Are you enjoying working remotely more than being in the office?

@sethoo what's got you down about it? Besides the global pandemic which is obviously really tough on everyone

@rossbaltimore Been working from home for 10 years now. My first job was in an office, where I have to travel to and from work. Back then I had to leave the house 2 hours earlier due to really heavy traffic and arrive home 3 hours after work. I'm in the office 6 days a week, 8 hours a day and it feels very toxic and eats up a lot of time that I could've spent with my family. Working from home and with my current company specifically, I was given the freedom to setup my own schedule. I was able to work at my own pace with tons of time to spend with the family and do other things I enjoy.

@dhox wow, 5 hours of travel per day!? That's horrendous! I live in NYC, and I commute from my childhood house in Scranton, PA in that time. I definitely notice the extra time at the beginning and ends of the work day. Even though my commute was never more than 30 minutes door to door, there's that 15 minutes of packing up stuff, dressing a different way, etc. etc. that I never thought about but definitely was eating up time.

@rossbaltimore Might be a case to case basis depending on the location, but here in our country (Philippines), with the toxic volume of traffic even on regular days, I'll definitely recommend working from home.

@rossbaltimore @dhox that sounds like the dream situation. Do you mind sharing what kind of work you do and the company?

@rossbaltimore been working remotely since the beginning of the year. The main improvements have been as follows. Reducing time on: -Commuting -Getting ready -Pointless meetings -Water-cooler chats -Distractions from colleagues -Buying clothes Increasing time on: -Upskilling -Self improvement -Meaningful interactions -Strategic thinking From the above it seems that there is a clear shift of time distribution from low value to high value activities.

@john_lim2 oh wow. How did you decide without "getting a feel" for the candidates in person?

@tyclimateguy a couple things! We use plum.io, which is a psychometric assessment. Takes about 45 minutes and assesses the candidates fit for the position--it gives A LOT of insight... I've enjoyed using the tool tremendously. Next, I actually don't place a ton of value into the in-person interview. A big reason for that is Malcolm Gladwell's recent book How To Talk To Strangers. Awesome book!

@john_lim2 Plum looks really interesting. I've got a friend that's hiring and I'll suggest it to him. You (and Gladwell) are probably right about how bad people are figuring each other out in person. And also when you hire someone you won't know the good and the bad until you actually get to working with them.

@john_lim2 @tyclimateguy "getting a feel" is precarious. Have you read the book Work Rules (https://www.amazon.com/Work-Rule...)? It has many deeply thoughtful ideas and analyses about what works well for hiring, what intuitively *should* work but doesn't―or worse, has a negative effect. Theoretically, meeting people has one of the worst effects on hiring quality. Having said that, I've never been personally brave enough to cut that part out of my hiring process. But, it'll be interesting to hear from you what the results are months from now!

@john_lim2 @rossbaltimore Thanks for the book, I'll definitely check it out. I've found that the best way to hire someone is to wait until you've actually worked with them. Most of my team's in the past are little consulting pods and it really helps to do little assignments together before bringing people in for a full blown engagement.

@marcvaultier nice. I have a theory phone/video calls are more efficient because everyone is dying to get off them because we've all gotten used to the only options being text or in person

@humairawins so true. Being forced to stay in the house with your bundles of joy makes it more challenging. Though I think it's opened a lot of people's eyes to just how doable working from is

@sunilc_ oh great. I’m glad you’re enjoying it. Welcome to the movement. If you don’t mind, What kind of work do you do and what kind of role are you looking for?

@dahfab I get that. It sounds like my last 3 months At college writing my dissertation. My room was so tiny I was < 2 steps away from everything I owned. And at least I could leave the apartment for a few hours. Where are you and how long is your lockdown supposed to be?

@terhile_ikyo I’ve heard Lagos traffic is harsh but four hours is crazy. You should be petitioning your get your whole company to work remotely if everybody is losing four hours a day. What kind of work do you do?

@tyclimateguy LOL! We have, Nigerian CEO's and companies don't believe you can be productive except they see you physically, COVID-19 proving them wrong

@itshemantsharma What are you enjoying about it?