Making work at home permanent

[TC Talks]

Who here could work from home permanently? Most DJ's can. Accountants, Lawyers, Banking, and back office support could. Some couldn't do this, but think about the quality of life improvements.

Could this help us save the 22 days a year on average we spend commuting. We could change the face of pollution, transportation expenses, dry cleaning bills and office space costs.

There may still need to be meeting spaces for business meetings. This would create a disruption for commercial real estate, but a conversion to housing would be economical viable.

I think it's a cool idea.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey emailed employees on Tuesday telling them that they’d be allowed to work from home permanently, even after the coronavirus pandemic lockdown passes. Some jobs that require physical presence, such as maintaining servers, will still require employees to come in.

[Honeyman]

From a job standpoint, absolutely. Normally between 6-7 I am driving to work. These days, I walk my dog and get into my hot tub. Talk about a 180. My job is sales and I can do it all on the phone, e-mail, and computer.

I will say I dont think I am as productive as when Im in the office, but that could be all mindset.

[Deleted User 13307]

Minimizes things like sexual harassment in the workplace.

Short-term, yes work-at-home can get the job done - sorry for the pun - for many. My opinion though is that for the long-term, it just wouldn't work as a societal norm. Eventually, you have to know the people that you are working for / are working for you beyond a WebEx or an e-mail. What happens when you want to change positions within your company?

Many a great idea has come from personal collaboration between co-workers at lunch or some other kind of social setting outside of the workplace. How do you build these interpersonal relationships when everyone is hiding behind keyboards and webcams? Being the the same room with someone is priceless when it comes to reading body language and other unspoken communication.

Mental-health wise, how healthy can it be to only interface on a face-to-face basis with so few people? The human condition is incurable -- we need each other and need to interact with each other to be at our best. Do we really want to take kids coming out of college and keep them in their parent's basements forever?

Look at these message boards as a petri dish for full time work at home. All of us are just type at home keyboard warriors. is this what we want for our workplaces? The ability to talk to each other face-to-face cannot be substituted for the virtual world.

[Turkeytop]

I'm retired now, but my colleagues from the organization for which I worked are all working from home. I don't know how they can do it. Most days I was out of the office attending meetings, some in town and many more, out of town.

[Rate This]

Driving the bus the answer is obvious. I did see somewhere maybe a month ago that this whole deal is going to greatly accelerate work from home implementation. Work from home also disproportionately benefits those who earn more and really excludes the working class. So it won’t solve any class war problems... it may even make them worse.

[TC Talks]

Driving the bus the answer is obvious. I did see somewhere maybe a month ago that this whole deal is going to greatly accelerate work from home implementation. Work from home also disproportionately benefits those who earn more and really excludes the working class. So it won’t solve any class war problems... it may even make them worse.

You don't think this could shift the value of work?

If the employee spends less on work related expenses, couldn't pay be cut?

[Rate This]

Driving the bus the answer is obvious. I did see somewhere maybe a month ago that this whole deal is going to greatly accelerate work from home implementation. Work from home also disproportionately benefits those who earn more and really excludes the working class. So it won’t solve any class war problems... it may even make them worse.

You don't think this could shift the value of work?

If the employee spends less on work related expenses, couldn't pay be cut?

I doubt they would do that.. they need to retain what talent they have... I would think with smaller overhead they could give pay increases actually...

[Deleted User 13307]

they need to retain what talent they have

Interesting point. Having permanent work from home would have an impact on job loyalty, both good and bad. Often people will stick with a company because their workplace takes on the role of a second family. One company I worked for provided lunch everyday for those in the home office - a perk that earned loyalty points for many.

It's a fascinating topic for which there are a boatload of possibilities and options. Could there ever be a scenario where the system is hybridized? Work at home for 4 hours and in the office for 4? The office is open from 6 am - 8 pm to stagger start times (plan your in-office workday for when you have a meeting). Get some of the benefits of increasing social distancing but still be able to have interaction with co-workers.

[TC Talks]

Ah, but in the gig economy, a virtual staff means a wider marketplace from which to find employees. More choice means less pay.

[Rate This]

Ah, but in the gig economy, a virtual staff means a wider marketplace from which to find employees. More choice means less pay.

They still have to have the skills and skilled employees were at a great shortage until the pandemic...

[TC Talks]

How many of us would need two cars in the household if we worked from home?

[Matt]

At the very least, hybrid working should be happening more often. 2-3 days a week in the office is probably enough for meetings/maintaining a sense of community.

[audiophile]

How many of us would need two cars in the household if we worked from home?

One car, as long as it's a split window?

[TC Talks]

Of course.

Here's the latest split window...

[Rate This]

Of course.

Here's the latest split window...

She needs some work on the body panels... what year is it?