@kcarruthers

Of course it does. It allows people to manage their own time, and the grace to balance work responsibilities with life satisfaction. The entire effort to force people back into offices makes no sense to me.

@kcarruthers There was no link to the University of South Australia study - did it conclude what this blogger is saying? Who is the blogger - no About section.

Intuitively yes, I agree with what it says, but there is no scientific backing for these conclusions that we can refer to.

@kcarruthers I used to work in-office at my last job, current job lets me WFH full time. I figure I save about 90 minutes/day of commuting, which works out to about 47 eight-hour days in a calendar year.

47 work days, unpaid, just for commuting.

I'm never going back to in-office, if I can help it.

@kcarruthers

I hate when people write articles in a blog about scientific studies but don't link the scientific articles or academic journals:

They write:

«This research from the University of South Australia, which uniquely started well before the Covid-19 crisis, tracked employees over several years to uncover how flexibility in where we work transforms our lives, mental health, and even productivity»

But I couldn't find a link.

@kcarruthers
I wanted to poke out that many, many jobs can't be worked from home, but then my gears got cracking.

Instead of robot garbage workers we get murder drones.

Trash? Brown people are “cheaper”, and someone needs to be forced into “«unskilled» labour”.

So this shows how different aspects of capitalism interwove: control over workers, imperialism, racism.

@kcarruthers

Surely there are several things that should come from this.

Working remotely sounds like a good idea, as long as people are not taking advantage, and it only takes a few people out of 100s to give the whole concept a bad name.

@kcarruthers

Taking a break from being forced into unwanted sociability is also benefitting high school students.

https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/one-in-three-young-people-say-they-felt-happier-during-lockdown

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8853175/

Dr. Phil pontificated at length about how covid lockdowns were harming students' mental health.

The opposite turned out to be true when the science came in.

He was funded by right wing billionaires to spread covid disinformation and self-serving pandemic narratives.

He's now being funded to spread immigration disinformation.

I'm not surprised that the ability to work from home makes people both happier and more productive. I have found the same thing to be true.

You have so much more control over your time and environment. If I can't focus on work, I can go do the dishes. This also makes it much easier to balance work, homestead, and spare time. Not to mention the time, money, and CO2 saved from cutting down on long commutes. Less lunch prep or temptation to eat out. Less interruptions during focused work. Less noise. Less of a lot of things.

Unfortunately it also means less socialising, as the text points out. Teamwork is more challenging, but it can be managed through regular calls and the understanding that you can always ping your colleagues in chat if you need help. There is also something to be said for not being forced into unwanted social situations. Not everyone gets along with their colleagues so some distance can actually be beneficial there as well.

I still remember what it was like to have psychosomatic illness due to the threat of having to go to school. My easiest year by far in university was during lock-down. And while I love my team at work, the word "teambuilding" still gives me the hibbie jibbies. Some measure of forced socialising benefits social development, but it is also very easy to have too much, and during adulthood I would argue the benefits diminish quickly.

@kcarruthers
CW: privilege

Our RTO rules aren’t final bc the physical office is moving this year, but as of Thursday, the cut-off for how far from the office you have to live to remain remote is 20 miles commute. If the commute is >20 miles, we can stay remote workers. Mine is 25.1. 😅 So relieved.

@kcarruthers

4 years of scientific studies?

Just look at her face...