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Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

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Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#281

I guess it's not surprising but I am super disappointed by some of the comments here that show a total lack of empathy for people who aren't like you. I mean, you love working from home? Congrats, more power to you. But the number of comments stating that "only people who are good at office politics like going to the office", "only incompetent managers need to see you in person", "your co-workers aren't your friends"…

Generalizations are often false. Including this one.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#282
These companies think they're some kind of trend setters or they're embracing some kind of new way to work, Nokia was doing this back in the early 2000's in the Americas. No one had a desk unless you needed one. Otherwise you came in sat down where ever you liked, plugged in and went to work. You decided your hours, you decided when you came in or worked from home. They also subsidized your home Internet connection by about 50-60%. They had complete respect and trust in the individual.

Took a Pandemic to change these companies minds about WFH or flex schedules, etc.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#283

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…

When companies say they're allowing permanent WFH, we have to consider this in the context of a non-covid world. After lockdowns are over, people who work from home will not be isolated to the same extent. They can go to a restaurant or park and eat lunch. They can see neighbors in-person. It will not be nearly as isolating as covid-induced WFH is.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#284

I guess it's not surprising but I am super disappointed by some of the comments here that show a total lack of empathy for people who aren't like you. I mean, you love working from home? Congrats, more power to you. But the number of comments stating that "only people who are good at office politics like going to the office", "only incompetent managers need to see you in person", "your co-workers aren't your friends"…

Many people who thrive working from home have been forced to work in the office for their entire career and are now VERY driven on defending their improved working conditions.

Yes. And the flip side is you have people who hate WFH (especially in the current situation) who liked the everyone in the office model really fear that, even absent 100% remote, the in-office experience will be much reduced with many of their co-workers coming in seldom. And meetings will all still be on Zoom.

There are a lot of incentives to stake out positions. People don't really want to be fully remote at a company where most of their co-workers go back into the office most of the time and people mostly don't want to go back into an office where it's mostly just teams having all-day meetings now and then.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#285
post #270

Outsourcing used to not work. But now it might. I'm more than a little bit concerned.

I would not under estimate the value of a shared "life culture", and not just "work culture" as expectations don't always line up with reality when having an office in a truly different culture. Sometimes it is amazing, other times it is a difficult situation from my experience.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fundamentals were not bad ideas. Regus has been doing things similar to WeWork for decades. Neumann committing fraud, poor cash management, and self-dealing conflicts of interest are what killed WeWork. Not the coworking space concept.

What I don't understand is the multiples at which WeWork was trading. I could definitely understand the business model (it's cloud computing for real-estate!) and especially cool for remote/business travelers since from what I understand it was rather easy for a WeWork user to use any of their facilities.

You can, if you think of it like a Ponzi scheme.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#287

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 an…

WFH when you have errands when it's necessary is all the balance I need!

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#288

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…

"Remote-only cuts out the in-person experience entirely, which is problematic for building teams and culture" This is stated as fact everywhere but I've not seen supporting evidence anywhere. I spend about as much time in my day speaking to other people as I would have done productively and by choice before. The only difference now is that I'm more able to avoid extraneous meetings and other drags on my time that don…

I spend about as much time talking to people, but I talk to less people. I don't like it. I've come back to office recently and so much more bandwidth to exchange information IME.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#289

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 an…

It's like when you were in college, and you do assignments at home, and then get together with your study group, your TA, your professor, or your project buddies, in the computer clusters...

See? Totally makes sense.

Re: Dropbox Converts to Permanent WFH

#290
post #187

I don't understand the negative responses here. At least for me, I want the company to treat me as an adult and trust that work can still get done well regardless where I am sitting. This is a good move and upgrades Dropbox in my mind.

It's for the same reason why people are negative about companies that require working from the office without any WFH. There are people who are established with their jobs and their teams who don't need to can just sit down at home and go. There are others who prefer the interaction and find themselves more efficient in a non-personal setting like an office. The negativity is that many of these companies may start tr…

I expect optional/hybrid will be more the norm. Of course this doesn't apply so much to companies that don't have urban offices, but the biggest cost issue for employees is that for those who want to live in an expensive city, extra space for an office is a big premium. They have Internet. Most companies don't have free food. etc.
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