I spent the first year of covid working from the couch, and it was more than fine, at least from a work perspective. I was more productive there, I think, than I am in my home office! But it robbed me of my den. I was only able to be productive in that space by it no longer being a relaxation and entertainment space. So, I had to reclaim it.
But still, the idea of working from a comfortable space is something employers see as unprofessional, and a sign you’re not actually working. They’re wrong, but perception always wins out. And in their minds, that’s what we’re doing when working from home - being comfortable, relaxing, and not doing any work.
Employers have publicly accused employees of “time theft” over and over again since lockdowns started, and have brought it up in almost every discussion about RTO. They see people working from their living room as this “time theft”, even as the amount of work that they get done has remained consistent with, or even higher than, what they got done at the office. Simply by being at home, were theives in their minds. Because they can’t be creepy little shits and stand to greet us when we get back from lunch 2 minutes late, or time how long we’re in the bathroom.
If you enjoy doing something, that’s leisure, and you should be paying for it.
If someone is paying you to do something, then it clearly isn’t something you’d pay for doing yourself, so you can’t enjoy doing it.
Work is suffering, or it isn’t “real” work.
If you aren’t suffering while claiming to be at work, then you’re clearly stealing your employer’s time.
Unfortunately, there do exist people willing to get paid for doing nothing, pretty much every employer ends up meeting some sooner or later, so even those who claim to look for people who “like and are passionate about their work”, in reality end up trying to catch the lazy grifters to cut them out.
I spent the first year of covid working from the couch, and it was more than fine, at least from a work perspective. I was more productive there, I think, than I am in my home office! But it robbed me of my den. I was only able to be productive in that space by it no longer being a relaxation and entertainment space. So, I had to reclaim it.
But still, the idea of working from a comfortable space is something employers see as unprofessional, and a sign you’re not actually working. They’re wrong, but perception always wins out. And in their minds, that’s what we’re doing when working from home - being comfortable, relaxing, and not doing any work.
Employers have publicly accused employees of “time theft” over and over again since lockdowns started, and have brought it up in almost every discussion about RTO. They see people working from their living room as this “time theft”, even as the amount of work that they get done has remained consistent with, or even higher than, what they got done at the office. Simply by being at home, were theives in their minds. Because they can’t be creepy little shits and stand to greet us when we get back from lunch 2 minutes late, or time how long we’re in the bathroom.
The logic goes like:
Unfortunately, there do exist people willing to get paid for doing nothing, pretty much every employer ends up meeting some sooner or later, so even those who claim to look for people who “like and are passionate about their work”, in reality end up trying to catch the lazy grifters to cut them out.
US supermarkets forcing cashiers to stand comes to mind. Always has been mind-boggling to me and btw is blatantly illegal over here.