A coworker told me he doesn't like WFH because he's working more hours at home as he feels less productive and is trying to make up for it. I know this guy and I know his commute is more than an hour in one direction. It makes no sense that he prefers adding nearly three hours to his work day when he can just be more mindful of his hours at home. What am I missing here? Does he hate his family or something?
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I have WFH for over 8 years. Yes, it takes discipline and a change to stay interactive with the human race. Just wait, global warming will force everyone to WFH. and will largely make all this moot in the next five years. Fiserv don't give a sh$$ about you, the planet, or anything but the bottom line. Most recent RIF probably saved them about 30+ million. Good luck to those left behind. TikTok
I am 67 years old and retired. I have worked for good and bad firms, for myself and as a contractor. I have had commutes 12 min long (epic) and 90 min (into Manhattan). Subway, PATH and cars. Stop bi-----g about a commute. You want paycheck? Deal with it. Bad job? Get out of it. Better career? Learn something and move on. You want a good office? I worked in a great one 21 years ago that is simply no longer there in lower Manhattan along with a ton of colleagues. So don't complain - DO something about it if you don't like it.
Chicks, man.
For the real truth go to:
https://www.apollotechnical.com/working-from-home-productivity-statistics/
Working Remotely Can Increase Productivity up to 77%
Performance can increase up to 13 percent
The same study found that just 36% of people believe that the office is best suited for individual work
Less water cooler talk
More Exercise
It is true see the Gardner study...wfh is way less productive than hybrid (our 3/5)those are the facts.
You guys really need to head into the office. It is great. You can just sit back and relax. Almost no pressure. It does not matter if you get your work done, what is important is that you are checking a box on a report about being in the office. You should also talk to your coworkers as much as possible. Really get to know them. Take as much time as you want.
If the company wants you to be productive, then can allow you to work from home. But, since they want you in the office, they clearly do not care if you are productive or not.
You should learn to really enjoy your office time. Why else would they advertise a pickleball court that is a fifteen minute walk across the parking lot. Clearly they want you to play instead of work. All that matters is that you badged into the office that day.
I’ve been working more hours and being more productive with WFH. This is the norm in our BU
He's getting drunk on the koolaid and creating a self-justification to go back to the office in hopes of keeping his job.
I have a potential alternate perspective on what your colleague is feeling.
My productivity output is down as a remote employee vs before COVID. This is not because I am working less or slacking off but rather because the responsiveness of my colleagues is way down once everyone shifted remote. My initial reaction to this lower productivity output was to work more hours and be online at all times for when my colleagues did get back to me. This knee jerk reaction lasted the first year and a half and was unhealthy because it was my family that was taking the majority of the blow.
Your colleague is probably a high performer and holds himself accountable to a certain standard that he/she feels they are not able to maintain with the remote environment and feels the need to overcompensate for it. If they want to go into the office so they can feel a level of satisfaction that they are meeting the standard they hold for themselves - fine - so be it. The alternative is to lower your productivity output expectations which may also be a completely acceptable answer depending on where you are in your career and where you aspire to be. Let them do what they feel is necessary to be content to live in their own skin.
I think some people may not be disciplined enough to work from home and set boundaries on their time spent working. It can take practice, and some people apparently can't figure it out. But once you strike the right balance, working from home can be quite a bit more productive than going into the office - especially when you factor in commute times.
I also think that some people are falling victim to a lot of the anti-WFH rhetoric that's being thrown around on certain media outlets and by power-hungry CEOs. Some people probably have heard enough of that BS that they now are starting to believe it. As someone who has worked from home for nearly three straight years now, I can say that while it's not perfect, it's a lot better than commuting to an office, and I don't feel less productive at all.