* No adult interaction daily unless you make an active effort on your breaks or work from a coworking space
* Possibly limited mobility and networking opportunities in your org (as someone else mentioned in thread, lack of casual interactions besides those you interact with on a daily basis)
* Wage compression due to larger candidate pool for remote roles
* Harder to disconnect/unplug from work comms, especially if your org "follows the sun" and is global
* Politics still exist (there is no such thing as "no politics" in an org)
* Video chat is not a replacement for in person body language interpretation
TLDR Contractor style employment without contractor style pay bump
I highly recommend remote work if it enables you to live somewhere without the role locally you're suited for, and you have a network of colleagues to fall back on for other remote work in the event your role doesn't work out or disappears, and you have a solid emergency fund. I do not recommend remote work if the compensation delta vs an in person role available to you is not substantial, or if you value daily socialization.
I think you are right. I will have to move on once I want a raise or promotion, but it's nice for now. I'm basically taking it as a chance to clock in, do a great job at work, clock out, and study for my next career move.
I feel like a contractor would be expected to work much harder / have a higher accountability than a salaried worker, no?
My observation is contractors have similar accountability to FTEs, but contractors get paid for every hour they work (compared to the free time expected of FTEs).
Scottish bloke here and full time remote since 2003, and also now self employed. I could never go back to working in an office. I'm also fortunate to live in a nice Perthshire village where I've known people for years and years so I get a decent bit of non-work adult chat when I head out to grab some lunch bits and pieces, or just to stretch my legs and get some fresh air.
The village also has a couple of nice pubs so if I need some more human interaction in the evening I just pop out for a swift one and have a good old blether with whoever's in the bar.
My current "boss" (who's also a long time ex-colleague) takes a trip up from the the other side of Edinburgh once a month or so, I pay for lunch in return for him making the journey. We spend the day going over current and upcoming project work and it's a pretty relaxed affair.
So....can also confirm it's pretty nice, verging on idyllic.
A few other advantages of working remotely, at least in my view:
- less office politics
- no forced socialization, sorry but I have absolutely no interest in your private life while I'm working, I want to get work done and be done at 5, not pretend to be a busy body for the sake of it while having chats all throughout the day
- re. saving money, tax breaks are also a good incentive
- less personal but in my view as important: road decongestion/less pollution/etc.
As the author notes however, working remotely is not for everybody. Routine and self-discipline are extremely important, and a lot of people can't do that without being on site.
for me theres one reason and i know there are people who will screw their noses up at it.
i smoke, a lot, especially when im trying to concentrate, when working in an office its quite an annoyance when i have to go outside every 30 mins.
before anyone starts no i dont want to quit, i have done before and found it made me less productive and a generally less pleasant person to be around (not just in the early stages, i quit for three rather unpleasant years) im happy to trade the potential physical issues for the sake of my mental state
other reasons: i can listen to my own music, wear whatever im comfortable in, drink my own decent quality coffee and i dont have to deal with other people (its not possible to work somewhere and not interact with others, id rather not engage their pointless smalltalk but its unavoidable in a workplace scenario)
In IT particularly there's absolutely no reason to go five times a week to a place and sit there coding for 8 hours every day. Surely an Alien would say : Why do you do that to yourselves humans ?
Which are pretty much exactly what you think they are: more flexible, more comfortable. Without addressing or acknowledging any of the difficulties (a whole new set of distractions, lack of casual interactions with coworkers, narrower communication channels, pressure to never disconnect).
Yep, working remote is awesome. Just consider not everyone is a good remote worker, so you need to filter out a lot of people who want to work remote but don't have the skills (yet).
Big pot of coffee I brewed ONCE in the morning and will drink from a thermos the rest of the day? Check.
Timer cube that sounds ever 25 minutes for pomodoros? Check.
Food in fridge ready to be cooked? Check.
Absolute golden silence? Check.
Adorable black cat sitting in lap? Check.
Yep. Can confirm. It's pretty nice.