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Comment by edgyquant | Hacker News Reader

I’m a pro-remote manager but this is ridiculous hyperbole.

The point still stands, there’s so much distraction and waste in-office. While it may not rise to that level at most places, it most definitely does. I’ve seen it as well.

I think it can depend on job duties and home environment. If you’re a manager and have a family or live with a SO, home is probably less productive.

If you’re one of us who write code or build things, and you live alone, it’s almost 2X minimum productivity boost working at home.

Yea, at home your kids, your pets, your TV, your chores, your neighbors, your phone... definitely not distractions.

dont have kids, pets or a tv. my phone is with me in the office. chores are taken care of in short breaks which i need to take anyway. not sure how neighbours would distract me.

dont assume everyone else lives like you

No kids, pets or TV? You're the outlier. Your bosses know that, and that's why more of them are demanding people return to the office. Don't kill the messenger, dude.

Kids - at school TV, chores, phone (...) - people who have problems with willpower and distracting themselves are free to go to the office. All the rest can stay home.

> All the rest can stay home.

Apparently not, if you work for Amazon, according to this article.

Most of us learned to manage that 3 years ago when this all started

If that was true, your CEO wouldn't be requiring employees to return to the office. They know most people are more distracted and less productive at home, and are doing something about it.

No one has yet to come with actual hard data to prove workers are less productive. Studies have actually shown the opposite.

Unfortunately for you, life experience and common sense show that when people aren't being observed or monitored, they take shortcuts, work less, cheat, etc. You are welcome to meet with the CEO and show him or her your "studies" but I doubt they will be very persuasive.

Here are my "studies" to complement your "gut-feeling" (which I'm sure is easy to ascertain with the proximity of your head to them)

- https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/publications/d...

- https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200519005295/en/

- https://owllabs.com/state-of-remote-work/2021/

Weak sauce. Any boss with the bare minimum of critical thought would reject your assertions. Two of your studies are from companies that build remote-work software. 100% biased. The other looked at call center metrics from China. Is the work you do mindless like that of a call center? Are you expected to collaborate with others? Is your productivity as easy to measure as calls answered per hour? Did US or Europe ever limit the number of children parents (employees) could bear, and thus need to care for?

These weak sauce sources are better than any (read: none) sources you've been so kind as to share. To your point, I am better at mindful activities when I'm alone in my quiet home office with a comfortable chair than I am in a noisy cube farm with Jeff trying to talk to me about his weekend plans or asking me to head to the next-door Mexican restaurant for lunch. Plus, I work longer when I don't have an hour of commute to worry about. Eat breakfast and I'm ready to work.

“Life experience and common sense”. You’re a waste of time.

It couldn’t possibly be that the CEO is out of touch with the reality of their workers’ daily lives or they simply enjoy flexing their power, right?

Of course it could be. But the CEO makes the rules, so tough luck. Unfortunately your options are either to quit or stop complaining.

So you agree that it is nothing more than a pissing match?

If you think that's hyperbole, then you're not really competent enough to appreciate just how productive coding work can be when not continuously disrupted by managers (pro-remote or otherwise).

Thus reinforcing the stereotype that managers don’t understand what their employees are actually doing.

Hacker news absolutely loves ridiculous hyperbole.

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