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Scientists have been studying remote work for four years and have reached a very clear conclusion: "Working from home makes us happier."

⁨744⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨ByteOnBikes@slrpnk.net⁩ to ⁨workreform@lemmy.world⁩

https://farmingdale-observer.com/2025/05/16/scientists-have-been-studying-remote-work-for-four-years-and-have-reached-a-very-clear-conclusion-working-from-home-makes-us-happier/

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  • ininewcrow@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    As soon as we created highspeed telecommunications possible across vast distances and that we are making them faster all the time … making people travel to a work station makes less and less sense.

    What does it make in a modern city? Let’s make tens of thousands of people wake up at 6am and all travel to work at the exact same time every day. Let’s make them all travel simultaneously at roughly the same two hour time slot every morning in the same direction.

    Then at the end of the day, let’s make them all make the return trip between 4pm and 6pm.

    All because we want a captive group of workers to perform menial tasks they could perform in a couple of hours at home but instead they get to work and wander around and waste as much time as possible to justify why they are at work.

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    • Mac@mander.xyz ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      The cruelty
      Is the point

      A busy and tired populace is a kompliant populace.

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  • the_q@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Too bad the folks in charge don’t care about your happiness.

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    • autonomoususer@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Who gives a fuck what they care about? Too bad folks don’t take matters into their own hands.

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      • shplane@lemmy.world ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Such as …

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    • WanderingThoughts@europe.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      The assumption is that if you have time to be happy, you have time to work more so happiness needs to be stamped out to increase productivity. That’s of course a myth as data shows happy workers are more productive. The result is workers stuck in the twilight zone of not being happy and not getting more work done. It’s one of the business religious beliefs.

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      • gradual@lemmings.world ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        This is exactly it. It’s a delicate balance that needs to be struck.

        We always could’ve had more at the expense of our rulers. Since we’re collectively willing to accept less, that’s what we get.

        It should really put into perspective how damaging class traitors are. They actively lower standards for the rest of us.

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  • HugeNerd@lemmy.ca ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    We as a species had the opportunity to build a leisure society many times over the decades. We just prefer torturing each other with meaningless busy theater.

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    • pupbiru@aussie.zone ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      these “we” that you speak of… a group that starts with “c” and ends with “onservatives” i assume

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      • Almacca@aussie.zone ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        It definitely starts with ‘c’.

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    • gradual@lemmings.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I blame Christianity.

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  • Zenith@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    WFH enabled so many Americans who are disabled to actually hold a job, a job they wanted, and this is a direct attack on disabled employees and disabled people. WFH is inherently more accessible so you end up with more disabled employees, which cost your work sponsored health insurance to go up, which they do not want, so they erect this barrier of being in the office to prevent people who need to work from home from being employed there. Disallowing WFH is explicitly to get around the ADA

    RTO is ableism

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    • SabinStargem@lemmy.today ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I would argue that Work from Home is an economic booster. More people get to work, less time and fuel spent on commuting, unneeded buildings don’t consume money anymore, social distancing, and so forth. It is just good all around.

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    • freshcow@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Excellent point. I hadn’t thought of it that way, but I think that’s very likely an aspect of it.

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    • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Still waiting on the government of Canada to release their GBA+ report on imposing a return to the office that applies the same way to all even though pre-COVID such a measure didn’t exist and they intentionally hired people that couldn’t RTO during COVID… You know, a report that public servants are told is a necessity whenever a decision with a big impact has to be made…

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  • Jimmycakes@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Why don’t they add in shit employers care about like it makes everyone work 10x better only fools return to office. Shit like that. Shit people can use. They don’t give a flying fuck if we are happy or not

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    • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Even when presented with the numbers they don’t care. Management told us, going from 2 days in the office to full WFH increased our productivity by 15%, they’re still forced to make us go back 3 days a week (so now than before COVID) and they told us “We know productivity will be lower, but collaboration and shit”…

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      • iknowitwheniseeit@lemmynsfw.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        When IBM senior management was asked by a staff member for data supporting their RTO policy one of the managers literally said, “I’ve managed teams before. I don’t need data.”

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    • homoludens@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Shit people can use.

      Sounds like people could use unions.

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    • kameecoding@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Your statement is very absolutist therefore it cannot be true.

      Personally I did WFH for 4 years as a contractor and now I am back to office, but not always for forced to be in only 50% and I much prefer it, to the extent that I am doing more than 50% in the office.

      I still have the option to just not go in if I don’t feel like it, I am a bit under the weather or just haven’t slept well or have stuff to take care of and I don’t go in on fridays because traffic coming out of the city those days is horrendous.

      I would probably quit if I had to dogmatically go in everyday no matter what.

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      • 9bananas@feddit.org ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Your statement is very absolutist therefore it cannot be true.

        criticizes “absolutist” statement…with an absolute!

        bold strategy, lmao!

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  • gaja@lemm.ee ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I’ve reported directly to the head before. Here’s why they don’t like remote work. These bosses are typically highly narcissist paired with paranoia.

    I think many CEOs thinks like Trump, so let’s work off that. They have narcissism and paranoia. They are highly insecure. They assume the worst and others, but have ridiculously high expectations.

    Trump can’t fathom people doing the right thing for the sake of it. He has never done a thing that didn’t benefit him. He can’t imagine not cheating someone given a chance. He’s cheated every single time.

    My CEO was highly paranoid. He decided to setup cameras anywhere. He started confronting employees who left early or arrived later not understanding that everybody doesn’t arrive or leave the office at the same time. Even though the company needed focus on the agenda, he spent most of his time stalking employees.

    When I was confronted for leaving early, I had to explain that I’m still working while making a delivery on my way home, or that it’s okay for me to be late if the first thing I do when I wake up is to respond to urgent emails and make important calls. This resulted in retaliatory pay cuts, so I quit. Of course, the business could not afford to lose me, so now I do contract work for more than double per hour and found a new job that treats everyone a lot better.

    These people are truly detached from reality. Their poisoned brains prevent them from understanding basic human nature. The only side of human nature they understand is how people bend over for money. They’re control freaks.

    Keeping you in office means they have the ability to pressure you. Emotional manipulation through micro management or unreasonable expectations. They know that at home, they can’t see you squirm. At work, you’re not safe, but at home, you are.

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    • Fenrir@lemmings.world ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      There’s also sour grapes from management types that have to go to the office for one reason or another. If I have to go, why don’t they?

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      • gaja@lemm.ee ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Our CEO was a hyper optimist. He didn’t elevate anybody who wasn’t a peppy yes-man.

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    • dragonfucker@lemmy.nz ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      It’s very sad the way things went for Narcissus. He just wanted to mind his own business, it’s not his fault he was so beautiful people couldn’t control themselves. Any person would get as grumpy as he was if they were in the same situation.

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  • okamiueru@lemmy.world ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I go to office when I don’t have to be productive. The factor is round 10x. As ridiculous as it sounds, one single good day at home equals about two weeks of normal days at the office

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  • Patchwork@lemmy.world ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Software engineer in New England here. I love love my by hybrid setup.

    I go to the office whenever I want. Some days I feel more productive there, other days I want to sleep in a bit and work from home. I can charge my car for free at the office so that’s a big motivator lol.

    Needless to say, I’m happy and extremely productive. I’m sure the company benefits greatly.

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  • NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    LOL I just got one of those “all the data shows we’re Better Together, so we’re increasing in-office days. No, we’re not going to share any of the data.” emails.

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    • 0x0@lemmy.zip ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      The latest email I got included “we’ll be monitoring IP addresses to ensure employees are at the office” and “this is not about surveillance”.

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    • Alaik@lemmy.zip ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Cause that data doesn’t exist and they know it. Now you know management are incompetent liars, but I repeat myself.

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  • catloaf@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Much as I agree with the headline, this site appears to be entirely AI generated slop.

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    • mmddmm@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      And there’s no study to be found there.

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  • GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    This whole thing is just garbage and should probably be taken down -

    • The writing quality is low and looks AI generated
    • It doesn’t actually link to a study that agrees with its conclusions
    • The one study that was linked shows the following results:
      • More sleep (+27 minutes)
      • Less physical exercise (-50 minutes)
      • Worse diet (reduced amount of calories from protein)
      • Higher alcohol consumption (increased amount of calories from alcohol)
      • “no changes in weight or wellbeing”
      • “however, their impact on health and wellbeing may accumulate over time.”

    I don’t think it’s even out of the question that the study actually supports the opposite conclusion, but all of this of course doesn’t matter since there was a massive confounding variable involved in that there was a global pandemic going on during the study.

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    • TempermentalAnomaly@lemmy.world ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      So the one cited study is from 2021. All of those behaviors make sense for 2021. But the article fails to link to a study that ran for four years. I tried poking around to find one, but failed.

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  • AtariDump@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    In other news, the sky is blue and water makes you wet.

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  • 0x0@lemmy.zip ⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Although a slight increase in alcohol consumption was noted at the outset, the overall trend is towards greater well-being.

    😁

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  • melsaskca@lemmy.ca ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    My non-sciencey group of “experts in the obvious” said the same thing.

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    • MousePotatoDoesStuff@lemmy.world ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Still, it’s good to have solid data backing us up as well.

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  • ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Sadly idiot CEOs think it makes them less money, so they don’t care

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    • raltoid@lemmy.world ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      To be fair, most higher ups who keep going on about people not working when they’re home, are lying. Some of them believe it, but that’s mostly projection.

      They like use it as an excuse, because they know real reasons would make them sound like idiots. It’s things like not wanting to “waste” money on their 10year rental of office space that no one uses. Can’t keep paying some office managers and people in HR if there’s no one in the office. And so on and so forth. They literally want to expenditure at the cost of company revenue.

      TL;DR: Modern MBA education needs to be thrown out and rebuilt from scratch

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      • GoofSchmoofer@lemmy.world ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        . It’s things like not wanting to “waste” money on their 10year rental of office space that no one uses.

        Which I’ve seen as a slightly hidden transfer of expense to the employee.

        Company sees their empty office building as a waste of money but your home/apartment being empty for 8+ hours 5 days a week is okay because it doesn’t affect their bottom line.

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      • bane_killgrind@slrpnk.net ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        They would notice pretty quick if 30% of employees suddenly did 50% less work.

        They should realize that a bunch of the work doesn’t matter, can and should be skipped, and people do just that when they work from home. Also "just a quick question"s and "do you have a sec"s interrupt and reset real efforts in high level decision making and accuracy, every time.

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      • Korhaka@sopuli.xyz ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        If an employee isn’t doing any work at home and you don’t notice, you are incredibly shit. Either they did nothing before and you should have noticed then, or you should notice that now they are doing nothing.

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      • Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Lots of companies own the offices their employees work in. Low demand for office space has a material impact on the balance sheet.

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  • AlecSadler@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    My friend just lost a dream job they barely had for a week because the company went full RTO and they wanted him to relocate and he couldn’t.

    Fuck RTO.

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  • Tramdan@sh.itjust.works ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    How does that help employers?

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    • r4venw@sh.itjust.works ⁨20⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Happier employees -> more loyal employees -> more productivity, less turn over, fewer training costs

      Its really not that complicated

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    • Disaster@sh.itjust.works ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      who fucking cares?

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    • rabber@lemmy.ca ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Don’t need as much office space

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  • ogmios@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    I feel like this is going to be highly variable depending on individual personalities, industries, and even specific employers.

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  • Azal@pawb.social ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I just wish my job could actually. Until I can remotely access a robot to drive around and fix equipment I’m kinda fucked on that front.

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  • dutchkimble@lemy.lol ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    The lead scientist’s name must be Captain Obvi Ous, assisted by Pro. Casti Nator

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  • Elkot@lemmy.world ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    No duh Sherlock

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  • TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com ⁨18⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    /searches “Capitalist Manifesto” for happy workers

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  • kwr112233@feddit.dk ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    This is a very binary discussions. It is entirely possible that working from home when concentration is needed, and office for cohesion and alignment, is better for everyone.

    I sure as shampoo have 5x the efficiency when not in the office. But i also get disconnected and work feels meaningless when not with a group of people.

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    • Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      It is entirely possible that working from home when concentration is needed, and office for cohesion and alignment, is better for everyone.

      Do you have anything to back up your feelings?

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      • kwr112233@feddit.dk ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        You want me to back up that something is possible? Like prove that the fabric of everything could facilitate a situation with the mentioned parameters holds true at the same time without the universe imploding?

        That is a great epistemological question. And of little practical value i fear.

        However, as you came across derogatory with the feelings bit, I’m going to have to ask you to try again, if you really want to talk about this stuff.

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    • otterpop@lemmy.world ⁨19⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I feel the exact same way after working from home for the last five years. The disconnection and pointlessness along with the reduced physical activity and terrible company corporate culture have actually resulted in me seeking out a job in an office again.

      I think it may be better for mental health and physical health, depending on the company and their culture.

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      • kwr112233@feddit.dk ⁨16⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        Thanks man. I got some hate for my comment suggesting a mix might be beneficial and I hobestly don’t get it.

        I have much the same experience as you with disconnection and meaningfulness.

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  • SnarkoPolo@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    This is exactly why the corporate world is trying to abolish it.

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