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Comment by cmdrfred | Hacker News Reader

I think firms that offer work from home and flexible hours will be able to attract better talent in the coming years, then slowly more will offer it. Eventually people will get smart and start to ask for more money from companies that dont offer these things ("You want me to drive an hour to sit in a box so you can watch me? Sure, that's going to be an extra 20%") once that tipping point is reached things will change.

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That 20% sounds about right to me. I'm much more efficient when I work from home. My commute is walking across my kitchen to my office. Lunch break is getting up to get a salad or sandwich from said kitchen. I can work an 8 hour day in 8-9 hours total including breaks for lunch etc.

There is no way to do that in the Boston area where I live if I have to drive to a office. Commutes here are usually about an hour per 20 miles driven during rush hour. That makes an 8 hour work day more like 10-11 hours. So somewhere between 20% and 25% makes up the difference.

That sounds exactly right, once we reach a tipping point it will happen quickly.

I think it's a lot like the 'paper less office'. It was talked about for a decade before it happened and it wasn't a linear progression. At first it meant more paper, as people were doing all sorts of 'silly' things, like printing out and filing emails.

But today I can't remember the last time I printed something or read something on paper.

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