Work in the 21st century

[westwardloo]

Even within my own job, there are some aspects of it that work fine from home and others that don’t. If I’m just putting my head down and implementing a new feature or fixing a bug, I can do it at home, and the lack of interruptions might even make it a better environment than being at the office. But if I’m discussing with others how something should work or which problems we should deal with first, I’d much rather discuss in person. And I agree with the idea that it’s hard to know ones co-workers entirely from a distance; there needs to be some sort of personal relationship or rapport, even if it doesn’t extend outside of work.

Remote-first tech companies often organize in-person meetups a few times a year. Saves them the trouble of paying for office space the rest of the year. 

There are a number of results that show that working 4 days a week, in general, is as productive as working 5 days a week, and way better for people. In general I don't really think that being in the office 5 days a week is good for people or productivity.

I mean that is kind of a different discussion. I 100% agree that we should implement a 4 day work week in as many industries as possible. It proven to be just as productive and would be a huge boost to local travel/ hospitality industries. Image what people would do if every weekend was 3 days long. 

In terms of work from home vs office. I think over the long term, companies that work from office will be more successful than companies that are 100% work from home. Meeting in person 3-4 times a year will not build the same level of collaboration or team bonding that in office does. I think there could be a good balance though. Maybe 2-3 days in the office or work half a day everyday in the office. 

Commute times are another issue, the main one being over the past couple decades firms seem to only open Toronto offices instead of spreading the workforce out throughout ontario. There was a time that satellite offices in London, Kitchener or Hamilton would have been common practise, now they just expand in GTA. Ontario needs to be better at promoting some of our smaller cities for companies to set up offices space in.