Truly a very different take from the noise out there about Return To Office Most employees will Work From Home & it is time for Corporations to support employee Health, Environment, Safety, Ergonomics & child/parent care to ensure Performance, Productivity. Panel Aug 27 sign up with Teknion
Even though this article is quite old, relative to this comment, NYers who want to work remotely from another state will still be on the hook for NY taxes, thanks to NY effectively having a telecommuter tax which uses a "convenience of the employer" test.
Was just talking about this the other day. My company has was flexible telecommute policy. I can work from home on the Jersey Shore (Asbury Park) whenever I want. I have a separate home office and just close the door when the day is done.
I still keep a room in the city (shared apt, walkup, cheap) but use it infrequently. Will probably get rid of it next year.
Something that the article doesn’t get at: without telecommuting I wouldn’t have been able to purchase my first home; I wanted at least one bedroom and was priced out of Manhattan/Brooklyn. So I was basically looking at a shoeboxes 30 min or so from midtown... until I started looking in Asbury Park. Bought a nice house in a great neighborhood for the price of a Manhattan studio. Happy to finally be building equity, and enjoying a great house in a fun little beach town along the way.
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I am an early middle-aged, "early retired" American programmer. The problem with telecommuting is that if the employer thinks that telecommuting is possible, then the employer figures it may as well hire someone to telecommute from India rather than from the USA.
6
I've worked from home for more than 10 years. I could not go back into a traditional office setting. On the infrequent occasion when I must venture into the city for a doctor's appointment, I am appalled and aghast at what commuters endure every weekday. I tell most people that I work all the time, but only when I want to.
6
Academic (who often works from home) here. Just on the point about people seeking dedicated homework spaces for their children, too: it may seem counterintuitive, but research shows that children retain more when they do not always work in the same space. Doing part of their homework on the floor, part at a table or desk, and, say, part on the sofa results in better learning and retention than always working in the same place. I just purchased my daughter a beautiful desk, but encourage her to do a lot of her work elsewhere!
6
I worked from home, as a freelance journalist, book author, and copywriter, for decades. I even got my largest contract in NYC, of all places, and thought I was on my way.
What I didn't know was that I lived in a rural area. Lack of decent Internet access in rural Virginia, and I lost the contract in months. It was a six figure contract, and insufficient rural Internet (which was also 4x as expensive as the nearby city) made it impossible.
People in cities or immediate suburbs can telecommute. But go JUST an HALF HOUR outside a major metro area, just TEN MINUTES outside a small town--a viable bedroom town--you're... well, there are ONLY four letter words for the situation you are in. Lots and lots of four letter words.
This is one of the reasons why rural areas are dying and small towns are struggling.
13
With this trend, and ever improving high speed internet coverage there will be an increasing number of telecommuters moving abroad to significantly cheaper but desirable locations (anyone want to work from Costa Rica?) It will be interesting to see how this new globalized workforce further impacts the local economies of these places in the coming years.
5
The suburbs exist — at least at their current valuations — due to the traditional need to commute. I doubt telecommuters will be congregating expensive suburbs over the long term. Why not the exurbs? Why not anywhere that suits them for a fraction of the price?
2
@mnc
If people aren’t regularly commuting, maybe we can return to REAL mixed zoning. You know, walkable living, small business America.
2
As a result of this trend, we really need to get better home office tax deductions. Having to provide my own services moves costs from my employer to me.
13
Telecommuting affects commercial real estate as well. I wondered why Amazon needed a second HQ building at all.
I worked for a federal agency where the majority of the staff telecommuted 5 days/week. The building was like a ghost town during the week. I wonder what would happen to office buildings in DC if the federal government lifted the geographical restrictions on telework (now people must live within the greater DC Metro area) so federal workers could telecommute from anywhere in the country. I don't see that happening anytime soon though as many agencies have cut back on telework. There is the infamous example of the Department of Agriculture nearly ending its telework policy after Secretary Perdue was unable to have an ad hoc in-person meeting with a telecommuting employee. I hope that is just a rumor because if not, it is truly dinosaur thinking.
4
Remote work is the new work. Millennials will require mobility when it comes to working from wherever. So, we'll see more of this in the coming years. And, depending on what you read, people are leaving cities such as NYC because of the high cost of living and just the daily grind to even grocery shop and flocking to places that offer a better quality of life. Given today's and tomorrow's technology, it's easier to do business from afar. Smart brands realize this and will hire talent wherever they may be. We still have plenty of airports with airplanes to get into markets for meeting and then back home....
4
Interesting article. However I am offended by the use of the term "urban refugee" in the second to last paragraph and expect more from the NYT.
A refugee; According to Article 1 of the 1951 UN Convention, is defined as a person who 'owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality.
Given the state of our world (and the number of legitimate refugees) using the term "urban refugees" to describe what are clearly economically and socially advantaged Americans who have the freedom of choice is pure laziness on the part of the author.
12
Socialization is key for me. Even though working from home is awesome, I still love going to my office at least twice a week to just socialize.
13
Working from home is like going back to a more natural way of living. It used to be that merchants lived in the back of or above their shops. Farmers lived where they plowed. In this way, women, in particular, could live a seamless life blending home and work. I send an email while waiting for a response, I go downstairs and put in a load of laundry. I'm stuck on a solution, and I go into the kitchen and do some cooking. I probably work more hours than I might in an office, but my day feels lighter because I've been able to schedule it myself to some extent. My cat joins in on meetings, and my remote colleagues share their lives as well. You do need a lot of self-discipline, but for me, this natural flow is ideal.
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@Sara Stay in touch as EmpowerNatorJune NYC Documentary has an inspiring chapter on my grandparents, mom & her sisters who owned a block of NYC stores + walkups and lived above their hat store. I learned kitchen-table biz decision-making from my mom’s property management. When my mom was ill in Florida, I created an electronic-boardroomTMVi(r) solution that enabled me to determine & act on her health
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Interesting read.
The co-living point however is, at least I think, completely antithetical to the article.
Being able to move from one property to another isn’t endemic to co-living. Indeed pretty much any large owner of multi family will allow you to do this provided you stay “in network”. So ignore that as a reason. Most friends I know who do the city to city live in Airbnb.
In fact, co-living must be HURT by these trends. Co-living works because an owner can up the PSF rent in high cost areas. When agglomeration effects were so large but before telecommunications lowered the alternative costs, co-living made sense. You HAD to live in Manhattan or downtown SF or Zone 1 London. You just accepted that 120 sqft was a fact of life.
Now you don’t. Agglomeration of talent is still important, hence why Id imagine your suburbs won’t benefit as much as your urban infill (eg, Zone 2-4 London or Brooklyn or Queens or Oakland) but now with more land choice to help you accomplish the same outcome (wherever transport links are good) then why would anyone NEED to be in an overpriced main & main location in a gateway city?
Co-living is a general fighting the last battle....
Been working from home more and commuting less. I still lease my City office, but aim to work home 2 days a week. (I don't always attain that goal.) The days I work from home - I walk, or I take a yoga/stretch/core/balance/weights class.....Win win. I yearn for the day that I turn in my office keys.
3
oh please. only certain jobs can work at home (usually high paid or self employed) or low skill customer service type jobs. if you don't have good internet impossible to work at home. lots of places have horrible internet, when we live on Mars I guess it will be better?
5
Wall-e's world, here we go!
2
Interesting that this article did not discuss the digital divide between urban and rural areas. True high speed internet is nonexistent in many areas. This is a major limiting factor to telecommuting.
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People live in cities because that's where the knowledge is. They live in cities because they know that they may not have their current job for life and will want another job and that to get that job they'll need contacts in....the city. The role of cities is so self-evident only ideologues cannot, or will not. see it.
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Wow! This is old news! The only difference is that men are included now. As a mom with two young children, I started “telecommuting” as a real estate market consultant in 1992. Four years later, we bought a house with a small room in the back and converted it into an office.
5
I work remotely and moved two years ago from SF Bay Area to way cool little town, Bisbee Amazon. Buy a beautiful house for $200k. At 5500 foot elevation it has a great climate. Tons of art, music and a diverse liberal community. The town itself is a museum piece. One day drive to LA. Check it out, I’m never going back.
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@Don Detrich
Amazon. Really? Auto “correct” strikes again.
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@Don Detrich
Not sure if I want to live next to a huge Copper mine and just 13 miles from Trumps wall.
1
As a longtime small business owner in NYC, I have had it both ways: rented offices with a commute, and worked from home. Five years ago, the last time I leased an office, I realized with technology, it was no longer necessary. Moving out and setting up a dedicated, enclosed home office saved $20,000 a year.
As other commenters have mentioned, working from home is healthier because you have time for the gym, to take exercise walks before starting or during the lunch hour, and to have lunches that are home-made (the freezer is stocked).
Arranging lunch dates, meetings and keeping an active social life keeps isolation at bay. I have a $95/month WeWork membership in NYC where office mail goes (the official business address) and meetings are held, and can pay extra to join co-workers in large, pleasant spaces.
This is a far better quality of life. I am saving more money and can afford to hire and pay more without the overhead. NYC is more enjoyable, too.
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There should be separate coffee shops for people who do business and people who are there to relax. If a coffee shop wanted to do both then it should have separate sections.
What person at leisure who goes to a coffee shop to muse, meet a friend, or friends, or maybe write the great American novel wants to sit next to business types who bring their vibe with them and disturb the whole atmosphere?
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@AJWoods
I agree, and the people go goes there to work don't be distracted by the talking of those who go there to socialize.
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@AJWoods
There’s are a few with working/non working sides. The problem is when the workers have meetings... so much for quiet.
I set up a home office when we moved in to our house in 1987 while still commuting in to the city full time. I was required to be in my assigned area regardless of customer calls. I started working out of my house full time in 2001. I visit customers on an almost daily basis dressed business casual and still have to deal with the traffic. This however alleviates the isolation working from home and still get to enjoy the freedom when there are no customer calls. I’m lucky to get the best of both sides.
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Remote work and telecommuting has turned Bozeman Montana into a very expensive town of haves and have nots. Median home value is about $438,000.
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@mpls
worth pointing out that median family income in Gallatin Valley, MT (most precise dataset available for Bozeman) is about $52k.
That's a house-price-to-income ratio of 8.4.
Nationwide historical average ratio during healthy economic times is 2.6.
It is absolutely changing, many argue destroying, the community. In short, there is far less community now as the fleets of vacation homeowners and telecommuters have much less vested interest compared to those living and working here.
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"New Yorkers made up the largest share of new residents to Florida in 2017, at almost 64,000 people... Changes in federal tax laws that sharply limit deductions for state and local income taxes created new incentives for New Yorkers to move to the lower-tax Sunshine State."
It's really reaching to draw any conclusions from an increase of 9,000 people over five years from a state with 19.54 million people.
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I would work through the internet at home, which is 1.5 miles from work, if the only internet package available, provided by Verizon, actually worked. Verizon, Comcast and other national internet "service" providers have turned rural and remote places in America into internet ghettos by monopolizing service and providing minimal service. These money grubbers pour their money into the urban areas because their returns are infinitely better than what they could get in rural America. The sad thing is that independent entrepreneurs and rural co-operatives are able to make a decent living providing regional service but they are continually poisoned by 21st century robber barons such as Facebook repeatedly "accidentally" digging up the fiber optics of a regional co-op while installing their own lines.
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@Jim Tokuhisa It's not even just rural areas. Internet is surprisingly unreliable even in large parts of Brooklyn due to companies basically monopolizing neighborhoods.
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I have been working remotely full time as a self-employed consultant and writer since 2003 after 20 years as an employee, commuting daily to a workplace. Along with the many personal benefits and improved work performance others have already noted, keeping me off Southern California freeways by eliminating my daily commute is a significant benefit to the entire region. It's good for the environment and good for the taxpayers. We can avoid building new freeways and expanding others. Fewer workers on-site daily means reduced rent for office space AND parking, even with just a single day telecommuting out of a five day work week. I'm perplexed why more businesses AREN'T pursuing this - and why government doesn't incentivize telecommuting where possible.
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A gig worker avant la lettre, I’ve pursued a similar career path in Europe, eventually trading life in the big city for a rural existence in a remote corner of northern Germany twelve years ago. As a result, I haven’t had to commute at all since 1991, though occasionally still meet with clients in Düsseldorf and Berlin. Essentially, I’m able to work wherever I happen to be, whether I’m on a Greek island, sitting in a café in Paris, hunched over my iPhone on a bench by the Baltic, or on a train in Norway. Nobody cares as long as the work gets done. Of course, this means that I’m never really on vacation, and occasionally quip that I’ve worked in a museum in Ferrara, a restaurant in Rome or at a fitness studio in Frankfurt. Semi-retired in the meantime, I have no regrets. You might almost think I’d planned it.
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@PRProSanDiego
Agreed - go figure. Companies need to step up and help solve the problems of needless commuting time, traffic and pollution.
Just think decades ago the promised future probably contained all of the work elements of today - electronic communication, personal computers.... - but yet here we are slogging into the office the same as the previous generation.
Climate protests indeed - here's something we could readily embrace to improve many aspects of life but have failed to do so.
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@PRProSanDiego I work for a company that contracts with utilities to increase the energy efficiency of their customers so my job, day in and day out is, "how do I design this thing to get people to use less electricity, gas, water, etc"?
The people at my company and at utilities that I work with most frequently are in other states and Canadian provinces so I'm communicating remotely all the time and yet my boss insists I come into work and sit by myself in an office to do this.
Crazy, huh? This company above all should encourage telecommuting to reduce gas use (actually I take a bus but it's the principle of the thing). Businesses just don't trust their employees to be grownups and manage themselves.
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I work remotely 90% of the time. It has been great for our rural community, but personally I was much happier working in an office with more social interaction as well as more professional face-to-face interaction. Video conferencing has made a huge difference, but doesn't totally replace the informal conversations that pop up.
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It helps to remember that about 66% of the US workforce does not have a college degree and is thus much less likely to work at home. Of course, this is a NYTimes article, so the focus is on wealthy, elite knowledge workers who can afford houses in the communities discussed.
I've had a variety of work-at-home and hybrid telecommuting jobs. I see the pros and cons of both office and telecommuting. I'm in a hybrid situation now. It's great in many ways, but I miss the informal, daily interaction with other workers about work topics (not social) that many companies try so hard to foster. I also wonder if promotions are more likely to go to the visible workers? Are interesting assignments more likely to go to the one in the office who hears about a new direction first?
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I started my business out of the house in the early 80's, since then turned it over to two of my kids and if they hire another employee they may have to move to a commercial location.
The advantages are safety, (we live in a great neighborhood), ability to train your kids in the business from a young age and get them interested and no commute. Because we have a number of employees there is social interaction which one person working alone does not have. Plus I strongly believe that a lone worker is not as productive as a group environment .
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@Mac Arthur Whether you're more productive alone or in a group depends a lot on the group! If I could choose the people I work with, I'd be a whole lot more productive. There are always the people whose main purpose seems to be, to increase the workload and confusion for others with their idiocy.
I admit, there are some people that it's worth to interact with, to cross-pollinate ideas with. But it really varies by the person.
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Times of late weaving the argument that the far suburbs, exurbs and small cities are the future. Methinks you are oversimplifying.
The “frontier” is wonderfully attractive in bright, sunny Septembers especially if you are young. When clouds, darkness and cold arrive, the big city is the place to be. When you have children who may require services, when you experience physical or financial setbacks, when you age, the city is the place to be. The big cities have the social service, medical, educational transportation infrastructure needed in a complex world and big cities offer the diverse economies and job opportunities that provide an employment opportunity safety net when needed.
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@John McMahon I agree in general. Living in a resonable sized town/city or larger is best as we age. It's not an either or question though. What is your definition of a big city? There are many good compromises between the "big city" in the sense of top 10 cities and the frontier. Lower tier cities, small cities esp. if they are near big cities, and inner ring suburbs for example. Many suburban cities now have quite good infrastructure for the things you describe. In many metros the infrastructure is also distributed between the city core/downtown and the close-in burbs. In many metro areas the "people across the street" live in another jurisdiction, but people on both sides of the street share the same or similar amenities.
7
I started a flexible job 3 years ago that I only go in the office 3 days a week and the rest at home and it is life changing! I can never go back to the old way. It is wonderful to have a mix of office and home time and really saves my sanity by relieving myself of a horrible commute twice a week.
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In the bay area we have some case studies on the question of whether people will stay in cities for jobs or for leisure/community/weekends. Our jobs are separated from our fun cities and plenty of people take advantage of the ability to work remotely and live in San Francisco or Oakland while their job is in Mountain View or Cupertino, an hour or more away at rush hour. So working remotely means they can live somewhere more urban than where they work, not the other way around.
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I can't telecommute as I work for an event venue and 70% of my day is spent meeting face-to-face with clients in the venue space. Atlanta's traffic is absolutely hellish, made 10 times worse by the disintegrating roads - everyone is dodging potholes and such. Atlanta's MARTA public transportation system is rudimentary, but thank goodness it actually exists and works for my commute. I've started to take the MARTA bus and train to and from work even though it can add 20-30 minutes to my commute each way, and costs me an extra $1,000+ out of my own pocket per year. I read during the commute, and I've stopped grinding my teeth out of frustration. I know it's growing pains, but Atlanta and its environs seem adamant in preventing public transportation expansion. I thought that maybe Amazon choosing NOT to locate their new headquarters here would open their eyes, but nope, no such luck!
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@Surviving I don't understand why using public transit costs more than (presumably) driving your own car?
When we moved to Chicago, I estimate we saved about $6,000 annually for each of the two cars we dumped, replaced by, at the time, $70 monthly CTA passes (today they are, I think, $105).
14
Still, the lingering feeling that those working remotely aren't really putting in the hours, nor the effort, that is expected when in the office.
4
@Carrie Over the last 10 years or so, as more and more people work remotely, I've seen much of that "if I can't see you, I can't trust you" attitude going away. But there are some companies, notably IBM, that have swung the other way, insisting that people return to company offices.
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@Carrie In my working career,some would work from home to save on child-care. I mean, come on, you can't take care of your children while working from home. But, they got away with it.
4
@Nancy SM Agreed. IBM pioneered working from home as I started doing it in the 90s. Unfortunately some people abused the privilege. Conference calls interrupted by crying babies, angry spouses, barking dogs, flushing toilets and train whistles was common place and it was too easy for required conference call participants to not show for a critical meeting. Email and instant messaging are not as effective a means of communications as direct contact. Colocation where people work in close proximity with each other is far more productive than remote workers. I also found working remotely to be isolating and not the best way to build a high functioning team. I'd much rather make the trip to the office.
7
My husband was working in downtown Seattle for 44 years as an attorney. The traffic, parking, rent prices, and the homeless folks that set up a camp outside his office made working downtown very unpleasant.
We decided that we would "try" having him work from home. I was not excited. We made a decision that in 6 months if the home office was not working for both of us, he would find another office in Seattle. He has an office available if he needs to meet clients in Seattle, but in 3 years, he has only used that office 3 times. My job is not portable like his unfortunately.
The last 3 years has been fantastic!!! We both are so much happier and my husband is much happier and healthier.
The first week was the hardest. He was in the living room having a cup of coffee. I was not kind when I asked him why he was not in his office and my law school daughter said "Mom, he gets a lunch break, it's the law!".
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I telecommuted for a year and it was terrible for me. I felt socially isolated, I worked way more hours because it is so hard to switch off at the end of the day, and I was often overlooked for projects or promotions in favor of people physically in the office. I'm glad it works well for some people, but I need facetime!
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Possibly this trend of smaller communities attracting remote workers will have a positive effect of creating a need for workers that might attract homeless people coming to smaller communities also—their being able to live a little cheaper and afford a dwelling instead of a street address.
5
Hey NYT: This begs for deeper reporting. On the one hand you have articles saying talent and wealth are increasingly concentrating in cities. And on the other hand, you have articles like this one and others about a "brain gain" in non-urban areas. What do the numbers say so far? Are there patterns emerging in these two conflicting trends? Are we at another "peak urbanism"? Time to dig deeper.
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@gnowxela Astute observation! I noticed these two contradictory articles too. I think the real trend is: people love aspects of urban living: walkability, flexible living, amenities, etc. but are (1) not financially able to maintain these things at the costs of NYC/LA/SF (2) they are willing to creatively seek those things outside of those major metro areas either in the suburbs or so-called second tier cities and (3) at the same time, people are experiencing some of the downsides of urban living as they try to embrace it - crowds, stress, bedbugs, rats, poor schools, etc. which are pushing some to consider the small towns. I think the overall big trend is people are thinking way outside the box. The status quo of big city or bus is not longer viable.
5
Remote work allows people to work in remote places.
Now folks can get out of the big, dirty, and dangerous cities and live a cleaner and safer lifestyle.
Let your kids out the back door and play in the fields and woods instead of a city park surrounded by weirdos.
All good.
15
I am still never, ever, moving to Florida.
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@Maureen
I am with you there. Florida has zero appeal for me.
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@Maureen
In Florida, the "culture" is the mold....
9
the graphic is misleading.... cats don't sit off to the side, they actively participate while situated between user and keyboard.
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@psychonaut
“In the middle of everything” is a cat’s natural habitat. (I have three.)
2
I like working out of the house. Why? Traffic!
Sometimes I don't know what's worse, horrendous traffic or being harrangued by my family.
7
Think like a billionaire, even if you’re a thousandaire. If you’re working from home, especially if you’re a 1099 contractor, buy a second condo/house in a separate LLC to serve as your office. Rent it to to your business LLC (if you don’t have an LLC, get one). Zoning doesn’t matter as long as you don’t have employees. Deduct the rent from your business LLC taxes, pay your mortgage on the second unit with the rent you’re paying yourself. With the new tax laws, you can deduct capital expenditures (improvements) on the rented unit. Put your exercise equipment in the “office” too. It’s nice to leave home and go to the “office”, especially as you accrue tax-free equity.
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@Luke Much of this tax advice is nonsense. Capital improvements to business real estate must be recovered over decades because of a typo in the 2017 Tax Act. The rent you pay yourself is deductible by the business but taxable to you personally: where is the benefit in that? And if you occasionally use the business condo for family guests, the whole thing blows up. With tax advice, you get what you pay for.
6
Important to me in a home office is to be on the first floor with a yard view, and a door that I can close and "put it away" at the end of the day. Now that I report to management in another state, I've been able to work from home 99.9% of the time and I scored a wonderful home on 2 acres 45 minutes outside Boston with hiking trails out my back door. I can keep an eye on my dogs lounging outside while I work, and take a hike with them at lunchtime. I don't think I can do much better than this than maybe adding a pool to take a quick plunge after a sweaty hike. I don't love my job, I haven't seen a raise in a while, restructuring happens and changes can be stressful, but the flexibility is priceless.
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@rachel Sounds much like my work life - 45 min outside of Boston, ground floor office looking out onto back woods, and flexibility to walk my dog or relax outside on as-needed basis. This has been my life for 25 years, since I started working solo, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. (Though some days, my "social life" consists of chatting people next to me at the gym, visiting my local library, or running into people at Trader Joe's.)
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@Nancy SM. I'm right next door to you in Littleton! Love it out here!
"Working remotely also contributes to a more professional workplace oddly; I never see nor hear of harassment." by KxS in comments. Fascinating! This needs to explored. We know cyber-bullying but does workplace harassment need physical proximity?
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@SLV Likewise, I think it's possible that a lack of face to face interaction may reduce some of the discriminatory practices that come from implicit bias. I work 100% remotely and actually have never been to the office. I know very little about the people on the other side of my conference calls—age, weight, ethnicity... To me, they are coworkers and I strive to treat each of professionally.
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@SLV I work remotely and haven't seen the face of a co-worker in almost 5 years. This week I had to take my annual mandatory training (via CBT) on Substance Abuse, Harassment in the Workplace, Ergonomics, and Diversity. LOL.
1
I would tend to disagree that the new hot spots are Greenwich and Westport. Real estate is dead there and getting worse. Portland, Maine or the Putnam County might be more reasonable.
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@one percenter Oh no you don't! Portland is already more than sufficiently populated. Go Putnam County!
3
What this article ignores, what all discussions of work from home ignores is the fact that the home stops being a home. My husband moved his office home 5 years ago-and I hate it. We are fortunate enough to have a beautiful home office space with solid wood doors. However, he most often chooses to work at our kitchen island. He seems to like the commotion of other people in his space....conference calls (even in the office) mean activity in the house needs to be hushed (no vacuum, no dog barking, no loud family life). His work is always waiting for him, there are no longer designated office hours. I also work, and if I did not have an office to commute to and coworkers to commiserate with, my work life would be miserable.
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I understand I might not be the target audience for this piece; for most of the people featured here are 'creatives'. I'd like the Times, for a change to feature ordinary folks (aka non creatives), and throw a spotlight on their living arrangements.
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@Mangal Pandey there are a few of us 'ordinaries' here, and the number of us is growing. I work for a government subcontractor in the healthcare area, and perform a low-level administrative function supporting nurse reviewers. Hired in Austin; home office is in Jacksonville, and I live in NW Arkansas. Haven't seen a coworker in almost 5 years. It's not all roses, but works very well for a lot of us.
5
@Mangal Pandey Yes, I value the NYTimes and subscribe, but it is incredibly biased, or perhaps "focused on its target audience," of the top several percent. I live in a flyover state and it's comical to read some of the stories about how celebrities decorate their penthouses and similar. Every college story focuses heavily on private eastern colleges - often Ivy League, and rarely mentions the vast majority of other colleges. Stories across so many topics look for academics to quote, but again the focus is very tight on elite schools as if groundbreaking research isn't taking place at many others (it is!), including some outside of the East Coast.
4
“Do people live in the city because they like the community, or just because it’s convenient to their job?”
The assumption by NYC politicians that tax coffers will gusher money for eternity is a very dangerous one. Many, many of the highest earners/taxpayers are tethered to NYC by their jobs ... for now.
9
Sorry watching a movie on a tiny screen may be necessary in some parts of the country due to the cost of real estate but i doubt it's "preferred".
5
The small city where I live is attracting remote workers. Some of these folks I count as friends. Still, as a blue-collar employee working locally, I would not be able to afford my home at its current market price. When workers drawing a big-city income compete with more traditional, local workers, it inevitably exacerbates local housing stress. Remote workers may feel they are leaving a tight housing market behind them, in truth they are bringing big-city woes to their new community.
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Might the rise in remote working be tied to the rise in open office environments? When offices stop accommodating employees who need privacy and personal space to function effectively, workers feel less comfortable going into the office at all
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@emily
The rise in remote working is tied to the cost of office space. Much more economical for my organization to allow teleworking than it is for them to lease enough office space for everyone. And the space they do lease is open space because that too is more economical than traditional office space with walls and doors.
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@emily
That's an interesting theory. The prevalence of the open plan office in my field is definitely one of the reasons why I've switched full time telecommuting. Open plan offices are so bad that the cubicle farm in 1999's Office Space looks positively welcoming in comparison.
6
Your company may allow to to work remotely from a home outside of commuting distance from the corporate office. It might work out pretty well for a while in fact. However, don't kid yourself, if there are cutbacks to be made, the remote workers are always the most vulnerable. Seen it happen many times.
20
@Jay it’s because the company does not have to fire you and pay unemployment insurance. The company only has to say it is changing its policy and there is to be no more telecommuting. They know that many of the workers who live thousands of miles away won’t be moving back, so they can downsize and not pay any unemployment benefits.
5
This is fantastic! I've always liked the idea of working from home, and it's good that telecommuting enables people to find work-family balance and move to states that offer financial incentives for moving.
3
I need to work in an office with structure. I am too distracted at home.
20
For some of us, it is just the opposite. @NYC Dweller
3
As a retired commercial real estate appraiser, it has only taken 35 years for the residential market to recognize changes - the office building market has experienced and adapted to ongoing changes since the mid-1980s - the onset of computers being the catalyst.
6
The myth of telecommuting has been heralded in features like this for 20 years. It’s not much of a factor, really. Look at the deeply conservative business practices of US corporations, demanding 24-hour availability, endless meetings, etc. Do you really think they’re enabling any flexible work practices?
11
@JP- some yes, and for some workers and certain parts of the workforce.
4
@JP
Remote working promotes 24 hour availability. Surveys/data confirm the trend does indeed exist. Though not in all cities/workplaces equally of course.
4
@JP I work remotely full time, meaning 40 hours a week, and no more. I moved to Upstate NY as soon as I got a fully remote job, which I was seeking. It's certainly not hard to find in the pharma industry.
6
I would love to work remotely and be able to live wherever I wanted, but the truth is that most remote work is offered to people that live in that city. Then you can work remotely from home some days or all days, but you need to live there in the first place. There are few opportunities to actually live anywhere and work remotely as the article implies. Management, especially in high tech companies that have worker shortages, need to be a lot more open minded before that utopia becomes real.
13
My Friday morning bus commute into midtown is an order of magnitude easier than on M-W.
People are definitely working remotely on Friday. My office is a ghost town. All the young bucks, male and female, are taking advantage of it. A surprising number of them are younger parents in the suburbs. Why deal with the misery of commuting when they can already be close to home and get the kids at 3pm instead of 6pm?
9
@nytrealestate, a just-released survey by Global Workplace Analytics and OwlLabs found among the reasons people want to work: 78% say to avoid the commute, 76% say to save money, and 43% say to accommodate a move. More than half of telecommuters say they would look for another job if they were not allowed to work from home, and 6 in 10 would expect a pay raise if they had to return to the office full time.
Being able to work remotely is becoming a pivotal conversation with potential hires.
18
This is driving a lot of population growth in Richmond Va (RVA). A lot of DC area workers are telecommuting from Richmond because of the high quality of urban life and low cost.
6
I'll believe things have finally changed profoundly when I notice less commuter traffic.
18
I'm a NJ-based screenwriter and script consultant; I work from the sun porch of our 2 bedroom house. My clients are around the world - from New York City to Australia.
As others have indicated, one downside is that I'm as likely to work on Sunday afternoon as on Monday morning. But I can also arrange my work schedule so I can have lunch with my 85 year old mother today.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
60
@Mara- Script consultant? Freelance? You are a tiny minority of the workforce.
3
Here in Vermont there are many areas that don’t have high speed internet; at best some level of DSL. As well many areas lack a cell signal. This really reduces the ability to telecommute from more rural areas. It would be nice if the state actively worked to provide this to more rural sections but mostly is fixated on Chittenden County where Burlington is located.
Some communities have joined up to bring in fiber optic internet but this still leaves many locations without it.
12
What shocks me reading here is the low quality Internet access referenced. So close to N Y C and Boston ? There is a huge business opportunity for someone.
In the newer parts of the country we don't have an issue with this. Does it have something to do with mountains ? I have been told that I am ineligible for Direct T V because I have too many big trees. So I'm wondering if it has something to do with terrain.
We have given all of our students a hot spot this year as it is a low income population and few had home Internet. Can't large companies provide hot spots to employees ?
9
@Consuelo
I'm afraid it's not a business opportunity, that's why it's not happening. Infrastructure build out requires density to make money.
That's why we need govt support for such things, within reason. Cell towers/5g/ or rural electrification act equivalent
20
@Consuelo I once asked a FIOS (Verizon's high-fiber NYC Internet) when it come to my old block, which was in the middle of the city but had only a few walk-up tenements mid-block. "Never," he said. "It's not cost-efficient to lay cable there." That's your answer.
2
in my office, all the professionals "work from home" every monday and friday. which is to say that they basically have 4 day weekends all year.
17
This is how it should be.
Welcome to the future.
13
@heisenberg and in my experience especially people with boats on Cape Cod.
4
@heisenberg
Then there's something wrong with your management.
7
I am curious to hear how real estate experts balance the idea that the growth in telecommuting means that workers will no longer feel as compelled to live in or very near big cities with the fact that more and more people who can afford large suburban houses want to remain in urban areas and raise their kids there. It is obvious that sales of older suburban houses have slowed and that NYC for example is much more attractive to younger professionals who think the City is safe and a better place to raise kids.
8
@ aggrieved taxpayer new york state
Do you really think that "New York City is safe"? I feel sorry for the New Yorkers denied the right to protect themselves by bearing firearms and forced to rely on city police with some (or many) of its agents being mercenary gunslingers, poorly trained in the use of arms and self-control.
1
Indeed I feel it is safe in NYC. The idea that my neighbors could have assault rifles under their bed and kill me or my family by accident is frightening. When my kids were looking for colleges I specifically did not endorse places like TX or other places in the South where people are allowed to wear weapons unconcealed. BTW, I prefer that the law handles these issues rather than the primitive eye for an eye approach. It’s alles civilization!!!!
16
@Tuvw Xyz
And do you really think that all those non-police firearms owners are well-trained (or trained at all) in the use of arms and self-control.
I've lived in NYC for more than 20 years and feel quite safe.
17
Moving out of the City is wonderful for some people, but it does mean that life revolves around cars, in most of America.
23
@Michael c True, but the vast majority of time spent in cars for most people is during a work commute. If that's gone, you might only use the car a couple of times a week.
9
I work much more productively at home, and it has shown in my performance reviews. I'm not worn out by a stressful commute to my office, or falling asleep behind the wheel on the way home. At this point, I am buying a house closer to my family where homes are affordable. This is the future.
22
Telecommuting is a literal life saver for my wife and I. "Literal" in the sense that we won't have to work until we die and can maybe retire one day and have a life.
Eight years ago, we left New York, "The Vampire State" according to many of its taxpayers. It wasn't so much the taxes, but the price of a home - we simply could not afford to buy one, especially at our age.
But we had the opportunity to move to exurban Saint Louis Missouri and own our home for $40k. My wife works from home in IT and is making as much money as she would had we lived in New York, but, with the cost of living so low, we can actually think of saving and retiring.
Sadly, I don't have that luxury. I work in Connecticut full-time as a contractor with a 30-minute commute so part of our savings from her working at home are wiped out by my housing/commuting costs in Connecticut.
But, still, it is conceivable that we could actually live on Social Security once we retire with the possible exception of medical costs. To survive, we are going to need Medicare for All.
28
@VJR - Why didn't you just move to Connecticut? There are definitely less expensive parts of the state.
2
Get new clients and charge more, working as a contractor in Conn. you should be buying good health insurance and saving for retirement. Why are you undercutting yourself?
2
New York City is one thing, since people still want to live there, but this is bound to hurt cities where people live solely for job opportunities.
6
Love this. I retired about three years ago, shortly after moving (with my new husband and high school/college age kids) into a house that would have been perfect for telecommuting. Our master bedroom has 20 foot-plus high ceilings and includes a large loft that provides office space for both my husband and myself and a large library (although not mahogany paneled). Even if I had kept working, though, there would have been "issues" with telecommuting since my law firm's ownership was suspicious of folks working at home and wanted to "keep an eye" on all the plebians (Although we were obviously free to keep working at home on weekends and evenings.)
17
@RMS Now, many law firms encourage working at home. They can always keep track of billable hours, and office space costs money.
3
We live in Truckee, CA, where there are so many full and part-time telecommuters from the Bay Area that there's a local group called "Silicon Mountain". Co-working spaces are popping up all over town, including at the base of one (soon to be two) of the major ski resorts in the area. I think it's wonderful and will hopefully encourage more of these otherwise second home owners to live up here primarily. I am loving this trend.
13
I work from home three days a week and I love it. On the two days that I have to go into the office, I feel like it's a waste of time. I'm like, why am I here? It's loud and uncomfortable, and it kind of stresses me out.
When working from home, my co-workers and I still feel connected through online video conferencing, and we've discovered that regardless of whether we are in the office or working remotely, our primary form of communication with each other is still through text and email. Why do we have to be in the same place?
The idea that we have to be in the same physical location to collaborate is a myth, as are the supposed benefits of an open office space. I am more productive and happy at work when I am working from home. and I feel as connected to the world as I do anytime that I'm at the office.
This is the way of the future. Companies are finding a huge cost savings in reduced real estate expense, and employees are saving time with commutes back and forth to work. It's also better for the environment.
86
@John Sheldon And in many cases, I bet its a lot healthier for the tele-commuters.
13
I understand the benefits to remote workers but wonder whether it is ultimately in their long term best interests or that of our culture. It seems the last thing we need in this day when almost everyone you know or see is addicted to an electronic screen is something that will further limit actual human contact.
12
@ehillesum I’m sorry but you are mistaken. They would still be using the screen, but it would be in a noisy open area at the office instead of at home.
4
This is quite an awakening for us. People are changing jobs and working habits to suburban and/or remote areas. Living in the city center or urban areas are no longer necessary. It seems reducing stress and improving life quality. Thank you for reporting this trend.
5
This is quite an awakening for us. People are changing jobs and working habits to suburban and/or remote areas. Living in the city center or urban areas are no longer necessary. It seems reducing stress and improving life quality. Thank you for reporting this trend.
4
I love working from home. Right now it's 2 days a week but if I decide to move on from my current company I'll be looking hard a full remote opportunities. I'm eyeing a glass shoji door for my office and can get more done if half my day isn't scheduled with meetings which falls on my days in the office. Open office floor plans are really the devil.
It also allowed me to live an a beautiful more remote area.
21
@Shannon We installed a nice, modern sliding door system from Krownlab (here in Portland) for our home office, and love the resulting space. We successfully sealed off an underutilized area and put in our home office. Wish we had done this years ago.
3
Well-written but the author, who obviously lives in or near Montclair, could have expanded her horizons a bit and not just focused on her friends (my journalism 101 class taught us that) ...
Other towns in easy train commute distance like Boonton or Dover are also exploding, at about a third of the tax and real estate prices of Montclair and Glen Ridge. The millennials entering the housing market with 100k of student loans will never buy something in Montclair.
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@Walker
The problem with Boonton and Dover is that they are not even remotely (no pun intended) equipped to accommodate telecommuting. Few shared spaces to work, subpar schools, and lacking in a cultural and social scene that would appeal to many millennials.
13
@Simple math are you serious? They have both independent and chain coffee shops, high speed internet, and vibrant diversity. All of this comes with walkable towns and trains to the city. You obviously haven’t visited.
3
Having the option to work remotely gives one the freedom to live in an environment of choice. A dangerous drawback from working remotely: working longer. Work life and home life eventually blurr and become a single constant. Soon the freedom becomes a stressful fight to manage the encroachment of personal life into work life, and viceversa.
Telecommuting is a double-edged sword, not for the faint of heart!
90
@OAJ - one has to train oneself to develop a new mindset and a new routine (or discipline) where you log off your laptop in the 3rd bedroom from your company's network at 5, 6 or 7 pm each night, just as we used to walk out of the office in the old days. If your manager or company EXPECTS you to be available and connected 24/7, well, that's a different issue which arose when they issued all of us Blackberrys in the early 2000s.
29
@Gary E
"..walk out of the office in the old days" Ah yes, the good old days. Well not so old, I should think: there's only a small percentage of the workforce afforded the "rare luxury ?" of working from home, remotely ( not a home based business, which is a whole different story).
As for discipline, there's the rub, for turning on a computer is a lot easier than driving back to work to tie up lose ends. Shutting out the interruptions of daily life becomes a chore in itself... " Oh my God, I haven't done any work!"..
And last but not least: If you invest in moving to a remote but cozy one-horse-town, and you lose your job... what then? "
5
Yeah the suburbs are nice but it's nothing like living in the heart of NYC where you have instant access to world class restaurants, museums, theater, hospitals, doctors, etc.
As to the cost of living in the city, not having to own a car or two makes up for a big part of the difference in addition to not having to pay for home repairs like new rooves, plumbing, etc .
35
@New Yorker - We moved from NYC to NorCal and now have instant access to hiking, skiing, kayaking, mountain lakes... to each their own, I guess, but the ability to telecommute, even part time, has allowed our family to dramatically upgrade our lifestyle to one that involves nature and fresh air every day. We're never moving back!
53
@New Yorker- I moved to rural Western Washington years ago. I don't miss city life. If I want to see the (passable) opera in Seattle, my friends and I spend the night and come home the next morning. The benefits of rural living are enormous.
7
Today I walked past piles of garbage strewn all over 47th street, and sidewalks stained black from 100 years of garbage leaking all over the sidewalk, never being cleaned.
I got hustled for money before I walked 30 steps inside the port authority.
I know that I’m dodging drunks and addicts in an hour as I try to get an over priced lunch and get back to my desk. That is, from wherever remains available and not priced for expense accounts-only. Midtown East is becoming a food desert unless you pay $30/person for lunch. The retail is disappearing by the day. I pass so many empty storefronts that it’s starting to feel like the rust belt that I left behind.
After 22 years in the city, a nice clean suburb is sounding better and better. Make it in TX or NC for extra credit. Somewhere that I’m not getting accosted by hostile people and addicts every day.
12
The article mentions New Yorkers who move to Florida to take advantage of lower state income tax rates. I’m curious, if I physically sit in Florida, but spend my time dealing with clients and colleagues who are all in New York, am I really a Florida resident for tax purposes? I happen to work remotely in Virginia for a company based in New York, but for tax purposes, I’m listed as an employee in the Richmond office.
5
@Richard, I think you answered your question. You are taxed where you live. I have worked remotely for nearly 15 years, and lived in three different states during that time. I adjusted my tax filings accordingly with each move. My previous employer also required us to withhold in any state where we did a day+ of in-person business (this was consulting work). So, I had to record work location on my timesheet daily. At the end of a year, I might have to file in 10+ states (ironically, I lived in NH most of that time so never had to file income taxes in my home state, just states where I worked for more than one day that year). The company paid me for my tax preparation costs because of this burden. Worked for me!
8
@horse @Richard, While most states have reciprocal agreements that work as @Richard describes, others aren't as telecommuter-friendly. They require you pay taxes for the time you work in their state (even for a day). NY is one of the least friendly work-at-home states.
2
I don't get how coffee shops can make any money if people occupy a seat for the better part of the day and nurse a cup of coffee for a long time, and maybe have a pastry or sandwich.
70
@MainLaw - Most people don't do this, the majority of a coffee shop's business is always going to be people stopping by to grab a quick coffee and pastry. But I have studied and worked in numerous coffee shops over the years and I think the economics works out for those customers as well. In a typical 4-6 hour session (about the length of time I can stand sitting at a desk!) I'll go through one or two lattes, a juice or water, and at least one sandwich or snack. That's about $25. If there are, say, 25 seats in a small shop, with two people per seat per day, that's 50 x $25 = $1250. That's not bad, especially for people who would have stayed at home or in an office otherwise.
18
@MainLaw
I have often wondered the same thing, would love an article focusing on this topic so the mystery can finally be solved!
Just last week I met a friend at a popular bagel shop. Unfortunately, 8-10 people had commandeered a big chunk of the seating, and they were there for the long haul, laptops plugged in, clearly holding a business meeting. Most of them--but not all--had a bagel or a coffee, but there's no way they spent as much as non-working customers in those seats would have during that time period. My friend and I had to eat our bagels standing up, and we saw a few folks leave without buying anything when they saw there was no hope for a seat. I don't know if any of the meeting attendees noticed or cared. To me it seemed pretty selfish, but obviously there is no prohibition against holding a meeting in a bagel shop. I wonder how businesses navigate this.
29
@mm- since they own it, they can make up most any rules they like, such as a minimum purchase, max time sitting, even a fee for "renting" the table. I'm surprised more small operations as you describe haven't done this.
8
All well and good for real estate values in NJ's Montclair, So. Orange and Maplewood. But what's missing is the group experience that can genuinely make employees feel connected to their firms' vision and mission. Telecommuting is great for a few days a week. But the friendships, team building and "shared destiny" cohesion that is the mark of great corporate cultures can, in my opinion, only be nurtured in the in-office environment. People say there is no loyalty anymore between company and worker. How can there be if the only connection you have to your employer is via broadband?
24
@SLP - my wife and I (who had a combined 72 years in corporate legal environments before we retired) had a spirited debate about this topic yesterday. Face to face interaction is important and desirable, but the temptation for companies to cut expenses by reducing butts-in-the-seats office space is almost overwhelming.
4
@SLP That “loyalty” died about 30 years ago, unfortunately, and it was the fault of the corporations. But that is another issue for another time.
17
@SLP There's no loyalty because companies don't deserve loyalty.
15
A community in the mountains of Western North Carolina called Mountain Air recognized and responded to the desire for its property owners to work, stream and game remotely by adding high-speed Internet service to the entire community. This has allowed families to spend more time at their second homes and is leading to more full-time residents/retirees. And with all the amenities and programs, the need for community and interaction is easy.
18
A friend recently moved to Mt Airy, NC for this exact reason but found the uber-conservative MAGA culture unbearable.
10
@Cartcomm I've been to Mountain Air, it's incredible!
2
@Cartcomm
I live at Mountain Air and it's a beautiful community in rural WNC with cool temps and the best high speed internet ever!
When we sold our house and purchased a half a duplex yet to be built, we got to design the interior. Instead of one master bedroom and two small bedrooms, we created a master bedroom and my office. The next owner can use the space as a second master bedroom or an office. The important thing: She has options.
5
Working remotely as a program and project manager enabled me to flee Minnesota during the winter months. This encouraged my husband to pursue a remote option, freeing us up to sell our home in Minnesota and take up full-time residence in the sunshine state. Some of the less obvious benefits have been the flexibility to help elderly parents, meet with their doctors, and coordinate their care privately. And of course, not having a commute means more time to do things like exercise or run errands. What's not to love?
23
We moved to Jersey City's Heights community eight years ago for a few reasons (cheap real estate in 2011) one being the ease of commuting into downtown Manhattan (about 30 minutes) for my wife, a finance executive. About two years ago she was told to work from home full time. We often think that, had this option been on the table eight years ago we might have moved further west where we could get more bang for our buck in real estate. Heck, we could have moved anywhere in the US. Working from home is liberating in many ways not the least of which is real estate.
40
I go to the local(coffee shop) to drink coffee and chat with people. I’m amazed that people actually work in there. It seems odd. How does one concentrate?
24
@Lisa Murphy - After trying many different variations, I learned that personally, I concentrate best with a low level of noise and the occasional distraction/ people watching: more than at the library, but less that at, say, Penn Station. A coffee shop is pretty perfect for that! To each their own :).
13
@Lisa Murphy I agree, you would need to be very focused. I need quiet.
2
Same! The low level of conversation is like white noise for me.
1
Left out of the article are good internal wiring, a surge protector at the main electrical panel, an updated electrical panel, and communication provider backbone fiber (including updates as it ages) reach to remote areas or far suburbs.
Add to this good internal doors to control sound. I am just upgrading my internal doors to ones that are sound proof to defend against in internal central stairway that funnels sound to every corner of the house.
11
@poslug I have a close friend who moved from Seattle, where she had worked for many years for an insurance company, to Sugar Land, Texas (outside of Houston) - mainly so that she will ultimately be able to afford to retire. Her employer allows her to telecommute full time but she has had to go into one of their local offices occasionally for tech support, since being able to do her job relies 100% on her being able to use her firm laptop seamlessly in her work environment. She has also spent a lot of time on-line with Seattle tech support.
1
Telecommuting is a major, inevitable structural change with profound impact on the metro area. SALT and its impact on tax revenue is minor compared to the effect resulting from people able top work from anywhere. If political leaders in our part of the country don't work to make us competitive with lower taxed jurisdictions we'll be in crisis within the next 10-15 years.
11
@AS
"If political leaders in our part of the country don't work to make us competitive with lower taxed jurisdictions we'll be in crisis within the next 10-15 years."
As a parent who believes strongly in his kids' public schools, I note that you may be missing a variable. The schools in those jurisdictions are no temptation, and are likely imposing a cost that is just one more way those jurisdictions are a net negative for our nation.
"You get what you pay for", and that includes the society you - we all - fund.
...Andrew
11
@A. Gideon And Arizona is paying that cost.
2
@A. Gideon - On the other hand, if the area you move to has a significantly lower COL and taxes, you can just send your kid(s) to private school. If we moved from CA to rural Washington state, while continuing to make the same salary, we could easily save $30K per year in state taxes alone. And that's not accounting for lower housing and food costs, etc. That would easily pay yearly private school tuition for one child, possibly two depending on the school.
1
We added an actual home office to our house 14 years ago, not for telecommuting per se but because work and home life overlap. Over the years as wages have stagnated, we took on more jobs. We have two full-time jobs and have also run freelance businesses and consulting practices. Often I do freelance in my home office in the morning before embarking on the 40-minute commute to my full-time job. Sometimes the dining room, kitchen table, and a spare room are pressed into service. My spouse uses the dining room and a spare bedroom for extra home office space primarily. The point work is life. Evenings. Weekends.
5
I work remotely for a company in NY. When I need to go into the office my company pays for airfrare and a hotel near the office. It’s a 1-hour flight from columbus to NYC. We live in a 5-bdrm house 10 minutes from downtown Columbus in a cute neighborhood with houses built in the 1920s, mature trees, and great schools. I also have a separate office. We bought for the price of a studio in NYC. We travel abroad twice a year with our kids and nanny. We never worry about money. Columbus isn’t Ny but there is a lot to do for kids and there’s a small interesting art scene. Plus, we’re swing voters now so it feels like we’re helping in that way too.
Honestly not sure why anyone with kids who can work remotely would choose to live in NY, LA, or SF anymore unless you are making millions. I’m from NY and the struggle wasn’t worth it. Maybe when our kids are grown we’d move back to NYC or get a pied a terre.
76
@kas I appreciate you doing the yeoman's work of being a swing voter in Ohio - thank you for your service. As to why I wouldn't move from LA? I live in an old neighborhood with houses built in the 20's, lots of mature trees, and a lovely little downtown - all about 30 minutes from downtown Los Angeles. Hiking is outside my backdoor and the beach (on a Sunday morning, anyway), is 30 minutes away. Why would I move to Ohio and its weather, to say nothing of its red state citizens? The absolutely only answer is cost and since I am fortunate enough to be able to afford to stay put, I am absolutely staying put.
29
@RMS If I were single without kids I would. Actually, if I were single without kids I'd be living in Europe and doing my remote thing from there.
To answer your question, we're not in LA or any other large city because I don't think we'd be able to afford a nice house with good schools, travel frequently, not live an 45-60 minutes from everything fun, and still save a lot for retirement and my kids' college. If I could afford to do all those things and live in NYC/LA/SF, of course I'd be there in a heartbeat.
28
Wireless* has nothing to do with any increase in the ability to work from home. High speed internet access, which is basically DSL speeds and above make it possible. Most workers only need/use internet access for email, remote access to their files and applications, and possibly teleconferencing. I worked from home when the only way to access the Internet and my companies network was using a dialup modem and later an ISDN modem. The rural area I live in only has DSL or cable Internet access. The cable is slower than what is in metropolitan areas and not reliable. The DSL is much more reliable.
*Wireless (using WiFi) is way to add a computer to a network which may or may not, but most likely will have a connection to the Internet. Prior to WiFi being available computers connected using an Ethernet cable. This is still the norm in any office where there are desktop computers. In many government facilities use of wireless internet access is restricted or intentionally not available.
Satellite Internet is technically wireless but not in the sense it is discussed here. It can deliver internet access to rural areas at reasonable speeds with the caveat of increased latency.
Connected to the Internet using a cellular phone (tethering) or hotspot is also wireless, but in most places the cost of cellular data makes it impractical. These types of connections don’t work with entire households and suffer from throttling.
16
@Jim,
Excellent overview, but to add:
The standard for internet connectivity in the home and office remains a wired (or fiber-optic) connection. One advantage is reliability, a second advantage is security. Carrier-grade WiFi as such doesn't really exist, although that's the "promise" of 5G wireless networks. But even with 5G, users will still need a router and such to keep their networks private and not available to the public internet.
Anyone who's tried to do real work requiring internet access through a smartphone tether knows that it's frustrating and annoying (mostly because of the limitations the wireless providers put onto their systems) so a dedicated wire line is a must.
I have worked remotely for 16 years as a software developer. It enabled my wife and I to move to a nice community on Cape Code from a suburbs of Pittsburgh. My commute, which was over an hour each way, is now 30 seconds to the coffee pot in the kitchen and another 30 seconds back upstairs to my office.
My life and health have both improve significantly. Each day I work a few hours then go to the community center gym for an hour workout or walk on a beach. Then back home to finish the day. Living in a small town means I see people I know almost every time I go out. There are stronger social connections than any place I have ever lived.
If things get boring Boston is a two hour drive with nearly unlimited options. Of course, one round trip in Boston traffic reminds me how grateful I am not to be caught up in a nightmare daily commute.
I think the secret to enjoying remote working is to get out of the house and get involved with your community, and using the extra time freed up by the “commute” to get some exercise. Live can be good.
132
@Mike Page A friend of mine here in Prescott, has been working remotely at least since 2001 when I first met her. She was able to continue that even when she was evacuated during a fire here in Prescott years ago. We took her and daughter in and she used my computer to continue her work. The company she worked for sent her work she needed to do via UPS to our home. She hardly even missed a beat.
6
@Mike Page
A software developer who lives on Cape Code? Priceless. Cap Cod is nice too...
18
@Mike Page "Cape Code"? Nice (appropriate) pun!
7
This article is very focused on young, wealthy, single people in large cities. Families have always had bills, taxes, and letters to write. Kids have always had homework, of one sort or another. Having a pleasant workspace and a desk at home is not some new invention.
48
@MH
What you are missing here is that more and more companies are comfortable giving their workers the option of working from home. It's not just about young wealthy single people in large cities. It's happening all over the country.
The trend will accelerate in the coming years. Once you have the option of working from home you'll tend to want employers to offer you the same option when you search for a new job. Companies that don't offer work from options will be at a competitive disadvantage in attracting talented employee.
There are also more jobs that are highly creative, i.e. software development, graphic arts etc. Where having a quiet space to work is extremely beneficial. While it's important to have face to face contact to develop working relationships and to collaborate there are time where open offices are distracting and actually lead to less productive work.
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@Carl
Even though I believe most companies will allow certain workers to work remotely sometimes, I do not think that 100% of commercial office space will be abandoned.
"What you are missing here is that more and more companies are comfortable giving their workers the option of working from home. " -- For many jobs this is limited to less than one day per week.
Many companies that were the poster-children touting the trend 10+ years ago have been re-calling telecommuting workers to the office. Why? Because many are not self-disciplined enough to work eight hours daily and do not interact enough to remain informed and engaged.
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I work for a major technology company in finance and have worked remotely since 2006. Going into the office is a drag and i avoid it as much as possible. Even living in Europe, I never went into the office. My work colleagues also work remotely as do a majority of my company’s employees, which means we interact all the time and there is no need for me to go to a coffee shop just to interact with others. Since day one I have had a fully functional home office wherever I lived. We moved to the Boston area this year and a home office was a definite need in our home search, but not the most important one. Fortunately for me, I have my own office/ “man-cave” on the ground-floor that is bright and airy.
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@Doug Berman I have a fully functional office too and I’m retired. We’ve had one for years.
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You left out the most important factor - limited broadband in rural areas.
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@Paul Adams
You best bet is satellite internet providers. However the top speeds are only 20 to 30 Mbps. That will suffice as base level bandwidth for video conferencing.
You bring up an important point and it will be interesting to see if satellite internet service providers improve their offerings in the future.
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@Paul Adams
There are many areas, some even fairly upscale such as in and around the Berkshires in MA, where people are still stuck using slow, unreliable satellite internet because local ISPs don't feel there are enough customers per square mile to justify the expense of running cable/fiber. But soon, if not already, lack of broadband will become a deal-breaker for real-estate buyers.
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@Paul Adams- for most office workers this is not a serious limitation.
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I’m still in bed reading the Times. Eventually I will get up and commute the 20 feet or so to my office. Next week will see me working at my girlfriend’s country house hundreds of miles away.
I work where I want because my clients trust me. I work where I want because having me on site the whole work day increases overhead. I live in the janus faced gig economy where freedom is sweet but is not without its costs; the downsides include social isolation and weakened networks, plus income variability and no benefits (I’m Canadian and have single payer, so it isn’t a big deal).
But the upside is awesome. My clothing and commuting budgets are near zero. I do what I want when I want to: so I may take today off and work Sunday when it is supposed to rain. Working remotely also contributes to a more professional workplace oddly; I never see nor hear of harassment.
It works for me, but it isn’t for everyone.
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@KxS Our son who lives in Minneapolis, does the same. When he comes to visit us here in Arizona, he brings his laptop and does some work from our home. This is a trend that will only get bigger in my opinion.
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@KxS I hear you! I work remotely a 100% of the time. I keep in touch with coworkers through IM. The last time I went into office I was distracted by all of the socializing and also because of the layout of the office plan, you can hear everyone when they are on a conference call. I have saved a lot of money on buying breakfast and lunch. Here at home I cook all of my own meals which are a lot less expensive than what they sell in downtown SF. You can't get lunch there for under $12. Also my company is trying to consolidate and get rid of the downtown real estate and have encouraged team members to work from home and if they do want to come into the office, they can reserve a flex cube.
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