171–180 of 490 posts
To be clear (if you only read the headline :)), not entirely remote. Solo work at home, collaborative work in "studios", basically reimagining the offices into collaborative/convening spaces that you go into from ~once/week to once a quarter depending on team/role. Remote-only cuts out the in-person experience entirely, which is problematic for building teams and culture; and ad hoc "WFH whenever you feel like it" ge…
To be clear (if you only read the headline :)), not entirely remote. Solo work at home, collaborative work in "studios", basically reimagining the offices into collaborative/convening spaces that you go into from ~once/week to once a quarter depending on team/role. Remote-only cuts out the in-person experience entirely, which is problematic for building teams and culture; and ad hoc "WFH whenever you feel like it" ge…
> collaborative work in "studios", basically reimagining the offices into collaborative/convening spaces that you go into from ~once/week to once a quarter depending on team/role. I’m forgetting their name for them, but IBM has been doing this for decades now. They buy up office space in every major city, and then, rather than permanently stationing any teams there, essentially make all such spaces into private-acces…
Well, this makes sense, since IBM is effectively a consulting firm now. This is how all consulting firms operate -- there are tons of these all over the place in DC.
This idea of the future of work being permanently changed is really prevalent right now. It’s not going to be. Future of work, that is. We’re in the middle of the storm right now. We’ve all been bailing water for 7 months or so, and lots of people think that we’ll be bailing water forever now, even after the storm clears. I’d wager that within a couple years at most of COVID being squashed, most if not all the compan…
Companies which have offices will out-compete the rate of innovation for remote only.
Marissa Mayer, coming from Google, the first thing she did when she took the helm at Yahoo was reverse the WFH policy because execs realized it was a huge productivity loss.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> collaborative work in "studios", basically reimagining the offices into collaborative/convening spaces that you go into from ~once/week to once a quarter depending on team/role. I’m forgetting their name for them, but IBM has been doing this for decades now. They buy up office space in every major city, and then, rather than permanently stationing any teams there, essentially make all such spaces into private-acces…
Isn't that exactly what WeWork's business model was?
I'm very curious how we're going to look back on this moment in 3 or 5 years time. Is "let's try WFH" the corporate equivalent of "let's try an open marriage" for couples on the rocks, i.e. a "beginning of the end?" Just wildly speculating here, the result could be the opposite. But it strikes me as possible that this could been seen in retrospect as a damaging trend, sort of like open offices.
Also, once the kids go back to school and single people move back to the city or new suburb, where things open back up, this will also play into the debate.
Why work from home when you can venture to the office (or corporate co-working space), find a little nook and work with fast internet, free snacks and a change of scenery.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would think San Francisco would be the only city really in trouble right now.
I don't think so. I don't live in SF but I'm sure it's a nice place to live. There's still a lot going on there, like universities, food, diversity, etc. Rent and house prices in the city are likely to go down, which is a good thing given how insanely expensive it is right now. Long term it might be even good for the city.
Bars and restaurants have been either on strict lockdown or reduced capacity since early March, a lot of them that have been around for decades are closing.
So now we have an exodus of small businesses, tech workers, and reduced tourism. The city will have to convince tech workers and small business owners to come back while they probably increase taxes to work off the deficit. The lack of small businesses and increase in squalor will impact tourism even after COVID and the longer COVID goes on the more damage there is.
I don’t see the SF govt cutting expenses until it’s absolutely necessary. Overall it seems like an uphill battle. I feel really bad for the small business owners in SF who are likely never going to recover from this.
As someone who has worked from home for a decade, I predict a mental health apocalypse in the near future. Working from home permanently requires support infrastructure not everyone has access to. It also requires a different approach to work altogether which, again, not everyone is capable of adopting. If you have family, work from home is great. But if you're single, staying cooped up alone at home can be a disaste…
Why should an employer be responsible for teaching people how to socialize with others?
WFH saves money for the company, I just hope that some of the expensive (to the company) perks like prime real estate, free meals, exercise programs, etc. can be translated into at least a minimal budget per employee of: Internet connection reimbursement, annual budget for workspace improvements (ideally with a large initial budget, like $1000 or more for desk, monitor, chair, etc.), and possibly some other perks. Bu…
Not for long, surely. Workers' productivity has presumably not changed much and the companies remain in fierce competition for employees so why would a drop in de facto compensation be the new equilibrium?
I think this is strictly worse than providing employees with the option of where to work (office/remote/some WFH). Something missing in this announcement is that you still need to live in one of the main cities with offices (SF, Seattle, Austin, Dublin) in order to receive full pay. Moving anywhere gets your pay adjusted to the "local market".
So to avoid a pay-cut you need to stay in an overpriced city, but you don't have a nice office with meals/snacks/nice desk setup that you can go to.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The first 2 months of lockdown, I was crazy productive, working till midnight every night. Then little by little I'm slowly finding it harder and harder to concentrate. My productivity has fallen enough that my manager has called it out. So, at this point the commute and my eating habits have been the only thing that has significantly improved from this WFH lifestyle.
Sounds like you are in dire need of a break!