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Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

businessinsider.com

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Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#201

Post by thrownaway954 »

tidepod12 wrote: post #132
leetcrew wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HN takes it a bit too far, but there is some wisdom in maintaining a boundary between work and personal stuff. like suppose you are struggling to recover from alcoholism. you might want to confide in your close friends. you might not want to share this with friends from work. you almost certainly should not share this with your boss, even if you consider them a friend. I treat work friends as a sort of "probationary…

>like suppose you are struggling to recover from alcoholism. you might want to confide in your close friends. you might not want to share this with friends from work. you almost certainly should not share this with your boss, even if you consider them a friend. I would absolutely share this with my "work friends" and even my current boss. When one of my previous bosses shared with me that he was having trouble at hom…

there is always the exception to the rule and i'm glad that your workplace is an environment you can share stuff like that. however, for most of us, we would get fired or condemned if we spoke freely like that.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#202

Post by MarcScott »

puranjay wrote: post #31

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…

Adopt a pet, if you can.

My dog is my work buddy. He's always around, gives me an excuse to take a lunchtime walk, always available for cuddles when I need it. I have a family, that are with me in the evenings, but a pet during the day is a great companion.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#203

Post by gdulli »

turing_complete wrote: post #193

Working in an office will be a major competitive advantage in the years to come.

Do you mean the increased productivity will be the competitive advantage, or they'll have a recruitment advantage to be able to attract candidates with a comfortable work space so they're not stuck at home? As a hypothetical candidate in my next job search whenever that is, I'll definitely be wanting the latter.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#204

Post by geodel »

jojo2333 wrote: post #173
geuis wrote: post #119

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…

This. 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.

And with this singular move she went on to restore Yahoo's past glory and made yahoo one of most relevant company in tech world today.

Ok, I missed Yahoo's logo redesign by her. It was the most important thing. Canceling WFH was second.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#205

Post by gdulli »

FlyingSnake wrote: post #3

Companies who go permanent WFH must be saving a fortune on leasing space costs. If these savings don’t make it to the employees who’re using their private space for office work for free, then it’s really bad.

It's not like the commercial leases all ended overnight. By the time many of those leases are done, the world will be on track towards normalcy instead of away from it, and people will be dying to get out of the house and interact with other people regularly again. Permanent WFH will eventually become an artifact of covid time like mask usage.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#206

Post by ashtonkem »

dhouston wrote: post #33

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…

Like you, I am genuinely baffled by "WFH 4 days a week" arrangements (as compared to "WFH when you have errands that make it necessary", which is pretty common). If I have to come into the office 1 day a week, then I still have to foot the bill for a home office within driving range of the office, which sucks.

I think at once a quarter you're starting to look at the ability to live on the other side of the country and fly in when necessary, which I think is much more price efficient.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#207

Post by [deleted] »

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #104
bob33212 wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have done this for years. I have seen that some people don't like it for the following reasons. 1. They prefer a predictable schedule. 2. They don't like being at home ( family or workspace issues) 3. They are good at or enjoy office politics. 4. They are incompetent managers and they don't know how to manage engineers other than looking over shoulders and taking attendence.

> 3. They are good at or enjoy office politics. As a counterpoint, we had a mix of remote department and in-office departments at my last company. Transitioning to fully remote made marked an increase in politics every time. It sounds counterintuitive at first, but fully remote moves even more conversations to side channels. At the office it’s hard to have secret exclusionary meetings without other people noticing ev…

[deleted]

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#208

Post by bloodorange »

jojo2333 wrote: post #173
geuis wrote: post #119

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…

This. 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.

And it's incredible what a brand yahoo has built since then...

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#209

Post by silentsea90 »

whoisburbansky wrote: post #123
derefr wrote: post #109

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?

All of us naysayers failed to appreciate the foresight that Mr Neumann and Softbank displayed. Joke's on us :D

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#210

Post by NewEntryHN »

thrownaway954 wrote: post #48
puranjay wrote: post #31

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…

not trying to sound like a dick... everyone has to get out of the house and making actual friends in life. co-workers aren't friends, bosses aren't friends, clients aren't friends, work relationships aren't friends. we all need human interaction... join a club, a gym, yoga, bike club, whatever, just interact with people that doesn't involve talking about work. and sitting home and playing video games while good, isn'…

> everyone has to get out of the house and making actual friends in life.

According to what "law"? Introverted lonely people having most of their social interactions at work is a fact of life mate.

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