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Ask HN: Is remote going away? Why?

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Ask HN: Is remote going away? Why?

#1

Post by thisiswrongggg »

I hear stories around me and it seems like the remote is ebbing atm.

More and more companies are cutting down on it increasing the needed presence. At the same time they just don't have the real estate capacity to do it decently which means (at least in my personal experience) that you land in a noisy subpar open space (worst invention ever) for n days a week where you can hardly do any work.

Not to mention wasting time/energy in commuting.

It really beats me why a company would waste resources like that and I cannot explain it. The best I have is that this is some kind of power play but I'm not convinced. Am I missing something?

Re: Ask HN: Is remote going away? Why?

#2

Post by dougmwne »

Yes, you are thinking right, it’s all about power. I think it’s a few kind of power actually.

The biggest is the power balance between capital and labor. Capital wants cheap and pliant hands to do the work. That’s behind a lot of the fed interest rate raises and recession drumbeat in the media.

But another one, and a very important one is the power of one person over another. The best and most intimate and controlling kind of power is the power over another person’s body. Where they go, how long they stay there, how they behave. For a leader to really feel that power, they need eyes and sometimes hands on the people who work for them.

Re: Ask HN: Is remote going away? Why?

#3

Post by jollyllama »

Most of the people in management don't have good metrics by which to judge productivity of teams, let alone individuals. Even if they do, they want more. Being able to see butts in seats gives them confidence and allows them to feel good. It's partly rational and partly irrational. Devs/Engineers for some reason have a hard time understanding this.

Re: Ask HN: Is remote going away? Why?

#5

Post by codegeek »

Let me give you a different perspective than "employers want power" etc. Not everyone can work remotely. Remote 100% is not always the answer. If you are entry level and want to learn from your peers and seniors, nothing beats in person collaboration. Nothing. People can claim otherwise and it may be true for a small percentage of people but if you have less than 3 years of real professional experience, 100% remote is a bad idea.

The answer is hybrid (my opinion) and even though it may be true that employers have commercial real estate and all, but if productivity was really up, why would they care ? The truth is that there are many people who either are not a good fit for 100% remote (juniors) or use 100% remote to do things that they wouldn't be able to otherwise (overemployed, slacking off further) etc.

Re: Ask HN: Is remote going away? Why?

#6

Post by cableshaft »

Because fuck you, that's why.

Pretty much what it boils down to. A lot of executives hated that employees got so much power during the pandemic (even though it's still miniscule compared to the power the executives have themselves) and they couldn't wait to take it back away from them. Now that there's a bit of a downturn (at least in tech jobs), they're taking advantage of it to force things back to the way it used to be.

Nevermind it's completely unnecessary and damaging to the planet, they're just going to pretend that watercooler talk is the biggest and most important thing in a company ever, so they simply cannot abide by you skipping your commute.

Re: Ask HN: Is remote going away? Why?

#8

Post by jstx1 »

> The best I have is that this is some kind of power play but I'm not convinced. Am I missing something?

You can consider that not everyone has the same preferences as you. Many people are more productive and happier working from an office and meeting their colleauges in person.

Forcing people into limited open space with unassigned seats sounds like terrible execution of return to office but in general RTO doesn't have to be some kind of conspiracy.

Re: Ask HN: Is remote going away? Why?

#9

Post by paulcole »

cableshaft wrote: post #6

Because fuck you, that's why. Pretty much what it boils down to. A lot of executives hated that employees got so much power during the pandemic (even though it's still miniscule compared to the power the executives have themselves) and they couldn't wait to take it back away from them. Now that there's a bit of a downturn (at least in tech jobs), they're taking advantage of it to force things back to the way it used…

> Nevermind it's completely unnecessary and damaging to the planet

I mean the list of things like this is a mile long and nobody cares about doing a damn thing until helping the planet happens to align with something they really like.

Re: Ask HN: Is remote going away? Why?

#10

Post by MaxHoppersGhost »

cableshaft wrote: post #6

Because fuck you, that's why. Pretty much what it boils down to. A lot of executives hated that employees got so much power during the pandemic (even though it's still miniscule compared to the power the executives have themselves) and they couldn't wait to take it back away from them. Now that there's a bit of a downturn (at least in tech jobs), they're taking advantage of it to force things back to the way it used…

This is such a cynical take. Why is it so ridiculous to believe that teams that work together in-person are more effective/innovative?
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