r/Remote_Jobs_

I work in project management and I'm a data person so when the RTO debate started at my company last fall I decided to actually measure it instead of arguing about feelings

set up a simple spreadsheet. every 30 minutes I logged what I was doing and categorized it: deep work, meetings, admin (emails/slack), break, commute/prep, or unproductive (scrolling, watercooler chat, just staring at nothing). did this for 30 days in the office (october) and 30 days remote (november, after I negotiated a trial)

office (30 days):

- deep work: 3.8 hrs/day avg

- meetings: 1.6 hrs

- admin: 1.1 hrs

- breaks: 0.7 hrs

- commute + getting ready: 1.9 hrs (not counted in 8hr workday but still my time)

- unproductive: 0.8 hrs (hallway conversations that went nowhere, waiting for conference rooms, desk drop-ins)

remote (30 days):

- deep work: 5.6 hrs/day avg

- meetings: 1.4 hrs (same meetings, just shorter somehow)

- admin: 1.0 hrs

- breaks: 0.9 hrs (longer breaks but fewer)

- commute: 0 hrs

- unproductive: 0.4 hrs

so 5.6 vs 3.8 hours of actual deep work per day. that's 47% more productive time. over a month it's like getting an extra 36 hours of real work

the wildest part: meetings were shorter remote. same agenda, same people, just less small talk at the start and less "let me just grab my laptop" delays. saved about 12 minutes per meeting on average

showed this to my boss. she was genuinely surprised. said "I assumed office was more productive because it feels more productive." which is exactly the problem – the feeling of productivity vs actual productivity

still remote. the data won that argument for me

this is about my previous job. left 2 months ago and still annoyed enough to write about it

we'd been remote since covid. no issues, team hit every deadline, client satisfaction was up. everything worked. then new VP of ops came in january and decided remote workers needed "accountability tools"

they rolled out this monitoring software called TimeDoctor. here's what it does:

• screenshots of your screen every 5 minutes
• tracks mouse movement and keyboard activity
• flags "idle time" if you stop typing for 3 minutes
• sends reports to managers with "productivity scores"

three minute idle flag. I can't even read an email without my mouse jiggling or it counts against me

people started doing the most ridiculous stuff. taping mice to fans. installing mouse jiggler software. scheduling fake calendar events to appear busy. the actual productive work people were doing before? replaced by a performance of looking busy

within 6 weeks, 4 of the best engineers quit. the senior PM who'd been there 7 years put in notice. our top client-facing person left for a competitor. all remote people, all high performers, all gone

management's response? "this proves remote workers aren't committed." no. it proves that treating adults like warehouse robots makes the good ones leave and the ones who stay learn to game your stupid system

I left in march. new job, no monitoring, no screenshots. my manager trusts me to get work done and checks results not keystrokes. revolutionary concept apparently

been remote for about a year. old commute was 50 minutes each way so I got back almost 2 hours a day. curious what everyone else did with theirs

I'll go first: started going to the gym at 7am which I never would have done when I had to be in the office by 8. cook actual lunch instead of ordering $15 chipotle every day. pick up my kid from school at 3 instead of my wife doing it every single time

the gym thing alone changed my life more than the job itself honestly

what about you guys