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Yes, for many, working remotely is not sustainable. You definitely need a quiet and private space to work. If you have that at home, great. But many don’t have that luxury.

Personally, my home setup is much better than working in an office, so I plan to work remotely indefinitely if possible. But it is not for everyone and office cultures would do well to ensure in office and home office workers are able to have similar experiences.

You don't. I have a 3 years old and a 6 months old, I specifically asked to be in the living room with my desk so that I could have them with me during the day. Sometimes they bother me, but more than 90% of the time they do well, they realize I work and my wife too.

Set the expectations for your family,I think that's really it.

And yeah, I'll have my daughter on my lap during meetings, or I'll be standing while rocking the baby occasionally. No problem, colleagues are understanding and I'm actually performing very well, so it should be possible for others to handle this.

Obviously a different business is if there is no fully dedicated care (e.g. Both parents work)

If you’re commuting once or twice a week, you don’t have to be very close to the office. You could make the distance little longer making travel a little hectic only for 2 days but for 5 days you get a bigger house.

This doesn't seem related to the article at all, just a vent in response to the headline.

How would you summarize the article? I wouldn't have read it, had you not complained about this poster.

Let me share what I gathered:

1. Francesca really likes working from home. She has the time to pick her son from school and feels empowered but she's also worried because Johnson and other British conservatives are pushing against "work-from-homers"

2. "The permanent secretary for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Sarah Healey, recently told staff that she would keep online meetings, because they were more effective and also helped women participate."

3. “Being interrupted and talked over puts women off from speaking out in meetings – it silences them,” she says. “On Zoom, interruptions are very messy, if people just try and shout over others everything sort of seizes up.”

4. “In physical offices we have what sociologists call a hegemonic masculine organisational culture, where white male characteristics are seen as virtues,” she says. “To think online spaces can completely remove that culture is a bit too naive but maybe some of those ingrained habits can change – if people are reflective.”

What did I just read?

> I can't move out of London so that I can afford a place with a dedicated study/office room because "hybrid working"

Factoring in what you've said, you don't have access to a dedicated environment and don't see how to make moving out further to afford the dedicated space a possibility. That makes it clear to take advantage of the space your employer is offering you then. Go into the office.

If you don't want to commute into the office every day, the other replies below are the path. Instead of commuting 30 mins each way into the office M-F move further out, commute 1 hour each way but on Monday & Friday. You're still spending less time in a week commuting but now live further out.

This is a completely valid point and I think it’s really important in this conversation about work environment to bear it in mind. Too many people seem to assume that their environment is universal, but home or hybrid working is not a panacea and different people in different situations can face a wide variety of challenges.

However it’s pout out at least that keeping meetings online even when present in the office can be a really useful tool for helping everyone to have equitable access. The assumption that all of our meetings are done online from individual devices wherever possible has made it much easier for remote and in-office workers to collaborate on the same level.

If you're only going in once or twice a week you can afford to live much further out. You can live 20 miles from zone 1 and still get a train in in 25 minutes.

I take important meetings in the car. The iPhone has a great new voice isolation mode on the mic that deletes almost all background noise.

Peak capitalism when at-home workers are forced to sit in their cars to have remote meetings.

“Arggghh!!! I can’t believe my employer lets me perform knowledge work from the comfort of my home and pays me enough, so I can use my sci-fi like smartphone from my private car, because my well-fed children are making too much noise from the mountains of toys we can afford for them!

What a garbage economic system we live in!”

haha the horror!

Meh, the reality is that sometimes we have to be flexible. Even in the office it was sometimes hard to find a quiet place (construction, open office chats, etc.).

Can't you go 5/5 days at the office, even if the meeting is online? I know many people who are doing this.

Find a truly remote role?

Equity never means strictly bringing the lower end up to the top. It also means chopping the top down. You were the top. You could afford to live in a very expensive city and have proximity to good jobs and other nice things.

> It also means chopping the top down.

The fact that you say this without at least the slightest hint of awareness of why many people now shudder at what cries for "equity" have morphed into highlights why the backlash against equity programs is growing.

And I find this incredibly disappointing, because I do believe that equity programs that try to raise opportunity and standards for all is a good thing, but all too often I've seen it just morph into "Tall Poppy Syndrome".

The only morphing was when "equality of opportunity" which is simultaneously nonsensical and undesirable morphed into "equality of outcome" (equity) which is simultaneously more coherent and depraved. Chopping off the top (unless you are a party member) was always part of it.

In a neighboring high school where I grew up, kids during physical education class weren’t allowed to lap anyone during running (to protect feelings). You can imagine what that looked like. Ha

Did you go to Harrison Bergeron High? /jk

Well, if it's any comfort, history shows that plenty of short poppies get mowed down collaterally in these events. You'll find a wonderful equity in the mass graves.

Are you endorsing this state of affairs?

I endorse everyone in wealthy countries who pushes equity movements to be driven to the global median income. And while we're at it force their children into median schools.

Ah, gotcha. I think we are in agreement then.