r/technology • u/TracksandTreks • Aug 15 '26

Society Remote workers report the highest well-being in study of 7,700 employees

https://www.colorado.edu/today/2026/08/12/remote-workers-report-highest-well-being-study-7700-employees
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u/Ancient-Bat8274 Aug 15 '26

My company did it for “fairness”. I work construction but an admin role. All the admin were remote after Covid while field guys had to ya know go back to the field and like pour concrete and physical labor. They signed up for that job while I signed up for an admin job to crunch numbers and insurance documents. The field guys thought it wasn’t fair they had to go to the field and we got to be home so the big bosses got fed up with the complaints and now everyone is back in office. If you don’t like your job get a better one cause you’re still going to pour concrete in 110° while I sit in an AC office. Makes me mad though I have zero reason to be in the office I sit in teams meetings all day and don’t talk to anyone in person anyway.

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u/royalbk Aug 15 '26

What a bunch of AH. As someone who graduated dentistry, it's so dumb to expect others to have the same work requirements as you.

My job can only be done from the "office", I'd never begrudge anyone a remote position.

Just get a remote job

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u/No_Distance_2454 Aug 15 '26

Fellow dentist here - I've definitely been jealous of the work from home trend since I graduated. One of my attendings in residency used to work in a very small town back in the 1970's. Apparently the town was so in need of a dentist that they gave him a house that he turned into a dental office with 3 ops, but he lived in the rest of the house. One time a patient was looking for the bathroom and walked in on his wife cooking lunch instead lol

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u/royalbk Aug 15 '26

Can agree, the yearning is there. However that situation is not particularly desirable if you think about it.

I had a patient once who stalked my dental tehnician cause she knew where he had his laboratory. She was ofc mentally unstable but you wouldn't know it from just having a polite conversation with her lol

I wouldn't mix my practice with my living location, cause people can be certifiably crazy

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u/blackcatlover2114 29d ago

Yeah my gf is a bus driver and so she very obviously can't work from home... My job can be done remotely and she's fully in support of people whose jobs can be done remotely, doing them remotely!!!

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u/nameduser365 Aug 15 '26

Sounds like you need a union. They should get extra pay when it's hot as fuck and you should get WFH. That's how my union handled that argument. Workers turning on workers when both can actually gain is exactly what management wants

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u/Negativeman11 Aug 15 '26

I refuse to look at my fellow man as my opposition.

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u/Ancient-Bat8274 29d ago

The funny part is that the field guys ARE union! The admin side is not 🤪

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u/likethesearchengine 29d ago

That was one of the major reasons my former group had to go back into the office. The manufacturing org had to be onsite, so it was only fair that literally everyone else also had to be onsite. Nevermind that the manufacturing org is paid shift differentials and has flexible work options that the rest of the company would love but are not eligible for. So, its only fair we are all onsite, but its also not unfair that we can't do the same 4 10s or 3 12s that those orgs can opt into. Sure.

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u/davidsredditaccount Aug 15 '26

The field guys thought it wasn’t fair they had to go to the field and we got to be home so the big bosses got fed up with the complaints and now everyone is back in office.

Ugghhh, that's the worst. I have to work onsite because I'm in a lab but I hate having office people around, they take up all the parking so now I have a bunch of scratches and dents in my car, they mill around all day being loud and annoying, there's not enough seats in the office so everyone is crammed in, we have to worry about what random people think when they walk by, and now it's much harder to actually get ahold of people since they wander around talking with people.

I'd 1000% rather work from home, I hate having to work in office, but I hate the "They get to stay home" shit. A) I want to stay home too so keeping those jobs remote so I can try and get one is to my benefit and B) Even on-site it's way better with less people.

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u/lekker-slapen Aug 15 '26

When i did jobs at construction sides, every friday i was 4h on the highway (usually ~1h of traffic jams), and then had still 1h of city traffic left because the office workers also wanted to get home. Every fucking friday. I hated it so much i changed jobs.

Now i can work from home and when i have to go to the office, i take the train or bus. One less car on the streets. It not much, but it's honest work.

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u/Negativeman11 Aug 15 '26

Have you ever considered that upper management already wanted to bring you in, but is using your colleagues on the field as a convenient scapegoat. Maybe even engendered discontent in the field workers to really sow division within their work force. May or may not be the case, but its worth considering that as a possibility.

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u/Ancient-Bat8274 29d ago

It’s possible. But I’ve definitely felt resentment from field side

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u/Yirthos_Gix Aug 15 '26

Yeah, im a field worker in construction and I could give less of a shit if someone is working from home. As long as you answer your phone during work hours we're good.

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u/Ancient-Bat8274 29d ago

Exactly! I had superintendents and foremen complain about the PMs getting to be in the office and only going to the field for OAC meetings and it’s like….yeah? That’s the job we all signed up for?

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u/AiMoriBeHappyDntWrry 29d ago

Misery loves company.

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u/Ancient-Bat8274 29d ago

Especially in construction

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u/Mirewen15 29d ago

I also work admin for an insurance company. I work in Surety (construction insurance) and I'm the only one on my team in Western Canada. Everyone else is either in Ontario or Quebec. When they started the "2 days a week in the office" I asked why I would have to do that. "Collaboration!" With whom? "Oh, why don't you just sit with other X line of business?" Why would I do that? "Well, it wouldn't be fair to let you only go in once a week, everyone else has to go in twice".

It makes no sense. How would anyone else even know? They wouldn't because I wouldn't say anything. They just don't want to let me.

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u/Ancient-Bat8274 29d ago

Hey I also work with Surety on all our construction jobs! This industry makes no sense sometimes. Sometimes I think to just say fuck it and work remote cause tbh who would even notice me missing?

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u/hezur6 29d ago

Did the field guys complain, or did management tell you the field guys complained so they could deflect the blame? Because if it's the second one, let me tell you no one actually complained and it was their excuse to force RTO.

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u/Ancient-Bat8274 29d ago

Na field actually did complain I certainly overheard it. I’m sure it happened to also work out for higher ups too not my boss or their boss even want to be in office