Boomer aunt says that people who work from home are not 'productive' enough, sparks debate

Many individuals and companies have recognized the benefits of working from home. Employees save time and money on commuting, and companies can access a larger talent pool. However, some still believe that working from home reduces productivity. u/JoySkullyRH shared on Reddit how their boomer aunt assumed remote workers weren’t productive. Many Redditors supported the post.

"My aunt, love the woman, needed some items from me," the post began. The aunt asked, "Are you at home today?" The person said they were home but also working. The aunt asked if they could go get lunch. "I can't. I have meetings all day," the individual replied. The woman finally asked if she could visit and pick up some stuff she needed. They clarified she could come and pick up the stuff, but the employee might have a meeting to attend when the aunt arrived and might not have time to meet her. "Do you know some places are making people go back to the office?" the aunt asked.

"Yeah, it's ridiculous. What is the difference between sitting in an office and watching a Zoom meeting or doing it at home? It just means I have to waste money and time driving to work," the person pointed out. "Well, people aren't as productive as sitting at home and aren't as responsible," the woman stated. "I completely disagree with that. If I am sitting in a meeting with 100+ people, I can actually have a say and put it in chat, whereas, in a big conference room, you don't get to do that. Not only that, managers can track productivity. It's about the job being completed," the employee expressed. "I don't like Zoom meetings though, so they shouldn't be done," she went on. The person disclosed that it shouldn't matter to the aunt as she was already retired.

"I can't even help with this mindset. When will boomers understand that sitting in an office doesn't equate to productivity? That people, if they want to, can slack anywhere? Ugh," the employee noted. People took to the comments to support the person. u/ridemyscooter commented, "I've said this time and time again. If you have to physically watch or micromanage your employees to ensure work is getting done, you're either a bad manager or hiring bad employees, which means you're a bad manager." u/sodoyoulikecheese wrote, "I also think there are a lot of managers who aren't good at their jobs but have learned how to mask it at the office by micromanaging other people and looking busy. When everyone is working from home, it exposes how useless these people are, so they push to go back to the office."

u/pianoflames shared, "With my boomer mom, I feel like she's accidentally telling on herself, mentality-wise. She just can't grasp how a person could do remote work without spending that entire day playing hooky. Like there's no way a person could have intrinsic motivation to do their job without someone physically watching them do it the entire time."  u/Anything-Happy expressed, "I grab the bleach pen at home. I do my best decision-making when cleaning grout lines, lol."