> Be deliberate about arranging calls with coworkers, friends, family. Just hang out on a call. Go for a walk while you take these calls, or do something other than sit in a chair.

I'll second this. I started a new remote job recently where we're encouraged to regularly schedule virtual coffee time with coworkers where we don't talk about work. It goes a long way towards fostering relationships.

You're telling me your solution is to do the same thing we used to do with forced birthday party celebrations, but more frequently? UGH!

Personally I don't really enjoy group or regularly scheduled mandatory hangout calls. What I really enjoy is just pinging someone to say 'hey, free to chat after work?' and then if they are I go for a walk and call them.

> national park

I've been trying to keep track of park locations near me that have

- restrooms

- tables with shade, if shade comes from tree there must not be lots of birds shitting from tree

- 4G/5G signal

- not hot mid-day

It's hard to actually get work done without all of the above.

Separately, an EV makes an excellent mobile office. You can use the car's power and air conditioning all day without "idling" an engine. Just pack a lunch, drive to a scenic vista point that has a restroom and cell signal and you're all set.

I had found a perfect work-from-cafe-outdoors spot

Until a bird shit on my head

My quest continues

At the office, power lines cross the parking lot. Birds like the power lines. I've been hit between the car and the front door. So, the office isn't perfectly safe on this front either.

> Choose to not make every day the same. You're free!

For us, once we all went remote, the day just started earlier. Whereas we used to start at 10 we begun starting meetings at 8. The assumption being that nobody is commuting, so why not start the day earlier? This also helped accommodate others in non-Pacific Americas timezones. This means you have to jump straight into meetings and each day can't be materially different, unless you make your after work life different.

> Be deliberate about arranging calls with coworkers, friends, family. Just hang out on a call.

We tried this but it wasn't the same. Eventually, everyone ended up on their phones while on the call and slowly nobody started showing up to social Zooms. Zoom calls are fine for work but just don't allow the same sense of presence that being in the same space in real life would offer.

> If you don't already have hobbies, you want to discover some that you enjoy. Do something that creates nice memories with your spare time, and that isn't the same as your work, or just relaxing.

But my coworkers and I have so much shared context. We spend 8 hours+ together. It feels like a waste to pretend that we just don't have anything in common despite the time.

Don't get me wrong I love how easy it is to start my day and how little time is wasted commuting. I love the coffee I make at home and I love being able to eat my home cooking or talk with my partner over lunch. Being able to use my home bathroom is majestic. But there's definitely things lost working remote. Maybe if you're a remote worker at a hybrid or in-office company where expectations around most employees are in the office, the above works, but at a full remote company I'm not so sure.

> But my coworkers and I have so much shared context. We spend 8 hours+ together. It feels like a waste to pretend that we just don't have anything in common despite the time.

I think that what is kind of unsaid and lost here is that long working hours in office were super often about socialization and not work itself. I mean, it was noticeable even before - people who were there long hours tend to chat away a lot of times both in and out of meetings.

But, it looked like work, it was pleasant and rewarded.

I've never seen this at any Western STEM company I've been at. ICs have been rated on tickets and tickets alone, no matter how lossy the metric, in my experience. I've only seen this at Asian companies which don't track work through tickets.

But let's assume this is true. What does this have to do with "It feels like a waste to pretend that we just don't have anything in common despite the time.". Let's assume, to play devil's advocate, that 40% of your 8 hour day is a waste, that 3.2 hours of your day was a waste used to prop up performance reviews. This leaves 4.8 hours of a day with your coworkers actually working. That's 4.8 hours of building connection. To recreate this effect, I'd need to equivalently spend 4.8 hours per day connecting/socializing with others to build the same rapport. That's more than I've ever spent in any social context with friends sans events like week-long concerts or vacations and those are special occasions. This 4.8 hours of daily connection is now lost under a scenario where people don't form bonds at work.

I'm not sure how this complaint is relevant. Just because the time was superfluous or used to pad performance reviews, a claim that seems dubious for ticket-based companies, doesn't negate the time spent connecting. Getting annoyed/angry at a culture that rewards face-time is unrelated to the reality of time spent together in the same context.

I have never seen rating IC on tickets and never worked in Asian nor with Asians. But, I have worked in companies where culture was to do a lot of overtime and not overtime. The people in overtime cultures socialized primary within company. People in non-overtime one much less so.

> That's 4.8 hours of building connection.

No, a non-overtime company does not have you building connection 3-4.8 hours a day. That is huge amount of time and does not happen in that setup, unless you are all slacking.

Honestly, how can you all be so unwilling to push back that you tolerate starting at 8 instead of 10 because the commute vanished? I'd walk if the longer day was enforced rigidly (e.g. by constant monitoring or meetings).

Because it's easier on the non-Pacific time folks. Instead of Eastern time folks starting at 1300, they start at 1100. It also helps coworkers who want to move to other parts of the US, at the expense of those of us still in Pacific timezones. This way Eastern time folks can sign off at 1900 instead of 2100, which makes it easier for us to work synchronously if needed across the US. Before we went all remote we tended to hire in the same time zone but now we hire across the US. Pacific time workers have to take the early bird hit. If we operated the same as before then we'd have extra morning time, but going remote means we now hire many more coworker in other timezones. It's a double edged sword.

We do also tend to end earlier. I don't care because I'm a night owl, but early bird coworkers seem to enjoy the extra time. And yes I've considered walking but haven't yet because I'm not so sure it's that different in other companies I'm interested in at my level.

Ah right. 'Ending earlier' is definitely crucial information. I hope 'tend to' means >> 50% of the time.

Yeah tend to means "> 90%" as it heavily inconveniences Eastern time employees if we go later.

> Remote work is freedom to choose your environment. Choose it.

Sort of. First your employer needs to approve of where you’re going to live assuming it is out of state or country. There are a variety of legal and tax implications.

The first remote company I worked for had a list of approved states, for instance. I assume this is common.

Employer doesn’t have to approve shit. They probably won’t even know, I’ll leave my address the same as what it is, and just forward my mail. It isn’t really their business.

> It isn’t really their business.

State governments that collect income taxes beg to differ. Heck, your employer probably disagrees with you too! Heck, even federal governments that are collecting taxes beg to differ.

Good for you if you can keep the secret though, it’s probably illegal in one way or another.

My contact specifies my place of work as "anywhere with an internet connection"

Yep, this is one reason to specifically seek out contract work.

Getting a dog and a bunch of hobbies was huge for me too.

Need to get out of your headspace and ideally out of the office.