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Working From Home: What if You Never Saw Your Colleagues in Person Again? (bbc.com)
Bryan Lufkin, writing for BBC: Throughout my career I've worked with people that I've never met in person. In theory, I could spend an entire day without meeting another human face-to-face. But could this kind of self-imposed isolation become standard working practice in the future?
Studies show that in the US, the number of telecommuters rose 115% between 2005 and 2017. And in early 2015, around 500,000 people used Slack, the real-time chat room programme, daily. By last September, that number soared to over 6 million. In 2017 a Gallup poll revealed that 43% of 15,000 Americans say they spend at least some of their time working remotely, a 4% rise from 2012. And a 2015 YouGov study found that 30% of UK office workers say they feel more productive when they work outside their workplace. How would we feel if we never had to work with another person face-to-face again? Would we care? Have things gone so far that we might not even notice?
Studies show that in the US, the number of telecommuters rose 115% between 2005 and 2017. And in early 2015, around 500,000 people used Slack, the real-time chat room programme, daily. By last September, that number soared to over 6 million. In 2017 a Gallup poll revealed that 43% of 15,000 Americans say they spend at least some of their time working remotely, a 4% rise from 2012. And a 2015 YouGov study found that 30% of UK office workers say they feel more productive when they work outside their workplace. How would we feel if we never had to work with another person face-to-face again? Would we care? Have things gone so far that we might not even notice?
Well I think one of the causes for this is the insistence from upper management that open plan offices are a good idea and impose it on every one but themselves.
the result is that people need to find a quiet place from time to time to not be disturb so that they can concentrate on a specific task. And when putting headphones on, not answering email immediately and so on don't work any more because people just come by your desk and stand there until you give up and talk to them, the only solution is to simply not be there!
When I was Debian project leader - is that around 20 years ago now? Time flies - I had around 200 regular collaborators who were the package maintainers at that time. They were distributed worldwide and we never met. We made a great distribution that worked and got on the Space Shuttle for two flights. I ran into Ian Kluft at a ham radio function, and eventually was invited to Europe to speak and met some other developers. But I have still never met many of those 200.
Bruce Perens.
Sounds like a solution to every working man being accused of sexual harassment for looking at a woman. Then if your spouse sues, at least t's community property.
How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.
I'm much more torn than you seem to be. I would definitely miss some because they are fun, interesting people, and others for more aesthetic reasons. A solid 50% or so I could definitely do without.
But I've worked from home for short periods, and I can honestly say that I do get somewhat stir-crazy. I need some intellectual human interaction on a pretty regular basis. I'd love to work from home one day a week. I honestly don't know that I'd like more than that.
Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
When you never see somebody, then the personalization goes down. I'm all for teleworking, but not 100% telework. If your boss never sees you, its probably a LOT easer to lay you off.
People who are self-centered, self-absorbed, and self-important are blind to their issues and conditioning. Introspection helps in keeping the issues from spilling all over the others. I therefore can't see the irony in that part of the other AC's post.