I worked for a company that was forced to go all-remote due to problems with our office space. I thought it would prove to management that remote work was a net win for everyone. I expected both productivity and employee happiness to increase.

I was wrong on all counts. The problem is that you can’t suddenly transition people to WFH and expect them to figure it out right away. This doesn’t resonate with 20-something developers who spend much of their home time glued to a computer in a quiet room, but it will resonate with the parents who have kids at home.

In our case, productivity fell immensely in certain teams and departments. People scrambled to find quiet space at home where they could hide from young children. Others struggled to work efficiently with purely digital communication. A surprising number of people couldn’t handle being productive without the watchful eye of their manager. Some people tried to take vacations and respond with one-liner emails from their phones. Some of us were more productive, but it wasn’t anywhere near as uniform as I expected.

I’m concerned that this sudden, forced WFH environment will hurt perceptions of remote work more than it helps.