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A comment on The productivity of working from home: Evidence from Japan. Parent comment

Re:The productivity of working from home: Evidence from Japan by Guest42 on Saturday March 13, 2021 @02:11PM (#26449046)
For me, I think it depends on the office layout/vibe vs. the home layout/vibe. I feel much more productive at home as I don't have to listen to all the conversations surrounding me and if a manager stopped by they would often feel compelled to say something. Communicating via email is much more deliberate. Also, it seems as though the places I've worked have opted to silo projects and give them to individuals in a way that minimizes collaboration. It's also nice for people that are invited to a number of meetings for things that don't directly affect them to be able to multi-task at those times.

I also think that being watched produces a certain level of anxiety that is counter-productive.

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Re:The productivity of working from home: Evidence from Japan by epr on Saturday March 13, 2021 @02:29PM (#26449209)
> I feel much more productive at home as I don't have to listen to all the conversations surrounding me

I know this isn't a problem for most people, but this is such a huge issue for me. If you are talking in my vicinity, my brain locks on to your speech and prevents me from thinking about anything else. Unless I am listening to someone else speaking that is closer to me / louder there is no way to mentally block this out. If I'm trying to program and someone is talking near me, my productivity drops by maybe 80%. I either put on noise cancelling headphones, ask people to talk elsewhere (which irritates people who don't understand), or get nothing done.

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Re:The productivity of working from home: Evidence from Japan by tra3 on Saturday March 13, 2021 @02:32PM (#26449240)
I dont think you’re alone in this at all, as evidenced by the prevalence of headphones in open plan areas.
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Re:The productivity of working from home: Evidence from Japan by Guest42 on Saturday March 13, 2021 @02:31PM (#26449221)
Exactly, it makes it particularly difficult to do something new that requires creativity or intense thought.
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Re:The productivity of working from home: Evidence from Japan by orzig on Saturday March 13, 2021 @02:36PM (#26449262)
Yes, and I think that so many internet conversations would benefit from an explicit reminder that "People are different", and "Groups of people (teams) are even more different", so we should bear in mind that any average has a wide standard deviation, likely spanning the positive and negative domains
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