I thought I'd like working at home, as it turns out I didn't at all because once you're working at home, it's hard to draw the line.

I learned it well working for myself. After 5pm, no work unless it's a real emergency and those might happen 1-2x a year.

Having gone back into the workforce, people were always amazed I didn't carry the latest greatest phone (only got an iPhone once they added GPS, currently using a Lumia 1020). I don't need a computer in my pocket. I'm in front of a computer roughly 12-16 hours a day, that little time I'm not, I'm okay with being away from email, etc.

Even though I'm on my computer at night (like now). I never check work emails, they're also never sent to my phone. Only personal. If it's an emergency, call. It better fucking be an emergency (why I left my last job, owner didn't understand boundaries). I also don't work overtime. If you want 24/7 support, hire it.

Honestly, when you think about it, if it's over email, it's not a "real" emergency. Someone in a real emergency would just call.

I realized that almost nothing on my phone is important enough to interrupt me whenever.

Same thing here, nobody understands why I'm sticking to a nokia 208.

Working from a shared office means that I'm out of the door by 10-11AM. I chose a shared office that was very close to my place, so my commute is 15 minutes at most.

It's also easier going to the gym after work when I'm already out.

Wouldn't do the work from home thing unless it was absolutely necessary.

Gets me dressed and out of the house.

When working remote, it becomes conscious effort to seek out social activity and to connect. This extra step is difficult for some.

it's quiet, and well lit, and cool. i can work an honest 8-10 hour day with occasional breaks without a problem. every full time employee (except interns) has a view. it's nice, but it's not "luxury" space. it's not very expensive, less than the cost of one junior employee.

i will never work in any other kind of environment ever again -- maybe a dedicated home office, but even then, i do like a (very) short commute for the same reasons you do. there are a handful of other tech companies here (it's mostly law firms, finance, psychiatrists, etc.) and they seem to have the same idea, and are doing well.

it's kind of like the black turtleneck theory -- the office is not something we think about, like at all, so that we're free to spend our mental energy on other more productive things.

That's not the flip side, that's what the article says they're doing: converting office staff to a co-working space (via their "perks"):

    "Those in San Francisco who worked in the office now have
    moved into coworking spaces, which Buffer pays for as      
    part of our team perks."

You didn't stop having an office. You just realised you could save money by sending the few guys using your office to a shared space.

I think I'd be a bit miffed if I was a non-office employee there - suddenly the old 'office guys' are getting this 'team perk' that doesn't apply to me.

It would be more in the spirit of the whole 'openness' thing to say "here's $X, spend it on office space, coffee, whatever to improve whatever working environment you choose".

My main point is just that the article content "those employees who were in our office are now in company-paid co-working space" is pretty different from the headline "we're ditching the office completely".

But apart from that, I'm with you in your conclusion that an equal amount of money for possible work environments is probably the most structure agnostic solution.

"Going to work" is now considered a "perk of the job"? Now I have heard everything.

Just last night a friend in hospitality was telling me how tips were pooled and shared out, and money was taken out of the pool against staff parties (okay, kind of defensible) and breakage (wtf!?). He said the place was even dicier than it sounds - when they did have the staff parties, the boss made it sound like the money came out of his own pocket, rather than sucked from the employees tips. Some "perks" are definitely less valuable than other "perks"...

This is explicitly illegal in California, Massachusetts and New York (among other states). There are also states where it is legal.

However if I work at home for the long term, then here's what that will cost:

10 years X 12 months X 360 per month = $43200

If you are as old as I am then 10 years won't seem like a long time and $43200 will seem like alot of money.

In your shoes I'd put a chair and a desk in the garage, presuming you have one or similar.

Like OP it makes a break between work and home. Plus, a few times clients have dropped by to see something. Also, I get dressed and see neighbors from adjoining offices on a regular basis. So I don't become a totally socially inept nerd.

I don't have any kids but if I continue with this, I fully expect to get more than 43,000 worth of value out of the office over a 10 year period.

But even if you do maintain a schedule with 40+ hours of work a week, working from home still leaves you with more time, since the time eaten up by commuting disappears. Now, imagine that everyone in your neighborhood is doing this. Instead of the vast majority of your local community spending the vast majority of their time outside of the community, they will actually be present. And they will all desire the natural human need for social contact. I expect that this will result in a rebirth of the local community. Long commutes, ever-growing work weeks, ever-shrinking vacation time has pretty much decimated the whole concept of a local community. But when those things disappear, you're going to end up with a lot of people wanting to get together and I'm sure they will eventually figure it out and block parties, back-yard barbecues, etc will become a regular occurrence.

Transitions are always fraught with difficulties, and I think the social contact issue with working from home is just one of the temporary ones as our society moves toward people working from home, most being self-employed.

I think you'd be much more likely to be able to keep the arrangement you have now if you became an employee of a company like this than if you became an employee of a company that had a traditional office.

So, remote working is definitely not for everyone! You must really appreciate your "freedom" so much that you'll want to have the trouble to organize your life around it. You have to be a very organized person "internally", if you know what I mean.

As for the lack of social life, as some people say, I found that hobbies are great solution to that problem. You get to do interesting things outside work while meeting other people. For instance, I think my diverse interests in life and the hobbies that I pursue describe me better personally than being a "developer doing.. things.."!

If I got a real job again, I'm not sure that I could afford to have a $360 monthly bill.

I have childish coworkers running around the office, so I can barely get any work done there and I am constantly interrupted.

I am definitely the "no fun employee".

It got too distracting so management put the kibosh on it after about a month, though.

But back when I worked in a "real" office, I had the exact same situation you just described. It was just as noisy and loud as it is here at home.

In either place, I have to learn how to work with distractions in the background, and learn how to ignore them efficiently. So why not do that at home?

Here, I have an "open door" policy, so that I can help my wife out with any homeschool tasks that might be better suited for me.

It can be challenging sometimes, but it's extremely rewarding.

And I'm just as productive here (if not more productive) than I ever was at a "real" office.

But YMMV.

On the subject, eventually the house's temperature goes to the heights. But I'd never worked so much before and the parenting experience gives a great sense of achievement. It's like a family business with its own departments, and its own kind of clashes.

Just saying I pay N is nearly useless without context.