Comment by JSDevOps | Hacker News Reader

Comment by JSDevOps | Hacker News Reader

The whole “remote work kills productivity” argument is outdated. Studies and real-world examples show the opposite: many people are more productive at home without the daily commute and office distractions. Plus, companies have tools and strategies to keep teams connected and engaged, so the idea that culture just dissolves over time isn’t based on reality. Culture isn’t about being in the same room; it’s about values, leadership, and communication. And remote companies are proving you can have a strong, action-driven culture without a traditional office. Also, let’s talk about this idea that employees’ good intentions aren't enough and that without the office, everything falls apart. This screams of a lack of trust in workers, which is not how modern businesses run. Successful companies trust their people, set clear expectations, and hold them accountable—whether they’re in the office or working from a coffee shop. It’s not about babysitting; it’s about outcomes. And this notion that computer science professionals won’t have bargaining power because of some glut is just not accurate. Sure, there are more CS grads, but the demand for skilled talent is still high, especially for top performers. Companies offering WFH flexibility are not just doing it out of kindness; it’s a strategic move to attract and retain talent in a competitive market. Restricting WFH options actually puts companies at a disadvantage. Bottom line: dismissing WFH as some kind of fad or liability ignores the reality that a ton of companies are making it work and even excelling. If anything, leaders worth their salt are those who adapt, trust their teams, and leverage the benefits of remote work, not those who cling to outdated office norms.

Really? A workplace with no proper desk, chair, lighting, multi screen setup, isolation from domestic distractions, crappy phone lines due to bad internet, the hurdle of contacting someone who used to sit next to you, and the impossibility of scribbling something on a whiteboard etc?

Sure, remote work can be productive for certain work, and for certain people. But people underestimate the value of an office.

Working in a coffee shop? Sure, if you have nothing to do but read some email.

I love both. And I don’t mind a short commute, as it starts and ends your work, resulting in a better work-life balance

I doubt there are many people in tech with bad Internet. Worst case, there's Starlink.

All other issues are easily solvable too, either with the right tools, or the right processes.

(nb. I also think working at a coffee shop isn't for most people)

Easily solvable? Tell that to the screaming toddlers.

Creche or another parent.

> All other issues are easily solvable too, either with the right tools, or the right processes.

By coming back to the office?

https://www.google.com/search?q=collaborative+whiteboard

Desk, chair, lightning, monitors are easily googlable, too.

Coming back to office creates more problems than it solves.

> Desk, chair, lightning, monitors are easily googlable, too.

All those things are part of the office and you don't have to pay for them.

> Coming back to office creates more problems than it solves.

Other than commute which could be a bitch in the US what other problems for the company do they create? Yes hanging out at home is nice for you/me, you can rest, nap, be with your kids, do chores, but how would this matter to the company when people abuse these situations on a regular basis?

> All those things are part of the office and you don't have to pay for them.

I gladly paid for them so I don't have to commute. Since going remote I could move to the countryside too. Bigger house, nicer environment, cheaper. My home office setup follows me if I switch jobs.

> Yes hanging out at home is nice for you/me, you can rest, nap, be with your kids, do chores, but how would this matter to the company when people abuse these situations on a regular basis?

If you don't have the discipline to work when you are supposed to, that's a you problem.

> If you don't have the discipline to work when you are supposed to, that's a you problem.

Actually it's a company problem, that is precisely why this is one of the main reasons they are doing it and why it actually makes sense.

People always slacked off in the office. Probably a lot more than at home.

> Probably a lot more than at home.

Statement based on pretty much nothing.

Based on experience. I worked in the office for many years.

If they abuse them then their productivity plummets and they get fired.

Seems rather heavy-handed. I think you can, like, get better Zoom meeting without traveling 10 hours a week and using Zoom at a different computer.

> A workplace with no proper desk, chair, lighting, multi screen setup, isolation from domestic distractions, crappy phone lines due to bad internet

Do you live in the past?

> Really? A workplace with no proper desk, chair, lighting, multi screen setup, isolation from domestic distractions, crappy phone lines due to bad internet, the hurdle of contacting someone who used to sit next to you, and the impossibility of scribbling something on a whiteboard etc?

1. The desk, chair, lighting and multi-screen setup I have at home is vastly superior to any I had in any company I worked for in the past, including FAANG.

2. Know what is worse than domestic distractions? Office distractions. People around you constantly talking in those noisy, nightmarish open offices. At home I can tell my wife I need to focus, shut the door to the home office room, and be productive. During the 15 years I worked from the office I had to wear fucking headphones with loud music to drown out the incessant office noise.

3. Not sure what you are going on about bad internet. Where the fuck do you live that internet connection is unreliable these days?

4. The beauty of asynchronous communication these days. I don't even like slack very much, but it is so much better than in-person communication, that even in the odd occasion when I am at the office I prefer to use it rather than speaking in person.

5. Ah, whiteboards. Funny you mention that, there are numerous excellent collaborative tools for that sort of thing nowadays. They end up being clearer since my writing and drawing skills are shit, and they are also asynchronous, which makes it so much nicer.

I have to agree with you. It took me until I'd got quite far through their comment to realise they were talking negatively about WFH and not being in-office.

Ah yes, async.. in theory it's good. It lets you context-switch. Unlike a computer, context switching for humans isn't nanoseconds.

And because the other person is also replying async, you have to wait. So you get the same fan-out problem as microservices.

I used to think so. Except it works great.

In a regular scenario I have multiple things ongoing that I have to wait beyond communication. I need to wait for code reviews. I have to wait until some changes are deployed until I can perform something. Truth is that a whole damn lot of what I do is async anyway. Instead of moaning about it, I decided to embrace it.

Maybe I am lucky that I work in a remote friendly environment, where people also work asynchronously.

The office, is probably 20% of your home. That's a substantial amount of money depending where you live.

Money I saved anyway, moving out of expensive, crowded cities.

> Working in a coffee shop? Sure, if you have nothing to do but read some email.

I loathe remote work, but support others in pursuing what works best for them.

With that being said, Coffitivity¹ exists for a reason. Some of us work much better in environments like that, myself included.

I did the majority of my studying at Rutgers in the student center on College Ave, as my ability to focus is much better when I'm around people, but not interacting with them. While not as impressive as if I had done so at an Ivy League institution, I believe this was essential to graduating from there summa cum laude.

[1] https://coffitivity.com/

In my case my office offers: Horrifically uncomfortable chairs, desks that are fought over because the monitors aren't shitty or flickering or buggy on a select few of them, constantly breaking power bricks that we have to call facilities to fixup, not a single person is happy with the temperature, the internet is slow for the amount of people there, CONSTANT distractions by the people around me. I can go on and on about this. All of this for the sweet, amazing convenience of having to commute to the office either in crammed busses/trains or by cycling in shitty weather.

In contrast, at home I control my environment, have my hyper comfortable chair in which I can spend 48 hours sitting without complaints, my own monitor setup that is infinitely superior to the crap they have at the office, I can control my own AC, I can control my noise level, I don't get casually interrupted by someone wanting to contact me out of the blue with irrelevant questions, I have 8 gig symmetric fiber internet that is literally never down and it's entirely 100% dedicated to only myself and my machines rather than being shared with 100 other people, and who uses whiteboards still? You can just buy a pen and paper if you really need to scribble something down

The added benefits are worth it in my opinion. The gains in freedom, lack of need to commute, access to good food from your fridge, the freedom from the tyranny of farting, loud, obnoxious office peers. Of course there is a down side for juniors and power seeking middle management but they are in the minority and can learn to adjust. The gains in mental health and personal life have to outweigh what is lost.

Not to mention huge benefits to the environment, reduced pollution, less traffic congestion leading to increased societal efficiency overall. And we can go on and on.

But it’s obvious corps only like to virtue signal about such things while in reality not caring one iota about them.

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