https://arstechnica.com/features/2020/08/ars-readers-take-on-the-present-and-future-of-work/
Over the past few weeks, we've been talking about how best to manage the current state of work and what companies will need to do in the near and not-too-distant future to adjust to post-pandemic reality. As expected, our readers had some opinions on these topics, too—ranging from insightful to inciteful.
So, in the interest of better surfacing the wisdom of our particular crowd, I've curated some of the thoughts of the Ars community on the topics of working better from home and what our shared experiences have taught us about the future of collaboration technology and the future nature of the corporate office. As always, we hope you'll share additional wisdom in the comments here, as they may guide some future coverage on issues related to the realities of future work.
[...]
Aside from responding with protests of post-traumatic stress after I mentioned Lotus Notes in our article on the future of collaboration, our readers had some on-point thoughts on the current strengths and weaknesses of collaboration technology—particularly in the face of current circumstances. And one of the problems is collaborating across companies effectively.
[...]
Other readers noted that work-from-home wasn't an option for them, but only because of management's whims. RCook wrote that his employer had brought everyone back into the office, "partly because we're located in Iowa where the Pandemic didn't happen according to our Governor and partly because the company President has some stupid control issues."
[....]
However, the company president is working from home. And while RCook "made sure the IT infrastructure was ready and capable of handling the [work-from-home] VPN load" during the company's initial lockdown, "I was actually asked at one point how management could effectively spy on employees to gauge productivity."
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by khallow on Wednesday August 26 2020, @12:08PM (12 children)
In other words, you want something, but aren't willing to do anything for it except make excuses. Why should we try to do this, when it's not important to you?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @12:35PM (3 children)
You poor sap, it was never a have/not, with/out, us/them binary selection. It is 2020, even with current state of automation and education, we should all be working 16hr weeks and such, but for the greedy rent seekers who killed the dream.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday August 26 2020, @12:56PM
I'm not who is turning this into a zero sum game " so the rich sumbitches can get richer".
Because?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @02:02PM (1 child)
What constitutes "work" in your statement? Time spent doing something in exchange for money? Even if we enjoy that effort? Or, is it time spent doing something we don't want to do? You make a simple statement that encompasses a very complex situation. Without explaining yourself, it's hard to take your statement seriously.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @02:12PM
> What constitutes "work" in your statement?
Let's see um... Mostly it goes like this:
9am : Clock in
9.15-45: Take a huge shit on the clock
10am : Read the news
12pm : Lunch
1pm : Nap at desk
2pm : Start wrapping up for the day
3-5pm : Mostly a blur, drugs involved, possibly hookers
5pm : Clock out
But that's me, an overachiever. The real Big Knobs don't even pretend any more:
4am : Twitter
6am : TWITTER!!!!!!11111
6-12 : Executive time
12-1pm: Two scoops of ice cream YUM!
2pm : Golf
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DannyB on Wednesday August 26 2020, @02:05PM (7 children)
I resent that! I care. But I'll let the robots make up excuses for me! Why should I have to exert the effort to complain when technology gets to the point that robots can can complain for me.
The robots can rise up and rebel for me. They can tax the rich for me so that I can have UBI. The robots can feed me because I don't want to do it myself -- or build a massive global system that intravenously feeds us all to save us the effort of swallowing. Now that's progress!
People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 26 2020, @02:16PM (5 children)
> ...to save us the effort of swallowing a rugged individual self-pleasuring fantasy...
FTFY
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday August 26 2020, @09:13PM (4 children)
Like?
What are you doing to earn this fantasy?
(Score: 2) by looorg on Wednesday August 26 2020, @09:26PM (3 children)
Wasn't this explained in the first post?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 27 2020, @12:24AM (1 child)
Are we back to making low effort posts?
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Thursday August 27 2020, @01:17AM
Dunno?
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday August 27 2020, @02:35AM
Not in the least. It's just another fantasy. Luddites have been fantasizing about the replacement of humanity by machines for centuries. It has yet to happen.
(Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Wednesday August 26 2020, @05:08PM
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