this post was submitted on 02 Dec 2023
356 points (96.6% liked)

News

23409 readers
4623 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (12 children)

Obviously, there are many reasons why that's a good thing. But I do worry that it'll erode the boundary between work and free time even further. The best jobs I've ever had, were when I had a time clock.

I arrived. I clocked in. I was working.

I clocked out. I was no longer working. I didn't really think or worry about work that much.

With working from home, there's a danger you keep working for longer, or are never truly mentally 'off the clock'. The work day ends, but you're in the kitchen and remember that thing you had to do, and quickly log back in. Or the boss, who's used to calling you, calls you after hours to check something.

It's important to have a hard dilineation between work and not work. For all its downsides, the commute to and from the office offered that.

If work from home is the new normal, we need to find new ways to safeguard that dilineation, and ensure work time doesn't bleed into free time. Also, that the work space doesn't invade our personal space too much. Like a box of work documents in the kitchen that makes you slightly stressed by its sheer presence.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago

Set alarm, clock in, clock out. If you're unable to do it at home it's because you would have been unable to do it by going to the office, people do so much unpaid overtime no matter where they work, it's ridiculous.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago

It requires some self control, but it's not that hard to create a boundary when working from home. I'd rather exercise some self control than waste so much of my time and energy on the daily commute. A boss calling you after hours for anything short of an emergency is a shitty boss. He could just as well do that if you're not working from home, after all.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Eroding that boundary can also be in your favor... I can step away from the desk for a few minutes to start my laundry, prep something for dinner, or even just go to the grocery store during "lunch" because I can bring the food straight back home since I'm not far away from home at an office. Working remotely is giving me back time. And this isn't time "lost" from the employer's perspective... I'm just doing something useful with my break times rather than wandering down to the water-cooler to chat with other employees.

The trick is to allow only the erosion that you find acceptable. That's a matter of personal organization and self-control, and each person has to set up a system that works best for them. I use a spare bedroom as my office, and I only go in there during working hours. Everything work-related stays in there.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

you’re in the kitchen and remember that thing you had to do

You take your phone, mail a quick message to yourself "remember to do x" and continue cooking. It offloads the issue from your mind as you handled it for now and first thing tomorrow you will deal with it further.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

...exactly the way you used to do it when you went to work at the office every day.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Yes, that's the point to keep the same separation. I don't sit on my work chair in private time either.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Obviously, there are many reasons why that's a good thing. But I do worry that it'll erode the boundary between work and free time even further. The best jobs I've ever had, were when I had a time clock.

I’m the exact opposite. I like there being fewer boundaries between work and free time and these things blurring together more. I’m only allowed to be busy with work between 9:00 and 17:00? What if I’m stuck on something, I can’t do a chore in the house to clear my head? What if I have a good idea at 22:00, do I have to wait until the next morning to try it out?

For me this compartmentalization of my life feels unnatural. It feels much more natural to just flow between work and personal stuff. I may be struggling with how to implement something, so I’ll stop coding an empty the dishwasher, let the problem simmer in the back of my mind. Usually it’s cleared up after taking my mind off it for a while. It would be hell to have to just sit at my desk staring at my screen, trying to force my brain into doing something because now is ‘work time’ and I can only spend that time on work. In reality when I worked from the office every day that time would just have been wasted with some aimless web browsing.

I think we should move in the opposite direction: less separation of work and personal time and get rid of the whole concept of working and personal hours to begin with. Just do what needs to be done, when you want to do it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

The work day ends, but you’re in the kitchen and remember that thing you had to do, and quickly log back in.

When I have to work in an office and that happens, I am instead up half the night worrying about the consequences. I'd rather get sleep.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I can appreciate that that worked for you. That arrangement for me stressed me out too much. Was always worried about being in trouble for being 3 mins late etc. It was awful. I'm more than capable of turning work off when my day ends. I see 5pm, I stop and don't start again until my next scheduled time.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I do exactly this; log on occasionally to finish small things, take the occasional emergency call from a colleague to help them out, work a little past the end of my shift just to get stuff done, etc. whilst I recognise it’s bad and advise others not to do it, I do as it feels like a small sacrifice for what I get in return.

I am 100% WFH. I save 2 hours a day on commuting, plus not having to iron shirts and general office-level prep. I save money on fuel and car maintenance. I have ready access to my own food and drink and is healthier than what’s in range of my office. I get to be with my family more, help the missus with our 2 young kids when needed, do housework or play with the kids on my lunch. I can focus on my work rather than having people constantly talking to me.

All these things combined make me considerably happier and calmer, even though my job is actually incredibly stressful :D haha.

Whilst I never condone working for free, I justify it to myself as a trade; never make me come to an office ever again and I’ll chuck in the extra 10% every now and again, haha.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You’re thinking in the right direction. And, employers are going to increasingly insist on what I like to call repressionware, hardware and software installed in your home workspace that effectively leashes you to work, vitiating many of the advantages wfh gives today.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Employers will quickly learn that leashing a person to their laptop will not prevent wasted time, it'll cause them to waste time in other ways, and will drive away talent. The only harm is when it impacts outcomes, which is easier and more beneficial to track.

It's pretty obvious when someone is underperforming, you don't need to know whether they've been doing the laundry between meetings.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago

I can't imagine so many enjoy having work invade their personal lives. I built my home for comfort and relaxation, adding work into that destroyed my home. I bring zero work home with me, I don't even think of it when I leave my office. Adding that into your home creates a dark place that will lead to depression.