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Comment by irrational | Hacker News Reader

Opposite for me. At home I start working when I wake up and often don't stop until the evening. When I go into the office I have to get ready and commute, and then at the office there are so many distractions - our campus has fantastic fitness facilities and I'll often spend a few hours each day over there. So, at home I probably work for 10 hours. When on campus I probably get 4 hours of work in, if that. Plus, I am so much more productive at home. I have a quiet private office with a much faster internet connection and better equipment. On campus, people don't know how to shut up, so it is hard to get work done with people around me discussing things that have absolutely nothing about work - the other day, 2 people spent an hour discussing how much butter is in Danish cookies! Right next to me!

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Same here, started my first fully remote job semi-recently. I've got a nice quiet area to work and the worst interruption I get is maybe my dog drops in for some pets. The productivity and satisfaction remind me of when I was way younger and used to code for fun before it became a job, so I actually kind of enjoy it.

Like maybe I go afk 30-45 mins here or there when I normally wouldn't in office. But for me, I put in more hours overall. A key to this was learning to not have my personal laptop open to the side, and avoiding distractions like social media and idle browsing.

YMMV of course, I think it can really depend on the person and their life situation. But the same could be said of anyone remote or not when it comes to productivity. It's on the managers to measure if things are getting done or not, which is the most important thing.

It is always the employees telling these stories, but how managers are supposed to know if they are really working? When they are at the office the see it with their own eyes.

Common counter argument to this is that the manager sucks because he/she can't measure the work otherwise. But from managers perspective it is much easier to force people to be on-site than fix his/her own problems.

Managers know who is and isn’t getting work done.

Person you replied to said they spent hours in the company gym during office hours. Either they are delivering what's expected of them anyway, or the manager has no idea what to expect regardless of in-office or remote working.

They also mentioned avoiding other distractions: That's the main feature of remote for me, after many years of wearing headphones all day in various offices.

> how managers are supposed to know if they are really working?

Because if they're not, they miss deadlines.

1. My manager lives and works in an entirely different state. 2. We do not have assigned seating on campus. We are just required to be on campus, but can find a place to work in any building. So, even if my manager was in the same state as me, I certainly would not be anywhere he could see me.

Why?

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