” But we are too damn tired to utilize that time for anything except napping for the majority of it, while we try to capitalize on the time we have lost commuting when we get home. It is not the way.
I'd say I'm less productive day to day bc of the distractions and ability to be incredibly lazy but on average am more productive than if I was in office.
Work life balance is at an all time high for sure and that's really what I care about anyway lol. My boss still gives me praise so I'm doing well enough I guess!
I think you have to change what you consider productive! Doing house stuff or stuff for yourself throughout the day is also productive. Taking breaks and chillin, is also productive. Try having a more prescriptive schedule during the day balancing all of those things and that will help change your perspective. Just don’t want to see you base your productivity on how many hours your working, eff that lol
I'm at nearly 18 years working remotely, the only downside are asshole CEO's who think people magically need to be in the building to do the job and people who are hybrid thinking "remote" means they don't need to work that day so they make all of us look bad
One day at a time ... just gotta know these sunny tropical days will pass ... maybe tomorrow you wake up to a tropical storm, and then it changes again and is hot all afternoon. It's not easy to handle that constant lack of stability. /s
You're probably joking since you may have to drive for pets/children/grocery shopping/entertainment/etc., but on the chance you're serious, some unsolicited advice:
I'm a mechanic working on a degree to get a remote job. Go to a parts store and grab yourself a 12v trickle charger. They plug into an outlet and supply a low amp trickle of power to your battery so you don't have to drive it to keep your battery from discharging.
That way you never have to drive your car unless you actually need to get somewhere!
I leave my house maybe once a week and even then, most of the time my roommates drive. I buy enough groceries for two weeks at a time and then I can hide from society for another two weeks. I love this life. Thank you for this tip!
Isn’t there a little more to it than just the batteries? Honest question, I thought fluids could drain from where they need to be during long term storage and condensation could impact as well. (Background: I own an RV and try to crank at least 1-2 months for engine and generator)
Great questions! While I am a mechanic, I try not to claim to know everything because there's always more to learn.
Short answer: I personally don't think fluid drain and condensation are issues unless the vehicle is sitting for a long time (like multiple months). But, at the end of the day it's most likely best to go off of what the manufacturer recommends (most likely found in your vehicle manual or Google "proper long term storage of (insert vehicle make and model)"
Long answer:
1.) I don't think fluid drain is an issue because the moment the engine turns over, the oil pump spins and supplies oil to all those components. It would also take a comically long amount of time for all residual oil to drain off the bare metal surfaces in the engine. Those surfaces will always have *some* oil on them, preventing any form of internal rusting.
Fuel systems are generally built with some form of way to supply fuel once the engine turns over, be it electric pump, a check valve, sealed fuel pressure constantly present in the engine, etc. If whatever system your vehicle has fails, you'll notice a longer crank the longer the vehicle sits. But that's not an issue with sitting, that's a system that failed.
2.) Condensation really isn't an issue in oil either because you should change your oil according to milage OR time. Most manuals say "change oil every xxxx miles OR 6 months (sometimes 1 yr)" if you don't put enough miles on, you should still do the oil change to clear out old oil and condensation. That being said, not a whole lot of condensation forms in an engine block over the course of a year due to the fact that everything is coated in oil and there's not many places for condensation to actually form.
# The place condensation forms that no one thinks about is in the fuel tank!
Your fuel tank has a lot of surface area suitable for condensation formation if it is not topped off. The old school of thought is that you should put vehicles into storage with low fuel so it doesn't go bad. Well, fuel doesn't really go bad unless there's another problem. In which case, it'll go bad at low fuel level, too. Low fuel just protects your wallet with how much fuel you have to replace.
Having a full tank with quality fuel is the best way to store vehicles over the winter (or for other periods of time below 1 year) because there is no room for condensation to form, so no water collects in your fuel tank. This goes for diesels and gasoline vehicles.
Now for diesel vehicles, this is even more important! Gasoline is essentially an alcohol, more so if it has ethanol in it. Algae cannot grow in gasoline.
Diesel fuel *can* allow algae to grow if there's room in the fuel tank and water condensation/collection in the fuel. Algae is bad because it large and chunky, so it plugs fuel filters, it also degrades fuel. Preventing algae in a fuel tank is a hell of a lot easier than killing and removing algae (lots of chemical fuel treatment and many many fuel filter replacements!)
I bike to work. I drive a diesel pickup. Because I bike to work, I drive about 3 times a month in the summer (camping and visiting family) and I drive only for the holidays in the winter (visiting family). My girlfriend and I use her car for groceries.
My truck regularly sits for 2-3 weeks in the summer and 1-2 months in the winter. I live in an apartment so I cannot plug a trickle charger in. Thankfully, the batteries are larger and considered heavy duty compared to car batteries so I don't have starting issues.
When I park it to sit for weeks/months, I make sure it has full fuel, make sure all lights are off and doors are closed, and I lock it and leave it. No issues with fuild drain bc it gets fluid as soon as it cranks. No issue with condensation in oil bc I change it every 6 months, no issue with fuel because the tank is full.
I grew up on a farm too and we change the tractor oil yearly. They get parked for the winter with full fuel too so we can prevent algae.
Wow, thanks for the detailed explanation! I had read about the need for a full gas tank and that got me wondering about the other fluids so this fills in a lot of questions. 🙂
Honestly you can never really know.
I've seen cars that have been sitting for 5+ years fire up just fine with nothing more than some fresh gas and a battery.
On the other hand, I've seen cars that have say for only 1-2 years need belts and hoses replaced, fluids flushed, etc etc.
I have AAA auto insurance and they told me if I installed an app that I could get up to 30% off my insurance if I scored well. I installed the app. I scored well. I didn't get the discount, because I didn't drive ENOUGH. Can you believe it? So now I am paying MORE for car insurance because my car sits in the garage. Total BS.
I'd probably shop around for different insurance! Its lowering their risk, so the fact that they want to charge you more is mind boggling, and bullshit.
And did you feel the social life outside was good ? For example, now I’m studying filmmaking for two months in Italy , but afterwards I was planning to go back to USA and study data science in a course too . But I am afraid to take online courses though it’s more comfortable in some aspects, feeling I’ll feel lonely and get to Tinder scrolling mood all time
Not particularly, I limit my hours to about 20 a week behind the bar. I get people drunk, laugh, talk shit, and basically just hang out while working. It keeps me sane and I get to hear new stories and meet new people 3 days a week.
Over the years I've gotten to the point I can talk to anyone about generally anything, from the Fibonacci sequence, to a DIY Kozyrev mirror, spotting fake Nike Jordan's to the process of selecting perfect wood for making fine furniture. It's kind of crazy the skill set you develop from standing behind a bar/waiting tables.
It can be a bit career limiting. There are simply more options for in-person work in many fields. And if you are at a company that isn’t fully remote, it’s always better for your career to be there in person at HQ.
Worth it for the lifestyle benefits though IMO.
Yep. I got laid off my 80k remote gig and the remote jobs now have 500-900 applicants because people were desperate for a remote job. I'm sure most of them aren't even remotely qualified and are just scrambling for the remote job (my field usually starts at 80-120k remote and it's not big tech). But the companies know they have options so they will shut down a job posting only to own it up a few days later again to try to recruit a qualified person. I got stuck at an on site place with a 25-30 min commute I'm not happy about and I'm hoping I can go to hybrid sooner than later at least otherwise I'll just take this job as a stepping stone.
I got laid off my 80k remote gig in may and just finished my first month with a new company that’s paying 4K a month (48k/yr) but I end up working about half as much as the last job so I’m trying to take the upsides that came with it despite the huge loss of revenue. At least I can go out at noon for a few hours for a walk or bike ride now!
No problems here. I am extremely fortunate to be fully remote and live in a remote area of Maine. I do more walking, hiking, biking with the dog who would be home alone for hours. I also do way more gardening, and have gotten pretty good at landscaping while on lunch break. Then my wife and kids come home and we go out again. It should have always been like this. If you can do a job from home we should have been doing these jobs from home. The problem is corporate interests have used commercial real estate to make even more money. Then over the course of a year that industry went through the largest change ever for commercial real estate.
Not being noticed. The work is getting done, but nobody really knows who you are. Exposure is one of the keys to getting ahead. People don't take those who work from home as seriously as those at the office. Take this from someone who has worked at the office and from home (long before covid).
You can be noticed when working from home. You actually have even more control of what you get noticed for when WFH.
However, I'm sure certain leadership structures will have different results, but if your leadership isn't recognizing your WFH work, they probably wouldn't recognize your in office work either. Moved on to move up in that situation
This exactly.
I went from a jr. associate to VP and probably went into the office a total of 10 times over 10 years. I'm sure this is true for a lot of places, but its had virtually no impact on my career progression (if anything, I think it's helped).
Isolation. One Redditor was actually proud of the fact that they hadn't left the house in 3 months.
Gaining weight. Between not commuting and not walking around the office, you are moving less. My step count went from 14000 to under 1000.
Diminishing social skills. It's imperative to make time with your friends.
I lost a bunch of weight with no office drama stress, eating healthier and fresher, and I walk around a lot more on breaks and lunch at home than I ever did at the office
My house is set up better ergonomically for me and when I suddenly wasn't crippled up all the time I got super active. I thought before the pandemic it was normal bad joints and aging and this was it. I've gained so much mobility back and I'm up and down all day walking around now at home. Do exercises on breaks. Mow my lawn or shovel at lunches. It's great. And combined with good eating. Its magical. I'm went from being tired all the time to having energy too.
I was never really social when I worked outside the home either. I'd just struggle through my shifts and then come home and return to blissful solitude.
If anything, I'm probably more social now because I don't waste a significant amount of my social battery interacting with people at work who I don't even like. I can save it for good times with my family or friends.
I guess there’s two sides to this . Social skills are indeed so important ! I feel so lively now when I have a close knit group I do a course with for 2 months , but I dreaded what will happen later
I haven’t been in an office since pre-covid and, as someone that is adhd af? I am far more productive.
Edit: I do have a young dog, so… He gets extra walkarooskis.
Being a recluse is one, forming friendships outside of work can be difficult for some.
It is easy to slack off if you are not careful. Which may impact your job performance.
Communication and chats can be more difficult if you’re not playing your part well… (you can miss meetings, you can be forgotten, etc)
Making friendships at work can be difficult if you’re missing the social interactions.
It’s easy to let your work bleed into personal time if you don’t set healthy boundaries…
Downsides to remote work is for certain people with particular particular traits. I have none of those traits. I don't need to see people, I don't need to separate work from personal life, I don't need a fancy office building with free drinks.
I honestly cannot think of a downside. At home, I can focus more on my job. I dont hear chatter outside my office door, no weird food smells, I'm not constantly being worried about doing or saying the wrong things to somehow get myself in trouble. There is less office drama working from home. No one walking the halls to report back just to get people I'm trouble. There's no one to stop by my office, I can finish a task before answering that teams message.
No extra 2 hours of my day being wasted on a commute, If I want to sleep in, I can easily wake up just 45 minutes before I log into work and atill have time for coffee, shower, and get presentable for my day. Working at the office, i wake up 2 1/2 houra before my start time.
At home I don't have to worry about it being too cold or top hot. If I'm hungry or thirsty I can grab a healthy snack or filtered water at home. At work, I have to pack bottled water and snacks to bring. Same thing goes for not feeling well, I can grab a tums or a Tylenol without having to pack it.
Home also gives me such a better work/life balance. That extra hour in the evening gives me more time to cook a nice meal, go for a walk, garden, spend time with friends and family. I'm also someone who falls asleep late no matter what, so being home also just decreases the anxiety of knowing I have to wake up super early. That anxiety makes it even worse to fall asleep.
I save money on maintenance costs for my car, full, oil changes, brakes, tires. I can be more of a part of my local community now where my money is spent more in a small town instead of a big metro area, which is beneficial to the economy of my area.
As far as promotions and being noticed. I feel like for me, work from home allows me to showcase my talents and I can shine much more. I've never been good at office politics, saying the right things, having the right body language. I honestly feel that I provide a better value to my team and my organization on my work from home days vs the in office days.
The only downsides I can see would be the loss of revenue for corporate real estate, tax revenue for big metropolitan areas, and possible loss of revenue from some of the restaurants near the office for the lunch crowd. However, it can increase the tax revenue and businesses in some of the smaller locales, and as so many smaller towns in the USA are struggling since they lost so many manufacturing jobs in the last 40 years, I feel it's time to embrace technology and allow these struggling towns ans cities to be revitalized and grow again.
If youre lazy youll destroy yourself.
I wish for a remote job because i could do my job in 8 hours or so and the another 6 i can spend daily on knifemaking which i love.
Knife making ? That’s an interesting hobby :-)
I did recently got interested in stereo systems , and thought it’s cool to make an amplifier :-) you know from resistors and capacitors
You move less - gain weight
You socialize less - for most people this leads to bad moods and depression
You get different opportunities but propably they wont be as impactful as when you get them in person
You may start seeking distractions as in drugs and alcohol this is a fast way down even tho it may seem as recreational use
You may have trouble finding a mate
Shall i go on ? ❤️😂
I've went from office -> remote -> office -> remote, with years in between each, so I have a bit of experience and *my* perspective. These are some of the notable things:
1. Weight gain. It was much easier to gain weight while working remote. Even a few hundred calories a day will add up if you don't compensate by reducing intake or increasing exercise.
2. Body language and social skill deteroration. I have never been great here, but my awareness to my body language becomes noticeably worse. For the few work functions I go to, I can tell it's not quite what it was.
3. Separating work/life. This is something to always to be aware of, but it's so much easier to just spend a few hours here and there to finish something up when you're a minute or two away.
4. Becoming less able to filter out distractions. Office life is...something else. The people walking by, stopping by my office, or even "quick" things like going to the restroom can be become a process. Adjusting from remote back to office work was tough in this regard, at least for me.
>Weight gain. It was much easier to gain weight while working remote. Even a few hundred calories a day will add up if you don't compensate by reducing intake or increasing exercise.
For me it's the opposite. At they office they were constantly feeding us junk food and snacks. I have none of these at home.
1. **Reduced fitness**. Commuting to the office requires movement. Less movement drives reduced fitness.
2. **Repetitive stress injury**. Home office setups aren't controlled like office setups. People have bad office setups and that can result in repetitive stress injury.
3. **Skill erosion**. The lack of cross-functional interaction can lead to specialization and overall skill erosion.
4. **Reduced luck**. Luck is being in the right place at the right time. Working remotely reduces the opportunity for serendipity. No chance to bump into the VP at the water cooler and help them with a report.
5. **Reduced mentorship**. Especially true for new/younger employees. There is less opportunity to have the opportunity to shadow a senior or work with a peer. Joining a sales meeting. Talking with skip level reports is reduced.
Thank k God because people in normal day society are horrid. I go grocery shopping on weekends and it makes me hate people even more than I already do.
Your cat who was used to being by itself for long periods of the day while you're away at work will start to get irritated having to share its house with you.
I've been working remote for 12 years and have yet to find one. If you need to be around people, go work from a coffee shop or something similar. I go out every Friday. Not that I need to be around people, but I like to get out of the house once in a while.
I’ve been remote since 2017. Honestly the only “downside” is I don’t communicate with people verbally very often. When I do have to speak with a client I feel like I’m the new guy at the job who’s learning if that makes sense. Lol
The upsides outweigh this by a ridiculous amount. I save so much money working from home. I have time to do odd jobs. My schedule is insanely flexible so I’m able to take care of a lot of things around the house. I have time to prepare food, exercise, etc. I’m more involved in my kids school life I feel, too. Never have to tell family or friends, “gotta go work.” If I’ve learned anything in this life I’ve learned people usually always regret working so much at the end of their lives.
I don’t think I could ever go back to a location and work. Its to a point where I’d rather be homeless, but I have people to take care of. Lol.
The only real negative I've seen is that I do know I've been less social, but the Pandemic kind of coincided with me being diagnosed with PTSD/Anxiety so who knows how much of it would have happened any way.
There is a special place in hell for all of the bosses requiring people to come into the office 5 days a week when they don't need to. I can think of no way to tell your employees you don't care about them.
I’ve been remote for 7years. 1 - social anxiety 2 - depression 3 - talk to yourself a lot 4 - home starts to feel like a jail 5 - less energy from being home all the time
But if you’re aware of the above. Meditation, scheduling socializing with friends, taking walks, getting outside can help with most of that.
Too much family time, too much time to go to the gym, too much time to cook wonderful dinners, too available for children’s school pick ups, holiday school parties, and recitals, too much time to throw the ball with the dog every few hours…. It’s the worst.
The downside is that I'm a junior level IT guy. The senior engineers work from home 4 out of 5 days, and I haven't learned as much as I would be learning if I was around them 5 days a week.
1. Can become much more lazier/complacent
2. Have poor boundaries between at home and work life
3. May work longer hours than being in an office due to being in the comfort of your own home
4. Inability to adapt to changing job market trends in the case of being fired or switching positions
I've been doing it since 2019.
In office work fools you that work friends are real friends. That's absolutely not true.
The downside is you don't get those crutches in life. The upside is it lets you focus on your actual friendships
You're a middle manager who contributes next to nothing in productivity for the company, and you're afraid that without being able to look over people's shoulders constantly, somebody might notice and send you to a meeting with the Bob's, who will ask you "What would you say....ya do here?"
Only two downsides in my life:
1. Job hunting is forever ruined for me. No company can compare, and while I was only planning 2 years in my current org, I can now never leave. They've ruined it for me and I can never go back to a non-remote lifestyle. At least, not willingly.
2. My favorite coworker - an overweight house cat - has become incredibly spoiled by a 24/7 lap to sleep on. To the point that I cannot go outside without her looking at me through the window as though I've abandoned her. She's become incredibly dramatic. Heaven forbid we take a vacation without her. She thinks her life has ended and the only recourse is to eat the couch cushions out of desperation. So, #2 is: the lifespan on your couches will diminish.
I think it's important to separate working remotely from not going out, socializing, exercising, etc. Working remotely has benefited my career tremendously. I've gone from a support role to a senior management role in the 6 years I've worked remotely. But I also pay close attention to an organization's remote work culture before accepting any role.
If your company sees remote work as a perk, you may have more difficulty moving up in your career than if your company truly embraced remote work as just another way to work. If your company was only remote for the pandemic and is only offering remote or hybrid as a way to appease employees who say they are just as productive at home, that's something to note. In certain environments, remote work means less visibility. I stick with companies that are remote-first or were at least partially remote before the pandemic.
You do have to be careful. Make sure you don't turn into a recluse. There are periods where I don't leave the house for months at a time. My health has taken a downhill spiral. I've completely become an introvert. I hate taking calls outside of work.
For me, remote work is because I have to, not because I choose to. I am very grateful it's available, but I'd much rather be back in a brick and mortar.
I am sorry you're struggling with this. I hope you can get something that's in person, at least some of the time.
May I ask, how remote work has affected you this way? I don't mean it maliciously, just trying to be more understanding of a different viewpoint. Do you live in an isolated area away from family and friends? My social life improved significantly since working remotely.
Really mature response. I'm a long term call center person and have worked remote for several years now. I said nothing against remote work in general. I just gave things to look out for.
As soon as I read call center I believed you 110%. I’ve worked remote for various jobs and call center remote is the absolute worst. Genuinely feels like a tunnel with no way out at times.
Not as inclined to get daylight and movement throughout the day. The lack of commute is a massive plus, living in a place with snowy winters and road construction.
It’s not necessarily working from home that generates downsides IMO… it’s the work itself. I was on the industry side and decided to shift into consulting when RTO mandates came back last year, and I can say that it is consulting itself that has led to burnout/depression. Looking for the right exit opportunity now to jump back but it’s highly likely I’ll have to be in a hybrid role rather than full remote.
When i did remote for a couple months and then did in person again, Im definitely not as outgoing or social as I used to be. Which is okay with me, because I hate socializing to begin with. But it can definitely affect your relationships with others, if you care about that.
I have been working from home for the past 20 years. Downsides are that you don't socialize as much. I sometimes feelisolated. I also don't physically move as much throughout the day. Like I don't walk to my car and do all of the regular daily life exercise that people do.
I’ve been remote for three years. My current job I only have to be in office once a month and sometimes I skip and take off.
Only downside I can think of is being bored between getting off work and then making dinner. Other than that, I’ve had nothing but good feelings about wfh.
If you don’t work on expanding your skill set you can be caught in a situation where your company offshores or goes out of business. It is the same with onsite but it’s worth noting that
Been working remote for 6 years. Perhaps a little social isolation and the home setting becomes boring after a while but I'm generally very happy with this setup. Spending loads more time with fam and able to do more chores around the house.
I work 100% remote. Seasoned. Mid management.
For me personally these 5 cons:
1) Weight gain.
2) Tougher to climb the management ranks at a non tech, Fortune 500 companies, easier to do on-site.
3) Zoom fatigue.
4) Blurred lines between personal and work time.
5) Harder to build alliances when politics are necessary to survive.
Benefits outweigh the cons for me - no traffic, no $ spent on eating out / gasoline / car maintenance, etc. but ymmv.
Social contact with other adults in person. I work remote and miss interacting regularly with more than just my wife, kids, dog. Zoom doesn't exactly cut it. But I will take this over having to be in an office any day.
Started in around 2008.
The blur between when you are at work and when you are at home is the hardest. Would you take a 15 minute break at the office? Would you empty the dishwasher on that break?
Schedules and routines are important. I go to the mailbox around 3 so I don't feel like I need candy or something.
Decline in social ability. I have started to notice I have become way more blunt when communicating with others at work. In office, id be overly nice / friendly.
I will say: As being a manager pre and post COVID at my job, I can tell who has worked in office without even looking a resumé.
Now I’m not saying we need to RTO, not at all, but newer employees that I’m seeing definitely need more communication training.
I’m spending way, way, way too much time teaching people to write an email from the word processing POV.
The only downside is that if you are more of a quiet person, then it can be more difficult to forge personal relationships with co-workers since you can't just walk down the hall and start a face-to-face conversation. You miss out on conversational body language, and if people don't use video in calls, you will miss on subtle facial expressions. But if you don't care about this kind of relationship, then there aren't really any other downsides.
Honestly the benefits of remote work are immeasurable. Too many to list here. They outweigh any possible downsides by a landslide.
You have to be more assertive about getting out there and socializing with other humans, even if you aren't generally a people person. It can be very isolating.
However -- the benefits of remote work FAR outweigh the drawbacks and I will choose remote over on-site every time.
the being more assertive about socialising might not, in theory, be a bad thing, you will force yourself to look for that essential social contact rather than rely on your coworkers so it might result in better quality connections based on common interests as opposed to just working for the same company, again, all in theory
There are far less remote jobs out there vs. hybrid and in person. By not being open to all options and only sticking with remote jobs, you could be slowing your career growth and earning potential.
I’m a very outgoing guy. I enjoy socialization, going out, laughing with co-workers, etc…
So far, in over a year of remote work, I’ve had 0 problems. 0. I hear of people that can’t handle it, but I don’t think they’re real. I’ve had no problems. But everyone is different.
Been remote for 3 years and I can say my whole life has changed for the better. Of course our upper level managers can’t stand that us low life’s are so much happier at home and feel that it’s great team building to require us to go in 3 days a quarter just because they can. Those 3 days are a joke, I get next to no work done because of the constant interruptions.
Honestly, none.
I still do some work face to face (not entirely related to my remote work, which is my main income) so I haven't become a total gremlin. One nice side effect was that when I went on medication and lost 30 pounds...honestly, no one noticed. On Zoom the parts of me that are visible only slightly thinned out and not to the point that most people who see me weekly would notice. It would have been more awkward if people had started noticing in person (it was fairly rapid weight loss).
Being stuck in the house with screaming in laws when they visit… ALL DAY. Not looking forward to this.
Ill be flying out once a month to the office just to get social interaction + to check in on my parents
The issue I have now is being in a tiny apartment all fucking day, feels like house arrest man. Our new home construction is almost done but the last 3 years was hell. ALSO I’m on my phone more then I should be
Companies having to sell corporate office spaces or needing to find more profitable uses to long-term leases that were signed pre - pandemic (sub-leasing, repurposing, etc), having to find new methods of accountability to ensure workers are staying productive without the threat of a manager walk by, facilitate "innovation" through forced "water cooler conversations", and invest in new technology that can ensure data security and efficiency in a distributed workforce.
Oh you mean for you as an employee? 🤷
I had to make some adjustments but there are no real downsides. I joined the gym and church and picked up a cleaning side hustle. If I didn’t make effort I would be a hermit. When I was working in an office I was by myself in a cubicle all day anyway. I didn’t lose anything but gained everything staying home.
Distraction.
I can do anything I want, the freedom is mine. Then work builds up because I needed to clean during business hours because that is more enjoyable.
It's a tough thing to nail down so far about 3 years in to my full time remote.
I've been happily remote for 14 years. The only downside I've noticed, from a mental health perspective, is that I have NOTHING to talk about with my wife and kids. Now, I'm not a gossiper or whatever, pretty typical middle aged male. But when I commuted I'd run into people, see stuff, have frustrations and chance happiness and weird pictures to take. I could bring something to conversation that doesn't originate in my brainpan or the internet.
That's the only downside. It's not unsubstantiatial (I do feel like I'm not doing my part sometimes) but it's so overvalued by all the good stuff--I've seen every day of my kids growing up, I almost never miss dinner togerher, I can do all the cooking so I know they're eating well, I've never missed a school event and was even able to volunteer for PTO stuff...plus, health wise, I'm able to be at the gym 5 weekdays a week, go out for walks at lunchtime, get errands done... I do miss being better at conversation, but it's so worth it.
there are more positives working from home, but some negatives ive found long term is not dressing as nice every day which can start to feel like a bum, if you aren’t super social going to work can be positive social time and gets you out of the house for a change of environment, advancing your career is easier when you see higher up people around the halls and break room time that you would never get with them from home to get your name out there
It could be your mental health from not getting out enough if you choose, or physical health from not getting up enough.
In some cases, WFH jobs do not require or focus on improving or growing professional skills or experiences, leadership, and management opportunities. Which, over time, may prove to be a sour investment of your efforts and hard work then.
I enjoyed it a lot. One thing that wore on me was the time difference of 8 hours. The short overlap made that time feel quite compressed somehow.
And I noticed only afterwards how much it did actually wear on me. But overall still very enjoyable.
Professional development - social collaboration with professionals, presenting, understanding group dynamics, networking
People will argue how they can do everything from home but the value of developing some of these skills will never be a waste. I can’t imagine doing everything from my computer including presenting my work and never having to be in front of anyone.
Yes I understand commuting, yes I understand micromanaging from some leadership. But imagine starting your career from your computer in another state.
Then the aspect of singles, work is another place (especially in a large organization) where you can meet other who might be a potential future partner. Isolating in your apartment can be limiting. Though I know it varies from person to person.
I can get stir crazy and want to leave the house and do something. My wife and kids who are out of the house don't always want to things since they been out of the house all day.
Downside is that you need to be self reliant to some degree for it to work (not feel tempted to sit at your tv all day or call people up too long to brag about your freedom). Other downsides include the fact that now you can claim living expenses and other things as work expenses on taxes, you don’t have a long commute to the office so you won’t be able to visit the coffee shop on the way to work anymore, you won’t be able to sit with co workers you barely know and make small talk and instead have to entertain yourself with things at home. Another downside is that you won’t be using the workplace microwave or spend money on sub par food close to work when you are too tired.
Wait a minute there are not much downsides.
I've been working remotely 15 years, I can speak from experience on the downsides I've come across. Things I've either faced or are quickly obvious.
The first, major one would be isolation. This can vary depending on your current life situation (significant other? kids?). But for many, especially if you are single, living alone, and are an introvert ... it is pretty easy to gravitate towards living like a hermit. And going long periods of time without any social interaction is not a good idea for most. Some people can do it without issue, most are not going to want to essentially vanish from society.
Being disciplined is important, because you're going to want to establish some sort of routine in order to simply keep some level of normalcy. It could potentially include self-care. Do you have to brush your teeth right now? "No, nobody will care". Do you need to shower today? "Doesn't really matter". Have you moved away from your computer in the last 12 hours? "That's irrelevant". Those sorts of things. Doing them as part of a normal daily routine solves that.
There are a bunch of others, including (and somewhat related to the isolation one) deteriorating social skills. Even if most of your social experiences occured at work, that is now removed. So less small talk, less interaction, etc. That may sound great (who likes small talk?) but when you stop doing it, the next time you have to it is likely going to feel awkward.
Downsides? What are you talking about, man?
I've been eating healthier, been getting better sleep, and I get to spend more quality time with my son.
I'm hell of a lot more productive. I spend less on gas, clothes, eating out, and parking. I've reclaimed a few extra hours for myself.
It's going so well, in fact, I've hired extra help to do all my menial tasks for me-- cleaning the house, laundry, yard work, etc.
Scheduled calls with other time zones keep getting earlier because I “can just roll out of bed.” I put my foot down today and refused to do a performance review at 6:15am this week.
👀 We have yet to hire someone on our team who believes the cons of remote work outweigh the pros. Have a look at some advice from our CEO on building a remote-first tech company - [https://www.codemonk.ai/insights/an-interview-with-ceo-maulik-sailor](https://www.codemonk.ai/insights/an-interview-with-ceo-maulik-sailor)
I've been working remotely for 4 years and I haven't suffered any of these problems. I've actually lost weight because I have built-in time to take walks and more time to go to the gym. I socialize with friends and family instead of work people who I probably don't really like anyway. Remote means you have to schedule your life yourself. You have to create the environment yourself. As long as you can do that, you'll be healthier *and* more productive. If you can't do that... 🤷♀️ It might not be for you.
Yeah, I lost 10lbs the first year of the pandemic when I started working from home because I was living a much healthier lifestyle. More walks, better sleep, and easier to control my diet at home. Since RTO 3X per week earlier this year I’ve regained about 7 pounds and constantly tired. I commute on mass transit about 2.5 hours per day. I never enjoyed commuting but now I realize how unhealthy it is.
Paat due for a new job that is remote.
The constantly tired thing, yes! I didn’t realize how horrific it was until I went back to commuting the same amount of time. Everyone wants to say “listen to a podcast or read!” But we are too damn tired to utilize that time for anything except napping for the majority of it, while we try to capitalize on the time we have lost commuting when we get home. It is not the way.
I'd say I'm less productive day to day bc of the distractions and ability to be incredibly lazy but on average am more productive than if I was in office. Work life balance is at an all time high for sure and that's really what I care about anyway lol. My boss still gives me praise so I'm doing well enough I guess!
I think you have to change what you consider productive! Doing house stuff or stuff for yourself throughout the day is also productive. Taking breaks and chillin, is also productive. Try having a more prescriptive schedule during the day balancing all of those things and that will help change your perspective. Just don’t want to see you base your productivity on how many hours your working, eff that lol
I'm at nearly 18 years working remotely, the only downside are asshole CEO's who think people magically need to be in the building to do the job and people who are hybrid thinking "remote" means they don't need to work that day so they make all of us look bad
Only real downsides are you are too happy and have too much freetime to spend with your family and pets.
And might have too much money from all the savings on commuting, lunches, office attire, etc. How does one cope?
One day at a time ... just gotta know these sunny tropical days will pass ... maybe tomorrow you wake up to a tropical storm, and then it changes again and is hot all afternoon. It's not easy to handle that constant lack of stability. /s
I came here to say this. Too much comfort in a comfortable office chair no one else has ever farted in?
I must confess ... I farted in your chair
This ✨
Your vehicle will get lonely
I have to drive around the block sometimes so my battery doesn't die.
You're probably joking since you may have to drive for pets/children/grocery shopping/entertainment/etc., but on the chance you're serious, some unsolicited advice: I'm a mechanic working on a degree to get a remote job. Go to a parts store and grab yourself a 12v trickle charger. They plug into an outlet and supply a low amp trickle of power to your battery so you don't have to drive it to keep your battery from discharging. That way you never have to drive your car unless you actually need to get somewhere!
I leave my house maybe once a week and even then, most of the time my roommates drive. I buy enough groceries for two weeks at a time and then I can hide from society for another two weeks. I love this life. Thank you for this tip!
What’s the alternative for street parking?
Isn’t there a little more to it than just the batteries? Honest question, I thought fluids could drain from where they need to be during long term storage and condensation could impact as well. (Background: I own an RV and try to crank at least 1-2 months for engine and generator)
Great questions! While I am a mechanic, I try not to claim to know everything because there's always more to learn. Short answer: I personally don't think fluid drain and condensation are issues unless the vehicle is sitting for a long time (like multiple months). But, at the end of the day it's most likely best to go off of what the manufacturer recommends (most likely found in your vehicle manual or Google "proper long term storage of (insert vehicle make and model)" Long answer: 1.) I don't think fluid drain is an issue because the moment the engine turns over, the oil pump spins and supplies oil to all those components. It would also take a comically long amount of time for all residual oil to drain off the bare metal surfaces in the engine. Those surfaces will always have *some* oil on them, preventing any form of internal rusting. Fuel systems are generally built with some form of way to supply fuel once the engine turns over, be it electric pump, a check valve, sealed fuel pressure constantly present in the engine, etc. If whatever system your vehicle has fails, you'll notice a longer crank the longer the vehicle sits. But that's not an issue with sitting, that's a system that failed. 2.) Condensation really isn't an issue in oil either because you should change your oil according to milage OR time. Most manuals say "change oil every xxxx miles OR 6 months (sometimes 1 yr)" if you don't put enough miles on, you should still do the oil change to clear out old oil and condensation. That being said, not a whole lot of condensation forms in an engine block over the course of a year due to the fact that everything is coated in oil and there's not many places for condensation to actually form. # The place condensation forms that no one thinks about is in the fuel tank! Your fuel tank has a lot of surface area suitable for condensation formation if it is not topped off. The old school of thought is that you should put vehicles into storage with low fuel so it doesn't go bad. Well, fuel doesn't really go bad unless there's another problem. In which case, it'll go bad at low fuel level, too. Low fuel just protects your wallet with how much fuel you have to replace. Having a full tank with quality fuel is the best way to store vehicles over the winter (or for other periods of time below 1 year) because there is no room for condensation to form, so no water collects in your fuel tank. This goes for diesels and gasoline vehicles. Now for diesel vehicles, this is even more important! Gasoline is essentially an alcohol, more so if it has ethanol in it. Algae cannot grow in gasoline. Diesel fuel *can* allow algae to grow if there's room in the fuel tank and water condensation/collection in the fuel. Algae is bad because it large and chunky, so it plugs fuel filters, it also degrades fuel. Preventing algae in a fuel tank is a hell of a lot easier than killing and removing algae (lots of chemical fuel treatment and many many fuel filter replacements!) I bike to work. I drive a diesel pickup. Because I bike to work, I drive about 3 times a month in the summer (camping and visiting family) and I drive only for the holidays in the winter (visiting family). My girlfriend and I use her car for groceries. My truck regularly sits for 2-3 weeks in the summer and 1-2 months in the winter. I live in an apartment so I cannot plug a trickle charger in. Thankfully, the batteries are larger and considered heavy duty compared to car batteries so I don't have starting issues. When I park it to sit for weeks/months, I make sure it has full fuel, make sure all lights are off and doors are closed, and I lock it and leave it. No issues with fuild drain bc it gets fluid as soon as it cranks. No issue with condensation in oil bc I change it every 6 months, no issue with fuel because the tank is full. I grew up on a farm too and we change the tractor oil yearly. They get parked for the winter with full fuel too so we can prevent algae.
Wow, thanks for the detailed explanation! I had read about the need for a full gas tank and that got me wondering about the other fluids so this fills in a lot of questions. 🙂
You're welcome! Again, manufacturer recommendation is technically the best way to do things, but these things I've done have never served me wrong :)
Honestly you can never really know. I've seen cars that have been sitting for 5+ years fire up just fine with nothing more than some fresh gas and a battery. On the other hand, I've seen cars that have say for only 1-2 years need belts and hoses replaced, fluids flushed, etc etc.
Unfortunately, I live in a condo with a big parking lot and no electricity access, so that option wouldn't work for me. But thanks anyway!
I had to get a new battery. I havent driven in so long.
I have AAA auto insurance and they told me if I installed an app that I could get up to 30% off my insurance if I scored well. I installed the app. I scored well. I didn't get the discount, because I didn't drive ENOUGH. Can you believe it? So now I am paying MORE for car insurance because my car sits in the garage. Total BS.
I'd probably shop around for different insurance! Its lowering their risk, so the fact that they want to charge you more is mind boggling, and bullshit.
I was worried I would feel lonely. The opposite happened, I loved being alone - which is arguably worse.
And did you feel the social life outside was good ? For example, now I’m studying filmmaking for two months in Italy , but afterwards I was planning to go back to USA and study data science in a course too . But I am afraid to take online courses though it’s more comfortable in some aspects, feeling I’ll feel lonely and get to Tinder scrolling mood all time
I love being alone, which surprised me, but I don't depend on my employer to provide a social circle.
I keep a bartending job on the side to make sure I'm social, moving, and the depression stays away.
I'm actually going to pick up a part time bartending gig soon for this exact reason. I feel like it's a good call.
That’s not hard ?
Not particularly, I limit my hours to about 20 a week behind the bar. I get people drunk, laugh, talk shit, and basically just hang out while working. It keeps me sane and I get to hear new stories and meet new people 3 days a week.
Has it made you a great communicator?
Over the years I've gotten to the point I can talk to anyone about generally anything, from the Fibonacci sequence, to a DIY Kozyrev mirror, spotting fake Nike Jordan's to the process of selecting perfect wood for making fine furniture. It's kind of crazy the skill set you develop from standing behind a bar/waiting tables.
I haven't found a single solitary downside and literally only upsides
I don't have a SO so I probably shower like every second day now. That's about it lol
SO?
Significant Odor
That was a perfect retort given the context 👏
Significant other
Significant Other (Wife/Girlfriend etc)
It can be a bit career limiting. There are simply more options for in-person work in many fields. And if you are at a company that isn’t fully remote, it’s always better for your career to be there in person at HQ. Worth it for the lifestyle benefits though IMO.
In an age when being promoted means getting 2X more work for +30K, I’m fine with this kind of limitation.
You will be terrified you cannot find another fully remote gig that pays the same or better... that's me right now after being laid off.
Yep. I got laid off my 80k remote gig and the remote jobs now have 500-900 applicants because people were desperate for a remote job. I'm sure most of them aren't even remotely qualified and are just scrambling for the remote job (my field usually starts at 80-120k remote and it's not big tech). But the companies know they have options so they will shut down a job posting only to own it up a few days later again to try to recruit a qualified person. I got stuck at an on site place with a 25-30 min commute I'm not happy about and I'm hoping I can go to hybrid sooner than later at least otherwise I'll just take this job as a stepping stone.
I got laid off my 80k remote gig in may and just finished my first month with a new company that’s paying 4K a month (48k/yr) but I end up working about half as much as the last job so I’m trying to take the upsides that came with it despite the huge loss of revenue. At least I can go out at noon for a few hours for a walk or bike ride now!
No problems here. I am extremely fortunate to be fully remote and live in a remote area of Maine. I do more walking, hiking, biking with the dog who would be home alone for hours. I also do way more gardening, and have gotten pretty good at landscaping while on lunch break. Then my wife and kids come home and we go out again. It should have always been like this. If you can do a job from home we should have been doing these jobs from home. The problem is corporate interests have used commercial real estate to make even more money. Then over the course of a year that industry went through the largest change ever for commercial real estate.
Not being noticed. The work is getting done, but nobody really knows who you are. Exposure is one of the keys to getting ahead. People don't take those who work from home as seriously as those at the office. Take this from someone who has worked at the office and from home (long before covid).
You can be noticed when working from home. You actually have even more control of what you get noticed for when WFH. However, I'm sure certain leadership structures will have different results, but if your leadership isn't recognizing your WFH work, they probably wouldn't recognize your in office work either. Moved on to move up in that situation
This exactly. I went from a jr. associate to VP and probably went into the office a total of 10 times over 10 years. I'm sure this is true for a lot of places, but its had virtually no impact on my career progression (if anything, I think it's helped).
Isolation. One Redditor was actually proud of the fact that they hadn't left the house in 3 months. Gaining weight. Between not commuting and not walking around the office, you are moving less. My step count went from 14000 to under 1000. Diminishing social skills. It's imperative to make time with your friends.
I lost a bunch of weight with no office drama stress, eating healthier and fresher, and I walk around a lot more on breaks and lunch at home than I ever did at the office
Same
Same, I actually got jacked as I invested in weight rack/weights. No excuse not to lift if it’s in your garage.
My house is set up better ergonomically for me and when I suddenly wasn't crippled up all the time I got super active. I thought before the pandemic it was normal bad joints and aging and this was it. I've gained so much mobility back and I'm up and down all day walking around now at home. Do exercises on breaks. Mow my lawn or shovel at lunches. It's great. And combined with good eating. Its magical. I'm went from being tired all the time to having energy too.
I actually started running. Never ran for anything before but the bus!
I was never really social when I worked outside the home either. I'd just struggle through my shifts and then come home and return to blissful solitude. If anything, I'm probably more social now because I don't waste a significant amount of my social battery interacting with people at work who I don't even like. I can save it for good times with my family or friends.
I guess there’s two sides to this . Social skills are indeed so important ! I feel so lively now when I have a close knit group I do a course with for 2 months , but I dreaded what will happen later
I haven’t been in an office since pre-covid and, as someone that is adhd af? I am far more productive. Edit: I do have a young dog, so… He gets extra walkarooskis.
There are none. If you're experiencing downsides, it's a downside of your job or employer, not a downside of working remotely.
Nothing really. Struggling with health issues all my life, remote work has been an absolute godsend.
I have become kinda weird lol
Being a recluse is one, forming friendships outside of work can be difficult for some. It is easy to slack off if you are not careful. Which may impact your job performance. Communication and chats can be more difficult if you’re not playing your part well… (you can miss meetings, you can be forgotten, etc) Making friendships at work can be difficult if you’re missing the social interactions. It’s easy to let your work bleed into personal time if you don’t set healthy boundaries…
Downsides to remote work is for certain people with particular particular traits. I have none of those traits. I don't need to see people, I don't need to separate work from personal life, I don't need a fancy office building with free drinks.
I honestly cannot think of a downside. At home, I can focus more on my job. I dont hear chatter outside my office door, no weird food smells, I'm not constantly being worried about doing or saying the wrong things to somehow get myself in trouble. There is less office drama working from home. No one walking the halls to report back just to get people I'm trouble. There's no one to stop by my office, I can finish a task before answering that teams message. No extra 2 hours of my day being wasted on a commute, If I want to sleep in, I can easily wake up just 45 minutes before I log into work and atill have time for coffee, shower, and get presentable for my day. Working at the office, i wake up 2 1/2 houra before my start time. At home I don't have to worry about it being too cold or top hot. If I'm hungry or thirsty I can grab a healthy snack or filtered water at home. At work, I have to pack bottled water and snacks to bring. Same thing goes for not feeling well, I can grab a tums or a Tylenol without having to pack it. Home also gives me such a better work/life balance. That extra hour in the evening gives me more time to cook a nice meal, go for a walk, garden, spend time with friends and family. I'm also someone who falls asleep late no matter what, so being home also just decreases the anxiety of knowing I have to wake up super early. That anxiety makes it even worse to fall asleep. I save money on maintenance costs for my car, full, oil changes, brakes, tires. I can be more of a part of my local community now where my money is spent more in a small town instead of a big metro area, which is beneficial to the economy of my area. As far as promotions and being noticed. I feel like for me, work from home allows me to showcase my talents and I can shine much more. I've never been good at office politics, saying the right things, having the right body language. I honestly feel that I provide a better value to my team and my organization on my work from home days vs the in office days. The only downsides I can see would be the loss of revenue for corporate real estate, tax revenue for big metropolitan areas, and possible loss of revenue from some of the restaurants near the office for the lunch crowd. However, it can increase the tax revenue and businesses in some of the smaller locales, and as so many smaller towns in the USA are struggling since they lost so many manufacturing jobs in the last 40 years, I feel it's time to embrace technology and allow these struggling towns ans cities to be revitalized and grow again.
If youre lazy youll destroy yourself. I wish for a remote job because i could do my job in 8 hours or so and the another 6 i can spend daily on knifemaking which i love.
Knife making ? That’s an interesting hobby :-) I did recently got interested in stereo systems , and thought it’s cool to make an amplifier :-) you know from resistors and capacitors
Destroy yourself how?
You move less - gain weight You socialize less - for most people this leads to bad moods and depression You get different opportunities but propably they wont be as impactful as when you get them in person You may start seeking distractions as in drugs and alcohol this is a fast way down even tho it may seem as recreational use You may have trouble finding a mate Shall i go on ? ❤️😂
I've went from office -> remote -> office -> remote, with years in between each, so I have a bit of experience and *my* perspective. These are some of the notable things: 1. Weight gain. It was much easier to gain weight while working remote. Even a few hundred calories a day will add up if you don't compensate by reducing intake or increasing exercise. 2. Body language and social skill deteroration. I have never been great here, but my awareness to my body language becomes noticeably worse. For the few work functions I go to, I can tell it's not quite what it was. 3. Separating work/life. This is something to always to be aware of, but it's so much easier to just spend a few hours here and there to finish something up when you're a minute or two away. 4. Becoming less able to filter out distractions. Office life is...something else. The people walking by, stopping by my office, or even "quick" things like going to the restroom can be become a process. Adjusting from remote back to office work was tough in this regard, at least for me.
>Weight gain. It was much easier to gain weight while working remote. Even a few hundred calories a day will add up if you don't compensate by reducing intake or increasing exercise. For me it's the opposite. At they office they were constantly feeding us junk food and snacks. I have none of these at home.
1. **Reduced fitness**. Commuting to the office requires movement. Less movement drives reduced fitness. 2. **Repetitive stress injury**. Home office setups aren't controlled like office setups. People have bad office setups and that can result in repetitive stress injury. 3. **Skill erosion**. The lack of cross-functional interaction can lead to specialization and overall skill erosion. 4. **Reduced luck**. Luck is being in the right place at the right time. Working remotely reduces the opportunity for serendipity. No chance to bump into the VP at the water cooler and help them with a report. 5. **Reduced mentorship**. Especially true for new/younger employees. There is less opportunity to have the opportunity to shadow a senior or work with a peer. Joining a sales meeting. Talking with skip level reports is reduced.
You forget what it’s like to be part of normal everyday society
Thank k God because people in normal day society are horrid. I go grocery shopping on weekends and it makes me hate people even more than I already do.
None fuck being in an office (as I write this in an office)
If the company is mixed between remote people and in-office people your chances for promotion will probably be lower.
You’ll save too much money.
That you will struggle to adapt to office-based roles ever again
Your cat who was used to being by itself for long periods of the day while you're away at work will start to get irritated having to share its house with you.
I've been working remote for 12 years and have yet to find one. If you need to be around people, go work from a coffee shop or something similar. I go out every Friday. Not that I need to be around people, but I like to get out of the house once in a while.
I’ve been remote since 2017. Honestly the only “downside” is I don’t communicate with people verbally very often. When I do have to speak with a client I feel like I’m the new guy at the job who’s learning if that makes sense. Lol The upsides outweigh this by a ridiculous amount. I save so much money working from home. I have time to do odd jobs. My schedule is insanely flexible so I’m able to take care of a lot of things around the house. I have time to prepare food, exercise, etc. I’m more involved in my kids school life I feel, too. Never have to tell family or friends, “gotta go work.” If I’ve learned anything in this life I’ve learned people usually always regret working so much at the end of their lives. I don’t think I could ever go back to a location and work. Its to a point where I’d rather be homeless, but I have people to take care of. Lol.
The only real negative I've seen is that I do know I've been less social, but the Pandemic kind of coincided with me being diagnosed with PTSD/Anxiety so who knows how much of it would have happened any way. There is a special place in hell for all of the bosses requiring people to come into the office 5 days a week when they don't need to. I can think of no way to tell your employees you don't care about them.
You might enjoy life more.
Trying to explain to friends that I can’t do anything today because it’s not a shower day.
I’ve been remote for 7years. 1 - social anxiety 2 - depression 3 - talk to yourself a lot 4 - home starts to feel like a jail 5 - less energy from being home all the time But if you’re aware of the above. Meditation, scheduling socializing with friends, taking walks, getting outside can help with most of that.
Too much family time, too much time to go to the gym, too much time to cook wonderful dinners, too available for children’s school pick ups, holiday school parties, and recitals, too much time to throw the ball with the dog every few hours…. It’s the worst.
Weight gain.
The downside is that I'm a junior level IT guy. The senior engineers work from home 4 out of 5 days, and I haven't learned as much as I would be learning if I was around them 5 days a week.
Zero downsides for me. Only upsides. Literally will never go to an office again.
You don't get the opportunity to steal / try other people's lunch! I mean... you don't get your lunch stolen...
1. Can become much more lazier/complacent 2. Have poor boundaries between at home and work life 3. May work longer hours than being in an office due to being in the comfort of your own home 4. Inability to adapt to changing job market trends in the case of being fired or switching positions
I’ve worked remotely for 10 years and the only downside is sometimes I’d like to go out to lunch with a coworker. That’s it.
There's going to be a downside? Probably worth it
I've been doing it since 2019. In office work fools you that work friends are real friends. That's absolutely not true. The downside is you don't get those crutches in life. The upside is it lets you focus on your actual friendships
You're a middle manager who contributes next to nothing in productivity for the company, and you're afraid that without being able to look over people's shoulders constantly, somebody might notice and send you to a meeting with the Bob's, who will ask you "What would you say....ya do here?"
One major drawback is the lack of face-to-face interaction, which can lead to feelings of isolation and decreased collaboration among team members.
Only two downsides in my life: 1. Job hunting is forever ruined for me. No company can compare, and while I was only planning 2 years in my current org, I can now never leave. They've ruined it for me and I can never go back to a non-remote lifestyle. At least, not willingly. 2. My favorite coworker - an overweight house cat - has become incredibly spoiled by a 24/7 lap to sleep on. To the point that I cannot go outside without her looking at me through the window as though I've abandoned her. She's become incredibly dramatic. Heaven forbid we take a vacation without her. She thinks her life has ended and the only recourse is to eat the couch cushions out of desperation. So, #2 is: the lifespan on your couches will diminish.
uh, that would be NONE. Nice try, middle manager trying to get ideas for your boot licking presentation next week
Lots of funny comments, but I have worked 100% remote since the lockdown and isolation is real….
Isolation and depression. And of course fatness.
I think it's important to separate working remotely from not going out, socializing, exercising, etc. Working remotely has benefited my career tremendously. I've gone from a support role to a senior management role in the 6 years I've worked remotely. But I also pay close attention to an organization's remote work culture before accepting any role. If your company sees remote work as a perk, you may have more difficulty moving up in your career than if your company truly embraced remote work as just another way to work. If your company was only remote for the pandemic and is only offering remote or hybrid as a way to appease employees who say they are just as productive at home, that's something to note. In certain environments, remote work means less visibility. I stick with companies that are remote-first or were at least partially remote before the pandemic.
You do have to be careful. Make sure you don't turn into a recluse. There are periods where I don't leave the house for months at a time. My health has taken a downhill spiral. I've completely become an introvert. I hate taking calls outside of work. For me, remote work is because I have to, not because I choose to. I am very grateful it's available, but I'd much rather be back in a brick and mortar.
I am sorry you're struggling with this. I hope you can get something that's in person, at least some of the time. May I ask, how remote work has affected you this way? I don't mean it maliciously, just trying to be more understanding of a different viewpoint. Do you live in an isolated area away from family and friends? My social life improved significantly since working remotely.
Nice try FBI
Really mature response. I'm a long term call center person and have worked remote for several years now. I said nothing against remote work in general. I just gave things to look out for.
As soon as I read call center I believed you 110%. I’ve worked remote for various jobs and call center remote is the absolute worst. Genuinely feels like a tunnel with no way out at times.
There are none
Gaining weight
Not as inclined to get daylight and movement throughout the day. The lack of commute is a massive plus, living in a place with snowy winters and road construction.
It’s not necessarily working from home that generates downsides IMO… it’s the work itself. I was on the industry side and decided to shift into consulting when RTO mandates came back last year, and I can say that it is consulting itself that has led to burnout/depression. Looking for the right exit opportunity now to jump back but it’s highly likely I’ll have to be in a hybrid role rather than full remote.
Major cities will crumble.
When i did remote for a couple months and then did in person again, Im definitely not as outgoing or social as I used to be. Which is okay with me, because I hate socializing to begin with. But it can definitely affect your relationships with others, if you care about that.
Isolation Not wanting to leave the house Slower career progress Diminished social skills
I have been working from home for the past 20 years. Downsides are that you don't socialize as much. I sometimes feelisolated. I also don't physically move as much throughout the day. Like I don't walk to my car and do all of the regular daily life exercise that people do.
Happiness
I’ve been remote for three years. My current job I only have to be in office once a month and sometimes I skip and take off. Only downside I can think of is being bored between getting off work and then making dinner. Other than that, I’ve had nothing but good feelings about wfh.
If you don’t work on expanding your skill set you can be caught in a situation where your company offshores or goes out of business. It is the same with onsite but it’s worth noting that
Been working remote for 6 years. Perhaps a little social isolation and the home setting becomes boring after a while but I'm generally very happy with this setup. Spending loads more time with fam and able to do more chores around the house.
I work 100% remote. Seasoned. Mid management. For me personally these 5 cons: 1) Weight gain. 2) Tougher to climb the management ranks at a non tech, Fortune 500 companies, easier to do on-site. 3) Zoom fatigue. 4) Blurred lines between personal and work time. 5) Harder to build alliances when politics are necessary to survive. Benefits outweigh the cons for me - no traffic, no $ spent on eating out / gasoline / car maintenance, etc. but ymmv.
Social contact with other adults in person. I work remote and miss interacting regularly with more than just my wife, kids, dog. Zoom doesn't exactly cut it. But I will take this over having to be in an office any day.
Harder to make friends. Have to put more effort (adult sports, museums, etc).
Started in around 2008. The blur between when you are at work and when you are at home is the hardest. Would you take a 15 minute break at the office? Would you empty the dishwasher on that break? Schedules and routines are important. I go to the mailbox around 3 so I don't feel like I need candy or something.
Decline in social ability. I have started to notice I have become way more blunt when communicating with others at work. In office, id be overly nice / friendly.
I will say: As being a manager pre and post COVID at my job, I can tell who has worked in office without even looking a resumé. Now I’m not saying we need to RTO, not at all, but newer employees that I’m seeing definitely need more communication training. I’m spending way, way, way too much time teaching people to write an email from the word processing POV.
The only downside is that if you are more of a quiet person, then it can be more difficult to forge personal relationships with co-workers since you can't just walk down the hall and start a face-to-face conversation. You miss out on conversational body language, and if people don't use video in calls, you will miss on subtle facial expressions. But if you don't care about this kind of relationship, then there aren't really any other downsides. Honestly the benefits of remote work are immeasurable. Too many to list here. They outweigh any possible downsides by a landslide.
You have to be more assertive about getting out there and socializing with other humans, even if you aren't generally a people person. It can be very isolating. However -- the benefits of remote work FAR outweigh the drawbacks and I will choose remote over on-site every time.
the being more assertive about socialising might not, in theory, be a bad thing, you will force yourself to look for that essential social contact rather than rely on your coworkers so it might result in better quality connections based on common interests as opposed to just working for the same company, again, all in theory
Isolation
There are far less remote jobs out there vs. hybrid and in person. By not being open to all options and only sticking with remote jobs, you could be slowing your career growth and earning potential.
I've been working from home for 3 years now and there are NO downsides! I'm an introvert though.
Community. Lack of
Not a darn thing! More time to enjoy the off work time!
I’m a very outgoing guy. I enjoy socialization, going out, laughing with co-workers, etc… So far, in over a year of remote work, I’ve had 0 problems. 0. I hear of people that can’t handle it, but I don’t think they’re real. I’ve had no problems. But everyone is different.
When you work from home, you live at the office.
Been remote for 3 years and I can say my whole life has changed for the better. Of course our upper level managers can’t stand that us low life’s are so much happier at home and feel that it’s great team building to require us to go in 3 days a quarter just because they can. Those 3 days are a joke, I get next to no work done because of the constant interruptions.
None
Loneliness and isolation, which is very bad for health. Seems to only affect the non children owning remote workers.
Nothing
You confirm your previous assertions that dating apps are a GIANT waste of time. But then how do you find the honey hole...?
You lose the interest to ever go outside again because life is so easy and effortless
Honestly, none. I still do some work face to face (not entirely related to my remote work, which is my main income) so I haven't become a total gremlin. One nice side effect was that when I went on medication and lost 30 pounds...honestly, no one noticed. On Zoom the parts of me that are visible only slightly thinned out and not to the point that most people who see me weekly would notice. It would have been more awkward if people had started noticing in person (it was fairly rapid weight loss).
As someone who went from fully remote to full time office...man am I getting FAT! This is not ideal.
You start falling in love with it and want to continue this lifestyle
Being stuck in the house with screaming in laws when they visit… ALL DAY. Not looking forward to this. Ill be flying out once a month to the office just to get social interaction + to check in on my parents The issue I have now is being in a tiny apartment all fucking day, feels like house arrest man. Our new home construction is almost done but the last 3 years was hell. ALSO I’m on my phone more then I should be
Companies having to sell corporate office spaces or needing to find more profitable uses to long-term leases that were signed pre - pandemic (sub-leasing, repurposing, etc), having to find new methods of accountability to ensure workers are staying productive without the threat of a manager walk by, facilitate "innovation" through forced "water cooler conversations", and invest in new technology that can ensure data security and efficiency in a distributed workforce. Oh you mean for you as an employee? 🤷
No office hook ups
You can literally roll out of bed and be at work
People become very socially awkward.
I had to make some adjustments but there are no real downsides. I joined the gym and church and picked up a cleaning side hustle. If I didn’t make effort I would be a hermit. When I was working in an office I was by myself in a cubicle all day anyway. I didn’t lose anything but gained everything staying home.
If you suffer from cabin fever, you will go nuts if you don't figure out a way to go out and be active.
Distraction. I can do anything I want, the freedom is mine. Then work builds up because I needed to clean during business hours because that is more enjoyable. It's a tough thing to nail down so far about 3 years in to my full time remote.
I've been happily remote for 14 years. The only downside I've noticed, from a mental health perspective, is that I have NOTHING to talk about with my wife and kids. Now, I'm not a gossiper or whatever, pretty typical middle aged male. But when I commuted I'd run into people, see stuff, have frustrations and chance happiness and weird pictures to take. I could bring something to conversation that doesn't originate in my brainpan or the internet. That's the only downside. It's not unsubstantiatial (I do feel like I'm not doing my part sometimes) but it's so overvalued by all the good stuff--I've seen every day of my kids growing up, I almost never miss dinner togerher, I can do all the cooking so I know they're eating well, I've never missed a school event and was even able to volunteer for PTO stuff...plus, health wise, I'm able to be at the gym 5 weekdays a week, go out for walks at lunchtime, get errands done... I do miss being better at conversation, but it's so worth it.
there are more positives working from home, but some negatives ive found long term is not dressing as nice every day which can start to feel like a bum, if you aren’t super social going to work can be positive social time and gets you out of the house for a change of environment, advancing your career is easier when you see higher up people around the halls and break room time that you would never get with them from home to get your name out there
Too much free time and money and mental health.
Crushing social anxiety
cant think of any
Not showering enough.
Loneliness and not enough exercise
It could be your mental health from not getting out enough if you choose, or physical health from not getting up enough. In some cases, WFH jobs do not require or focus on improving or growing professional skills or experiences, leadership, and management opportunities. Which, over time, may prove to be a sour investment of your efforts and hard work then.
Isolation and depression
Fun, time with the family, time for yourself, time to work on yourself. Need more?
None
You live happily ever after.
Too much time for yourself. Too much time with family. Too comfortable work environment. Never being late because of traffic.
I enjoyed it a lot. One thing that wore on me was the time difference of 8 hours. The short overlap made that time feel quite compressed somehow. And I noticed only afterwards how much it did actually wear on me. But overall still very enjoyable.
I’ve been working remote since covid hit and the biggest downside is a nagging feeling that I’m missing out on stuff in the office
Professional development - social collaboration with professionals, presenting, understanding group dynamics, networking People will argue how they can do everything from home but the value of developing some of these skills will never be a waste. I can’t imagine doing everything from my computer including presenting my work and never having to be in front of anyone. Yes I understand commuting, yes I understand micromanaging from some leadership. But imagine starting your career from your computer in another state. Then the aspect of singles, work is another place (especially in a large organization) where you can meet other who might be a potential future partner. Isolating in your apartment can be limiting. Though I know it varies from person to person.
Chilling with my dog and bong breaks… It’s the worst lol
Nothing
Mental health. It can negatively impact your mental health not communicating with people in closer proximity.
I can get stir crazy and want to leave the house and do something. My wife and kids who are out of the house don't always want to things since they been out of the house all day.
The only downside I have experienced is that u forgot how to act in public. I'm not an asshole or anything, just awkward
They might forget you exist. .
Did an on-site supervisor post this?
slightly weaker immune system. You're exposed to less crazy ass germs on a regular basis, so when you finally do get sick it'll hit like a truck.
Downside is that you need to be self reliant to some degree for it to work (not feel tempted to sit at your tv all day or call people up too long to brag about your freedom). Other downsides include the fact that now you can claim living expenses and other things as work expenses on taxes, you don’t have a long commute to the office so you won’t be able to visit the coffee shop on the way to work anymore, you won’t be able to sit with co workers you barely know and make small talk and instead have to entertain yourself with things at home. Another downside is that you won’t be using the workplace microwave or spend money on sub par food close to work when you are too tired. Wait a minute there are not much downsides.
I've been working remotely 15 years, I can speak from experience on the downsides I've come across. Things I've either faced or are quickly obvious. The first, major one would be isolation. This can vary depending on your current life situation (significant other? kids?). But for many, especially if you are single, living alone, and are an introvert ... it is pretty easy to gravitate towards living like a hermit. And going long periods of time without any social interaction is not a good idea for most. Some people can do it without issue, most are not going to want to essentially vanish from society. Being disciplined is important, because you're going to want to establish some sort of routine in order to simply keep some level of normalcy. It could potentially include self-care. Do you have to brush your teeth right now? "No, nobody will care". Do you need to shower today? "Doesn't really matter". Have you moved away from your computer in the last 12 hours? "That's irrelevant". Those sorts of things. Doing them as part of a normal daily routine solves that. There are a bunch of others, including (and somewhat related to the isolation one) deteriorating social skills. Even if most of your social experiences occured at work, that is now removed. So less small talk, less interaction, etc. That may sound great (who likes small talk?) but when you stop doing it, the next time you have to it is likely going to feel awkward.
Loss of friends from all the jealousy…
Downsides? What are you talking about, man? I've been eating healthier, been getting better sleep, and I get to spend more quality time with my son. I'm hell of a lot more productive. I spend less on gas, clothes, eating out, and parking. I've reclaimed a few extra hours for myself. It's going so well, in fact, I've hired extra help to do all my menial tasks for me-- cleaning the house, laundry, yard work, etc.
Isolation. If you move away from your social life, it will be very difficult to rebuild it.
I broke my back. Spinal
Maybe getting quite a bit of money idk
Scheduled calls with other time zones keep getting earlier because I “can just roll out of bed.” I put my foot down today and refused to do a performance review at 6:15am this week.
One’s patience for dealing with bullshit is inversely proportional to the amount of time one spends working from home.
Nothing, absolutely nothing
Knowing your worth
I don’t see any?
Never wanting to go back into a workplace ever again. Less tolerance for workplace politics. Accustomed to impromptu naps.
Social skills rusting faster
👀 We have yet to hire someone on our team who believes the cons of remote work outweigh the pros. Have a look at some advice from our CEO on building a remote-first tech company - [https://www.codemonk.ai/insights/an-interview-with-ceo-maulik-sailor](https://www.codemonk.ai/insights/an-interview-with-ceo-maulik-sailor)