for me? I get a lot more done in the office, not because I work more effectively, but because I put in more hours. There is social pressure to work, so I'm not spending my time on, hah, hacker news. When I work from home, I generally put in way fewer hours, because I do visit hacker news, and that ain't work. I don't lie about my hours; I'm a contractor, and I just put a much smaller number on my timesheet; but for most employers? that's no consolation. They've budgeted X; charging them less than X doesn't really help them. giving them less work than they budgeted for does hurt them.
If I go to work? Being in the office puts me under social pressure to actually work. I put in a lot more hours. And yeah, you get some of my suboptimal hours when I'm having a hard time focusing, but for most employers? they seem to prefer that to just getting a few of my best hours in the working from home situation.
On the other hand, for me? callcenter work would be pretty perfect for working from home, because I'm not going to wander off while I'm on the phone with someone. Work is driven by the pressure from the person on the other end of the phone.
From that perspective, this experiment might not carry over to programming work for the sort of people who have a hard time focusing.
Note: most "We work 80 hours a week" environments, where people hang out and read facebook or what have you at work, are just as bad for me as being at home, because if the people around me aren't working, then there's no pressure for me to work, and in that case, you might as well save the money on the office, again, unless it is interrupt driven work. I'd do fine in that sort of office if I'm IT or some other job where someone comes up to me and asks me to help them solve something quick.
If I go to work? Being in the office puts me under social pressure to actually work. I put in a lot more hours. And yeah, you get some of my suboptimal hours when I'm having a hard time focusing, but for most employers? they seem to prefer that to just getting a few of my best hours in the working from home situation.
On the other hand, for me? callcenter work would be pretty perfect for working from home, because I'm not going to wander off while I'm on the phone with someone. Work is driven by the pressure from the person on the other end of the phone.
From that perspective, this experiment might not carry over to programming work for the sort of people who have a hard time focusing.
Note: most "We work 80 hours a week" environments, where people hang out and read facebook or what have you at work, are just as bad for me as being at home, because if the people around me aren't working, then there's no pressure for me to work, and in that case, you might as well save the money on the office, again, unless it is interrupt driven work. I'd do fine in that sort of office if I'm IT or some other job where someone comes up to me and asks me to help them solve something quick.