And I should say-I was forced to work from home for several months, had all the right equipment to do so effectively, and work at the kind of job where I could work remotely.
Not everyone falls into that category, and I fully recognize that. And I also recognize there are many non-collaborative types of jobs that could be handled completely remotely without much decrease in productivity while increasing the worker satisfaction. I am all for that.
I just think that overall, it is more negative than positive as a whole.
I wonder how many oldsters who remember commuting on the "distressway" in Boston would agree with that.
Verizon was keen on having us work from home because our business was supporting other corporations working from home. With global clients I had to keep a 24 hour schedule to host calls to direct service changeovers from other networks to our own. The first time I worked with people in China or Viet Nam, it gave me pause for a moment.
Some occupations scream remote work from home. I once tried to name all of the managers, senior managers, directors or vice presidents that I directly reported to in those ten years but couldn't remember them all. In corporate shuffles I would be assigned to someone and then a week later to someone else. A couple of times I reported to Vice Presidents, usually to add to their personnel headcount to make them less redundant. Needless to say, I didn't talk to my management, every day and sometimes not even every week.
I had a one year notice from my team lead that I would be laid off but when it finally happened, I was amazed at the "yuge" severance package! I lived on it for a couple of years until I felt I could go on SS with a small penalty and still keep a good investment portfolio.