Lol when you're an amazon employee and find out on hacker news. I must say, the communication during covid hasn't been great internally
I got an email yesterday and it was reforwarded by my skip level manager. I’m surprised you wouldn’t get it.
Amazon plans to ‘return to an office-centric culture as our baseline’
31–40 of 101 posts
Re: Amazon plans to ‘return to an office-centric culture as our baseline’
#32If companies had to pay even part of the externalities of commuting they'd have stopped this antiquated modus operandi long ago. As it stands I feel like we're going to have to wait until all Silent Generation/Boomers retire before we can see real progressive change in this area. Honestly it really speaks to poor management in general. If your only measure for project progress is "butts in seats," then you have no id…
> If companies had to pay even part of the externalities of commuting I don't know how much a parking lot costs in terms of real estate but I'd guess it's absolutely massively expensive. Also, property taxes don't they pretty directly pay for roads which are used for commuting?
>Also, property taxes don't they pretty directly pay for roads which are used for commuting?
Basically the answer to this is no. Often roads are paid for out of grants to build infrastructure in the next ring of suburbs.
https://www.strongtowns.org/the-growth-ponzi-scheme
This impacts the cost of parking lots, and basically because we tax property rather than land value, parking lots are generally pretty cheap if you already own the ground, but expensive enough that buying new land to meet a parking minimum is one of the single largest line items in many development projects.
Re: Amazon plans to ‘return to an office-centric culture as our baseline’
#33Re: Amazon plans to ‘return to an office-centric culture as our baseline’
#34Congrats. Who is the father?
-haha, good one. I am the Faaaather...to that sweet baby boy.
Re: Amazon plans to ‘return to an office-centric culture as our baseline’
#35If companies had to pay even part of the externalities of commuting they'd have stopped this antiquated modus operandi long ago. As it stands I feel like we're going to have to wait until all Silent Generation/Boomers retire before we can see real progressive change in this area. Honestly it really speaks to poor management in general. If your only measure for project progress is "butts in seats," then you have no id…
> If companies had to pay even part of the externalities of commuting I don't know how much a parking lot costs in terms of real estate but I'd guess it's absolutely massively expensive. Also, property taxes don't they pretty directly pay for roads which are used for commuting?
Property taxes contribute to local road building and maintenance at most. They do not (here at least) contribute to roads located in other towns or states that an employee may commute on.
Re: Amazon plans to ‘return to an office-centric culture as our baseline’
#36am i the only person excited about this (i dont work at amazon) im pretty burned out on wfh
Honestly, I can't wait to go back, and I have a terrible commute. I am not enjoying this, and my productivity is not great. And despite having lots of time at home, my home and hobby productivity has been terrible, too.
But I do think I'll probably settle into a routine where I'm only in 3 days a week. Or hunt for a job that is much much closer to home.
Re: Amazon plans to ‘return to an office-centric culture as our baseline’
#37Re: Amazon plans to ‘return to an office-centric culture as our baseline’
#38am i the only person excited about this (i dont work at amazon) im pretty burned out on wfh
> am i the only person excited about this If they'd announced people could optionally return to the office, then yeah maybe be excited about it. But are you excited they're going to force your co-workers to return even if they don't want to? Why?
I’m not in GP’s boat (I unexpectedly love WFH), but if part of what I miss is the effectiveness of shared analog whiteboard discussions, those are hard if you’re the only one at the whiteboard.
Re: Amazon plans to ‘return to an office-centric culture as our baseline’
#39Re: Amazon plans to ‘return to an office-centric culture as our baseline’
#40I have been working from home for 10 years. My wife recently had a baby and I wish I had an office to go to...
Not sure why the person below with the office rental was downvoted, but it's a reasonable compromise. Having a space to go to can be really important, as parenting can really eat up headspace.
My first contract/WFH job overlapped with when my first child was born and it was hell and I ended up just packing it in and returning to full-time in office work. Just too distracting.