<story><title>The 2020 State of Remote Work</title><url>https://lp.buffer.com/state-of-remote-work-2020</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dglass</author><text>Glad to see this data coming out. My company builds tools for remote workers so naturally, I speak with a lot of people who work remotely. I&amp;#x27;d say most of the pain points I hear from remote workers line up fairly well with the data in this survey (and also my own pain points since I&amp;#x27;ve worked remote for over a year now).&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m not surprised to see that 97% of people would recommend working remote to others. Almost everyone I speak with says they would never go back to working in an office. While I can see myself going back to an office at some point in my career, right now the flexibility in my day far outweighs working in an office.&lt;p&gt;I hear a lot of similar downsides as well. I&amp;#x27;m a bit surprised that only 20% of people responded that they struggled with loneliness while working remote. In my experience this number seems to be higher. My coworkers and I work out of coffee shops quite a bit and almost everyone who goes to work in a coffee shop is doing so in order to break out of the loneliness of their home and be around other people (next time you&amp;#x27;re in a coffee shop, take note of how many people have laptops out). The problem though is that no one really interacts with people at coffee shops because everyone is at their own table on their laptops.&lt;p&gt;We heard this feedback so much that we started holding Work Clubs[0] at coffee shops where people can sit down with us at the same table and work together for a few hours. It&amp;#x27;s not networking but it&amp;#x27;s a way to meet other people during the workday while getting your work done. We&amp;#x27;ve had people from many different industries, ages, and walks of life working together and forming business connections. It&amp;#x27;s beneficial to the coffee shops too because when we all sit at the same table, order food and drinks, and it frees up other tables for more customers.&lt;p&gt;Our communities are growing in Portland, San Diego, and the SF Bay Area right now, so come work with us if you&amp;#x27;re ever feeling lonely and need some IRL human interaction in your day! Mental health is an important factor for remote workers, and we&amp;#x27;re hoping to alleviate some of those struggles for the remote community.&lt;p&gt;[0]: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;outofoffice.app&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;outofoffice.app&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>AlexCoventry</author><text>Now that I work from home, my cat basically lives on my lap, so I&amp;#x27;m never lonely. He does keep me from using my fancy keyboard on my lap like I&amp;#x27;m used to, but it&amp;#x27;s a worthwhile trade.</text></comment>
<story><title>The 2020 State of Remote Work</title><url>https://lp.buffer.com/state-of-remote-work-2020</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>dglass</author><text>Glad to see this data coming out. My company builds tools for remote workers so naturally, I speak with a lot of people who work remotely. I&amp;#x27;d say most of the pain points I hear from remote workers line up fairly well with the data in this survey (and also my own pain points since I&amp;#x27;ve worked remote for over a year now).&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;m not surprised to see that 97% of people would recommend working remote to others. Almost everyone I speak with says they would never go back to working in an office. While I can see myself going back to an office at some point in my career, right now the flexibility in my day far outweighs working in an office.&lt;p&gt;I hear a lot of similar downsides as well. I&amp;#x27;m a bit surprised that only 20% of people responded that they struggled with loneliness while working remote. In my experience this number seems to be higher. My coworkers and I work out of coffee shops quite a bit and almost everyone who goes to work in a coffee shop is doing so in order to break out of the loneliness of their home and be around other people (next time you&amp;#x27;re in a coffee shop, take note of how many people have laptops out). The problem though is that no one really interacts with people at coffee shops because everyone is at their own table on their laptops.&lt;p&gt;We heard this feedback so much that we started holding Work Clubs[0] at coffee shops where people can sit down with us at the same table and work together for a few hours. It&amp;#x27;s not networking but it&amp;#x27;s a way to meet other people during the workday while getting your work done. We&amp;#x27;ve had people from many different industries, ages, and walks of life working together and forming business connections. It&amp;#x27;s beneficial to the coffee shops too because when we all sit at the same table, order food and drinks, and it frees up other tables for more customers.&lt;p&gt;Our communities are growing in Portland, San Diego, and the SF Bay Area right now, so come work with us if you&amp;#x27;re ever feeling lonely and need some IRL human interaction in your day! Mental health is an important factor for remote workers, and we&amp;#x27;re hoping to alleviate some of those struggles for the remote community.&lt;p&gt;[0]: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;outofoffice.app&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;outofoffice.app&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>cs02rm0</author><text>Perhaps they don&amp;#x27;t consider themselves struggling with loneliness because it&amp;#x27;s mitigated by such measures.&lt;p&gt;The remote company I work with will buy you a desk in a local co-working space for anyone who wants it.</text></comment>