[ArchOversight]

Can't read the article since it is behind a paywall... but wanted to ask this question anyway:

How much is that productivity hit because people are dealing with the fact that this pandemic is lasting longer than expected, more people are getting sick, more people are dying...

You know, the amount of brain cycles spent worrying about the COVID-19 pandemic may also account for some of those feelings. I know I feel it. I feel less focused, there's a constant process using up CPU in my head.

Not only has it affected my work ethic, but also:

- Sleep patterns

- How much I eat

- Joy I get from things that used to bring me joy

- Lack of physical contact/touch, especially since I am single

These are all things that weigh heavy.

[CognitiveLens]

This is so key - there was some awareness early on that people weren't "working from home" in any normal sense - we were/are "working during a global pandemic". Forced WFH is only one side effect, and trying to analyze the success/failure of WFH with a sample during Covid is probably one of the worst possible management strategies. I see the naive appeal, but the base conditions are completely unrepresentative of the target state.

If you are a manager evaluating the effect of WFH during Covid without the ability to compare it with WFH before Covid, just stop.

[ffggvv]

not only that but parents also have their kids home etc.. which wouldnt be the case under normal wfh conditions

[ArchOversight]

Absolutely! Those aren't relevant to my case, I live alone (which makes the loneliness worse).

Yes, kids needing to do school from home requires a lot of time and effort, my co-workers are struggling to get their work completed because of it. I've taken over some of their tasks to help them out.

Also if you are permanent WFH (which I am since I switched jobs in May), you set up your work environment differently. I rented a 2 bed room apartment so that I would have an "office" that I could close at the end of the day. If you live in the Bay Area generally you rent a shoe box of a place because you spend most of the time at work, that is not longer the case.

[davidw]

... and there's also a pretty wild election in the US, to add to people's anxiety.

[macintux]

That alone has cost me many, many hours of lost sleep.

[neffy]

Exactly. The correct title for the data they're looking at is really that Engineers found it hard to work from home during a pandemic.

[fataliss]

My thoughts exactly. It's like asking someone how they like working in a room that's on fire. Is that a fair question to asses how well working from that room goes? Maybe try again when it's not on fire anymore?