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Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently

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Re: Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently

#61

Post by ghthor »

ma2rten wrote: post #50
popotamonga wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How come its so expensive? The top top insurance in my european country is $100 and a pretty good is 30.

I think there are two parts to the answer. Firstly, health care in the US is extremely expensive. There are long articles written about this but IMO a main reason is market failure. The US, especially republicans, place a lot of value on free markets but people are willing to pay almost anything not to die. The second part of the story is that the US is richer than Europe. I moved to the US from Western Europe. Befor…

No offense meant but, before Obamacare was enacted I had an excellent healthcare premium of $77 per month. Now comparable care is $400 per month.

However Obamacare changed the scene, I dont support it.

Re: Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently

#62

Post by ghaff »

ck425 wrote: post #39
dudul wrote: post #2

This article seems much more nuanced than the title. Looks like it's mostly part time WFH, modulo specific authorization from one's manager.

Is it common for companies not to have this already? Both places I've worked so far have had this. There's an office and everyone has a desk and is presumed to be in the majority of the time but if you want to WFH you just did and let your team know. There was an understanding that for certain events you should try be in the office (big planning/roadmapping meetings, retros and manager 121s) but otherwise it was at w…

The thing is that many companies are likely open to WFH now and then for appropriate roles and others are open to WFH-mostly. So it may be a difference between WFH one day a week and WFH nine days every fortnight.

Re: Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently

#63

Post by marketingPro »

ahelwer wrote: post #14
x87678r wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

health insurance is my big wish. 20 hrs/wk with health insurance I'd work for 1/3rd my salary. EDIT: I have a family like most people. EDIT2: I'm thinking about how insurance isn't as expensive as giving up more than that in salary, but maybe I need the security of steady work on the resume, sick leave and a job to lean on if things get tough.

If you're single and willing to pay over $500/month you can get some pretty okay health insurance. Families throw a huge wrench in that plan though. Currently I'm just using COBRA. Nothing crystalizes support for medicare-for-all faster than ten seconds looking at the public health insurance marketplace.

Since you posted the myth that health insurance is better when you pay more, I highly recommend reading this article explaining why the lowest cost plan is likely the best during the most expensive medical situations https://efficiencyiseverything.com/engineering-conclusions-o...

Don't get me wrong, healthcare is the most corrupt industry in the United States (by lobbying dollars). But I give some blame to my peers for not even attempting to understand how insurance works.

Re: Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently

#64

Post by mc32 »

cmiles74 wrote: post #59
mc32 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Simply put. Some people need “structure” (that can be in the form of peer pressure, accountability, visibility, etc). Without it they flounder. At work if someone is not mainly on their job, people will eventually come to know them as slackers. Working from home allows quite a few slackers to fly under the radar. It has parallels in learning. Some people are self paced self learners and can learn remotely. Some need…

My question is why would they perform better at the office? In your example their performance is the same and they become labeled as "slackers" by their co-worker and management. If we allow these people to perform poorly in the office, shouldn't we also allow them to perform poorly when they work remotely? If a manager is not providing adequate structure at the office, it seems unlikely that this would change regard…

Peer pressure. There are more eyes at work. Wannabe slackers see other slackers getting cut and want to avoid that fate by doing the minimum that allows them to avoid that result which is greater than the minimum to avoid that while working from home.

Re: Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently

#65

Post by marketingPro »

dsr_ wrote: post #43
popotamonga wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How come its so expensive? The top top insurance in my european country is $100 and a pretty good is 30.

Because the USA has a fundamentally broken healthcare system, which it propagandizes as the best in the world despite actual evidence that it is not.

I put most blame on the American Medical Association who is a top lobbyist and created the Physician cartel.

300 to 600k per year salaries are not natural, German Physicians don't make that much or go to school for as long yet have similar outcomes.

Re: Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently

#66

Post by marketingPro »

fooblat wrote: post #46
throwaway0a5e wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

a) Costs/prices in the US are inflated in the entire industry for a bunch of reasons that basically boil down to half a century of lack of incentive to control costs b) Your cost isn't actually $100. Your cost at the point of service is $100 but you're paying more taxes which subsidize your healthcare (among other things). edit: And before some snarky jerk tries to score some cheap virtue points by saying something t…

I don't think difference in taxes is as much as people think. I have lived and worked in many cities in the US as well as a couple of central European countries. Once you get into a high salary range the taxes aren't much different. The exception being if you have a bunch of kids then you will pay lower taxes in the US. However, you will also have increased costs including medical for the kids.

I pay well over half my income between fed, local, state, medicare Medicaid, social security, sales, and property tax.

The United States propaganda is that we are capitalistic, when most of my money isn't controlled by me.

Re: Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently

#67

Post by kethinov »

Buried in the article they also talk about cutting the pay of people who move away from big cities based on their "geopay" scale, a new trend that I have a hard time seeing as anything other than corporate greed we should vigorously oppose. I understand not every company can afford to do Basecamp's "pay everyone SF wages" thing, but any company can afford to set uniform pay grades at some level and one would think that the equal pay for equal work principle should apply here. One should neither receive a big city subsidy nor have their pay cut for choosing to live somewhere else.

Re: Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently

#68

Post by ghaff »

st1x7 wrote: post #51
ghaff wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or you get a coworking space (in normal circumstances) and it's just a cost like commuting is for a lot of people.

That sounds like all the downsides of an office with none of the benefits. Plus additional expenses.

But you can get a coworking space in a cheaper location if that's where you want to live. (Or get a bigger place with room for an office.) Some people prefer working in a different location than they're living.

Re: Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently

#69

Post by dudul »

ck425 wrote: post #39
dudul wrote: post #2

This article seems much more nuanced than the title. Looks like it's mostly part time WFH, modulo specific authorization from one's manager.

Is it common for companies not to have this already? Both places I've worked so far have had this. There's an office and everyone has a desk and is presumed to be in the majority of the time but if you want to WFH you just did and let your team know. There was an understanding that for certain events you should try be in the office (big planning/roadmapping meetings, retros and manager 121s) but otherwise it was at w…

I've also mostly been at organizations where it was never a problem. I believe traditionally FANG have been resistant even to the part-time remote model.

Re: Microsoft is letting employees work from home permanently

#70

Post by btrettel »

ahelwer wrote: post #3

The really interesting thing here is the possibility of part-time work. I recently switched from full-time work to independent contracting, and have a single part-time contract while looking for a second. Honestly, part-time contracting work is really, really nice. The pay is more than enough to live on and I have a ton of free time which I am devoting to rock climbing, finally writing a bunch of blog posts, and lear…

I've been thinking about part-time work lately too, which makes me wonder: Which US companies/organizations offer part-time jobs with benefits?

I work as a patent examiner right now and I noticed that the USPTO might let you switch to part-time with full benefits (that you pay more out of pocket for) after you reach GS-11. It requires approval, they have a limited number of slots for it, and the vast majority of the slots for it require a justification like parenting or eldercare.

The minimum number of hours you can work per week is 16 in the program, and you can choose which days you work. To maximize federal holidays off, pick Monday and Thursday as work days. (I think examiners need to work Thursdays from 1-2 pm due to USPTO rules, and you also get Thanksgiving this way.)

You can find some information about the USPTO's part-time program here: http://www.popa.org/about/work-life-balance/part-time-progra...

(The USPTO is also well-known for their work-from-home program.)

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