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I keep seeing articles about how awesome it is that companies are getting used to people working from home, and the flexibility that gives employees.
Let’s please remember that we’re primarily talking about great for well off tech bros with large apartments and fast internet.
Let’s please remember that we’re primarily talking about great for well off tech bros with large apartments and fast internet.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s also good for people who need work flexibility for kids, or who need time to deal with disabilities, or who can’t afford to live with a quick commute of their office.
But every day I’m on conference calls with folks in cramped apartments with babies crying in the background, or working from bedrooms and hot attics. Work Slack has people trying to figure out how to get a upstream connection that can handle 3-4 people video conferencing at once.
And that’s in the tech industry in the middle of major urban tech centers. Move to other businesses and other regions and it’s far worse. In some states people are trying to work and go to school on shared cell phone hotspots—if they can afford it.
We can’t move everyone online without a massive investment in infrastructure, affordable housing, and more. Like everything else wrong with this country, we are being held back by our long history of inequity and racism.
So when you celebrate this new freedom and flexibility. Think long and hard about how you’re going to help bring it to everyone else who doesn’t have your privilege.
Right now the pandemic is massively increasing disparity. And that’s not sustainable.
Right now the pandemic is massively increasing disparity. And that’s not sustainable.
I say that as someone who has worked remotely for years and loves it. The transition this year has opened up employment doors for me. But our house has two offices and gigabit internet. Recognize your privilege. Work towards leveraging it for others.
Companies are doing surveys on this stuff. Encourage your company to invest in people’s home offices and internet. Encourage them to open their eyes to hiring people who otherwise couldn’t have worked there before. Make perks time and flexibility, not toys.
And for dog’s sake, vote towards ending inequality, raising taxes on the high end, and applying that towards giving everyone a baseline income so we can all share in the future. Help end systemic barriers, and remove policing that leaves millions in poverty.
These things aren’t separate. The politics of equality and empathy and support are mandatory if we want to live in a future where we aren’t tied to crowded cities and multi-hour commutes. A society built on lies and abuse can not, and should not, survive.
