A write up of Mike’s thoughts after a year working remotely for InVision.
Commuting:
Math-wise, if you assume that most employers do not consider overhead time as part of the ~40 hours you’re getting paid for, working remotely can reduce your true work week by about 27%. If you already work remotely and you were to consider taking a traditional job again, you’d be agreeing to a whopping 37.5% longer week!
Working from a Nice Office vs Home:
If you asked me “would the average tech worker living in San Francisco prefer to work from home, in San Francisco” I would probably say no, due to the combination of office perks and small living quarters. If you asked me the same question but for Denver, I might say yes. We have a lot of people at InVision who have traded cramped, overpriced apartments in tech hubs for more comfortable situations across the country and the world. This seems like it will be a common outcome in the near future.
On Meetings:
One other thing about meetings in remote companies: working remotely has made me realize how unimportant and ritualized so many meetings are. Often times, I will get 90% of the way through scheduling a meeting in Google Calendar only to ask myself “can’t we just update each other on this project throughout the week via Slack?” Even staff meetings seem unnecessary sometimes.
Connection to Teammates:
I’m able to cope with having predominantly digital relationships during the day because I have a healthy social life outside of work, but if I didn’t, it might be rough. A lot of people look to office life for a good percentage of their real human interaction every day, and if you’re one of those people, I could see remote life being not fun at all.