Working from home, good/bad?

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Any job that is done predominantly on PC can be done remotely. This idea that "we need to be in the office" is just flat out archaic in this day and age...
 
Caesar said:
This sort of perspective has never made a ton of sense to me - if you can make some degree of WFH work, why not make it the default and accommodate 'legitimate needs' to come into the office?

There's aspects of my job that can't be done remotely, but about 80% of it is sitting in front of a computer or having small, virtual-friendly meetings. It makes sense to me that I just manage my schedule and spend 80% of the time at home.

Office space is incredibly expensive - in Sydney CBD you pay upwards of $1,000/sq ft per month, and every employee needs about 10 square feet. If you took just five people like me out of our offices and gave us access to a workstation / meeting room one day a week, you would save literally hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in rent alone - let alone utilities and other outgoings.

I think WFH is just something we'll all be forced to make happen from an economic perspective in the next few years. Employees having a permanent physical office space is going to increasingly be viewed as an unnecessary luxury.
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Get what you are saying in general and if it works for you than who am I to say it doesn't?. but I totally disagree with the one point I bolded.

Having people going into major CBDs is far better for the economy as a whole than everyone WFH on a permanent basis. I absolutely guarantee you the government at some point will start to provide incentives to companies to get back into offices, likely through tax relief.

Obviously rent in CBD's will be lowered to some degree to get people back in to the space. Building owners are not going to keep rents high when no one is buying office space - they will lower it to suit the market.

That's not to say that companies that can WFH will continue to do so, if that approach works for them.
 
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HirdsTheWord said:
Get what you are saying in general but I totally disagree with the one point I bolded.

Having people going into major CBDs is far better for the economy as a whole than everyone WFH on a permanent basis. I absolutely guarantee you the government at some point will start to provide incentives to companies to get back into offices, likely through tax relief.

Obviously rent in CBD's will be lowered to some degree to get people back in to the space. Building owners are not going to keep rents high when no one is buying office space - they will lower it to suit the market.

That's not to say that companies that can WFH will continue to do so.
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Is it though? You could argue that with a large shift to home working some of that discretionary spending will instead be distributed throughout the city, state government transport infrastructure spending could be decreased, retail will simply shift online and there is the potential for parts of a CBD to be repurposed for residential. I haven't seen an economic study that conclusively says that a CBD focused economy is better than a distributed version.
 

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swingdog said:
Is it though? You could argue that with a large shift to home working some of that discretionary spending will instead be distributed throughout the city, state government transport infrastructure spending could be decreased, retail will simply shift online and there is the potential for parts of a CBD to be repurposed for residential. I haven't seen an economic study that conclusively says that a CBD focused economy is better than a distributed version.
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Yes I don't have an economic study in front of me either but cutting infrastructure spending would be a disaster for Jobs - construction is almost 1/5 of the GDP. Hence that was one of the first industries that was propped up by the government.

There would need to be a generational shift in industries & jobs for WFH to be more economically beneficial and coming off the back of a pandemic it would be a disaster. To be able to WFH you need a job in the first place....

Would be interesting too see a study into it no doubt.

The mere fact the government pushed its own people back into the office shows me they will push for the same in general industry... and i think once the vaccine roll out is well underway you will start to see that. Though its just my opinion, could be wrong.
 
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Catfish Alley said:
The 5 day work week in the office is a relatively new thing. I can’t see why it wouldn’t evolve. Technology makes it fairly easy in a lot of fields.

The biggest problem I see is that society is just used to it. In downtown areas many businesses rely on the commuter.

In my field I know theft is up simply because homeless are no longer getting money because city traffic is down 50%.
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East Hastings street not getting the traffic like it usually does?
 
HirdsTheWord said:
The mere fact the government pushed its own people back into the office shows me they will push for the same in general industry
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I think in the short term both government and non-government will want their employees using the assets they own and lease. There is no real financial advantage to WFH when you are still paying for office space standing vacant.

Medium-term, I suspect we will see organisations start to actively shed office space via asset sell-offs and non-renewal of leases.
 
HirdsTheWord said:
Yes I don't have an economic study in front of me either but cutting infrastructure spending would be a disaster for Jobs - construction is almost 1/5 of the GDP. Hence that was one of the first industries that was propped up by the government.

There would need to be a generational shift in industries & jobs for WFH to be more economically beneficial and coming off the back of a pandemic than it would be a disaster. To be able to WFH you need a job in the first place....

Would be interesting too see a study into it no doubt.

The mere fact the government pushed its own people back into the office shows me they will push for the same in general industry.
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That economic activity would likely just shift. Might not be the same
Caesar said:
I think in the short term both government and non-government will want their employees using the assets they own and lease. There is no real financial advantage to WFH when you are still paying for office space standing vacant.

Medium-term, I suspect we will see organisations start to actively shed office space via asset sell-offs and non-renewal of leases.
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I think that's right. The first signs we'll see (which have already started for some organisations) is the cancelling of new expanded office space.
 
swingdog said:
I think that's right. The first signs we'll see (which have already started for some organisations) is the cancelling of new expanded office space.
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Yeah, we were building a new headquarters when COVID hit.

Whilst they didn’t cancel the build, they have increased WFH opportunities for employees based at the new site in order to fit more teams than initially planned.

This has led to further consolidations at other sites, which is going to reduce the need for future builds.
 
Caesar said:
Yeah, we were building a new headquarters when COVID hit.

Whilst they didn’t cancel the build, they have increased WFH opportunities for employees based at the new site in order to fit more teams than initially planned.

This has led to further consolidations at other sites, which is going to reduce the need for future builds.
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Pre-9/11 the place I worked at had a
fancy new office block lined up. The facilities manager had charts and floor plans and was clicking his heels at the prospect. Though the business didn’t suffer that much they dumped the plans so as not to look like they were living it up in the middle of turmoil. IPO plans evaporated and a bunch of managers hired to prepare for it started grumbling that they wouldn’t get their bonuses and share options.
 
Caesar said:
Yeah, we were building a new headquarters when COVID hit.

Whilst they didn’t cancel the build, they have increased WFH opportunities for employees based at the new site in order to fit more teams than initially planned.

This has led to further consolidations at other sites, which is going to reduce the need for future builds.
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Interesting piece on possible metropolitan re-distributions from Covid:

www.thefifthestate.com.au

Williams on Covid’s great “levelling out” between subs and burbs

Can the impact and premium of the agglomerated knowledge economy of a CBD really be replicated in the disaggregated city? Follow the money. While we can
www.thefifthestate.com.au www.thefifthestate.com.au
 
the_interloper said:
I'm "working from home today", as in watching Netflix and replying to the odd email, cruisy Monday. Much easier to approach WFH when i'm pretty sure I'll be back in the office later in the week.
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I wouldn't mind betting us Victorians will be WFH all this week, and probably next week as well.
 

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Caesar said:
I think in the short term both government and non-government will want their employees using the assets they own and lease. There is no real financial advantage to WFH when you are still paying for office space standing vacant.

Medium-term, I suspect we will see organisations start to actively shed office space via asset sell-offs and non-renewal of leases.
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My employer's CBD office lease ends in March. Saving $160k a year by ditching it.
 
Have no idea how people are still working from home full time and haven’t been in the office since March 2021

Having 3-4 days in the office and 1 at home is the perfect set up
 
Mazza1234678 said:
Have no idea how people are still working from home full time and haven’t been in the office since March 2021

Having 3-4 days in the office and 1 at home is the perfect set up
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I have a 45-50 min commute to get to/from the office for a job I can do 100% remotely. Give me 3-4 days at home and 1-2 in the CBD over the reverse any day!

No packed bus, no roadworks, no tackling the weather on the walk, more freedom during the day. No downside at all to WFH imo - just keep social in other areas of life
 
burge13 said:
I have a 45-50 min commute to get to/from the office for a job I can do 100% remotely. Give me 3-4 days at home and 1-2 in the CBD over the reverse any day!

No packed bus, no roadworks, no tackling the weather on the walk, more freedom during the day. No downside at all to WFH imo - just keep social in other areas of life
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Likewise, don't miss the commute, do enjoy the chance to go for a run, ride or swim during the day when I want. Only going in for necessary meetings now, have more time to do deep dives into work and avoid random "let's have a meeting to catch up" meetings. Replaced with quick Zooms.
 
I've been into the office maybe 5 times since March 2020. I've also changed organisations in November 2020, so have hardly seen a lot of people I now work with face-to-face.

The entirety of my work can be done from home. I only have a 25-30 minute door-to-door commute, but saving that hour each day, plus the amount of time it takes me to get ready in the morning and settle back inside after work, all up saves me more than 2 hours each day.

The disruption in the early days made it difficult but now my work is much more efficient. I tend to spend less time for my lunch break at home, but I just get my work done and call it a day early if I can.

I do miss the water cooler chats though. But definitely not the unexpected train delays.
 
Gigantic said:
I've been into the office maybe 5 times since March 2020. I've also changed organisations in November 2020, so have hardly seen a lot of people I now work with face-to-face.

The entirety of my work can be done from home. I only have a 25-30 minute door-to-door commute, but saving that hour each day, plus the amount of time it takes me to get ready in the morning and settle back inside after work, all up saves me more than 2 hours each day.

The disruption in the early days made it difficult but now my work is much more efficient. I tend to spend less time for my lunch break at home, but I just get my work done and call it a day early if I can.

I do miss the water cooler chats though. But definitely not the unexpected train delays.
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I am in a pretty similar boat. My office is a 20min commute, but I'm the only member of my team based at that facility so I seldom bother to go in. My current boss is fairly forward-thinking, so he doesn't really care where I am as long as I get the work done. I've really liked it. Aside from the time saved it's meant we've been able to spend more time with family - if we want to go visit my mother-in-law or my wife's nieces, I just work out of their study for a week or two.

Being at home means I'm eating better and exercising more, so I'm a hell of a lot fitter than I was. It's less social, but that just means I have to be a bit less lazy about catching up with friends - not a bad thing. My main concern is the impact that a lack of networking will have on my career trajectory. I have started doing a day or two in the office every few weeks, just to get face time with people in other business lines and keep across everything that's happening in the company.

It's still not really enough, and I'm looking for a better solution. Potentially I transfer my primary working location to head office, and spend a little more time there. It's a long commute but if I want to keep progressing I really need to keep making connections.
 
Caesar said:
Being at home means I'm eating better and exercising more, so I'm a hell of a lot fitter than I was. It's less social, but that just means I have to be a bit less lazy about catching up with friends - not a bad thing. My main concern is the impact that a lack of networking will have on my career trajectory. I have started doing a day or two in the office every few weeks, just to get face time with people in other business lines and keep across everything that's happening in the company.
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Yeah, the networking bit is one that concerns me too. I can't remember the last time I caught up for drinks or lunch with ex-colleagues or people outside of my direct team. Although, most conferences and events have been online so the opportunity to network has been limited to within my organisation.
 
Gigantic said:
Yeah, the networking bit is one that concerns me too. I can't remember the last time I caught up for drinks or lunch with ex-colleagues or people outside of my direct team. Although, most conferences and events have been online so the opportunity to network has been limited to within my organisation.
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zoom networking, drinks or any sort of trivia is unbearable. the inability to have multiple conversations occur at the same time just kills it for me.

late last year i expected i would be super keen to get back to the office multiple days per week.

however unless i need to be there (or unless there’s someone i want to meet for lunch/coffee/after work drinks) i pretty much exclusively work from home.

helps the office is a 10 minute uber away so i can go back and forth on the same day, if necessary.
 
Gigantic said:
Yeah, the networking bit is one that concerns me too. I can't remember the last time I caught up for drinks or lunch with ex-colleagues or people outside of my direct team. Although, most conferences and events have been online so the opportunity to network has been limited to within my organisation.
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It probably depends on where you're at in your career. If networking doesn't matter so much anymore, then the lack of face to face is less important.
 
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