Malcom Gladwell is wrong about WFH
I was reading this article from the New York Post titled, Malcolm Gladwell slams working from home: ‘What have you reduced your life to?’
He says:
“It’s not in your best interest to work at home. I know it’s a hassle to come into the office, but if you’re just sitting in your pajamas in your bedroom, is that the work life you want to live? Don’t you want to feel part of something?”
He goes on to say more…
I completely disagree with Malcolm and believe he's out of touch with the average worker. I will grant that he is right about humans needing physical and emotional connections with other humans, but you don’t need to get this from your day job.
Malcom Gladwell is a writer… who literally works from coffee shops sipping on lattes mashing on his keyboard with his AirPods in. It’s not a good look for him to tell people that remote work isn’t in their best interest.
The comments say it all:
Malcom has no clue what it is like for the average worker. I am more productive during my work day both with home chores and work and now have the time on the weekends to go out and do things. The majority of the people I work with say that if we go full time they will quit. We are hybrid now and no one really gets much done in the office because every one wants to gossip. I have meaningful conversations with my boss over webex that are not constantly interrupted because someone needs to ask something. Skype works for quick questions and doesn’t slow down productivity. What all these bosses need to realize is that they are making the majority of the employees miserable making us come in. I know there are a few that want to go into the office every day and good for them. Just don’t force it on the rest of us. If someone is not getting things done at home then odds are they weren’t in the office either, it’s just more noticeable now. - Sue Rubincan
I suppose if you have no family to care for at home, just a cat (or dog), it can be lonely and isolating to work from home. As a person with a family, I can tell you that I much prefer working from home because I get to feel part of something I want to feel the most a part of: my family. - Who Dat Girly
I agree with the poster here that Gladwell is being intellectually dishonest. In an information society, there is no functional reason to go to an office any longer. Even allegedly "in-person" meetings are done via videoconference today because of the prevalence of people working at home.
Performance should be based on functional productivity, not presence at a fixed address. I turn out work products daily that make my the group I work in and the organization that I am a part of better than before I was a member.
I also find it interesting that people like Gladwell complain about "office culture" when the same type of people also say they fear for the ozone/global warming/climate change/polar bears because of carbon emissions. Isn't staying off the road improving the circumstances for the polar bears etc.? I guess you have to interview a few polar bears to find out.
I'm not functionally obligated to any sort of consumer activity like "buying lunch" when I'm working either. I've packed a lunch for the majority of my 20 years of productive work in society so far, and I don't see McDonald's, Burger King or Subway crying for my business. Heck, there was an article in the Post recently that indicated that somehow McDonald's was not profiting from $1 soft drinks because of the cost of the inputs. It's sugar water, is the highest profit item a restaurant can serve. -wax poetic
That is the weakest, most short-sighted argument I have heard yet. An office environment does not give you a sense of belonging, as socializing is not encouraged, or is at least heavily suppressed. Also, if you were to ask most people they would tell you that, yes, they work for the paycheck. I applaud this author for living his dream, but the rest of us are doing what we have to do to pay bills, and we can do that from home. Whether you're in tech, finance, or any other production based industry, you're not working collaboratively regardless of what corporate propaganda you're being fed. People are smart enough to know what is in their best interest, and working at home is best for a lot of people. Let them make their own decisions.
-Ryan Lee
