Would you prefer to work from home full-time in the future?
With a gradual re-opening in Switzerland, more and more employers are asking their employees to return to the office at least part-time.
What has your experience been like working from home? Would you prefer to continue working from home if possible? Why or why not?
From the article How telework is reshaping residential neighbourhoods
I would like to know which companies are recruiting for remote work in Switzerland?
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I’ve been working remotely for the past five years. Frankly, I don’t think I’ll do it much longer. One’s mental health is an important factor. As a remote worker, you’re not interacting with people much on a daily basis. Even with a fairly balanced lifestyle, you just spend a lot more time at home. Thankfully, I’m married and have my wife to chat to after work. Another factor is communication. As good as our internal chat software is, trying to convey a thought or idea with VOIP simply isn’t as effective as face-to-face conversation. So one feels rather insignificant and brilliance is easily overlooked by superiors. On the plus side, my productivity is much higher than it was in-office. No distractions at home. I think the best way is to work mostly in-office with a day or two here and there from home. Then a better balance is achieved.
Personally, I'm glad that I can never work from home. As a receptionist in a hotel, this is only possible on site. Personally, I would otherwise miss the contact with other people. It's a daily exchange, especially in this field where you have to deal with a wide variety of people in a short time.
However, I can also understand everyone who enjoys the flexibility of the home office. Of course, it eliminates big time-consumers like the commute. For me, it would be nothing as a team person and therefore I am happy to be on site every day.
Ich persönlich bin froh, dass ich nie im Homeoffice arbeiten kann. Als Réceptionistin in einem Hotel geht dies nunmal nur vor Ort. Persönlich würde mir ansonsten auch sehr der Kontakt zu anderen Menschen fehlen. Ist es doch täglich ein Austausch, gerade in diesem Berufsfeld wo man in kurzer Zeit mit den unterschiedlichsten Menschen zu tun hat.
Ich kann jedoch auch jeden verstehen, der die felxibilität des Homeoffice genießt. Es fallen dadurch natürlich große Zeitfresser wie der Arbeitsweg weg. Für mich wäre es nichts als Teammensch und somit bin ich glücklich täglich vor Ort sein zu dürfen.
In my opinion it is time to let go off control about how each one of us should work and to enable a flexible result oriented culture instead of “heating the office seat” one. Anywhere where home office is possible should be enabled as a choice.
It is 2022, I am writing from UK. How have things unfolded?
At our end, most people have had Covid, despite having been vaccinated. In some people loss of taste/smell lasted for months, but gradually the senses came back.
BUT health of many has been impacted in other ways; weight gain being main. Working from home, removed the need to walk from/to train/bus stations, the frequent walking up/down steps at work, long walks thru corridors, to café/coffee machines, to meeting rooms, walks during lunch times.
News: Alcohol consumption has increased, more people showing up at the hospitals with related illnesses.
Working from home has caused many relationships to deteriorate or fail. I have personally experienced that working from home, with your partner in another room, does cause increase in disagreements. And this is only natural; and not an indication of a poor relationship. We humans need other humans, outside of our relationships as well.
If we are working from home in presence of the same person, and then also "living" (married/partner) with the same person as well; over a length of time, the conversations can become monotonous/anxious. Many of us have been working from home for around 2 years now! Single people may experience other issues, such as below-the-surface anxiety, depression, uncertainty, etc. Many people are working even longer hours at home.
Of course different people have different mindsets, and will have different experiences.
But there are positive sides as well. No more journeys on smelly/packed trains; no more delays due to frequent union strikes; and saving on commuting costs.
Starting February, many people have started going back to the offices; some everyday, others on some days (like us). Trains are packed again; but it is also nice (at least for now) to see other faces, nice to see people going to work. It is also nice to see all the ads in the trains!
So, Work from Home or Office? Choices/preferences will vary from person to person. For us, a mix of both would be nice. I also now know for sure that for most people, working mostly/always from home, will eventually have some negative outcomes (barring exceptions).
We humans need a work and home separation, for better health, for greater happiness, for building social skills, etc. But I have no solution for commuting issues.
I see your points, but all of you negative points can be easily solved while working form home?
Like, it seems to me that you are confusing the pandemic with working from home. You can see friends, walk to the parc, go to the gym, participate to charities and associations, go to work in one of the many shared offices/ coffe places available etc. You can go live in a better less pricy place near your family and have lunch together. Like all social issues and health issue are NOT solved by going to the office XD people with the issue you describe are actually repressing them through commuting routines and being too tired in the evening to do anything else.
If you struggle talking with your partner because you work in the same room for example you might have underlying relationship issues. Like, technically when you work form home, you are working not chit chatting hahaha, so technically nothing should have changed?
I think some people lived badly the home office and did not took the opportunities that came up with the amount of free time saved from commuting.
I would suggest you to use the time you got to spend time with people you love, or go out an meet new people, perhaps through sport!
Thank you for your opinions; that is what free expression is all about. Interestingly, Swissinfo has deleted one or two of my comments, which question another person's comment, just as you have done. But I have always believed, there is always a bias in every tribe.
Now to your point. If you read my comment, and then read yours, you will find that the tone of the two comments is very different, and possibly, sheds some light on how we, each, live.
You say:
-- "XD" - what is XD?
-- "If you struggle talking with your partner because you work in the same room for example you might have underlying relationship issues."
You make a valid point; and your reasoning can be true. Unlike many people, I will be direct. There is no such thing as a - Perfect Relationship; nor is there any definition of it. I do not know your circumstances, as you have carefully not shared any; but if you were to ask people who live in, support a family structure, you will find (in most cases) people will agree with what I said - that one needs an overall balance, overall variety in relationships; that one needs to create/solve challenges in AND out of a family structure; to have a truly - exciting, happy, healthy life. Spending a lot of time in one structure (e.g. at home) will likely make us introverts, self-centered.
-- "opportunities that came up with the amount of free time saved from commuting. I would suggest you to use the time you got to spend time with people you love, or go out an meet new people, perhaps through sport!"
Again, you have disclosed nothing about your life (married?, working?, children?, on benefits?, etc); so it is difficult for me to give examples which would be common between our lives. You say - "free time". I will be honest; we did not (before, during, after covid) have "free time". "free time" for us, would imply - nothing to do; and that would be boring and stagnating in life. Most families are quite busy. We do many things: Swimming, Tennis, Long culture-exploration drives, Karate, Cooking new international dishes, Building a robot, and more. I, also attend many events in business and culture.
So, we are not busy sitting at home. After reading your comment, I am even more convinced, that home-working, even when not 100% at home, will likely produce bad outcomes for many people. I can already see the desperate attempts (even in my local tribe) to sell the idea of working-from-home 100% of the time. If laws are passed giving people the right to work from home; I believe, that may lead to higher unemployment. But maybe I am wrong; only time will tell.
I am lucky enough to be working from home full time during this pandemic, and not have to go out unless absolutely necessary. I will say though that while I have enjoyed the flexibility, it has created a mountain of micro-management tendencies from supervisors because they are not there to "watch" you. Endless Zoom meetings to plan about planning and discuss about future discussions are exhausting and time consuming, and means you don't have time to do actual work. Plus, the delineation between on and off time has been erased: while you do have flexibility (eg. to run to the MD or deal with a sick child) when you are working at home, you're also expected to be working all the time, and so you'll get IMs or emails at 10pm that require an immediate response. This is both very unhealthy and extremely stressful. The lack of human contact is also an issue: I miss actually knowing my colleagues and just discussing different things over a coffee / tea. It's amazing how much gets resolved in these informal moments.
I think in the future, I'd prefer a hybrid set up, where part of the week I can work at home, and the other part in the office. This allows for human contact with colleagues that I really miss, and some necessary informal coordination as well, and will hopefully diminish the micro management linked to people working in different places, without losing the benefits of working from home.
Thank you for this comment! I agree that the balance between work and time off is crucial and that face to face meetings - offline! - are very important.
Zoom meetings to plan planning meetings does sound exhausting. If it were up to you, how would you shape a work-from-home-day?
What is great about working from home (in my case because I don't have kids) is that you can have focus time, but also flexible if you're not up to it. So when I'm working from home, I like to be able to focus on a specific project or task that needs quiet time to get done, and break up the day with some exercise. Just to be able to go for a walk in the sunshine in the middle of the day, for example, is a great benefit of working from home.
I would save meetings for days when you are actually in the office - you can meet people, plan and coordinate, and when you're back home ... actually work.
No, I prefer not to work full-time, I'll be more relaxed and stress-free.
I prefer not to work at all. I think I would be happier with the social security system and not owning anything. As a millenial I already know I will never afford a home.
I'm Swiss, I was born here and so has everyone in my family. Let me benefit from the social system in my late 30s. Why should the old be the only one to get money for free. Screw them. They wrecked the system. They should pay more taxes and not have anything given to them as they had more years to fix it all and they did bad choices.
I agree completely.
I'm a single mother of 2 children. I'm Swiss and my family is Swiss. I lost 4 jobs in the last 17 years of work because of out sourcings.
At this point in time I just don't care anymore. I already know I will lose my current job in 8 months when the next round of outsourcings was announced. This time I will no longer apply to any jobs. I will not work to pay for big pensions for rich old people who already have homes when I cannot afford a home.
Let them get back to work to pay for me. They caused all this financial chaos with their decisions. It wasn't me.
Same, millennial here. There is no point in contributing anymore, as we will never own anything nor have a pension. Work from home is like the minimum to make work bearable. And for sure working less to the lucky ones that can afford to do it.
I would prefer to work from home because so many task can be achieved. Having sick old parents I prefer to be home because last time when my mother had a seizure I was at home and was able to rush her to the hospital on time.
The new concept of working from home has pros and cons.For some they could be more productive or not and go under the radar Here in Scotland there is no debate about the incurred costs of the person needing to use more energy ie electricity not paid for by their employer also your home is your home and should not be a work environment.The working from home concept saves the big companies or institutions much in monetary terms.It is infuriating and so unprofessional now receiving calls from utility companies hearing their out of control children screaming their heads off in the background..Again I believe this new age is to appease younger people.In a nutshell working from home is a “no no “ in my opinion.
I'm a yogi and sometimes I choose to go to yoga after work. If I could work from home, that would be great for me because I could do yoga at home while working. But does the insurance cover any accidents while I'm supposed to be working?
我是一个瑜伽爱好者，有时我会选择下班后去练瑜伽。 如果我可以在家工作，那对我来说会很棒，因为我可以一边工作一边在家做瑜伽。 但是，保险是否涵盖我在应该工作期间的任何意外？
Working from home really makes you get lazy and yoga is really a more appropriate exercise.
enrollahk
在家工作真的会令人越来越懒惰，瑜伽真的是一个比较合适的运动。
enrollahk
Absolutely, and only visit the lab or the lecture room while teaching university students
I will never go back to office work.
Working from home is so much more comfortable, flexible and efficient especially in my case as an intellectual property lawyer. I can do it from anywhere.
The biggest change is that now we can finally look for a home in a smaller city or village but with extra rooms so we can have home offices.
The best part about it is that by having the offices at home we can create a company and deduct all the office related expenses from our company taxes, like internet, telephone, electricity, printers, paper, office supplies, etc.
I would like to post a comment/thought/question to many other parents here. I am a parent myself; hence very important to me.
Most parents know the following, or have learnt this through good/bad choices we/they have made and through personal experiences. No parenting is perfect, as parenting is the most difficult job on earth, and we parents know that very well.
We the parents also have learnt or know, that if our children are exposed to various microbes, viruses, infections, right from day one (when infants), then they are far less likely to get ill later on in life. They are also less likely to have allergies.
We are a very international family; we do not follow any one tribe/culture, and believe ourselves to be just citizens of the planet. As such, we have tried to take the best from each tribe we mingle with.
When our child was born, we were out and about with him on public buses, trains, boats; everywhere, starting 10 days after his birth. Before the age of 1, we put him in a local nursery. Often, he would come home with some infection. This lasted on/off, until he was about 3; and then, it just stopped. He just stopped getting colds, coughs, fever, infections, etc. Now, he rarely gets ill; he has not needed to see a doctor in 10+ years.
Moral of the story.
If you hide from nature, you will lose immunity, and then, have a far greater chance of getting seriously ill, with serious consequences. Viruses are very much part of nature; learn to live with nature, not isolate from it.
In our entire extended family, spread across several countries, not a single person has any known allergies, not one. All the members I know very well, have never been seriously ill; we rarely get infections. We even got Covid, with no or minor symptoms for 2 days, and now we have natural immunity.
Running away from the virus will very likely harm much more, now and later in life.
For those of you who do not know Shingles, please read about it, and see why some older people have serious cases of it (despite having had chicken pox earlier in life).
If you want to/can work from home; good for you. But please do not use Covid as an excuse. All people working from home, still go to parties, shops, events, public spaces, etc; and these places are equally "infected" with viruses, like offices are.
Shameful sir, what you are doing is simply shameful.
A serious illness causing the death of millions of people is not an excuse. It is just as big of a risk to your life as driving a car when you know the breaks and airbags don't work and you are drunk. Something that kills so many people and cripples others is not an excuse, but rather a very true and valid reason to limit your choices.
As a lawyer and a believer in personal freedom I am deeply offended by your twisting of facts with personal opinions. The people dying of the virus across the world are a fact not a personal excuse. Protecting yourself from that risk is common sense.
You are very well free to risk the life of your family, but it is risking the lives of others by promoting this non-sense that the dead people are just an opinion or an excuse and not a fact of reality.
I am not sure how you reached the conclusion that I am risking the lives of my family members. My child picked up the covid virus from some other child in school (so it has been concluded), as did many other children. Then, the parents at home caught it as well. I did not do anything deliberate to bring the virus home!
Here are some miscellaneous but death-related facts:
- Around 60 million people die each year around the world.
- Around 7 million people are estimated to die from pollution each year. Very much a human-made problem; you and most other people do not seem to be panicking about that.
- Smoking kills about 8 million / year; about 1 million of those die from 2nd-hand smoke. Is anyone panicking about that problem?
- Around 3 million people die each year from obesity; which in almost all cases, is a consequence of eating too much and/or eating the wrong kinds of foods (e.g. processed foods). No one seems to panic about this human-made issue either.
- In UK, one out every two people are likely to get cancer at least once in their lifetime; that is 50% of the population. 5-7 years ago, it was 1 out 3 people. Have a look at science documentaries on DW.com, ARTE, and read some science journals (many published by EU scientists). In short, we humans are to blame for this one too; but what actions have we taken?
- About 4 million people die each year from issues related to respiration. Root causes are often human-made.
- Finally, the most IMPORTANT one, please do read: Deaths from Covid are a very rough estimate; as they are measured in terms of- Death occurring within (around) 28 days from getting Covid. In several countries they are now saying that many deaths were actually wrongly counted as Covid deaths. So, actual number may be much less.
- AND, most people dying from Covid had other very serious life-threatening illnesses, and in many cases were obese. We are not tackling obesity, but fearing Covid!
I could go and on.
Covid is sure an important issue, and a problem; but spreading panic based on emotional outbursts will not help our society. Viruses are here to stay! Scientists believe that fragments of DNA (a virus is just that + a protein wrapper) probably started to exist/spread just as life was beginning on the planet.
Viruses will be here when you and I are gone; how will panic help? Now lets get back to work!
Your international family is also part of a wider and highly diverse community whose concerns and safety must be taken into account.
Hi all, I am aware that working from home is linked to the pandemic at the moment, but I'd like to ask you to stay on topic please. This is a debate about working from home, not the dangers of the coronavirus pandemic. You can find our guidelines for commenting [url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/terms-of-use/44141966]here[/url]. For facts and figures on the death toll of the coronavirus pandemic, please refer to [url=https://www.who.int/data/stories/the-true-death-toll-of-covid-19-estimating-global-excess-mortality]this page[/url] by the WHO. Thank you!
Absolutely agree with most of your views on immunity and from what you say “ hiding away from viruses “N.B I do not recall any lockdowns when Ebola struck and as you correctly pointed out other contagious diseases rife in the world if we are receiving daily death rates as televised during the news we should be including the death rates from other conditions or disease.Of course there is a collective responsibility in societies and I would insist by a legal framework that it should be mandatory to be vaccinated against the coronavirus and no one in the world should be travelling so until this selfish behaviour stops the coronavirus whether you are vaccinated or not will never go away and those who are already compromised for one reason or another will die from the coronavirus .No one ever comments on the sinister side of governments who interestingly do not publish the figures on how much they pull in from state pensions no longer needing to be paid or inheritance tax they receive as older people succumb and die from the coronavirus !
I agree with you 100% on every word you said. This is not about health but economical exploitation of illness. Sickness and death are more lucrative business than Health.
I've been working from home for the last 4 years. It has been part of the agreement to stay in Switzerland, because working from home allows me to be both a mother and to live in a low tax city and canton without wasting a lot of money and time on commute to work.
I just don't get why it would not be available for everyone as both employees and employers win out of it. The only people that lose are those providing cleaning services for offices and managing cantinas and restaurants because now the people are at home.
Also, it even frees up a lot of office space that can be turned into cheaper housing in the city center. A full win-win situation for everyone.
Hello Andrea, could you please tell us exactly what you do (what job functions you perform)? That will help many of us understand, how/when home working can work.
It may inspire employers and employees alike.
On a side note; the following view does not take into accounts many industries-
"I just don't get why it would not be available for everyone as both employees and employers win out of it. The only people that lose are those providing cleaning services for offices and managing cantinas and restaurants because now the people are at home."
You imply that only low-end people will be affected, if everyone worked from home. Well, then, these people will go on benefits, and you/me/other taxpayers will have to pay even more taxes to support them! Would you be willing to do that?
If most restaurants are shut, cities will become boring and not exciting, for most people, married and unmarried alike. Birth rates will decline even further; aging population is a huge issue in Europe.
Many people meet their future spouses at work; if most people work from home, then forget the butterflies and sparks! In countries like Switzerland, love life will become suffocating-ly dull. Ask the expats with first-hand experience. As a global citizen myself, I have a great deal of experience in that arena.
You have not mentioned what you do; but your and many other jobs may be at risk then. Eventually, we need buyers (consumers) for most products/services. Even healthcare and education are supported by consumer spending in shops, restaurants, trains, at events, by paying office rent, by visiting museums.
As an example, even pure research in universities (e.g. even pharmaceutical companies) will be reduced, as there will be little to no funding, either from private companies or from the government which will be busy paying benefits to many who will no longer have jobs.
Who will repair you car? Who will come and fix your water leaks? Who will work in hospitals, labs, airports, train stations, libraries, and so on?
I have been to Switzerland many times; a beautiful, but dull/boring country. If many people (let alone everyone, as you suggest) work from home, even cities like Zurich and Geneva will become even more boring.
What about obesity, which is a huge crisis around the world (and causes deaths of many)? Obesity will rise even further.
But, I think many readers would like to know what is your job function, so that we can understand how it works for you.
dear SENSIBLEMIKE - unemployment insurance is exactly that. You pay for it so you benefit if you are unemployed, just like you get a life insurance, travel insurance, legal insurance or a car insurance.
Nobody can be forced to do a job. What you are describing is slavery and has been abolished many years ago. If nobody wants to repair your car or fix your water leaks you can either do it yourself or pay more and compete with the rest of the people for fewer professionals offering that service. Nobody is forced to work for you or to do a job they don't want to. The same way you cannot force people to open restaurants just because you like to have one. If you want it that much you are free to create your own business as a restaurant and hire people. The restaurants you mentioned now most work with delivery services, so those that wanted are still there.
Paying people who do not have unemployment and not want to work has nothing to do with the virus. But, if you want to talk about it, the same way money can be made up out of nothing (no taxes) to bail out financial companies the same way you can give money to the people. That's what is happening in the US and across the world. Even in Switzerland. The so called budget deficit means spending money that was never collected and was just invented out of thin air.
Since you asked Andrea without reading her other posts, just like her I also work as a lawyer. Most of the documents can be sent by mail and all court sessions are done via Zoom. My husband works in marketing. Previously he used to be in the office all the time just like I did. Now we do all our work from home and it works perfectly fine.
You are very right about insurance. Insurance is deigned to provide coverage, based on mutually agreed terms, when certain pre-agreed events occur. And insurance pays AFTER the event has occurred (e.g. after someone falls ill, not when one thinks, one may fall ill).
No one can force anyone to work, you said it right. But no one has the right to get paid when they choose not to work, and when forcing others - who work/pay taxes, to pay for them.
Insurance generally covers illnesses, and hence likely will pay, for a short term, when the person is "truly unable to work". Also, no insurance will pay forever; including unemployment insurance, and rightly so, as benefits are covered thru a collective pot of money, it belongs (fairly) to ALL taxpayers, not just to the ones afraid of working due to fear of getting ill in the future!
If your argument will be that you will not work because you have developed phobia for Covid, and hence the insurance should pay for you to have a happy life at home - well, it will simply, likely void your insurance!
Insurance cannot and should not cover deliberate acts committed, in order to claim on insurance. That would be classified as insurance fraud.
I have never said that you or other people should not work from home. It is not my decision to make. BUT it is a decision that you and your employer will have to make. I see a lot of people getting angry at anyone who is not supporting the "work from home" movement. I have merely presented my opinions, just like you have. At the end of the day, the decision in this regard rests with each of our respective employers. Those are the people you/we need to convince!
Dear MIKE,
there is such a thing as unemployment insurance, but it is a legal term, process and product or service in all western countries. All of us pay for it, so when you are unemployed you will get paid a portion of your former income based on your contributions (not based on money from some generic tax payer). It is not money coming in from somebody else's pocket but rather a service your paid for an in return you get a portion of it back. You also get a penalty time if you quit a job. Please be factually accurate.
Yes, everyone can decide where they want to work from. I just represented 5 of my clients, all women and top director level professionals working for an insurance company. They wanted to re-negotiate their contracts to make working from home as the default place of work and even get a raise for their home expenses. They had offers from another company wanting to increase their number of women managers. The company decided to update all the contracts and give all the women some nice re-signing bonuses matching what the other company was offering.
Employers can fire people for not coming back to the office but they will also have to deal with immediate lost know-how, long hiring processes and as most are women they will have to deal with some bad PR for firing mostly women and some even pregnant. It will also motivate good candidates not to want to work with them in the future. All for what? For jobs that can be done from home where it is cheaper for the employer?
I notice that several people I know, in telework, give the impression of being on holiday. In supermarkets in the morning, with coffee croissants, at the aperitif on the terraces, and often at the pool in the afternoon. Very difficult control for some activities. Especially the service sector and the state employees.
Je constate que plusieurs personnes que je connais, en télé travail, donnent l'impression d'être en vacances. Dans les supermarché la matinée, avec cafés croissants , à l'apéro sur les terrasses, et souvent à la piscine l'après-midi. Contrôle très difficile pour certaines activités. Surtout le secteur tertiaire et les employés d'Etat.
Some people just don't get that over the last 12 months our family is a lot closer to one another. We had a lot more time getting to know each other, helping each other and doing things together.
Choosing to earn less and be happier with a far lower risk of getting sick and dead in an office is a very simple and easy decision for our family. We're thankful to the lockdowns for this. Previously I was really close to a burn-out after working 10-12h days and had a bad connection to my kids. Now we're closer than ever before. We're even contemplating moving to a nearby country and both of us working remote 3-day a week jobs to have more time with our kids.
A 10-12 hour day is tough! I've been hearing from a few families that they enjoy the additional time they have together.
How did working from home impact your work if at all? I know people who feel that they are a lot more concentrated when working from home, others feel more productive in the office.
I'm in the same as a woman working for a big financial consultancy company. All my accounting and audit work has been done remotely and with very positive reviews and even a raise. I would never accept to go back to the office, so I am already applying to jobs.
My husband and I plan to get a baby in the next 18 months so going back to travelling all the time is no longer an option. I will continue to work from home till I am fired for refusing to go back to the office or till I find a remote job. Both my husband and I are Swiss, if that makes any difference in the overall situation.
I also agree.
Almost 2 years of working from home brought the same benefits: better physical health, less stress, less working evenings, reverse of a burnout and better family relationships.
My husband just got a new job in Germany where he can work full time remotely and I'm also negotiating a similar deal with his company. That way we can sell our expensive apartment in Zurich and move to rural Bavaria, work from home and have a nice house with land and a garden.
What you say makes sense. As long as you can earn your own living. pay your own bills, and not depend on benefits/welfare, which is paid for by other stressed/hard-working people through taxes, then all is fine.
You have the right to live your life how you want, as long as you do not expect others to pay for it or support it.
I am pleased that Swissinfo has accepted my posts, as my posts appear to go against most other posts, which vigorously support working from home - because they do not want to go to a work place.
People here are saying that work place is dangerous, they do not want to go to the office and die. That really is not true, as viruses predate humans, are all around us and they will still be around well after we are gone -- they are part of nature. WHO estimates that around 500,000 (500K) people die each year from regular flu. People do not, not go to work because of that!
Covid is also a type of flu. Fact is that most deaths claimed to be from Covid, are among people who had serious other illnesses. And now the data is saying that many of the Covid-tagged deaths were not due to Covid virus itself!
Would you stop going to shops, malls, bars, restaurants, theater/cinema, on trains/buses/trams, also because of Covid? So, why be afraid of the office.
I am not against working from home, but I feel that there are very few jobs where a person can work from home all the time or even most of the time. And there are many jobs and also many people, who simply will not be able to justify (results/productivity) their jobs to the company, when working from home. Job functions vary, but people vary too.
Who can or cannot work from home, and when and how often, can only be determined by/between the company and the employees.
Interesting post but the question concerns the personal preference for continuing to work from home in the future and to which some readers have offered their reasons which justify their choice.
On your point about the coronavirus, the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) notes that the “Influenza (flu) and COVID-19 are both contagious respiratory illnesses, but they are caused by different viruses”. Other differences are that “COVID-19 seems to spread more easily than the flu” and “COVID-19 can cause more serious illnesses in some people. COVID-19 can also take longer before people show symptoms and people can be contagious for longer”. You can find the source [url=https://www.cdc.gov/flu/symptoms/flu-vs-covid19.htm]here[/url], they also specify more differences between the two illnesses.
As to working from home, I definitely think it's important to hear all the different experiences. Only time will tell how Swiss companies will shape their office hours in the future. I think we'll see very different ways of doing that: full-time office, or a mix, some might even decide to focus on having employees work from home full time. It'll be interesting to see how it will turn out!
Yes it is dangerous as people are dead because of the virus. We did stop going to bars, shops and restaurants just like all the other places. We order our products and they get delivered to the door in bulk.
Also, unless you work in a client facing role like selling tickets at SBB or groceries in a supermarket then you can do the vast majority of all work remotely even all the government jobs where almost nobody has been in offices for the last year.
I suspect you are an older worker. An over 60 year old friend of mine was forced to take early retirement as he did not accept new ways of working. For me, home office is not to avoid Covid, but due to the benefits it brings. For example, those with young families can spend more time with them. Plus it means less pollution / cost / time from commuting, empty offices can be converted into housing, etc, etc. And companies can save a fortune on rent and overheads. But, one thing I've found. House rents are going up, as landlords realise they can charge more as homes become offices. This should not be allowed.
Working from home means less time travelling and more available time.
However, space is needed at home for an office. Its more practical to work from a home office than go out to a rented office. Using a rented office defeats the purpose of working from home.
The cost of buying a flat has soared, thus defeating the whole purpose of working from home.
Moving to the countryside to avoid the noise, jumble of traffik and the densification and uglification of Zurich with concrete boxes is resulting in the destruction of beautiful old houses, demolished to build masses of concrete flats and the destruction of trees and wildlife which have served as places of relaxation.
Looking at all the comments I am really worried about the future of our workforce. A total mess, I would say.
I suppose the supervisors should have something to say whether they want the staff back in the office or not. Difficult to let everyone choose for her-himself.
Everyone has a choice. If your boss decides that next your new place of work is in syria where buildings get exploded each day, you can chose to go there and risk your life or let them fire you,
I, just like most of the people commenting here, chose to apply to jobs and find another remote job or just move somewhere cheaper where the family can deal for a while without 1 or both jobs, like moving in with our grandparents. Our lives are more important to us than money.
You are free to moe to Syria and risk your life. It is a personal choice.
yes, everyone is free and based on these comments most people use that freedom to look for work from home jobs
I passed Syria during the Israel Lebanon war in 2006. Syria was still ok. I worked in Baghdad 2003 to 2011 when rockets and bombs were all over the place. Yes, theoretically I could avoid it, but honestly, it was the only job offer I had at the time.
anyway, I must admit, I liked the challenge of Baghdad, being in a location where history was made, unfortunately not in a positive way. I observed how 'democracy was delivered' ...
Working mainly/only from home means that over time you will:
1) Lose social skills, ability to work with others, may be even lose skills in your trade. You will become less "sellable" in the job market.
2) You will become a poor problem-solver, as without visual/physical interaction with people, you will continue to devolve, and lose the drive/intent to innovate, think efficiently, etc. You will lose influencing skills; particularly bad for people who want to lead.
3) You will very likely become lazy and inefficient, and likely not be able to earn your salary, and may eventually lose the job! Employers, typically, need to earn (from you) 3x the total amount you cost the employer. At home, over time, we all lose sense of time and productivity.
4) Most people working from home, eventually, will start suffering from various mental illnesses, ranging from - anger, depression to psychotic behavior, and more. Humans cannot exist in isolation for long periods of time. We need to be challenged.
5) The young generation, in entry-level to mid-level jobs will simply fail to grow or grow very slowly, as they will not have natural role models or mentors, who can supervise them easily. Many will become unemployable.
6) Most "expensive" countries like Switzerland will have high-unemployment, as jobs will move to India, China, Thailand, Philippines, where most jobs can be done at a lower cost. If not all, most services/products can be taken care of in this manner.
A mix (work from home and office) could work, but only if employers are given freedom to decide, at an individual level (not based on job function), who can or cannot work from home, how often, and when.
And it will only work if workers themselves believe they must maintain high levels of productivity (results produced, not hours spent working), and that they hold themselves accountable.
agree
Written like a Boss. All you can do is try it and see. If it doesn't work, go back to the status quo, and stick to the traditional way. People at home are not always alone. They can meet, for example, on skype, Zoom, WebEx, Google Meet, MS Teams, etc. I've had excellent online problem solving meetings. No different than meeting someone face-to-face. I have coffee breaks online too, with co-workers. There is always a way, if you think outside the box, and take a chance on something new.
First of all, all the people I know have family, friends and neighbors they interract with on a daily basis and all my acquintances got far better reviews on productivity working form home so:
1- makes no sense unless you never interract with anyone other than in an office which I don't think applies to anyone
2 and 3- everyone I know is able to deliver more from home as we have fewer meetings, fewer distractions and are interrupted a lot less in doing our work, so problemsolving is a lot more efficient at home
4 - I have no idea what you are basic your statement on. Most people I know have healthier social interractions, work out more and spend more time with their loved ones while working form home. Most have better relationships because of it, other than those who are recently single and have a tougher time meeting people, but with me2 that was impossible at work anyway.
5 - nobody is responsible for your career. I am mentoring younger people from home and they are getting more certifications than in previous years. Just lazy people get less done.
6 - outsourcing will never be stopped by working from an office. That is a political decision and the last 20 years, before the lockdowns, showed clearly that financial and political decisions have nothing to do with working from home.
I chose not to work from a war zone so my life will not be in danger. I will not go back to an office where I know I have a far bigger chance of catching the virus and being killed. It has nothing to do with an office... the opposite arguement is veru simple: ask your employer to give you remote work from a war zone country. WIll you still go to the office if there is a chance it will be bombed?
"They can meet, for example, on skype...........No different than meeting someone face-to-face. I have coffee breaks online too, with co-workers". It is very different.
Humans communicate with voice, eyes, body language, posture and gestures.
That is not to say that we should not use online communication. But physical meetings are also important.
If we mainly or only communicated online, we will lose many skills which we humans acquire slowly from birth.
Bosses are humans too. Bosses are employees too. Bosses have bosses above them too. Bosses also need to justify their existence (jobs) in the company as well.
I hope you are not implying that anyone who manages people (a boss) is a mean or irrational person.
Bosses, often do have more experience than the people they manage; they may have been in the industry or that company longer than others; as a consequence of their experience and the job function, they may have more say in decision-making than junior people. But that is how the world works. Someone must lead, and often be lead by another person above. It is all part of - Accountability within what we call an - Organization.
People are just people, regardless of their title, and yes we all have our strengths and also weaknesses. Decision-making power among various people, is an attempt to bring/keep order within a structure, we call company.
I'm a boss too. But not as inflexible or as old fashioned as some. If my staff want to work from home, great. If they want to work outside core hours 9am to 4pm, wonderful. If they want to work weekends, not a problem. As long as they do their jobs, who cares where and when they work? We have an office, for those who need physical contact, but it's much smaller than one we used to rent. This was pre-Covid. Bosses have to move with the times.
"I'm a boss too. But not as inflexible or as old fashioned as some."
What is "old fashioned" in this context? Is asking people to work from office or work from office some days old fashioned? If you say - Yes, that sounds like an emotional or illogical response.
It depends on your job function AND on the business culture, how/when/where employees can/may work. There are many variables, and generalising would simply lead to many people without jobs.
If you and your company agree that you or other people can work from home, then fine; nothing wrong with that.
As a person with 20+ years work/corporate experience, all I can say is that, in the end, people will need to work this out between themselves and their employer.
If you call one way - old fashioned (which favors you), and others way (working from home), as may be, "new" fashion, well then, it may lead to unnecessary confrontation, and right or wrong, people who take risks, to start/run/manage companies, will likely win; people who lose, may be without jobs.
If you are a "boss", who actually owns his/her company, is responsible for the financials, then the buck ends with you. YOU get to decide what you want to do; YOU are also responsible for making things happen. YOU own all the risks.
Working from home or office, both, are fine. BUT, someone (a human, a board, a committee) must take ownership of their decisions, be accountable for the consequences - good or bad.
If you have the freedom/authority to hold yourself accountable for the eventual business consequences, then you can decide what is "old fashion" or "new fashion"; else it is idle/emotional/wish talk, and nothing more.
Owning the success of a business is very challenging; taking ownership of jobs of many is very difficult; but it is easy to complain, when one is not responsible for earning the revenue needed to sustain those jobs.
Since we switched to flexible working, meeting the needs of our employees rather than forcing them to accept the traditional approach, productivity is up, motivation & morale is up, profits are up, bonuses are up, costs are down, stress is down, absence due to illness (some pretend) is down. I forget the last time someone left to find a better job. But, I'm not saying everyone should be like me. If the traditional way works for you and everyone who works for you, stick with it.
Thanks for sharing
@sensiblemike, Seems that have a very accurate screen name. Apparently there are a number of people replying to your posts that refuse to see the sensible points you bring up. Obviously these points are not going to apply 100% to everyone, but probably a vast majority. I did not like working from home, I prefer the separation of work life, and leaving work at work.
If you truly believe in the points you list, I am very worried for you outlook on life. Do you honestly think that loosing time commuting to the office solves anything? In other posts you even mentioned that it's thank to jobs that people fall in love XD.
That youth will stop growing?!? That it will prevent outsourcing?!? That it will hinder problem solving??
cause depression?!?! These are such weird opinions to have, I would think you are a troll XD.
We are discussing working from home, not stopping to work!!
If you believe in any of these points how can you even take vacation days or sick days?
Mike, there is more outside the corporate world.
Normal people with social skills exist outside working hours, they meet people, go to therapy, go to school, work on personal projects (crazy I know).
I would almost ask you what do you think about freelancers then ahahha. Or housewives? What about people that don't work from home but work alone (driving busses, or being alone in a shop), or o or people working outside from an infrastructure?
Are they all lacking social and problem solving skills?
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