Opinion Trump's stance on remote work - do Republicans really support this?

[Hellowhosthat]

Agreed. People ... even in this thread are claiming they're more productive working at home. Then in the next sentence they mention they can do the washing, pick up the kids, cook dinner etc. They're not productive at all. The poor suckers working from the office are picking up the slack for these WFH people.

** Manager walks out of the office ... ' oh Joe, Bob, Karen and Steven aren't in the office' turns to person in the office .. 'can you do this for me, there's nobody else here'?

I think the misconception you have here is that people are always doing useful stuff in the office.

 

[BForrester]

This is rich coming from a guy that spent half of his first term on the golf course and the other half working remotely from Mar-a-largo or Bedminster. It sounds like he knows a thing or two about slacking off when you're supposed to be working remotely.

 

[GergreG]

I think the misconception you have here is that people are always doing useful stuff in the office.

No I don't have that misconception at all. I work in an organisation with performance management structures and processes which enable managers to get rid of people not performing.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

No I don't have that misconception at all. I work in an organisation with performance management structures and processes which enable managers to get rid of people not performing.

Oh. I mostly get paid to post on teh dog.

 

[Darkavius]

I think the misconception you have here is that people are always doing useful stuff in the office.

Agreed. Why is there the assumption people are more productive in the office. Again, the goal for business is efficiency. No one bats an eye when there are executives who literally work from multiple areas but somehow regular staff working from home is bad? Also, many people have worked in an office and you can find lazy people working in the office as well.

If someone is not cutting it working from home that is what management exists for partly. If management does not want to get rid of said lazy worker then its reflective of the organization's inefficiency. Side note, people from the office can work over crazy hours as well. There are numerous stories of people working very long hours from home.

 

[gspieler]

No I don't have that misconception at all. I work in an organisation with performance management structures and processes which enable managers to get rid of people not performing.

You say that as if performance cannot readily be measured for remote employees.

And to previous point; remote workers have more time for things outside work for various reasons....no commute, less time spent getting ready in the morning, less time spent in small talk, less distractions in general, etc.

 

[GergreG]

Agreed. Why is there the assumption people are more productive in the office. Again, the goal for business is efficiency. No one bats an eye when there are executives who literally work from multiple areas but somehow regular staff working from home is bad? Also, many people have worked in an office and you can find lazy people working in the office as well.

If someone is not cutting it working from home that is what management exists for partly. If management does not want to get rid of said lazy worker then its reflective of the organization's inefficiency. Side note, people from the office can work over crazy hours as well. There are numerous stories of people working very long hours from home.

It is easier to spot bludgers in the office than those WFH. Managing staff is hard. It's even harder when you cannot see what they are or are not doing. I walk out of my office and in ten seconds I can scan the room and see who is bludging.

 

[GergreG]

You say that as if performance cannot readily be measured for remote employees.

And to previous point; remote workers have more time for things outside work for various reasons....no commute, less time spent getting ready in the morning, less time spent in small talk, less distractions in general, etc.

See my post above. No distractions at home.... LOL. Come on. People will come up with so many bullshit excuses. People enjoy working from home because they do less work. And then it's the managers problem to prove they're more or less productive. So WFH is even harder for managers to manage.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

See my post above. No distractions at home.... LOL. Come on. People will come up with so many bullshit excuses. People enjoy working from home because they do less work. And then it's the managers problem to prove they're more or less productive. So WFH is even harder for managers to manage.

tbf you can probably get more done WFH because your manager isn't giving you bullshit tasks and distracting you every 5 minutes so you can focus on your job.

 

[Crazy Source]

It is easier to spot bludgers in the office than those WFH. Managing staff is hard. It's even harder when you cannot see what they are or are not doing. I walk out of my office and in ten seconds I can scan the room and see who is bludging.

Shouldn't productivity be the measure of a worker? I can "look busy" for the boss with the best of them. Co-workers always joke amongst themselves about it. Look like you're looking for papers, act like you're making a phonecall, etc. It's such a bullshit game.

 

[RoastBeast]

Here are a few observations made at least in my wife's department. Keep in mind her department is all backroom loan processing - basically little to zero contact with customers/clients and all correspondence inner office.

1. The people who are inefficient working at home are also the lower producers working in office. They are slower in general, and working from home nets the same results or worse. I can only assume the technology slows them down, or they also are easily distracted.

2. I will say the "answering of phones" became an issue. These are not calls from superiors being missed, but from other employees in the same department. Most of these missed calls are from employees who fall into #1 above. The employees being called are the high producers annoyed that they are having to explain something to a shitty employee that could be resolved in an email.

3. Work from home offered employees ease of working after hours which helped a bunch. I'd argue it got a lot of employees out of the stupid "clock in, clock out" 9-5 mindset. Obviously with that there is give and take.

My business is not large, so managing all of this is pretty easy. I know what my employees are accomplishing, but I hire better employees and pay more than competitors. If you can't trust employees working from home, how the hell are you trusting them to work for you at all?

I think with your last sentence there it all comes down to temptation. You don't have the option to do home chores when you're at the office. Shitty employees are shitty employees but temptation can make a good employee a shittier employee because most people with menial jobs would much rather put the time and effort into their own lives rather than the business they work for.

Clearly this doesn't apply to every single person out there but I just don't think it logically makes sense to think that people are just as productive at home, off camera, as they would be if they were in the office and had eyes on them.

 

[gspieler]

See my post above. No distractions at home.... LOL. Come on. People will come up with so many bullshit excuses. People enjoy working from home because they do less work. And then it's the managers problem to prove they're more or less productive. So WFH is even harder for managers to manage.

*fewer distractions

Also, managers don't have to prove anything. The data speaks for itself. If a worker is unproductive, their output and/or quality will decline. And every job is going to have a way to measure these things.

Also, you didn't address the fact there is an obvious time savings from not commuting, etc. Are people not allowed to spend that extra 1-2 hrs doing what they want?

IMO, you just are biased a an st people who elect to WFH, and will use rationale you can to shit on them.

 

[oldshadow]

Well it's a white collar problem and the overwhelming number of people's jobs will need them to show up to get their jobs done.

I suppose with AI as a trained supervisor for the stay it home it could work. They could use eye or fingerprints to log in and AI could track them the whole time they are working and log any time they are un productive during their required working hours.

Or they could just come to work like 95% of the working people have to do.

 

[Corona]

Future president Newsom did the same thing. Goatnald puppet confirmed imo.

 

[Darkavius]

It is easier to spot bludgers in the office than those WFH. Managing staff is hard. It's even harder when you cannot see what they are or are not doing. I walk out of my office and in ten seconds I can scan the room and see who is bludging.

As I mentioned before that's a management inefficiency. If management in your company can't tell who is doing the work that reflects poorly on management. I know it sounds crazy to some companies but if people actually talked to their employees you can get information on who your best workers are even if those workers are not the best people to be around.

I think of it like that show My 600 Pound Life. There are episodes where they tell the doctor at a distance that they are eating right and losing the weight. Then when they get to the doctor's office they are heavier than they were previously. Then there are those who actually follow the diet and exercise and are able to get the surgery. If management is good as intended it will show eventually, good or bad, if you work from home or not.

 

[gspieler]

Well it's a white collar problem and the overwhelming number of people's jobs will need them to show up to get their jobs done.

I suppose with AI as a trained supervisor for the stay it home it could work. They could use eye or fingerprints to log in and AI could track them the whole time they are working and log any time they are un productive during their required working hours.

Or they could just come to work like 95% of the working people have to do.

According to source below, about 37% of jobs can be done remotely.

https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w26948/w26948.pdf

And to your thoughts, I would respond that, as a society, perhaps we can move towards giving workers more freedom in doing their jobs remotely (if possible), instead of doubling down on the 9-5 rat race being the only way one can live their life. Given that workers have become exponentially more productive in recent decades, modern technology allowing for it, I don’t think it unreasonable.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Well it's a white collar problem and the overwhelming number of people's jobs will need them to show up to get their jobs done.

I suppose with AI as a trained supervisor for the stay it home it could work. They could use eye or fingerprints to log in and AI could track them the whole time they are working and log any time they are un productive during their required working hours.

Or they could just come to work like 95% of the working people have to do.

Nowhere near 95% of people would need to go and work in an office Sherbro. Pretty much any office work can be done from home and that makes up a very large portion of the economy.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

As I mentioned before that's a management inefficiency. If management in your company can't tell who is doing the work that reflects poorly on management. I know it sounds crazy to some companies but if people actually talked to their employees you can get information on who your best workers are even if those workers are not the best people to be around.

I think of it like that show My 600 Pound Life. There are episodes where they tell the doctor at a distance that they are eating right and losing the weight. Then when they get to the doctor's office they are heavier than they were previously. Then there are those who actually follow the diet and exercise and are able to get the surgery. If management is good as intended it will show eventually, good or bad, if you work from home or not.

Or just give a worker some work to do, then check if they did that work in the time you allocated them to do the work and check they did it to the required standard.

As long as they do that who cares if they stuck a load in the washing machine in the middle of it?

 

[Crazy Source]

Or just give a worker some work to do, then check if they did that work in the time you allocated them to do the work and check they did it to the required standard.

As long as they do that who cares if they stuck a load in the washing machine in the middle of it?

This is a combination of people that are pissed/jealous because they can't work remotely and managers/bosses that want that authoritarian power over workers. I realize that's been said by others here, just felt like it needed to be said again.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

This is a combination of people that are pissed/jealous because they can't work remotely and managers/bosses that want that authoritarian power over workers. I realize that's been said by others here, just felt like it needed to be said again.

Yeah, still don't get it. I can't do my job from home but it's no skin off my nose if other people can.