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Most employees of NYT won’t be required back in physical offices until 2021

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Re: Most employees of NYT won’t be required back in physical offices until 2021

#41

Post by moksly »

coldpie wrote: post #20
Loughla wrote: post #5

Meanwhile, my employer has said zero remote work once the state transitions into the next phase. They want to be "fair" to everyone, including those who have positions that cannot be performed remotely. So, you have a co-morbidity? Nope. You have no childcare suddenly? Nope. It's startling how stuck in the 1980's some people are. Just absolutely astonishing.

> They want to be "fair" to everyone, including those who have positions that cannot be performed remotely. But, this only increases the risk for those who actually do have to go in. Everyone should be vocally opposed to this policy, including (especially?) those to whom this policy is supposed to be "fair."

It seems insane. I work in digitalisation in Denmark, as a developer, so I can do everything from home. We’re running at 50% as our country is slowly coming back from a lockdown, but those 50% go to the people who actually need to be at the office, so I’m in no way a priority.

I wonder what management will do with the COVID data though. Our productivity is through the roof, but they’ve just spent several hundred millions building a new open office city hall because open offices were all the rage. Must be a tough pill to swallow that all those money were wasted because people work better from home where there are far less distractions.

Re: Most employees of NYT won’t be required back in physical offices until 2021

#42

Post by xhkkffbf »

purple_ferret wrote: post #36

I wonder how good their remote security is. I imagine every single government regularly tries to hack them.

Yeah, but now the governments have to manage multiple platforms. Some are writing on Android tablets, others are using Windoze. There's probably some joker still running a TRS-80 Model 100, the former favorite of the sportswriters everywhere.

Re: Most employees of NYT won’t be required back in physical offices until 2021

#43

Post by amcoastal »

Loughla wrote: post #11
r00fus wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it make sense to name & shame these bad actors?

The issue is, I know I would be fired, and cannot afford to lose this job. There is no one hiring in the area, and we're geographically locked due to factors around my child that I don't care to get into here. So, the answer is yes, but there is no way to do that without losing my health insurance, and probably home. So that's neat.

You're not geographically locked from working remotely. Lots of places are hiring remote workers. I'd start applying immediately.

Re: Most employees of NYT won’t be required back in physical offices until 2021

#44

Post by jrockway »

Krasnol wrote: post #29
elicash wrote: post #19

Here's a photo of the newsroom so you can get a sense of the degree to which they work in proximity: https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/12/18/opinion/sunday/18...

What a nightmare. Now imagine half of them being on the phone....terrible.

I don't think they do the same kind of work that we do.

Re: Most employees of NYT won’t be required back in physical offices until 2021

#45

Post by notyourday »

Loughla wrote: post #5

Meanwhile, my employer has said zero remote work once the state transitions into the next phase. They want to be "fair" to everyone, including those who have positions that cannot be performed remotely. So, you have a co-morbidity? Nope. You have no childcare suddenly? Nope. It's startling how stuck in the 1980's some people are. Just absolutely astonishing.

Here's what I do not understand -- if the company had an open office floor plan , which is probably the case a very large if not the majority number of offices, bringing the workforce back into the office would require a massive expense as the state governments are requiring the social distancing / partitions. How are the companies going to accommodate that set of regulations with the current layouts? From a simply logistical standpoint there's simply no way there enough time between now and say end of August to have offices redone to accommodate the new regulations.

Re: Most employees of NYT won’t be required back in physical offices until 2021

#46

Post by xhkkffbf »

purple_ferret wrote: post #30
OldFatCactus wrote: post #3

A friend that works there told me that they have been polling their employees for strong feelings around going permanently remote

The New York Times Building is nice but it's a terrible (although generally convenient) location

If you take a bus to Port Authority, it couldn't be more convenient. And I would guess that the Times Square subway stop may be the one spot where the most lines converge.

Re: Most employees of NYT won’t be required back in physical offices until 2021

#47

Post by kyawzazaw »

machinehermit wrote: post #34
levesque wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have strong feelings against permanently remote. I feel like this hasn't been fully thought out. Face to face interaction is much more high bandwidth than remote video calls (in other words, it conveys more information). Not to mention that this transfers the costs of office space to the employee, maybe this is why all employers are quick to jump on this bandwagon. Curious to see where this new trend will fall in 2…

I think it depends on how much you like being social too. Not interacting with people, not having a place to go, just being in the house all day is absolutely terrible for my long term well being. If my place goes full remote I would have to consider renting an office.

> Not interacting with people, not having a place to go, just being in the house all day is absolutely terrible for my long term well being.

Could this just be due to a pandemic? I think in normal WFH, what you described wouldn't be much of a problem.

Re: Most employees of NYT won’t be required back in physical offices until 2021

#48

Post by Loughla »

WrtCdEvrydy wrote: post #9
Loughla wrote: post #5

Meanwhile, my employer has said zero remote work once the state transitions into the next phase. They want to be "fair" to everyone, including those who have positions that cannot be performed remotely. So, you have a co-morbidity? Nope. You have no childcare suddenly? Nope. It's startling how stuck in the 1980's some people are. Just absolutely astonishing.

> Wow, I guess I'll just tell my team you want them to die and they should find another job This is what I told my boss when these orders came down... they are still deciding what to do. Edit: Be aware, I have enough emergency savings for around 3 years worth of fuck it. I'm not you and you should not be me.

>As an institution of higher education, I believe that we should be evaluating all of our options and enacting what is equitable for our employees. Please note that 'equitable' does not mean everyone is treated the same. Some individuals have life circumstances out of their control during COVID. We are already working remotely, we know that it does work. Further, it gives those of us that need it the most the flexibility to protect our families, our students, and our programs without having to choose one over the other. It helps us do our jobs more efficiently and effectively simply because we do not have to choose between work or family. This should not have to be a choice at a place like [institution name]. In our leadership covenants, we sign onto a work-life balance, not work over life. Have we decided to simply eliminate this agreement in our covenants go to increase our (enrollment) profits for the college by having everyone back to work arbitrarily? I would desperately hope not. Was that necessarily the intention? Probably not, but it feels that way to me and probably to others.

This is what I sent the HR office. To follow to the President.

Re: Most employees of NYT won’t be required back in physical offices until 2021

#49

Post by nicoburns »

dvfjsdhgfv wrote: post #33
WrtCdEvrydy wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Wow, I guess I'll just tell my team you want them to die and they should find another job This is what I told my boss when these orders came down... they are still deciding what to do. Edit: Be aware, I have enough emergency savings for around 3 years worth of fuck it. I'm not you and you should not be me.

Everybody should be you, if possible. Having enough savings to be able not to worry about the nearest future is not just a perfect option, it's a necessity.

Unfortunately it's not a realistic option for most people. If we're talking about "shoulds", then we should have a welfare state that covers these scenarios rather than putting the burden on individuals, many of whom will not have the means to implement it even if they wanted to.

Re: Most employees of NYT won’t be required back in physical offices until 2021

#50

Post by Wowfunhappy »

purple_ferret wrote: post #30
OldFatCactus wrote: post #3

A friend that works there told me that they have been polling their employees for strong feelings around going permanently remote

The New York Times Building is nice but it's a terrible (although generally convenient) location

New Yorkers love to hate Time Square but it's really not so terrible, just crowded. It's in close proximity to everything, and it looks pretty at night. And as you said, it's really easy to get to.
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