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Comment by swat535 | Hacker News Reader

I too have both in office and remote and I agree with all your points regarding working from home.

However I must confess that the downsides of working from the office majority outweighs the other.

I can no longer focus. I am constantly pulled into meetings. I have 120 minutes of commute everyday.

When I get home I am too tired and can no longer spend quality time with my partner like I did when I was working from home. And above all my sleeping schedule has to fit the 9-5 schedule and it is very hard to adjust.

I also have to deal with the heavy Canadian storms during winter.

In the future I'm choosing remote work at a heartbeat and might even consider a salary cut to get it.

YMMV.

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> I can no longer focus. I am constantly pulled into meetings.

I think this is often an environment and culture problem. When I'm setting something up, I work hard to create spaces that minimize noise and distractions. And I think it's important to limit meetings, because they'll definitely expand to fill all time available. But most places don't bother with either of these, throwing people into noisy open offices and having a "meetings first" culture.

> I have 120 minutes of commute everyday. [...] When I get home I am too tired

This is the true killer for me. 15-30 minutes each way by foot, bike, or public transit? A pleasant part of my day, a useful demarcation between work and home. But an hour each way in a car and I begin to despair for my life.

I would really love to have those options but living in the Greater Toronto Area doesn't leave much room for those.

In addition we have some of the harshest winters with freeing black ice falling from sky :)

Ottawa checking in. I think it's cute you think you have harsh winters. ;)

> I can no longer focus. I am constantly pulled into meetings.

If this behavior changes solely because you start working remotely it may not necessarily be to your advantage. Yes, in the short term you may maintain the ability to focus. However, in the long term you may find yourself being excluded and and diminished within the organization. These meetings, etc. don't stop when you work remotely, only those attending them do.

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