I hope work from home continues • Hacker News Board

Re: I hope work from home continues

#201

Post by spurdoman77 » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 3:50 PM UTC

protonimitate wrote: post #143

blunte wrote: post #64

Wow, the author has a pretty miserable company :(. That said, I share most of the opinions even though I quite like the office environment of my company. I abso-fking-love choosing where I work (and to some degree, when). Being able to take my laptop and go sit under a canopy in my back yard when the weather is nice, seeing my rabbits hopping around the yard, my cats avoiding the aggressive she-rabbit, hearing the bi…

I have a hard time wrapping my head around why companies are mandating 100% return to office. Cost issues aside, I've always maintained that the absolute best experience is a hybrid/flexible schedule and location policy. I'm currently full time remote (I'm on the East Coast working for a West Coast company). My previous company had its main office in my current city, but allowed a super flexible choose-where-you-work…

Trust issues. While 80% of employees could be more productive remote, 18% could have serious issues with productivity and 2% might actually turn nefarious while remote (steal company IPR or something like that). Or I would imagine thats what the fear is.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#202

Post by duckfang » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 3:51 PM UTC

mrweasel wrote: post #172

duckfang wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can’t choose to not care. It's all a matter of priorities. If caring means you lose your job, yeah, you're not gonna care. And losing your job in the USA means: hunger, homelessness, no internet, less chance of being hired with unemployment record, assumption that you did something terrible, low/no medical, etc. For many, especially those whom can't save a nest egg of appreciable value (6 months out of work kin…

Sorry, I meant the company can’t choose to not care. I can certainly understand it from the employees point of view. But even in the US I would assume that companies aren’t just allowed to break the laws regarding work environment. Isn’t there some control visits, some way of reporting a company?

Unfortunately, the US is extremely caveat emptor in many ways.

We have a legal system that greatly benefits rich people (companies are legally people).

Unions have the lowest numbers in our history.

Laws in different states like "Right to work" and similar kneecap workers rights.

And worst is the "gig work" which pays sub-minimum wage of 7.25$/hr or $2.35 for restaurant server work (and the min wage hasnt increased since 2009).

But if you're in software, it's a good life. Usually.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#203

Post by MattGaiser » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 3:51 PM UTC

mikece wrote: post #6

While the cross-pollination of ideas from different teams and departments is lost, along with interesting and serendipitous discussions, I'm also in the boat of hoping I never have to go back to an office. Not having a commute, being able to spend more time with my kids, not eating less-healthy fast-food rather than home-cooked meals, being able to spend my (lunch) breaks working in my garden... I never want to go ba…

> While the cross-pollination of ideas from different teams and departments is lost

I don't think this needs to be lost. It just needs to be done more deliberately now if it is desired.

Remote work basically tosses out anything extra beyond your tasks as nothing happens naturally. You then get to craft what you want.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#204

Post by enriquec » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 3:51 PM UTC

duckfang wrote: post #156

mrweasel wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you clearify “don’t care”? Because here you simply report the company anonymously. You even have a person among the staff, who is extremely difficult to fire, that can do the reporting for you. Companies will be fined for this kind of environment and the office will be closed if things aren’t improved. You can’t choose to not care.

> You can’t choose to not care. It's all a matter of priorities. If caring means you lose your job, yeah, you're not gonna care. And losing your job in the USA means: hunger, homelessness, no internet, less chance of being hired with unemployment record, assumption that you did something terrible, low/no medical, etc. For many, especially those whom can't save a nest egg of appreciable value (6 months out of work kin…

Total, complete nonsense and lies. We have unemployment here - paid by the employer - and its substantial. I know several people who are even able to increase their savings while unemployed.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#205

Post by augusto-moura » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 3:51 PM UTC

nonameiguess wrote: post #35

benbristow wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lucky you. I live in a top-floor apartment so don't have the luxury of a garden and I'm isolated by myself as I live alone. It's not the same for everyone.

Don't mistake pandemic conditions for forever. There is no reason you need to stay permanently isolated and can't get social needs filled somewhere other than an office.

Don't mistake the post pandemic conditions for granted. Even after isolation working alone in a small apartment can be miserable, I find myself in the same situation, getting out for a bar or club in non working hours is not the same as working in a office. There are some simple idiotic social needs like small talk, or throw some jokes or even curse out loud in frustration that are difficult to get right outside the office.

Anyways, any argument down playing a situation is futile, let's just agree that every one is in a different situation and the best is to analyze case by case

Re: I hope work from home continues

#206

Post by atty » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 3:52 PM UTC

jonnycomputer wrote: post #134

hiq wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> - my commute: I cycled into work, and the daily exercise was great This one is not like the others, it's completely up to you to have a bike ride e.g. at lunch time around the block when you WFH.

Oh, you're right. But when you have to cycle to get to work whether you want to or not, its easier to get that exercise in. I'm not a leisure cyclist. I don't dress up in spandex and ride an expensive bike. In fact, I have difficulty containing my derision for leisure cyclists. I know that the equipment they use has utility, but it also signals: I don't have to ride a bike. I have an expensive SUV at home, and I didn…

If anything, I would think “i didn’t lose my license to a DUI but I like to get some cardio” is a good thing, and any derision should be aimed at people who actually did endanger themselves and others by driving under the influence. I am very confused by your attitude.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#207

Post by Aloha » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 3:52 PM UTC

PragmaticPulp wrote: post #113

ryanmercer wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>What kind of office was this person working in? An office on the property of an international airport. Our maintenance hanger happens to be behind our parking lot and immediately on the other side of it is an active runway. If you work at an airport, not in the terminals, you get used to smelling aviation fuel/jet exhaust. As far as the indoor temperatures, it's a leased building and the HVAC is just inadequate (my…

> Many on HN are accustomed to nice offices with a bunch of perks or remote work, but for a lot of us we work in conditions like this (or far worse) and it's just life. I don’t know where you live, but I can assure you that what you’re describing is not “just life” in most developed countries. You’re not describing a normal office. Offices like you describe continue to exist because employees put up with it. The tech…

I've worked in offices like that, its way more common than you think.

It is 'just life' the world that we get in tech is significantly different than what most people experience in a workplace.

Re: I hope work from home continues

#208

Post by tcbawo » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 3:52 PM UTC

blunte wrote: post #64

Wow, the author has a pretty miserable company :(. That said, I share most of the opinions even though I quite like the office environment of my company. I abso-fking-love choosing where I work (and to some degree, when). Being able to take my laptop and go sit under a canopy in my back yard when the weather is nice, seeing my rabbits hopping around the yard, my cats avoiding the aggressive she-rabbit, hearing the bi…

I don't think it's that people in charge of big companies are not creative thinkers. I think their priorities are things other than employee satisfaction, or possibly even employee productivity. Both of those things are great, but maximizing shareholder value comes first. Big companies are applying creative thinking to marketing, sales relationships, mergers and acquisitions, strategic lobbying/lawsuits, cost cutting, etc. In my younger days, I made the mistake of getting overly invested in the companies I worked for. Always put your long term goals first. If you don't have equity, it's not your company!

Re: I hope work from home continues

#209

Post by chasd00 » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 3:52 PM UTC

jmkni wrote: post #23

I’m completely the opposite to be honest. I’ve found working from home lonely and isolating, and am badly missing the structure of getting up, showered and going into an office! For people at a certain stage of life, I’m sure working from home is great, but have some empathy for those of us it sucks for.

i really enjoy working from home and will change jobs if forced to go back in.

I know what you're talking about though, my wife has friends that are wfh now and that, along with the general isolation of the pandemic, is having a serious effect on them.

I think when this is over there will be various compromises that will probably not work out very well. If WFH works for you then it's great, if it doesn't then it's miserable. There's not a lot of middle ground.

a good compromise leaves everybody mad. - Calvin and Hobbes

Re: I hope work from home continues

#210

Post by riscy » Tue, Apr 06, 2021, 3:52 PM UTC

blunte wrote: post #170

folkrav wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And for the social aspect, weekend or week-long dev retreats are ideal. As much as I appreciate (most of) my coworkers, on nights and weekends I want to close my computer and spend quality time with my family, not see and talk to the same people I am already forced to talk to 35-40h a week. They might be ideal to you, but you're assuming quite a lot about everyone's situations if you think they work for everyone.

In my remote experience, I definitely don't talk to my colleagues that much. But when you're trying to build a small company, one approach is to make it feel like a family. And families always have people we like and people we like not so much. But there's something special about one unit working toward a single goal. My design is for a startup with young people. This would not work nearly as well for older people an…

Ah yes, the founder’s dream: gaining familial power over young people’s entire lives to further your start-up, before they realize they should develop a life of their own outside of work to avoid complete burnout.