Does someone have best practices for remote work from the workers perspective? Example end of day email for work complete. Weekly check in for priority projects.
Ask HN: How Would You or Did Convince Your Boss That You Can Work Remote?
61–70 of 123 posts
Re: Ask HN: How Would You or Did Convince Your Boss That You Can Work Remote?
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been on the receiving end of Gitlab's calculator. The pay cut isn't small at all; I was offered less than half the equivalent SF salary. And I live in North America, just not in SF.
Their calculator can be a little harsh for sure, I just appreciate how up front it is. Still, rent in SF is crazy if you compare it to anywhere that isn’t near a coast. I wonder do you think the pay cut was unfair based on other offers? I am biased because we only do genuinely minor comp adjustments for location.
Yeah, I appreciated the transparency of it too. The offer I got was okay compared to market rates here, so I do think it's pretty fair.
I guess I just find it a bit weird that your value to the company is so dependent on location that it can vary from 100% down to ~20% of the base SF salary. People living in SF _chose_ to live there despite the absurd rents, and it's not like that changes anything for a remote company.
Re: Ask HN: How Would You or Did Convince Your Boss That You Can Work Remote?
#63Does someone have best practices for remote work from the workers perspective? Example end of day email for work complete. Weekly check in for priority projects.
Re: Ask HN: How Would You or Did Convince Your Boss That You Can Work Remote?
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's a good point, but looking at the other way, if a remote worker employed by a company in San Francisco moves from, say, Pecos, Texas to Manhattan, should he or she expect a significant salary increase? (edit: moving for reasons unrelated to employment with the San Francisco company)
I think so. That can be hard for smaller businesses to manage, but it should average out for a larger one. It might also mean the business can’t support you (afford to pay you a SF rate). So that is always a factor.
Why would a boss want to pay you more because you live somewhere expensive, unless living in that place is part of the job description? The only reason I can think of is they believe that you might quit in favor of a local job which pays more, and so they need to raise your pay to remain competitive.
But if they know you're committed to remote work, this wouldn't seem to be a consideration. And presumably the possibility of taking a remote position at a company in a high-cost area exists no matter where you live, so by the same logic you'd think that a boss would want to always pay a rate that's competitive in expensive markets.
I guess the reality is that physical location is still enough of a determiner of job options that it influences what a boss understands your realistic pay range to be. But I wonder how this will change as more tech work becomes remote.
Re: Ask HN: How Would You or Did Convince Your Boss That You Can Work Remote?
#65Remote has to be baked into the company culture, otherwise you'll forever be the outsider, and be the first to be let go when the company hits tough times. Find a job that already offers remote.
This has been my experience. I managed to switch to working remotely 100% by saying "I need to move to another town, either I start working remotely or I'll need to switch jobs". My boss wanted me to say, but not enough was done (by anyone, me included) to really make it work. I wasn't let go, they were still happy with me, but I decided to leave after about half a year, even though there were definitely aspects of working remotely that I loved.
Re: Ask HN: How Would You or Did Convince Your Boss That You Can Work Remote?
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think so. That can be hard for smaller businesses to manage, but it should average out for a larger one. It might also mean the business can’t support you (afford to pay you a SF rate). So that is always a factor.
Why would a boss want to pay you more because you live somewhere expensive, unless living in that place is part of the job description? The only reason I can think of is they believe that you might quit in favor of a local job which pays more, and so they need to raise your pay to remain competitive. But if they know you're committed to remote work, this wouldn't seem to be a consideration. And presumably the possibi…
Why would a boss want to pay you more because you live somewhere expensive
Exactly. So why should a boss want to pay you less because you live somewhere cheap.
Re: Ask HN: How Would You or Did Convince Your Boss That You Can Work Remote?
#67I just told my boss I was moving, and let them offer. Working for HP in Atlanta, I'd already proved myself during the '96 Olympics, when even the 12 miles to work was impossible. In 2000, our rent went out of sight; we owned 7 rural acres -- about 800 miles away -- so we just decided to move. I figured my boss would let me telecommute, but I didn't ask for it: I just told him, very honestly, that I was moving, and wh…
same. i worked on-site for 1 year. then told them i was moving, from a 30 min commute to 1.30 hr commute (imagine DC beltway work-hour traffic), and that I'm not willing to do that every day. that's it, didn't say i'm gonna quit, or that i want to work remote etc.
they said 'would you like to try working remote for a few months, see if it works out for both of us ?'. I agreed and few months became 4 years. I'd visit the office once a month for department-wide meetings, so they wouldn't forget my ugly mug.
of course, database stuff is very well suited for remote work, so I might have lucked out there.. then again, when it came time for a promotion after 5 years, they gave me a decent raise, but on the condition 'you have to come in once a week'. i took the raise but left soon after.
Re: Ask HN: How Would You or Did Convince Your Boss That You Can Work Remote?
#68For me, the number one indicator is what did you do on the last snow day. If you put in an incredibly productive day and wrapped up a bunch of bugs and stories, let’s talk.
Not very useful metric for people living in, say, the Mediterranean.
Substitute last time you “worked from home”
Re: Ask HN: How Would You or Did Convince Your Boss That You Can Work Remote?
#69For me, the number one indicator is what did you do on the last snow day. If you put in an incredibly productive day and wrapped up a bunch of bugs and stories, let’s talk.
Some people have kids
That’s a “I’ve got two at home and I’ll do my best” day. Not a problem. Sub in any “work from home” day.
Re: Ask HN: How Would You or Did Convince Your Boss That You Can Work Remote?
#70Remote has to be baked into the company culture, otherwise you'll forever be the outsider, and be the first to be let go when the company hits tough times. Find a job that already offers remote.
This has been my experience thus far as well. It hasn't really mattered how well I could frame productivity or measurable improvements in my quality of life to an immediate manager or team - ultimately if the senior leadership dislikes the idea of remote work, each level beneath them will hesitate to fully embrace it. I've found that companies that promote work-life balance as one of their strengths are the best plac…
Remote work goes against having the best work-life balance.
When you walk out the door of the office, work should be over and done with until you return. Taking work home should be impossible.
Paid overtime helps greatly. It discourages the employer from trying to get free work out of you.
Having a non-zero commute doesn't have to mean commuting for 2 hours in urban traffic. You can pick a location where a tiny commute is possible.