Hacker News Reader

Comment by ericmcer | Hacker News Reader

The one big downside I have noticed from WFH is that any efficiency I introduce in my own work becomes reclaimed time. If I can crank through a days work in 4 hours in the morning I can reasonably take it easy in the afternoon. This is great but it has created some stress around things like code reviews and impromptu mentoring etc.

If I am sitting in the office I may as well spend 20 minutes on a code review trying to figure out a cleaner solution, but at home its harder to do it. There is just a general feeling of racing towards that 'done' status which represents a good amount of completed work for the day. Before it was just 9-5 and a thorough code review was a welcome use of that time.

View on HN

I’ve been working from home for six years and I consider that the biggest upside actually. I don’t have to waste time pretending to work just because it’s “work hours”. A lot of times good enough really is good enough and my reward for getting my work done early is I get to reclaim my time. It typically balances out with the times I’m still working past 5 or 6pm for things that really do matter.

The most common complaint about WFH is actually the opposite, that the work day is never really done because you don’t have to shut down your computer and drive home like you would in an office. WFH has allowed me to reclaim hours that would have been spent poorly (just doing work for the sake of filling time) and lets me choose how that time should be used.

If I got my work done and everyone agrees the work is done, there is no reason to keep working. We only do it in the office because our manager and coworkers are watching us.

I think it's even more difficult when you factor in kids at home. We've had to deal with that at our home which means our ability to get work done has been cut in half. It also puts a lot of burden on co-workers. The biggest issue with this has been people without kids wondering why coworkers WITH kids aren't getting as much done.

But once the situation with the coronavirus is over, the kids will be in school/daycare, so this won't be an issue.

Unless you have year round school, this will always be an issue.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com