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Quora goes permanently remote-first

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Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first

#171

Post by mkl »

nradov wrote: post #68
iamwil wrote: post #26

Has anyone tried using VR for work? What, if anything did you discover that worked, and what didn't? I know of some VR companies that do all their meetings in VR, whether its their own, or in a game.

Why would anyone do that? What's the point? If you're not a perfect touch typist then it's difficult to take notes or edit a shared document while wearing a VR headset.

I think if you tried it for a couple of weeks you'd probably become a perfect touch typist. It's not a difficult skill to pick up. Being in VR all the time would kind of suck though IMHO.

Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first

#172

Post by balfirevic »

dtech wrote: post #169
Havoc wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a pretty insane expectation given that their physical office presumably don’t require working at midnight. (Good luck getting that one past European regulators)

In my European country you're required to pay 125-200% for night and sunday shifts, I wonder if they will do that.

Baseline pay is arbitrary, so if you're always working the same night hours it doesn't matter what part is called base salary and what part is additional payment for night work.

Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first

#174

Post by barbecue_sauce »

toyg wrote: post #170
rakoo wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

European here, and the 6PM-12AM window is the one I feel the most productive in. I guess it will be a big change for a majority of people but I would definitely be interested by this. Moreover when I work, I work, so if the sun is already down I'm ok with it; when it's up I can do all the active parts of my day that are more enjoyable during the day. Still, it's not perfect. I don't think it would be that big of a de…

Doesn’t work for families. 6pm - 9pm is primetime for kids. But who cares about them oldies, right? /s

Many oldies don't have families.

Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first

#175

Post by kwhitefoot »

chippy wrote: post #145

Would it be harder or easier to unionise or make employee actions if the workforce is all online, compared to meeting in the same place?

That rather depends on which country one is in. In most European countries it will make no difference at all as far as the law is concerned (everyone has the right to belong to a union), in the US I imagine it will be complicated and vary from state to state.

Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first

#176

Post by pimterry »

vechagup wrote: post #41
baron816 wrote: post #37

I really hope we see some specialized remote worker residential communities in the future. Actually, I’m sure there’ll be money in building them. Imagine a small town with no cars or roads. The community has lots of events to socialize you with your neighbors. Lots of traditions and festivals. Some communities may look like Brooklyn—row houses, except just grass and trees lining the blocks. Maybe another community wo…

And perhaps when enough of these like-minded remote workers are living near each other, some of them will find that they enjoy working in the same physical location at the same time. Then some of the space in the community can be turned into hubs for in-person collaboration, or offices!

Self-chosen hubs for work are dramatically better for the individual than a company office though. They're not the same thing.

Advantages:

- Employee picks the location, so it's likely far more convenient for them

- Because employee has freedom to pick their work location, they have far more freedom to pick where they live

- Because employees have freedom to pick their work locations, all of a sudden "work location" is a competitive market, everywhere, and multiple options appear vying to fulfil different preferences (how quiet should they be? are pets allowed? do you want sharp & suited & professional, or lively with events every night, or chilled and friendly, or...?)

- Employee doesn't need to change their commute or desk or _anything_ when they change jobs

- 'Office' social life independent of your colleagues: you meet a wider range of people, and you separate work relationships from those friendships

- Less presenteeism, because it's harder for people to tell when you're present (not impossible, but it pushes in the right direction)

Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first

#177

Post by toyg »

mb7733 wrote: post #71
vechagup wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And perhaps when enough of these like-minded remote workers are living near each other, some of them will find that they enjoy working in the same physical location at the same time. Then some of the space in the community can be turned into hubs for in-person collaboration, or offices!

Not sure if you're being dismissive, but that still sounds great. It would lead to many small, livable communities with opportunity dotting the country. As opposed to everyone living in suburbs and and making long commutes to a small number of massive urban centers.

That’s basically the model IBM was actively pursuing in the 90s-00s (no idea whether they still do). They ran a bunch of studies in the previous decades, showing the various trade-offs involved into office locations; eventually they decided the best overall policy was to prefer mid-size offices in suburban settings, away from business districts and other high-density areas. At one point I think they had an outright ban on new city-centre offices.

(Or at least this is what I was told when I was a contractor for them in the mid-00s in Europe, wondering why they avoided getting a single building in Manchester city centre and spread over two separate locations in the surrounding suburbs instead.)

Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first

#178

Post by toyg »

chippy wrote: post #146
vechagup wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And perhaps when enough of these like-minded remote workers are living near each other, some of them will find that they enjoy working in the same physical location at the same time. Then some of the space in the community can be turned into hubs for in-person collaboration, or offices!

this is the wework model. Instead of the companies running the offices, the companies pay the workers to use 3rd party offices.

It’s the AWS model applied to real estate: move that $$$ from CapEx to OpEx, woot!

Re: Quora goes permanently remote-first

#180

Post by donohoe »

barbecue_sauce wrote: post #174
toyg wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn’t work for families. 6pm - 9pm is primetime for kids. But who cares about them oldies, right? /s

Many oldies don't have families.

Can’t tell if you’re mildly trolling or serious.

The obvious point is that enough people in EU have children/families to make these hours a huge burden if not outright unworkable.

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