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Google is saving $1B per year as a result of employees working from home

latimes.com

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Re: Google is saving $1B per year as a result of employees working from home

#121

Post by jwogrady »

lamontcg wrote: post #104
aabhay wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about office perks, maintenance of space, renovation, staff, commuter credits, office events, snacks, lunches, dinner, equipment, secretaries, and security?

They've been paying rent on their offices the whole time. If they went permanent WFH they could sell/lease those spaces and probably save billions. Not to mention the cost all the employees have to endure for traveling to work, wear on vehicles, gas, repairs, collisions, insurance, medical payouts due to car accidents, etc. Plus just generally the externalities of higher carbon emissions.

Once an employee has built a report with their team, knows their roll, is fully trained, properly equipped, and demonstrates proficiency at their job..... then I'm cool letting staff work from home. I suspect Google has the leadership, supervision, and infrastructure to do all those things at a large scale. Unfortunately for my crew I find brining everyone in is waaaaay more efficient....carbon emissions aside.

Re: Google is saving $1B per year as a result of employees working from home

#123

Post by akomtu »

lamontcg wrote: post #104
aabhay wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What about office perks, maintenance of space, renovation, staff, commuter credits, office events, snacks, lunches, dinner, equipment, secretaries, and security?

They've been paying rent on their offices the whole time. If they went permanent WFH they could sell/lease those spaces and probably save billions. Not to mention the cost all the employees have to endure for traveling to work, wear on vehicles, gas, repairs, collisions, insurance, medical payouts due to car accidents, etc. Plus just generally the externalities of higher carbon emissions.

This is actually the biggest proof that the big players, including the gov, don't take co2 emissions seriously. If JP Morgan's Dimon is bragging about how he'll pull employees back to offices and the WH pretends to look the other way, it's safe to assume they don't give two shits about the carbon whatever. Real estate prices is what really matters to them.

Re: Google is saving $1B per year as a result of employees working from home

#124

Post by akomtu »

jwogrady wrote: post #121
lamontcg wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They've been paying rent on their offices the whole time. If they went permanent WFH they could sell/lease those spaces and probably save billions. Not to mention the cost all the employees have to endure for traveling to work, wear on vehicles, gas, repairs, collisions, insurance, medical payouts due to car accidents, etc. Plus just generally the externalities of higher carbon emissions.

Once an employee has built a report with their team, knows their roll, is fully trained, properly equipped, and demonstrates proficiency at their job..... then I'm cool letting staff work from home. I suspect Google has the leadership, supervision, and infrastructure to do all those things at a large scale. Unfortunately for my crew I find brining everyone in is waaaaay more efficient....carbon emissions aside.

Of course, who cares about carbon emissions when profits are at stake.

Re: Google is saving $1B per year as a result of employees working from home

#125

Post by flukus »

aerosmile wrote: post #120
flukus wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have reclaimed 2-3 hours from my time that was previously allocated to earning my paycheck, and I now redirect it towards other activities. Those activities range anywhere from 0-100% on the scale of how relevant they are to me being a better employee. In my case it's more like 2 hours saved, give or take. 50% of that benefits my employer because I'm a morning person and I'm not wasting one of my good hours commu…

Fair response. Can we agree that not everyone gives an hour back to their employer? Or, to go a step further... can we agree that some WFH people give less of their time to their employer relative to their previous in-office time? I doubt that those people will respond here, so any anecdotal evidence is just that - anecdotal. The fact that Google is not continuing with WFH must imply that their leadership's sense is…

> Can we agree that not everyone gives an hour back to their employer? Or, to go a step further... can we agree that some WFH people give less of their time to their employer relative to their previous in-office time?

Yes and Yes, but acknowledging this doesn't mean we should go back to the previous one size fits all model of mandatory on site working.

Re: Google is saving $1B per year as a result of employees working from home

#126

Post by bradlys »

cbozeman wrote: post #84
bradlys wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you work from 9-6, and commute an hour each way, that basically means you hardly see your kids at all five days out of the week. So live closer to work. Google pays enough for people to do that. The schools are usually better too.

> Google pays enough for people to do that. No they don't. Go look up house prices right around campus on Trulia. I would say it's shocking, but disgusting is a more apt feeling.

Senior eng makes $400k+ TC. You're rarely buying a house alone. Most eng at FAANG end up marrying others who are similar. Easy to see $600k+ TC.

You can buy a home nearby. Sunnyvale has homes for $2m or less and you can afford it at $600K household. Very reasonable commute.

If you want 3000+ sqft and 5-bath homes then yeah, you're out of luck. Hit executive level or startup riches for that one.

To act like Google doesn't pay enough to afford a home in Bay Area though is BS. The whole reason the area is so expensive is because FAANG pays so damn much to keep pulling in more talent. (It's a cycle)

Also - you could rent. Most eng I meet at FAANG have no interest in ownership out of principal. They just want investment potential. Renting is frequently very good. Only reason you'd buy is for leverage but you won't get good leverage here in SFBA because you have to do all cash offer. So, just invest in market instead.

Re: Google is saving $1B per year as a result of employees working from home

#127

Post by bradlys »

twobitshifter wrote: post #88
bradlys wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you work from 9-6, and commute an hour each way, that basically means you hardly see your kids at all five days out of the week. So live closer to work. Google pays enough for people to do that. The schools are usually better too.

Even without a commute, the point still stands. Young kids are usually in bed by around 7, that’s enough time to eat and take a bath, maybe read a story and that’s it.

So what? That's the standard work environment and the reality for most Americans. This has nothing to do with Google or SFBA then.

Re: Google is saving $1B per year as a result of employees working from home

#129

Post by fukmbas »

seoaeu wrote: post #118
paxys wrote: post #81

Google is saving $1 billion per year because of COVID-19, not because employees are working from home. This is literally mentioned in the article, but the headline is twisted (for clicks no doubt): > During the first quarter, Google parent Alphabet Inc. saved $268 million in expenses from company promotions, travel and entertainment, compared with the same period a year earlier, “primarily as a result of COVID-19,” a…

Like one expense they saved on is sending out recruiters and engineers to likely thousands of career fairs, recruiting sessions, etc. Nobody would reasonably argue that skipping all of them is a sustainable strategy long term even if it hasn't hurt them much so far.

Recruiting is a total waste

Re: Google is saving $1B per year as a result of employees working from home

#130

Post by jwogrady »

akomtu wrote: post #124
jwogrady wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Once an employee has built a report with their team, knows their roll, is fully trained, properly equipped, and demonstrates proficiency at their job..... then I'm cool letting staff work from home. I suspect Google has the leadership, supervision, and infrastructure to do all those things at a large scale. Unfortunately for my crew I find brining everyone in is waaaaay more efficient....carbon emissions aside.

Of course, who cares about carbon emissions when profits are at stake.

Amen.
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