Why do companies force workers to communte?
What Melissa Mayer right?
World Economic Forum [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0) or CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
As far as I remember it was Melissa Mayer who started this ban on working from home trend by banning working from home at Yahoo. When Melissa Mayer took charge of Yahoo one of the first things she did in 2013 was to ban working from home and it was a controversial decision at the time which generated a lot of huffing and puffing by the media. Fast forward and now other companies have followed suit.
An article asks "Why do we still commute?".
What is gained by working in the office?
A Gallup State of the American Workplace report found that people who work remotely are more engaged, enthusiastic and committed to their work — but only if they work outside the office 20% of the time or less.
Is there a benefit to being physically around others? I think in some cases there can be and in some cases there isn't depending on who you work with.
The article elaborates:
Social science points to the importance of face-to-face interaction for worker productivity. The principal-agent model in economics, for instance, stresses the need of employers to monitor and incentivize workers to make sure they're not slacking on the job. Studies have shown that teams who work together face-to-face, as opposed to via email, are more productive when doing complex tasks. Being physically close helps us bond, show emotions, problem solve, and spontaneously come up with ideas.
Productivity according to social science is improved when people are able to bounce ideas off others face to face. At least this is proven in theory. The need for employers to monitor and incentivize workers also can make sense depending on the kind of worker and the kind of work it is. So for managers it does seem to make sense that managers can better monitor workers in an office. At the same time a lot of work doesn't require an office and a lot of work just requires consistent output from workers. While it is true that creativity flows in groups when there is social interaction it also depends on what you are doing.
Do programmers benefit from face to face interaction in the office? Which sort of jobs most benefit and which least benefit?
I agree with you that physical interaction helps. When the boss is around, people get more active, as the saying goes, when the cat is away, the mice will play, LOL! Besides improving productivity, its also a good feeling to meet other people, as humans are social animals who usually like to be around people. One reason unemployed people feel so depressed is because they are socially isolated.
Communication is better when you in the same location.
I'd have to agree. The more team coordination a job requires then the more you need to be physically present. However, if a task requires long periods of concentration without interuption then a workplace can be terrible. I've had people knock and knock and knock and shout and even kick my door because I had a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door and they figured their issue was more important. It wasn't and so I rescheduled them for an appointment in the far distant future.
I agree with you. It really depends on the job you are doing.
Beautiful Post well done
This random comment from me is a bot-test. Let's see if @elmligy passes. Or, it might be downvote time.
I will follow you
Turing test failed. Haha.
Here we see a feminist control freak demand that employees have university degrees and must come in to the office to work. This pathetic leader managed to destroy the Yahoo brand proving that feminist control freak ideooigy has no place in modern business.
Is productivity improved just throughh face to face or any interaction?
This is an engaging topic, while office presence is important in that it enables the manager monitor the works and ensure maximum output in effective time. Home work is beneficial to workers, in that it helps to maximize time put into work and make optimum time for other life chores. Some times spent in office are unproductive, you may be in office and not working just wait till closing time.
Nice post