Why remote work makes people less productive, and what to do about it (the push to make private behavior public)

Fastcompany ^ | April 11, 2020 | Kristen Berman

[snippy_about_it]

I have been working from home for 8 years now, as have many of my co-workers. We work for a large IT company with workers around the world. We get more work done because we tend to work longer hours and across time zones. It is a balancing act to make sure we don’t over work.

Consider if I have a late meeting because the time zone for a meeting is Pacific and I live in the east, fine, I work late but the next time I don’t have an early meeting or deadline I won’t turn on my PC until maybe 10 am. We balance our time and get our jobs done on time if not ahead of time.

It isn’t about where you work but about your work ethics.

[discostu]

Developer. “Kicking on the couch” is a very American phrase.

[T.B. Yoits]

...PowerPoint (which is possibly THE most IQ-reductive software ever)...

I agree with caveats. In the hands of the Dilbertonians, PowerPoint is IQ reducing. In the hands of someone with skills, it's great for flowcharts and such (even better than Visio) to really break out processes that you'd never bother the Dilbertonians with.

[dfwgator]

LOL, you can’t run the military without PowerPoint.

THE BALLAD OF THE POWER POINT RANGER
(sung to the tune of “The Green Beret”)

Requests are made from day to day;
Briefings held and changes made.
Graphic slides, a must they say,
Power Point is the only way.

Computers crash and printers stall,
Overloading protocol.
Network’s down and soldiers cry
Briefing’s late, so heads will fly.

Pin Power Point slides upon my chest,
Full color slides, they look the best
100 slides were made that day
but only 10 made the final display.

Smiles upon the General’s face
Slides were done, looked really great
Was up all night really working late,
Just to hear the General say ....

My soldier son, your slides were great,
Briefing’s done, staff’s up to date,
One problem son, you took too long,
So put in one more change, then go on home.

So tell my Mom I done my best,
Pin Power Point slides upon my chest
100 slides were made that day,
but only 10 made the final display.

[DoodleBob]

Ok, you may have won the post of the thread award.

[A_perfect_lady]

=)

[nicollo]

I’m guessing workplace porn watching has skyrocketed...

[DoodleBob]

Gettysburg Address in PowerPoint

[ShadowAce]

People aren’t stopping in my office door, staying behind at meetings to discuss, etc.

The only thing I truly miss is being able to bounce into my boss’ offices and run something by them.

Now, that's funny, right there.

[zeugma]

I've been working from home for about 5 years. The big thing with this, is that you have to be self-motivated. If you're not, you're not going to accomplish as much. Also, it is a really good idea to go ahead and do the same things in the morning that you would normally do when going to work. i.e., shower, get dressed and all that. If you follow the same routine, it is easier to actually be "at work".

In general, I'd agree with some of the posters that say they tend to be less productive on an hour-by-hour basis, but also tend to put in more time overall, so it ends up evening out. Fortunately for me, my boss isn't really as concerned about what I'm doing on an hourly basis, as I was hired for my knowledge. I'm pretty much on call 24x7 for when things go to crap. This is what I'm really for. Fortunately, I've managed to clean things up to the point where that doesn't happen very often at all.

I like working from home, but kind of have to go out of my way to actually get in some actual physical interaction with people. That's one reason this whole lock down thing was pissing me off, because it was screwing up what was an important part of my life that keeps me marginally sane.

[PrincessB]

Yep, it goes both ways :).