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They’ve Observed Teleworking for Four Years and Reached One Clear Conclusion: “Working From Home Makes Us Happier”
(indiandefencereview.com)
this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2025
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Someone has to provide proof for the answers to obvious questions, if for no other reason than to short circuit the "SoUrCe?" clowns.
Exactly. It's never a bad thing to have hard data on what we think is obvious.
Especially since it's not uncommon for what's 'obvious' to be wrong.
We've had this capacity for several decades now, and it seems ridiculous that our culture has not fully embraced it with open arms. If that's not a sign that "we the people" aren't running the show, I don't know what is. Freedom my ass.
Due to how isolating our culture and urban planning has become, a lot of people have started using their work as a replacement for their social life. Without it they realize just how caged they are under this system, so they refuse it. They think being given more free time and the ability to do work from the comfort of their own home is a bad thing because it takes away their social outlet.
People have to do what's best for them. If they need to commute to a job to have a social life, let them. This is absolutely not a reason to force other people to do it.
Of course it isn't but you are the one who said that it was ridiculous that we haven't embraced it.
It isn't ridiculous. It's actually pretty expected of the society we have built to be against it. There are perfectly explainable reasons why we have yet to embrace it.
I don't say this to tell you it shouldn't change. I'm saying this to specifically highlight the things we need to change so that no one will be forced into doing it.
People do need to do what's best, so we should probably fix things so that being forced to use office work as a replacement for a social life isn't the best option people have available to them.
I know a few boomers who are against it. They think that online work is not real work and that people who work remote are lazy bums who should get a "real job". They're the same type of people who went insane during the lockdowns instead of enjoying the free vacation.
Boomer here, software developer, I started fighting the telecommuting battle with managers in the early 90s. They'd say, "We need you here." I'd ask, "Why? I can dial in. You have contractors in India you've never even met, and that works out fine." "That's different." "How?" They never could come up with valid reasons why we really needed to physically be there, and would generally shut down the conversation with like, "Well, I can see we don't agree on this." Correct, and 30 years later they're still making the same ludicrous arguments.
In my experience, after a little back and forth they realize they can't win this on facts and just pull rank.
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Of course it does!
When I get a complaint email I can yell at Myles to go fuck himself with a toilet brush, all whole sitting in my favourite chair and Myles will still wish me a good evening at the end of the work day.
What's not to like?
This popped into my head…
That's why they want to put a stop to it. You're not allowed to be happy.
how will landlords who own all the buildings in business districts get paid, then? do you want their properties to stay empty? do you just want them to starve?
Just an FYI, most commercial real estate is owned by massive corporations because they're the only ones with enough money to build and own skyscrapers. Most mom and pop landlords are residential and they own 4 units or less. It's very rare for an average, even a wealthy average person to own more than a couple of commercial properties that they rent out. Corporate landlords are very much a big reason why WFH isn't the standard.
Truth. I am so happy where I'm at that I am not looking for a new job with better pay because I love WFH so much. I know here I will always WFH.
Don't need to put on makeup, don't need to put together outfits for the week, don't need to drive anywhere. I wake up thirty minutes before I clock in.
Love it!
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Well, it makes most of us happier. There was a minority of people who were very unhappy about remote working and who were eager for everyone to be forced back into the office. Not me, but there were some people.
It was managers, especially middle-managers. And if they are not happy, no one can be happy. Too bad middle-managers are always unhappy.
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Even better is if we all got a monthly allowance and not have to work full time. 😆
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Little do they know that worker happiness is considered the enemy of productivity.* Plus, it's harder to micromanage them when they're at home.
*By employers, not the workers, obviously.
I don't get this.
When I was unhappy at my last job I was way less productive.
Now I'm enjoying my new job and spend my time solving real technical problems and building real projects.
I was considering taking a pay cut just to leave my last job it had gotten so toxic. You can pay employees less if they're otherwise satisfied.
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Haha! Now if only the point of work was to make you happy! If research showed it made your boss wealthier then everyone would be WFH tomorrow!
It DOES make them wealthier. Since productivity isn't lost while employees WFH, that means that they get the same results while saving money from having costs associated with office space like rent, utilities, furnishing, and maintenance. The reason why they don't do it is because office real estate is a business worth billions and the rich are all invested in it. They're so greedy and out of touch, they'd make up any lie to demonize WFH.
It also makes employees wealthier.... Think of all the money you flush down the drain making your car move from home to the office and back again.... Just that alone is easily thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars per year, depending on your vehicle and type of fuel, efficiency, etc.
Everyone wins except the real estate owners and their stakeholders, which, as you astutely pointed out, are the business owners. Rent is a way for them to essentially launder money into their own pockets. They legitimately pay their office rent, and a chunk of that comes back to them in dividends from the land owning company.
It's a club, and you ain't in it.
The capitalist club.
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Maybe for most people. I start getting a little too suicidey when I spend too many days working from home.
I loved working most days until 12 or 1 in the office, coming home and refocusing on "my" part of my workday. Just enough office, not too much. Sadly now I am glued into a windowless room with a camera on me. Major dissatisfaction, huh.
Yeah I actually do that at my current job. WFH the first hour or so, leave after traffic is down, work from the office until 2ish and leave before afternoon traffic starts up, then wrap things up at home while I prep to workout. That flexibility is one of the only reasons I'm not looking to move unless there's a huge raise in it for me. The job sucks otherwise.
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