Ask HN: What do you hate about remote work? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What do you hate about remote work?

4 pointsjoshbochu9 comments

Have been remote for quite a few years, even before the pandemic.

The things I hate are: Less clear border between work and private time. Not a lot of social interactions. No possibility to go for lunch or have Friday drinks with colleagues. No face to face one on one meetings (Zoom meetings work, but it's not the same). It can be boring and hard to focus. Meetings are bad, video calls are worse.

But overall I very much like remote working. Mainly because it's much more flexible, you can schedule work around life. Prepare a healthy lunch. Do some chores during the day. Blast music. Work from bed if you feel like shit some days. Go to the gym in between work. No forced distractions (you can mute notifications). Save a lot of time on commuting. Work anywhere in the world for a company anywhere in the world. Have company meetups, travel to interesting places (at least pre pandemic that was a thing).

* Human contact only through intentional social plans, which are limited and can easily not happen. Could get roommates, but then I'd be stuck with them 24x7. Preferred having reliable by-default access to both socialization and solitude depending on the hour and location.

* Cabin fever. Few reasons to leave the apartment, no other place I can spend any length of time. Happier with a routine and changes of venue throughout the day. Bed to desk to couch doesn't cut it. Walks help but not that much. Restaurant meals expensive and unhealthy. Coffee shops decent but discourage long stays.

* Dramatically increased meeting load. Our data is line with Microsoft's data: people are spending 2-2.5x as much time in meetings as before the pandemic. Zoom is okay for presentations and monologues but trying to have a conversation is unpleasant and fatiguing.

* Losing the sense of my coworkers as real people. Running on the inertia of pre-pandemic relationships as they slowly degrade. Workplace is okay today but the future looks grim.

* Always been a big-city person. Hard to justify living in one now. Still can't stomach sprawl. Contributes to feeling adrift and without belonging anywhere.

Nothing for me, I never really tried to develop meaningful relationships with colleagues before. I kept it professional.

I can now use geographic arbitrage to save a lot of money and explore the world. I am able to constantly hit the gym and work when I am better focus (at night).

I assume things could be different if I had a family, but for a single person, I don't have a lot of downside at the moment.

Nothing. But I don't do "video calls" - never was and never will be.

How large long meandering meetings also jumped along with it.

Did your company adapt to remote work with in-office culture?

What do you think could help make it easier to reduce/eliminate meetings in a remote environment?

Nothing. I've been doing it since 2015, and it's the best working conditions and work/life balance I've ever had.

That's awesome! I'm a huge fan of remote work myself. But there are pros/cons to everything. Are there any elements of in-office work that you wish were possible in a remote setting?

Actually, I can't think of anything. I spent decades in the office (in many countries), and now that I've spent almost another decade out of it, I can't think of a single thing I miss about it, or that was better in an office.

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