Malcolm Gladwell slams working from home: ‘What have you reduced your life to?’

my rebuttal to your items:

1. You miss interaction with family, close friends, spouses etc when you spend 8-10 hours a day in an office/commuting.

2. Snacks can be cheaply bought at costco and last awhile. Ever heard of a home gym? Also some of us prefer home cooked meals (especially eaten together as a family).

Remote work will backfire in workers in the US. If your work can truly be done remotely why in hayl would anyone looking to make a profit pay you $150K for your remote work when that same work can be done remotely in Ukraine, India, China etc for far less in pay and benefits? Better get yer a$$es back into the office ASAP.

Some companies have brought back call centers to the US bc they don’t work for certain customers.

anyway, if someone lays me off simply bc I’m remote I’ll find another. I always do through all sorts of recessions and workplace trends.

I’ve worked from home for 20 years. It is great. The people that hate it;

- Extraverts that need other people around all the time to be happy.

- CEOs and other bosses with low trust that want to watch over employees.

- People that can’t stay on task on their own. Often this is accompanied by the belief that everyone else is as well.

- People with no family or social groups outside of work.

Remote workers are of little value. The technology they use to process and communicate information will ultimately be their downfall as artificial intelligence takes over more tasks currently performed by humans. Sales, marketing, accounting and HR clowns please stay home and watch Judge Judy. The world won't notice the absence of your faux productivity.

The first mass layoff of remote workers is coming soon. Gonna be a kick in the head to leave the house when a potential employer insists upon an in-person interview.

All W-2 serfs are expendable.

lol, respect. More subjects of threads on here should come and mix it up on the Boards, imo.

Malcolm! My man! Loved the Elvis Revisionist Pod episode with Jack White- a real gem.

As for working from home... did 1L year remotely, some pros (flexibility, less intimidating cold calls) and some cons (less personal connection, easily distracted) that only really became evident after the fact. I will note, however, that my mood this summer at an in-person job tanked when I shuffled upstairs to my desk each morning...

Like Jeffrey Toobsteak and other NYer weenie scriveners, Glandswell needs to get in his home-office, online stroke time.

The way Gladwell relates to his work is different from the overwhelming majority of other people. He has a huge degree of autonomy over his day-to-day activities in his job. That feeling of being in control gives you a different perspective on what work is, how it fits into your life, and most importantly, how you enjoy it. Most jobs don't give people much autonomy. Instead, you do what the organisation and role require of you, usually under supervision from line managers who can be extremely controlling.

Working from home gives a lot more employees greater control over their working day. Their jobs might not have changed, they still have tasks to complete, but they have a little more control over when and where they do them. This makes people more content in their job and happier overall.

I don't think Gladwell will truly understand this as he's only ever had jobs that allow him a lot of control. He's never been constrained to work day-after-day, year-upon-year solely on someone else's projects. Work is a lot of fun when you have a lot of freedom.

He still has to suck his salary out of David Remnick's ass.

Twice a month.

Malcom - the prophet of all things obvious

We've been at home for 2.5 years.

Pros:

-it's about a $200-$300 per mo raise for me, and the company doesn't have to write a check.

-it's healthier for me. I spend the time I used to spend sitting in traffic commuting to work out. Also, I eat healthier since I can make my meals in my own kitchen, rather than eating out of convenance which means eat out, or brown bagging it.

- Helps with retention of employees. While this job does not pay great, the chance to work from home is a big benefit vs having to commute in for maybe a few grand a year difference in pay.

Cons:

- Social scene is a struggle. I've met most of my friends through work, or though my wife's work. It will take a real change in how we meet people to fill in this blank.

- I can see how this would be a real struggle for someone in their early 20's just starting their career. You just do not get to meet enough people face to face, or socially to establish bonds.

That's great for you, but many of us find spending more time with our kids and spouse does wonders for our moods

Work ..and specifically going INTO work (i.e. a separate place miles away) ..is a social construction. Gladwell must know this. As is the idea that people working from home are living less full lives or being lazy :-(

If they could outsource your job they would. Furthermore, paying for office space only makes the savings more if the employer decides to outsource. You comment doesn’t make any sense.

Nailed it

That’s lame.

Find a way to meet people. it’s not that hard. WFH provides more time to actually be with people you meet.

Exactly. Life is 100x more dynamic with WFH vs being in an office all day every day of the work week. Unless you are a weirdo with no friends or interests and can only associate with other humans if they are forced into your presence.

Thinking back to March 2020 I was amazed at how seamlessly and how quickly we transitioned from 100% office to 100% work from home. I expected a massive clusterfu$k, but we didn’t hardly skip a beat. People just sorted it out and the technology works really well. Thank you, Covid. Never would have happened without you.