Work from home ?

[Nomad]

So our oldest had a Independence Day party at our home , a bunch of 30 year olds I’ve known for many years , some how the topic turned to working from home which many of them did, they averaged 4 hours of work a day ,wtf ? One guy ,” I work from 7-9, then I workout , take a nap, eat lunch, after lunch I check some emails . “  Another ,” I work 4 hours a day and take a bunch of naps .” 
 

This continues around the patio , I was shocked really . One guy there works skilled trades 50 hours a week , lives in the Rochester area ,  one day he maybe working in Albany ( six hours driving ) the next Buffalo , I bet he’d like a nap …. Or our daughter the RN 12 hour night , which with lunch and finishing up is more like 13 then and travel time ,you basically go home and try to sleep, after three night shifts it’s a full day to try and recover . Now I’m sure some work more, like our other daughter does ,a CPA manager,she does 70 hours plus half the year ,and 40 the rest .

Its interesting that half workforce works a couple to four hours a day from home , while hands on people are doing 40-50 hours . 

[Swamp_bucks]

One of my wife’s friend is the same way she works maybe 6hrs a day gets payed for 8 and was told last month she will be permanent at home minus the monthly meeting. Most of her afternoons are just checking her email.

[Lawdwaz]

What goes around comes around..........It'll change when management starts to tighten up the reins in 3, 2, and.................

[The_Real_TCIII]

What goes around comes around..........It'll change when management starts to tighten up the reins in 3, 2, and.................

Theyre treading lightly because theres a lot of competition for employees


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[moog5050]

I like to believe I am reasonably intelligent but can’t figure out where the workforce went.  I get that the gov handed out money to some but don’t people have bills to pay?   I could sit home and do nothing but earn a living by the hour so I couldn’t do it for long.  Lol

[grampy]

At 65 I'm still working 40 hrs. Keeping things nice at my home. And going up to the farm to help out 3 to 4 evenings a week and or, a weekend day. 

I'm really slowing down in my old age!

[mowin]

My stepdaughter just graduated with her master's this May in hospital administration.  She put out feelers in her field. 

She took a offer close to 100k and can work from home whenever she wants.  

[BizCT]

I like to believe I am reasonably intelligent but can’t figure out where the workforce went.  I get that the gov handed out money to some but don’t people have bills to pay?   I could sit home and do nothing but earn a living by the hour so I couldn’t do it for long.  Lol

Theyre treading lightly because theres a lot of competition for employees


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The war on talent is insane right now. A lot of people leaving work to simply “walk the earth” and just live. So the talent pool shrinks and flexibility and pay keeps skyrocketing.

For me, Walking around Bryant Park in NYC when I had some downtime was nice. But what’s nicer? Spending that time with my daughter in the pool, mowing the lawn, and getting other house stuff done.

The technology is there to WFH for many professions and it leads to more productivity especially during off hours.

Just recently a bunch of firms announced “Remote August” so for the whole month you can live and work anywhere. Smart move and great for the young professionals with no kids etc. you can rent a condo for a month anywhere in the world and work


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[BizCT]

My stepdaughter just graduated with her master's this May in hospital administration.  She put out feelers in her field. 
She took a offer close to 100k and can work from home whenever she wants.  

Yup. We have young analysts work 1-2 months and then ask to work from 3,000 miles away. The younger generation knows they can ask for almost anything they want


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[Lawdwaz]

29 minutes ago, mowin said:

My stepdaughter just graduated with her master's this May in hospital administration.  She put out feelers in her field. 

She took a offer close to 100k and can work from home whenever she wants.  

LOL what a joke.  She's really going to have her finger on the pulse from home! 

[Nomad]

50 minutes ago, moog5050 said:

I like to believe I am reasonably intelligent but can’t figure out where the workforce went.  I get that the gov handed out money to some but don’t people have bills to pay?   I could sit home and do nothing but earn a living by the hour so I couldn’t do it for long.  Lol

We retired . The boomers were the largest workforce , the ones under us don’t have the numbers to  fill all the positions we vacated . Hell it would take two to fill my spot alone .

I get working from home , guy next to me is a project manger handles 1/5 of the country for his firm , he leaves for lunch each day ,and occasionally cuts the grass mid day. But otherwise he puts in a full day ,this 2-4 hours a day is mind boggling . Meanwhile ,cops, teachers ,firemen, tradesmen , nurses are working 40-50 . Well a lot of cops here are working 16 hour days .

Oh and don’t ask me to,pay your damn college loan, ( I paid cash for our kids )  maybe take another job and work 4-8 hours a day .

And  Bill ,I never had a job where I didn’t bleed, sweat ,and limp , kept me in shape these take a nap kids were grossly out of shape , and pale , perhaps nap outside ? 
 

 

[Nomad]

38 minutes ago, mowin said:

My stepdaughter just graduated with her master's this May in hospital administration.  She put out feelers in her field. 

She took a offer close to 100k and can work from home whenever she wants.  

That’s good starting pay, I made more on the FD with 100% healthcare on the job and in retirement along with a great pension . Zero college . But I did have to show up 42 hours a week . I couldn’t imagine being home all day and night with my wife ! Not seeing each other for days at a time may have been why we made it this long !

[BizCT]

LOL what a joke.  She's really going to have her finger on the pulse from home! 

My close friend works for a NYC public hospital while living in Los Angeles since 2016. The only catch is he has to work NY hours. But he’s done by 1pm local time everyday and no LA commute


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[BizCT]

I couldn’t imagine being home all day and night with my wife ! Not seeing each other for days at a time may have been why we made it this long !

It works great for us. I watch my daughter from 7am - 8am while my wife showers and make breakfast and then I can see them whenever I want all day by walking down the hall. Then I’ll swim with my daughter in the afternoon while my wife cooks dinner uninterrupted. I’ve spent more time with my daughter in 2 years than I expected to in 18 years. It’s been amazing.

Separately, for the CPA. I had a few buddies do those crazy tax season hours for E&Y. They all got
Burnt out after 4-5 years and by 27-28 moved onto different types of work. It’s draining no doubt


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[JJBat150]

I work for the Federal Government as a Supervisory IT Specialist- Have been able to telework ad-hoc the past 15 years or so but choose to work from a facility as much as possible.  Was required (forced) to go 100% telework when the pandemic started.  

For us, telework / Work from Home (WFH) is normal - put a computer in front of me, and with the remote access technology, most IT work on systems can be done this way.  As a higher-level supervisor, most of my day is spent on MS Teams doing scheduled tele-conferences and ad-hoc calls.   I feel that I am just a productive from the home office as I would be in a facility.   Most of my work is remote; my 5 subordinate employees are spread out across the East Coast, and we provide support Nation-wide, so calling folks on a phone / Teams Call is a normal thing, and we actually have very little face to face interaction with each other or the folks we support.

Fully admit that I take a morning walk with the dog most every morning and walk the property, but it's usually 20-30 minutes; about the same amount of time I would be away from the desk if I took a walk at the facility.  Working from home, I do find myself working some few extra hours, especially when dealing with the west coast, but it's still a good balance between home and work life.

One thing engrained into us as feds and working for the taxpayer is that telework is authorized if it's a benefit to the agency, not the employee.  Teleworking I am also required to work my normal tour of duty (40 Hrs/week) - not "flex" my time and work a few hours, do personal stuff, then work again for a few hours.   Have also always been told that telework is not a replacement for childcare - basically if the kids had a snow day or the babysitter was a no-show, I wasn't allowed to ad-hoc telework to be at home to keep an eye on them.   Granted the pandemic lightened up some of this.

 I hate it when I see people posting things on social media about "tough day working from home as a sit with my feet in the pool reading email".   Stupid posts like this prolificated when the pandemic first hit, now I ignore them.

This is my home office - it's not the kitchen table, the couch watching daytime talk shows, or sitting on the deck watching the family in the pool.... it's a dedicated work area.

 

Edited July 7, 2022 by JJBat150

[JJBat150]

7 minutes ago, BizCT said:

My close friend works for a NYC public hospital while living in Los Angeles since 2016. The only catch is he has to work NY hours. But he’s done by 1pm local time everyday and no LA commute


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I have a lot of co-workers that have re-located while tele-working; most are down-sizing getting ready for retirement.   One benefit of being a federal employee is the locality pay.   Folks are moving to areas with high locality pay but saving money due to no commuting costs.   Locality pay also affects your pension computation... 

[Swamp_bucks]

My wife is looking into a job that would allow her to work from home.  She would have to take 6months of classes.  The starting wage is more with more room to grow salary wise than the fields she’s in now. Plus not traveling with the current gas prices and mileage on our car. She averages 20k miles/year between going to the office and going to clients homes. 
 

So I am all for it if she can but it’s not for me I need to separate home and work. I’ll find something else to do if I was home all the time.  I also don’t mind my 4 12hr shifts guaranteed 3-5 days off between my weeks.

[Robhuntandfish]

9 hours ago, moog5050 said:

I like to believe I am reasonably intelligent but can’t figure out where the workforce went.  I get that the gov handed out money to some but don’t people have bills to pay?   I could sit home and do nothing but earn a living by the hour so I couldn’t do it for long.  Lol

there was 2.5 million more retirees during the pandemic than was expected previous. If you were just working to be working or for some extra pocket money, many retired to be out of the covid mask wearing mess.  Then if the #'s are true nearly a million died from Covid.  Add in, as Nomad said, less of a working age population as well as people working from home 4 hours a day prob means more staff is needed to cover.  As well as everyone is trying to catch up with production and demand after being shut down so more workers are needed.  Then add in all the entitlements people are getting and dont work. It always amazes me come tax time how someone that barely worked all year can get 10K+ for a tax return because they have kids and meanwhile I can barely get anything after paying in a ton.   

 

We have always had shortages at work in certian depts but it has def gotten worse with all the competiton out there. I never missed a single day during the pandemic or worked from home.  I was often the only one around in my whole area or building. 

Times are def changing and remote work is looked at as perk that companies can offer to attract people.  Even if productivity is less its more than nothing, and staff will tend to stay.  I used to be a 60+ hour a week person and just grind and grind.  The older i get the more i have realized work is just a part of my life and not my life.  And 8 hours is enough there, although when more is needed i will always be there. I will get more done in 8 hours than most do in two days and always put in an honest day, but thru days of taking home work or working on weekends i have realized in the long run never gets you ahead it just makes life shorter. And i think a lot of the newer generation are smarter than I and realized this at an earlier age.  Everyone is replaceable, when you retire the work will still go on without you. And in the big scheme of things how important was it to begin with..... 

Edited July 7, 2022 by Robhuntandfish

[sbuff]

They say wfh is more productive, everyone I know that does it says they only work 4hrs max. How is that more productive? Then they  swim in pool, mow lawn, grocery shop, transport kids here and there, get kids on and off the buss,  work in garden, go to the gym etc all while I'm working a legit 40hr work week unless a storm rolls in then its 60plus hours .  

Maybe its me but I would feel beyond guilty taking advantage of the company I worked for the past 27 years that's put food on the table and has allowed me to live a good life .

 

[GreeneHunter]

10 hours ago, grampy said:

At 65 I'm still working 40 hrs. Keeping things nice at my home. And going up to the farm to help out 3 to 4 evenings a week and or, a weekend day. 

I'm really slowing down in my old age!

I'm turning 65 this month and retired 2 years ago because the Wifey wanted me to , I firmly believe working keeps you going . I have a list of projects to do at our house and my hunting property (which my son and Grandson will inherit eventually) needs work done and maybe a couple new Ladder stands installed also perhaps install a couple 10 x 10 food plots ! Retiring and watching the grass grow is a Killer !

[BizCT]

They say wfh is more productive, everyone I know that does it says they only work 4hrs max. How is that more productive? Then they  swim in pool, mow lawn, grocery shop, transport kids here and there, get kids on and off the buss,  work in garden, go to the gym etc all while I'm working a legit 40hr work week unless a storm rolls in then its 60plus hours .  
Maybe its me but I would feel beyond guilty taking advantage of the company I worked for the past 27 years that's put food on the table and has allowed me to live a good life .
 

Unless it’s assembly line type work I don’t see how a certain number of hours like 40 means anything. If you can do your job in 36 and the other guy takes 44. I’d rather your at 36.

Most people working from home still are exempt and not hourly employees. So while they may run some errands or do fun stuff on a Wednesday, they also take a call or have a meeting on Sunday night at 10pm.


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[Nytracker]

They don't make a wrench long enough  for me to work from home. Covid shut down sucked. I ran my ass off for months trying to do the work  of 4 mechanics. 12 hour shifts. Worked a couple 24 hour shifts do to call offs. Told my bosses if they do it again I was quitting. 

[crappyice]

I imagine big time companies love remote work too. Once they can drop those high $$$ leases in NYC, reallocate $$$ from big functions and entertainment with clients, etc and a happier workforce equals greater productivity. Why do they care if Bjz cuts the grass and hangs with his kid if he is producing the same if not better than before.
Do I wish I stay home and work remote like those crazy kids...not really. That's not me. I need to be out of the house and working multiple jobs to keep things interesting.

Stop hating on those who are making theirs and go make (or at least enjoy) yours!


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[BizCT]

55 minutes ago, crappyice said:

I imagine big time companies love remote work too. Once they can drop those high $$$ leases in NYC, reallocate $$$ from big functions and entertainment with clients, etc and a happier workforce equals greater productivity. Why do they care if Bjz cuts the grass and hangs with his kid if he is producing the same if not better than before.
Do I wish I stay home and work remote like those crazy kids...not really. That's not me. I need to be out of the house and working multiple jobs to keep things interesting.

Stop hating on those who are making theirs and go make (or at least enjoy) yours!


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Good point on the overhead. Lots of us already had the docking station and dual monitors from work at home already. It's how we worked from home a few times per month, during xmas time, etc. So no expense there. Then real estate wise, companies are down sizing or subletting out certain floors they no longer. Less people in the office i'm sure means less free coffee drank, less free snacks eaten, etc. Tons of savings for employees too. Train/Parking is $5K/year easily and that's not even factoring in Joey B's gas prices!

[mowin]

10 hours ago, Lawdwaz said:

LOL what a joke.  She's really going to have her finger on the pulse from home! 

Obviously her supervisors feel differently.